Edification: Volume 2

God’s program me is the only one that will be carried out perfectly and in every detail. We shall be wise therefore if we make God’s program me ours. But what is His program me? In the present age He is not aiming at the conversion of the world nor the production of an ideal state of things socially or among the nations. We live in the time of Christ’s rejection by and absence from the world, and the work of God today is to “visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.” (Acts 15:14). The church of God is that people taken out from amongst the nations.

It is left on earth that it may shine for Christ during His absence. It has no mission to subdue the nations, for that is at present no more a part of God’s purpose than it is to “restore again the Kingdom of Israel.” The instructions are today just what they were at the beginning, “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Thus such as should be saved are being added to the church, and until the church is completed God has no other program me than this.

2. What is the position?

If we look at things social, political, or national, all is in a very unsteady and precarious state. Nor are things religious any better. Rationalism and Ritualism, those ancient foes of the truth, are tremendously active and seem to be carrying all before them, so much so that the average onlooker must be forgiven if he assumes that the simple Christianity of the Bible is a lost cause.

Yet in reality nothing that is of God is being lost. The truth of God, expressed in the Scriptures, abides. The Holy Spirit, sent forth at Pentecost, still indwells believers and operates within and from the church. The “churches” of Christendom nay many of them, be near apostasy, yet true believers are still being edified and sinners under the faithful preaching of the gospel are being converted. Whatever may happen to the various programs of the “churches,” the Divine program me, which is committed to the charge of the Spirit of God, is being carried silently to its completion.

No Christian need be down-hearted or depressed whatever may be the surface condition of things.

3. What is the prospect?

We may be told that while the outlook for the churches is poor the prospects or the world were never brighter owing to the spread of education coupled with the onward march of science and discovery. The truth is that while the world-system is advancing straight to judgment the people of God are advancing straight to glory. We do not entrench ourselves in the present world-order nor is “Back to Pentecost!” our watchword: we rather cry, “On to glory!” That is our hope, and “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” (James 5:8).

If there was a sense in which such a statement could be made by James so long ago the same statement may be assuredly made in a double sense today. The end of the age is upon us without doubt and we should be in daily expectation of our Lord. Nothing has done more to discredit such expectation than the foolish attempts, so continually being made, to fix the exact time of the second Advent. Do not let us be turned aside by these but let us rather have loins girt and lights burning, so that we may be like unto men that wait for their Lord.

A New Year's Reflection.

I PASS another milestone,

Upon the journey home;

And nearer, ever nearer

The lights of heaven come.

Romans 13:11.

Their light illumes the pathway,

Through all the desert way;

The dawn of morning growing

Into the perfect day.

Proverbs 4:18.

It shone upon my childhood

It showed me self and sin,

It led me to the Saviour,

To peace and joy within.

Romans 5:1.

It cast its glorious radiance

Into my inmost heart;

Revealing Christ in glory

And with Him there my part.

John 17:22-26.

Displaying all the fullness

Of God’s unchanging love,

A Father’s love upon me

A Father’s house above.

John 16:27; 14:2.

It showed me Christ the Center

Of all God’s wondrous plan,

The Object of His counsel, —

The glorious Son of Man.

Psa. 8; Ephesians 1:10.

It shines upon my manhood

With ever bright’ning ray

Directs the gaze on JESUS

From all of earth away.

Hebrews 12:2.

And till the race is ended

That light my guide will be;

Till hope shall have fruition

With Christ eternally.

1 Thessalonians 4:17.

INGLIS FLEMING.

Standing and State.

SOME time ago, in a meeting for young men in the city of London, it was stated by a gentleman whose opinion is worthy of respect that three-fourths of the Christians in the world confounded their standing before God in Christ with their everyday fluctuating state. As a consequence, they were never sure of their ultimate salvation, believing it to depend on the condition of their soul when death should over take them, or the Lord should come. Such was his conviction. It set us thinking!

The word “standing” may not be the best for expressing all that is meant, though we frankly confess we can find no better. We use it in this paper as embracing those eternal blessings which have reached us in and through Christ our Lord, and which, once bestowed, are never withdrawn. Here everything is perfect, complete, and unchangeable. The state of our souls cannot be so described. Were our standing before God dependent on our state, it would be constantly changing, like the hand of a barometer, with every turn of wind and weather. Thank God it is not so. Our everyday state may ebb and flow like the tides of the ocean — our standing remains firm as the solid rock. But let us look at the subject a little more in detail.

First, then, the believer has the standing of one whose sins, are forgiven, and against whom no charge of guilt can ever be laid (Rom. 8:33). He is justified from all things (Acts 13:39). This is saying much — more perhaps than some can say, though it be among the elementary truths of the Gospel. If it be asked, How may anyone know this for himself and be firmly assured of it? we answer: From the Holy Scriptures. There we are told that Christ died for the ungodly; we are also told that every believer in Him, is forgiven and justified. Both statements come from the same source and rest on the same divine authority. We believe the one, we draw comfort from it; on what ground, then, do we hesitate to believe the other?

Let us see what the first messengers of the risen Christ have to say about it. In Acts 2:38 we read of “the remission of sins,” in chapter 3:19 of “sins blotted out,” in chapter 5:31 of “the forgiveness of sins” for every repentant one. All their preaching led up to that point, as well it might, for forgiveness is the first great need of the soul. And when the Apostle Peter went to the Gentiles he followed the same plan. After having spoken of the Lord Jesus whom God had raised from the dead, he declared that “to Him give all the prophets witness that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” Such words — gloriously plain and sure — did not fall on unbelieving ears. The good news, was received in faith by Cornelius and his many friends, and immediately it was sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:42, 43).

Nor did the Apostle Paul do otherwise when preaching to his Jewish brethren and to as many others as feared God in the synagogue at Antioch. Beautiful in their simplicity are the words which he spake. He, too, bare witness to the risen Christ, and said, “Be it known, unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38, 39). Could anything be plainer or more suited to our case than that?

And if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, are not our sins forgiven even as theirs were? Of course they are, every one of them. Is it God’s will that we should know it? Certainly. For that very purpose the Gospel is preached to men. The heaven-sent message not only points out the way of salvation, but gives us the knowledge of it. Our assurance is founded on nothing less than the Word of the living God. Surely that is enough.

It is of the greatest moment that we should be clear upon this latter point, for here so many go astray. The tendency of timid souls is to be ever occupied with their inward state and their outward walk. Dissatisfied with both, they feel it would ill become them to be, too confident of the actual forgiveness of their sins. A feeble flickering hope is all they dare cherish, and anything more would be to them a presumptuous sin. So long as this continues there can be no real rest. The eye is off Christ. His atoning work it out of sight, and instead of the Word of God being the sole ground of faith, self, with its poor and unsatisfying experiences, takes its place. Then a better, brighter state is hoped for and a holier walk. But if these hopes were crowned it would give no certainty that we were among God’s forgiven ones. Any confidence that is based upon experiences rests upon a precarious foundation. How much better is it to hearken to the voice of God in the Holy Scriptures! There I learn that my sins have been borne by my Saviour in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24), and there I am told that God will remember my sins and iniquities no more (Heb. 10:17). Am I not to believe that? And if I do, shall I be building my house on the sinking sand?

Second: all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have the standing of dear children in the house and home of their Father. They are born of God. Having received Him in whom the eyes of men saw no beauty, the right is theirs to take the place of God’s children. On this point John 1:12 is most explicit. “As many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name” (R.V.). “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). That is what you are. It is indeed wonderful that God should speak in those gracious terms of you and of all who have received Christ as their Saviour and confess Him as Lord. But it is so.

Here let me pause and ask some questions Did we become God’s children through any merit of our own? Do we continue to be His children only so long as we behave ourselves, and do we cease to be His the moment we are not what we ought to be? Does the relationship between us and our own children hang upon so slender a thread? Do we disown them and cast them off when they fail to please us? If a child be very naughty, is it not still the child of its mother? Are divinely-formed relationships less enduring than earthly ones? What sort of a father are you making out God to be, if you think your continuing to be His child is dependent on your changing state? Do you not dishonor Him by such hard and legal thoughts? And if children, surely He loves us with a love that goes beyond that of any earthly parent. No mother’s love equals His. She may forget the child she bare, but He never will. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee” (Isa. 49:15). Do you say, But if I fall, will He love me just the same? Yes; your fall will not alienate His love.

“I remember,” says Dr. Campbell Morgan, “when my twelve months’ old laddie began to walk. With what delight we watched his first tottering steps! One day down he went, all in a heap! Did I straighten my back, and disown him, and disinherit him? That did not I. I picked him up, and set him on his feet, and kissed away his tears, and felt all the pain of his fall, and bade him try again. He tried and walked the better. Is my love to my child more tender than your Lord’s love to you?” But should I fall again and yet again, will He still love me? Yes; though He may not manifest His love to you unless it be in the way of correction. A parent does not caress his child when wayward and disobedient, though the love be there. “If his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips” (Psa. 89:30-34). If God thus speaks of His ancient people of Israel, will He say less of those to whom He has shown richer and more abundant grace?

Again, the believer has the standing bore God of one who is “in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). In our unconverted days we were “in the flesh,” we are now “in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in us” (Rom. 8:9). Then, we were of Adam’s fallen family, now we are “in Christ” and of that family of which He is the risen and glorious Head. “If anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17, N.Tr.). This does not mean that “the flesh” has passed away, and will never more be seen or felt. It is still in us, though we are not in it before God. But it does mean that we have been taken, by the power of God, out of the conditions in which all men are by nature — dead in trespasses and sins — and placed in Christ, quickened with a new life and set in new and heavenly associations. Now we know that “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it that men should fear before Him” (Eccl. 3:14).

Are we to conclude, then, that our inward state and outward walk are matters of no moment? God forbid! Only let us distinguish between things that differ. If our standing and relationships are, unchangeable and abiding, so also are the obligations that flow from them. Am I always one of God’s children? Then I am always to be an imitator of Him as a dear child (Eph. 5:1). If the relationship be weakened, so is the responsibility attaching to it. They stand or fall together.

And the power for a holy walk is not found in looking within and doubting whether we are really the Lord’s because of what we find there. We are, indeed, in ourselves but an unclean thing, and in our flesh good does not dwell. Why, then, should we be always thinking about it? God has judged it and set it aside in the cross of Christ. Let us also cast it behind our back as something unworthy of a thought. The Holy Spirit would engage our hearts with Christ and with the things that are above, of which Christ is the glorious Center. Our salvation secured, our relationship established, our hearts assured of the everlasting love of God our Father, we are now at leisure to learn those great and grand purposes of God that are yet to be fulfilled, and which are revealed in the Holy Scriptures for us to understand. Christ in His greatness and glory will thus displace self, and as we grow in the knowledge of Him, under whose feet by and by all things in heaven and earth are to be placed, and whose glory His Church shall share, our souls will be filled with wonder, love, and praise. Instead of raining a prisoner in the gloomy dungeons of Doubting Castle, our emancipated spirits will roam at large in the broad inheritance of which Christ is Heir and we are His co-heirs. By these things we shall live, and in us God will be glorified.

W.B.

The Unity of Scripture.

THE unity of Scripture is one of the most conclusive marks of its inspiration. To find a collection of sixty-six pamphlets, written by some forty authors, several of them unknown, and to find the whole marked by one controlling mind, distinctly raises the Bible as a book into a category of its own.

This unity comes without effort or advertisement, and often is seen where we would least expect it.

A charming instance of this came with delightful freshness in our morning reading today. Exodus 20 was the chapter read. It contains the giving of the law, the ten commandments, by Moses. Who could keep the law? Not one. What was its sentence when broken? There was but one ultimately, and that was death. 2 Corinthians 3:7, speaks of it, in language unsurpassed in solemnity, as “THE MINISTRATION OF DEATH.”

Does Exodus 20 stop at the giving of the law and leave us in despair? If Moses had been the author instead of the inspired penman, if it had been the writing of a mere man, however gifted, instead of a divine message with divine authority, it would doubtless have been so. But verse 24 and 25 immediately follow on, and speak of an ALTAR. Why of an altar? Because an altar, speaks of atonement by death, of sacrifice, of substitution. If the law emphasized transgression, the altar emphasized that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Were the men chosen of God to be his inspired penmen statesmen like Moses, or a mixture of general and poet like David, or one, who wore the prophetic mantle with distinction like Isaiah, or an exile in a foreign court like Daniel, or a scholar like Paul, or an “ignorant and unlearned” fisherman like Peter, they all alike strike the same note, man’s sinfulness on the one hand, and one remedy for sin, an atoning sacrifice.

Suppose a medical work, consisting of sixty-six pamphlets, written by medical men in different countries, and in different centuries; do you suppose that they would all diagnose disease the same way, or prescribe the same remedy for its cure? You know they would not. Or if it were statesmen, seeking to cure the ills of mankind, would there not be as many different schemes as statesmen? You have only to look at the League of Nations to answer the question. Again and again its differences threaten its disruption, and the question is, How long can it last?

And further. Not merely in broad outlines, but in details is the unity of the Bible seen. It certainly could not be by lucky guess, nor by collusion, that this could be brought about.

There are three striking details given us in the particular Scripture we are considering. First, if the altar built were of stone, no tool was to be lifted up upon it. It had not to be of hewn stone, else it were polluted. What was the teaching to be drawn from this? Surely that approach to God is not of human effort or merit. Does not the Apostle Paul put into theological language what Moses presents in type or figure? “Not of works lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9). How happy that this is so! What a sure basis it puts everything on! Not what we are and what we can do, but what Christ is and what He has done!

Secondly, there had to be no steps by which to approach the altar. What was intended to be conveyed by that? It was to show that no person or thing was to come between the soul and its needs and Christ. Does it not exactly fit in with 1 Timothy 2:5, “There is... One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” There are not any intermediaries, no system of approach, no person or ordinance or ritual, to come between the soul and Christ. The Lord says, “Come unto ME.” Again, “I,” and no one else, nor any system, “am THE WAY.”

Thirdly, we find immediately following the foregoing, the instructions concerning the Hebrew slave, a deeply touching type of the Lord Jesus. Philippians 2:7 comes to our mind, “Christ Jesus... made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant [literally, slave or bondman], and was made in the likeness of men.” What amazing condescension that “The Mighty God,” “The Father of Eternity” (Isa. 9:6) should take human form, and become a real Man, though never ceasing to be the Eternal Word (John 1:1 and 14).

When the Hebrew slave had served six years he was entitled to go free. If his master had given him a wife and she had born him sons and daughters, they remained the property of his master. But if he plainly declared that his affection for his master, his wife and children was such that he preferred to remain, then his master brought him to the judges, and then to the door post and bored his ear through with an awl. The bored ear was a sign of his affection for his master, his wife and children, and that because of this he was prepared to serve his master forever.

Behold the unity of Scripture when we read a plain allusion to this, undoubtedly prophetic of Christ, in Psalms 40:6, 7. “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire: mine ears hast Thou opened [margin: Heb. digged].” Surely as far as the Lord was concerned, personally, He could have returned to heaven when He chose. But, wonder of wonders, He chose to go back by the way of the cross, so that God might be glorified in the place where He had been dishonored by man’s sin, and that He might not go back alone. So we read in verse 7, “Then said I, Lo I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God.” Hebrews 10:7, quotes this as referring to Christ.

The Lord Jesus plainly showed His love to God; to His church, His bride; to His children, His earthly people, when He became Man; and He never turned aside until He had fulfilled God’s will and secured the eternal blessing and the companionship of His church, His bride, and of all His own.

It is very interesting to thus see how Scripture exhibits its unity. In this example it is truly delightful to have such typical, teaching brought before us, prophetical of the Lord and the character of His atoning work on the cross. How stimulating is the study of Scripture!

A. J. POLLOCK.

A Common Mistake.

An old woman sat in her cottage stitching. The room was scrupulously clean, and there was an appearance of comfort about the surroundings, but her face wore a troubled anxious look.

A neighbor who happened to look in as she was passing by, noticed her anxiety, and inquired the cause of it.

“When I was quite a little girl,’ she said, “I learned that hymn―

‘Tis a point I long to know,

Oft it causes anxious thought,

Do I love the Lord or no,

Am I His, or am, I not?

and that is the very thing that troubles me now. Do I really love Him? I often ask myself the question, and I would give anything to be quite sure I did.”

“Maybe you argue backwards,” said her neighbor; “wouldn’t it be far better to leave off thinking about your love, and just thank the dear Saviour for His love to you?”

“I never doubt that,” said the old woman warmly: “of course I know He loves me, look how I’ve been cared for all my life. Hasn’t He fed and clothed me all these years, and kept me in good health till my old age? But that doesn’t seem to bring me comfort no how.”

Her neighbor looked at her thoughtfully, she was only a plain country woman herself, but she saw wherein lay the old lady’s mistake.

“Granny,” she said after a bit, “the Book tells us that God clothes the lilies and the grass, that God feeds the ravens and cares for the sparrows, but that is never given as a proof that He loves them. You have been looking in the wrong place for His love. You must never measure God’s heart by His mercies. The proof of His love was that He gave His Son to die for you. ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him’ (1 John 4:9-10).”

One of the Lord’s servants has truly said “Lord, when we want to know what true love is, we can only turn to Thee and to Thy cross.” Our love to Him is but a natural consequence of this. “We love Him because He first loved us. It is —

By the one chief Treasure

Thy bosom freely gave,

Thine own pure love we measure

Thy willing mind to save.

E. R. M.

Our Scripture Portion.

(1 Tim. 1:1-17).

If you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

THE epistle before us is the first of a group of four which were written by the Apostle Paul to individuals. They were all written rather late in the Apostle’s life of service, when declension was becoming pronounced in the church, and consequently the heart of that devoted man turned more especially to reliable and trusted disciples who stood firm when others began to slip. This imparts a certain general resemblance to the four, though each has its own clearly marked features.

We might perhaps characterize them as follows: —

	1 Timothy. The Epistle of godliness.
	2 Timothy. The Epistle of courage.
	Titus. The Epistle of sobriety and soundness.
	Philemon. The Epistle of Christian courtesy.

At any rate godliness — or piety as some translate the word — is stamped very distinctly upon the epistle we are now to consider, as any concordance will show. It becomes a very urgent necessity when spiritual life is on the decline.

In his opening verse Paul presents his apostleship as proceeding from God our Saviour — not from Jesus our Saviour, as we might have put it. He is going to bring before us the living GOD as both Saviour and Preserver (2:3; 4:10) and so he commences on this note, and presents the Lord Jesus to us as our hope. When declension sets in it is well for us to know a living God as our Preserver, and to have our hopes centered not in churches, bishops, deacons, nor in a man of any kind, but in the Lord Himself.

Having saluted Timothy in verse 2, Paul at once reminds him of the responsibility resting upon him as left at Ephesus during his absence. Already some were beginning to teach things which differed from the truth as already laid down. These strange doctrines were of two kinds, “fables” (or “myths”) and “genealogies.” By the former term Paul indicated ideas imported from the heathen world, even though they were the refined speculations of Grecian schools; by the latter, ideas imported from the Jewish world in which genealogy had played so large a part. Timothy however was to abide in what he had learned of God and exhort others to do likewise, since the end of what was enjoined was love springing out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith. This was that which God desired to see in His people.

The certain result of turning aside to fables or genealogies is questionings (vs. 4) and vain jangling (vs. 6). Christendom has largely turned aside to the teaching of fabulous assertions in the name of science on the one hand, and on the other to genealogies connected with religious succession, apostolic and otherwise, with all the ritualism based thereupon, consequently the religious arena is filled with questioners and resounds with the uproar of vain jangling. What God aims at producing, and does produce where the truth holds sway, is love, and what is ministered is “God’s dispensation which is in faith.” The A. V. reads “edifying” but evidently the correct reading is “dispensation” or “house-law” — the alteration of one letter in the Greek word makes the difference. Love furthers all those things that God has ordered as the rule of His house.

The “commandment” of verse 5 has nothing to do with the law of Moses. The word is virtually the same as the one translated charge in verse 3. Verse 5 states the object Timothy was to have in view in the charge which he observed himself and enjoined upon others.

There were those at Ephesus who were enamoured of the law and desired to be teachers of it, and this leads the Apostle to indicate the place that the law was designed to fill, of which these would-be law-teachers were entirely ignorant. The law was not enacted for the righteous but for sinners. Hence to strenuously enforce it upon those who were righteous, because justified by God Himself, was not a lawful use of it. Paul does not pause in this passage to state that which the law of Moses was designed to effect. It was given to bring in conviction of sin, as is stated in Romans 3:19; verse 20; and Galatians 3:19.

The law itself is “holy and just and good” (Rom. 7:12) whatever men may do with it. Verse 8 of our passage states that if lawfully used it is good in its practical effects. If wrongly used, as by these law-teachers, it works mischief, though perfectly good in itself.

Let us all be very careful to use the law lawfully. It is a most potent instrument of conviction for sinners. It deals unsparingly with the terrible list of sins given in verse 9 and 10, but besides all these there were other things which the law did not specifically mention but which were contrary to all sound teaching, and the Apostle alludes to these at the close of verse 10. Only notice that he does not say, “contrary to sound doctrine according to the holy standard established by the law” but, “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God,” for the gospel sets before us a standard of conduct more lofty than the law.

The law did not set forth the maximum, the utmost possible that God could expect from man, but rather the minimum of His demands, if man is to live on the earth; so that to fall below the standard set, in one item on one occasion, was to incur the death penalty. Now however the gospel has been introduced and Paul was entrusted with it. He speaks of it as the “glorious gospel,” or more literally, “gospel of the glory” of the blessed God.

There is for the present moment but one gospel, though spoken of in various passages as the gospel “of God,” “of Christ” “of the grace of God” “of the glory of Christ” and as in this verse. So also the one and the same Holy Spirit is variously characterized in different passages. This is in order to teach us the depth and wonder residing in both the many-sided characters that they wear. How striking then is the character in which the gospel is presented to us here, and how suitable to the subjects in hand!

What could exceed the moral filth and degradation of those who had come short not only of the law but of “the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23)? Their portrait appears in verse 9 and 10. Then in verse 11 Comes “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God” followed in succeeding verses by the dark picture Paul gives of himself as an unconverted man. Look before and look after and we see nothing but the shame of cursed and unhappy man. Into the midst comes the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed, or happy, God. A contrast indeed!

The Old Testament has told us that, “it is the glory of God to conceal a thing” (Prow. 25:2) so that busy and inquisitive men are baffled in their researches again and again. Our New Testament passage tells us that it is also the glory of God to reveal Himself in the magnificence of His mercy to rebellious sinners; and the latter glory is greater than the former. If any ask, what is glory? We may answer, it is excellence in display. The Divine excellence may be displayed in such a way as to be visible to the eye, but on the other hand it may not; yet the glory of a moral and spiritual sort which reaches the heart by other channels than the eye is no less wonderful. When Saul of Tarsus was converted a glory smote him to the earth, blinding his eyes, but the glory of that exceeding abundant grace of our Lord “with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (vs. 14) opened the eyes of his heart without dazzling the eyes of his head, and that is the glory spoken of here.

The sin of Saul of Tarsus abounded, since full of ignorant unbelief he aimed in his injurious antagonism directly at Christ Himself, by blasphemy and the persecution of His people. Hence he was, and he felt himself to be, the chief of sinners. The abundance of his sin was met however by the super-abundant grace of God. Did ever the glory of divine grace more brightly shine than when the rebel Saul encountered the risen Saviour? We think not. Yet we all owe our salvation to the same glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God. We all have reason to sing,

Oh! the glory of the grace

Shining in the Saviour’s face,

Telling sinners from above,

God is light, and God is love.

By the time this Epistle was written not a few crisp statements of truth had passed into sayings. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” was one of these. It is endorsed as faithful and worthy of all acceptation―hall-marked as it were — by the Apostle’s own experience as the chief of sinners. No sinner is beyond the grace and power of a Saviour, who could deliver such an insolent, persecuting blasphemer as he.

How all this shows up the folly of such as were desiring to be law-teachers, and landing their votaries in vain jangling. How weak and beggarly is all that beside this!

Now the astonishing mercy extended to Paul was not shown him for his sake alone but that there might be set forth the extent of divine longsuffering. His was a pattern case showing the full extent of the Lord’s dealings in mercy, lifting him from the depths of verse 13 to the heights of verse 12.

Think for one moment of his conversion as recorded in Acts. Jesus had just been made Lord and Christ in resurrection. The early apostolic witness was rejected in the martyrdom of Stephen. Saul played a directing part in that outrage and proceeded forthwith on a career of violent persecution. From his lofty seat in heaven, clothed with irresistible might, the Lord looked down upon this outrageous little worm of the dust and instead of crushing him in judgment converted him in mercy. Thereby He gave a most striking delineation of His gracious ways and of the extent to which His long-suffering would go.

Henceforth Paul becomes a pattern man. Not only a pattern of mercy but a pattern to believers. He exemplifies and shows forth the truth in its practical workings in the hearts and lives of the people of God. It is because of this that again and again in his epistles he calls upon his converts to be followers of himself.

The recalling and recital of these wonders of mercy greatly moved the heart of the Apostle and led him momentarily to break the thread of his subject and to pen the doxology of verse 17. We find the same kind of thing elsewhere, as for instance, Romans 11:33-36, where the Apostle utters his doxology moved by the consideration of the wisdom of God; or Ephesians 3:20, 21, where he is moved by the love of Christ. In our passage he is moved thereto by the mercy of God.

The more majestic the Person who shows the mercy the greater the depth of the mercy displayed. Hence the Apostle views God in the height of His majesty and not in the intimacy of relationship. True, God is our Father as revealed to us in Christ. We do stand in this tender relationship as His children: still He is, “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God” and this enhances the wonder of the mercy which He showed to the Apostle and to us. In response to such mercy Paul ascribes to Him honor and glory to the ages of ages.

Surely we too feel impelled to join in the doxology and add to it our hearty “Amen!”

F. B. HOLE.

Three Dominant Verbs.

THERE are three dominant verbs in that great chapter — Romans 6, — which should be well known by every young Christian, if he is to live a fruitful Christian life. Every one of us should come to the deliberate resolve in the presence of God that the Christian life is the only life worth living. We cannot carve our life out into sections, — religious, social, business, etc.―Christianity ought to control the whole life. The true motto for our lives is found in 2 Corinthians 5:15. We read,

“They which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but UNTO HIM which died for them, and rose again.”

“UNTO HIM” then should be the young Christian’s motto. Will YOU not adopt it?

The three dominant verbs in Romans 6. are

KNOW, RECKON, YIELD.

The young believer begins with positive knowledge. No wonder is it that we witness the enemy’s feverish and persistent attacks on the Word of the living God. Men do not flog a dead horse, nor fight a man of straw. We do not find the Koran on the one hand translated into 500 languages as the Bible is, nor do we find a constant stream of books and pamphlets and tracts trying to destroy its influence, as is the case with the Bible.

Thank God, when we are assured of the verity of the Word of God, we can say, WE KNOW.

In this chapter knowledge is connected with the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. That death was an undisputed bit of history, but how much more than that is it to the believer. It is the revelation of the heart of God, it has shown up the utter depravity of man in its true colors, it has made atonement for sin, it is the ground of the believer’s peace with God, it is that which has condemned the evil nature of man — sin — and set aside forever man in the flesh, as before God.

It is to that death the believer is baptized. This surely should not be an empty ordinance, a mere piece of ritual. It is, indeed, a solemn committal of the believer to all that the death of Christ means. It means our renunciation of all that our Lord died to. It means our turning our backs on the world that rejected Him.

The word, “buried,” is used in Romans 6 in connection with baptism. A buried man has surely died to the scene in which he once lived. Now if a man voluntarily and of his own volition goes to his own funeral — and this is exactly what happens to the believer — he surely believes he is going to gain by so doing. What a loss the believer incurs when he does not take into his practical life the inward meaning of the rite of his baptism! The believer is called upon to “walk in newness of life.” What bliss and happiness there is in this! How happy indeed it is to take up in power the first of our three dominant verbs — WE KNOW.

Next we come to the verb, RECKON. “Likewise RECKON ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (vs. 11). It is often asked, Are we to reckon what is not true to fact? The believer often retorts, “I feel anything but ‘dead indeed unto sin.’” The answer to the question is surely very certain. God, the God of truth, would never ask us to believe in an illusion. What He asks us to believe in must surely be a reality. The meaning of the passage is made clear when we lay emphasis on the closing words of the verse, “Through [or, in] Jesus Christ our Lord.”

An illustration may help. Suppose you had committed murder, and some substitute were accepted on your behalf, and were hand instead of you. The person who took your place would certainly be dead indeed unto sin. And would you not be clearly entitled to take the same position? It is thus with the believer. Christ has died on our behalf.

The efficacy of His death is all for us. Our connection with it is of the most vital character. It is in Him we can reckon ourselves “dead indeed unto sin.”

The practical result of this that the believer does not let sin reign in his mortal body (vs. 12). But not only so but the believer is to RECKON himself “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This involves walking in newness of life. To this end God has given the believer divine life, a life that loves God and His holy will; and also given the indwelling Holy Spirit, the power of that life.

Finally we come to the third of our three dominant verbs. We are exhorted to YIELD our members as “instruments of righteousness unto God” (vs. 13). This is what TO KNOW and TO RECKON leads to; viz., to YIELD. The members of our bodies, our tongues, our hands, our feet, our minds, are all to be yielded to God. No longer is the body to be the vehicle of our own wills, our own desires, whether they take the form of the refined and intellectual or, of what is too common alas! and where least expected, — the coarse and the sensual.

May I earnestly ask each young Christian to get into God’s presence about these three dominant verbs of Romans 6? Let them be DOMINANT in your life. Get upon your knees and do not rest till you have YIELDED to the will of God, and keep it up day by day till life’s little day is over.

Then will your life be really useful and for God’s glory. Otherwise you will miss the mark. You will be in the place of tremendous danger where Satan will assuredly get the advantage.

The Lord bless the reading of this article to your soul, and may it influence you EVERY day of your life.

A. J. POLLOCK.

With a Great Price.

IF our kind editor can spare me the space I should like to tell my younger readers a very simple story.

Some years ago passing through a little Scottish town not far from the Moray Firth, we turned aside to visit the “auld kirk.” I suppose it must have been Monday morning, for we found the caretaker busy with her duties. Seeing that we seemed a little interested, she volunteered to show us over the building, and told us much of, the history connected with it. When we came outside she said, “Now you must see the graves of the Covenanters,” and she led us to the hallowed spot in the kirkyard where sleep, I think, ten of those who had sealed their testimony with their blood. Then she began to speak of the negotiations, which were pending, for reunion among the Scottish churches, and asked me “What do you think about it?

“I am not sure that I know enough to give an opinion,” I answered, “I would rather hear what you think.”

Swift and decisive her answer came, “Should they give up what their fathers died for?” “No,” I said, “they should not,” and with that she was satisfied.

Today I want to pass that question on to you. You have an open Bible; you have access to God through the one Mediator. Jesus Christ the Righteous; you assemble freely to remember the Lord, to hear His Word, to praise and pray. You do it openly by daylight, not secretly after nightfall, fearing all the time lest soldiers lurk outside, to deliver to prison and death those who have been within.

Do you realize that countless saints of God have suffered imprisonment and torture even unto death that you may have such wonderful light and freedom? Have you never read of the Catacombs at Rome? of the fires of Smithfield? of the Dragonnades in France? of the Inquisition in Spain? yea, of an unnumbered multitude of martyrs who counted not their lives dear unto them?

I will speak of later times. You look for the Lord from heaven; you have heard that the Church is a heavenly stranger in this world, her home in heaven with Christ her Lord, who loved the church and gave Himself for it, and who awaits the moment when He shall present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

Do you know that many of those from whom these truths came to us suffered shame and persecution and the loss of all that makes life dear?

We who are nearing the end of the journey received the light of truth through them; we have sought to pass it on to you uncorrupted, we only wish we could have done it with far more urgency and power. Now we appeal to you, and we solemnly charge you to take the torch, bear it high, and carry it far.

You have perhaps been brought up in the sweet circle where all these precious truths are enjoyed and taught. You have always heard them and they have never meant very much to you. Not so did these, of whom I write, conceive their Christian calling. Their eyes had looked upon Him who though He was rich yet for their sakes had become poor; upon Him who had been despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, who alone had borne the cross, alone its grief sustained, who had gone down alone into those depths of woe that He might raise them to inherit the heights of glory with Him. His mighty love had made their hearts its willing captives, constraining them to live not unto themselves but unto Him who died for them, and rose again, and if need be gladly to die for His Name.

It is of course very comforting to believe that you will go to heaven when you die, and to know that God hears your prayers and helps you in your daily life, but if this is all with you, let me beseech you to turn to the Lord about these things, to seek Him earnestly until like Jeremiah the fire burns in your own soul, or like Isaiah the live coal from off the altar touches your lips. He can do this for you and He alone.

It is true we look for the Lord, indeed, we expect Him very soon; but should He in His wisdom delay a little while yet, make no mistake about it, perilous days will come, more dark and difficult than any that have been. The foes today are of a more subtle sort and half measures will not defeat them.

Beloved young saints, you have a great opportunity, the Lord grant you may not be found wanting!

“He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25).

L.R.

One of God's Heroes.

COLCHESTER Castle is well worth a visit. The fine old ruin is in a state of excellent preservation, and every corner of, it abounds with historical and archaeological associations. But the principal interest lies in a tiny room in one of the massive walls, for here in the year 1555, a youth named James Parnell, only 19 years of age, was imprisoned for many weary months. On inquiring for what breach of the law the poor lad was confined there, we were told that his only offense was that he loved the Lord Jesus, and had dared in public, to testify of Him as his own personal Saviour.

How James heard the truth of the gospel in that dark benighted age I cannot tell, but he was a native of Coggeshall in Essex, and historians tell us, that no other town of its size yielded more martyrs in the days of the Marian persecution.

Some few years before James was born, a dear old man had been burnt to death in a field in the center of that very village because he would not deny his Master. Clapping his hands, already alight and burning, over his head three times with exultation, his spirit went to be with Christ. So it is very probable that the seed thus sown, and watered with the martyrs blood, had taken root in his young heart, But the Coggeshall folk were furious with his preaching the simple tale of the Cross, and for this misdemeanor he was brought up on trial at Colchester, chained like a felon, and compelled to take his stand amongst murderers and such like evil doers.

Think of it, you who are young in years, what a test this must have been to the faith of a young disciple. For at 19, the world looks very bright and promising. Prospects ahead seem most attractive, and life at that age seems opening out with fair and golden visions for the future. James had health, manhood, vigor, earthly prosperity, and everything before him to aid his advancement in life. Will he not now disown his Saviour and thus secure the applause of all around him? To recant would be so easy; only the work of a moment, and what plausible reasons the devil would whisper to him for doing so.

Thank God, he did not recant. He chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”

He was sentenced to be shut up in this small dark hole in the Castle wall. There was only one means of entrance to it, and after ascending several ladders, he was obliged to climb the remaining distance by means of a rope that was suspended from the top of the Castle. His food was always placed for him to fetch from the yard below, and frequently he would prefer to go without his meal, rather than attempt the dangerous journey of descending after it.

One day however, overcome by hunger, he went down for his usual allowance and was returning with it in his hand. He had climbed the ladders and now stretched out his remaining hand to grasp the rope that dangled above his head. He had often done so before, but his many hardships and privations had told seriously on his health, and this time, unable to hold firmly on to the rope, he fell heavily on to the stones of the court yard below.

They thought he was dead when they picked him up, but after a time he revived again. Not even the sight of James’ intense suffering drew forth the slightest pity from the hard heart of his jailor; never a whit did he relax his cruel treatment.

Finding it was now quite impossible to carry him back to his solitary prison in the wall, he was laid in a hole near the ground, so small that it was known as “the oven.” None of his friends might visit him or bring him any comforts. But no wall could exclude his Saviour, and no jailor could hinder his happy fellowship with Him. For the Lord stood by His young servant, cheering him with His own heavenly company when all earthly intercourse was denied him, and James “rejoiced that he was counted worthy to suffer for His sake.”

One day, longing for a little fresh air, he dragged his aching limbs from “the oven,” into the yard outside. His keeper, with fiendish delight, locked him out for the night, though the snow lay thick on the ground. But his brutal treatment brought with it release to James from his sufferings and from his persecutors. He had been faithful unto death: he had won the martyr’s crown, and the Lord called him above. Those who witnessed his death, heard his songs of victory to the very end, and he passed away in triumph.

“Earth’s sad story, closed in glory

On you shore.”

In these days of indifference and cold-heartedness to Christ, do we not well to remind ourselves of those who were “strong in faith,” and to challenge our hearts by the apostle’s exhortation “whose faith follow.”

E. R. M.

What a divine thought, that is in John 8:34, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” Instead of being a man of pleasure and with independence the Lord says, the man that gratifies his lust is a slave, a captive — he serves iniquity.

The Eternal State.

Revelation 21:1-8.

THAT which will take place after the millennial reign of Christ, is more fully described in the first eight verses of Revelation 21, than in other portion of the Word of God.

Much in the way of judgment and administration takes place before the eternal state is reached, for it is written of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:25 that “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” Also we read “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands” (John 3:35) “And hath given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:27).

The work which He accomplished when He went to the Cross laid the basis whereby every vestige of sin would be removed from God’s creation as John the Baptist testified, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

But before He begins His strange work of judgment, He will come and take His own out of the world altogether, according to His word, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; land the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17). So they that are Christ’s at His coming will be safely housed before the Lord begins to shake terribly the earth.

Subsequently the Jews, the living nations, and Babylon the counterfeit church, will be judged by Him, while Heaven rejoices at the overthrow of the latter. Then the marriage of the Lamb is celebrated in Heaven, and the rider upon the white horse comes out in righteousness, to judge and make war, a sharp sword proceeding out of His mouth “that with it He should smite the nations... and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” His great adversaries, the beast, and the false prophet, are taken and both are cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. This we find in Revelation 19.

Afterward as we find in Revelation 20. Satan is bound and cast into the abyss, shut up and a seal set upon him for a thousand years; after which he is let loose for a little season, and goes forth to deceive the nations. The rebels are destroyed, and the devil who deceived them is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. Every enemy is now laid low, with the exception of death, who still holds the wicked dead in his iron grasp, the righteous having been raised at the commencement of the millennium.

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). So now John says “And I saw the dead... stand before God,... and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works,” being held up in space before the great white throne; the earth and the heaven having fled away, which is in keeping with 2 Peter 3:10. The heavens where Satan as the accuser of the brethren has access, and the earth where sin reigned unto death are utterly destroyed. “And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Rev. 20:14). Death referring to the body, and hades, to the soul, which are re-united, and consigned to their eternal doom.

All evil will then be forever gone and a new creation established. When, all enemies shall be thus disposed of, and sin forever removed from before God, by the Son of Man, (who as the Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world) “then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him, that put all things under Him, that God [The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost] may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

In the new heaven and new earth, there shall be no more sea. That which today separates the nations will be gone, and all national distinctions disappear, only MEN people the new earth. Their physical condition too will have undergone a change, which is consistent with this new order of things.

Then the Holy City, New Jerusalem comes down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. After being in Heaven for a thousand years, the church is seen in all her bridal beauty and attractiveness. Thus the tabernacle of God is with men, and God comes out of His dwelling place, and tabernacles with men on the earth, and shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

It would appear that the symbol of the tabernacle is used, it being a movable structure, to denote that the heavenly saints will not permanently occupy the new earth, otherwise we would have expected to find the temple used as a symbol, it being an abiding structure.

The heavenly saints coming down to earth would show that the new earth was entirely freed from sin, and that the heavenly company and the earthly could be brought together, whereas in the millennial scene the heavenly saints are seen reigning with Christ ABOVE OR OVER the earth; and however beautiful and beneficent that glorious reign is sin is still there, and whenever it appears, it is immediately judged, because righteousness reigns.

Heaven is the home of the heavenly saints. They are “not of this world” (John 17:14) and our resurrection bodies are called “a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). So in eternity distinction between the heavenly and earthly peoples will be preserved.

The earthly people who fill the new earth are those who live on earth to the end of the millennium as seen in Revelation 7, and 14. And those who have been martyred during the persecutions, after the church has been caught up will come in for heavenly blessing, and are thus gainers by suffering martyrdom.

God Himself proclaims from the throne, “Behold I make all things new.” He alone is the source of all blessing and action in the eternal state. The Lamb is stiff there for He is the one indicated as the Husband of the bride (in vs. 2) and Man He still remains, but He does not appear in these verses. All evil having been put away by Him, He is subject to Him who put all things under Him.

All is now fixed, settled, and sinless, where righteousness forever dwells. God rests in His love, and the heavenly saints eternally dwell in the new heavens.

In keeping with the “tabernacle” as a moving structure, it would be consistent for the heavenly saints to visit other parts of God’s creation as it is said, “All things are yours,” yet the new Heavens will ever be their Eternal Home.

To use a simple illustration, the Prince of Wales with his attendants may visit the various dependencies of the British Empire, but England is their Home.

W. DUNS.

Our Scripture Portion.

(1 Tim. 1:18. — 2:15).

If you do no read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

In verse 18 the Apostle returns to the main theme of the epistle. In verse 3 he had referred to Timothy’s position at Ephesus: he had been left there to charge some against turning aside from the truth. In verse five he had shown what is the end or object of all the charges which God commits to His people. Now he comes to the charge which is the burden of the present epistle from the beginning of chapter 2 to the end of chapter 6.

Before starting his charge to Timothy he reminds him of three things that might well emphasize in his mind the weight and importance of what he was going to say. First, that he had been marked out beforehand by prophetic utterance for the important service that he had to fulfill. Timothy was indeed a very distinguished servant of God, and we might at once feel inclined to excuse ourselves on the ground that we are not at all what he was. That is true. But while this fact may possibly preclude us from doing much in the way of enforcing God’s charge upon other Christians it in no way exempts us from the obligation to read, understand and obey the charge ourselves.

Second, that only by holding faith and a good conscience could the faith of God be preserved in its integrity, and with the preservation of that faith the charge was concerned. Have we all digested this fact? We all recognize the doctrine of “justification by faith” but do we equally recognize the doctrine of “faith-preservation by faith”? Our little Braque is launched upon the ocean of truth by faith, but do we now successfully navigate that ocean by intellect, by reason, by scientific deductions? Not so, but rather by faith and the maintenance of a good conscience. The Scriptures are the chart by which we navigate but the discerning and understanding eye which alone reads the chart aright is not intellect nor reason but FAITH, though when faith has done its work the chart discloses to us things which satisfy and overpower the highest intellects. Conscience is our compass, but a conscience that has been dulled and tampered with is as useless as a compass which has been demagnetized.

How do we maintain a good conscience? By honestly obeying that which we see to be the will of God as revealed in His Word. Disobedience will immediately give us a bad conscience. If we let go faith which enables to discern the truth, and a good conscience which keeps us in practical conformity to it, we soon make shipwreck of the faith.

In the third place Timothy was reminded of two men whose history was like a warning beacon. They had let go faith and a good conscience and had gone to such lengths in error that Paul brands them as blasphemers and in his capacity as an apostle had delivered them to Satan. This was something beyond excommunication, which is an act of the church, as may be seen in 1 Corinthians 5:3-5. This delivering unto Satan was an apostolic act, and carried with it terrible consequences, as may be seen in the case of Job in the Old Testament.

In the light of these solemnizing considerations Paul commences his charge to Timothy in verse 1 of chapter 6 His first exhortation is significant. In the end of chapter 3 he tells us that the church — to which Timothy belonged, and to which we belong — is the “house of God” for God is dwelling today in the midst of His redeemed people. Now it was always God’s intention that His house should be called “an house of prayer for all people” (Isa. 66:7). The temple in Jerusalem should have been this, as our Lord’s words in Mark 11:17 show, and how much more so the house in which God dwells today? Only at the present time God’s house has taken such a form that all nations do not come to it in order to pray, but rather the believers who form the house being also the household, “an holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5), they take the place of prayer and intercession with all men in view.

The great mass of mankind is wholly out of touch with God. In Paul’s day the majority were worshippers of dumb idols and it is not otherwise today. How important then that we Christians should be busy in this service which is exclusively ours. In it we have immense scope for the only limit set is “all men” and then again for “kings and for all that are in authority.” We are to pray for all such and to give thanks as well. God is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil so we may well render thanks on their behalf.

Our prayers for those in authority have a good deal of reference to ourselves: it is that we may be permitted to live godly lives in quietness and tranquility. Those who compose God’s house should carry upon them the stamp of godliness, and although times of persecution may be overruled of God for the promotion of courage and endurance amongst His people, yet it is in times of quietness and rest that most they are edified and established, as Acts 9:31 bears record.

But in praying for all men generally our requests are to be purely evangelic. The God whom we approach is a Saviour God who desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Have we come to the knowledge of the truth ourselves? Then we have found it to be salvation and we are put into touch with a Saviour God and His character is stamped upon us. He desires the salvation of men and so do we. In our case the natural outlet for our evangelic desires is prayer.

The expression of God’s loving desire for men is far different, being found in the ransom gift of Christ. God indeed is one — this fact was made manifest in the Old Testament, in contrast to the many gods of the heathen — the Mediator between God and men is equally one, the Man Christ Jesus. The priest craft of Rome has built up in the minds of its votaries an elaborate system of many mediators, but here is one sentence of Scripture which demolishes its system at one blow.

Long before Christ appeared the hearts of men yearned for a mediator. The book of Job is evidence of this, for that patriarch felt the immense gulf that lay between God and himself. “He is not a man as I am” was his complaint, “neither is there any Daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both” (9:32, 33). The One who takes up the part of Daysman or Mediator must Himself be God to fully represent God, and must be Man to rightly represent man. The Man Christ Jesus is He. Being Man we have no need of further men to come in as subsidiary mediators between Him and ourselves.

And then, oh wonder of wonders! the Mediator became the Ransom. Being Man He could rightly offer Himself as the ransom price for men, and being God there was infinite value in the ransom price that He offered. Hence none are excluded on God’s part. His desires for the salvation of men embrace all: the ransom work of Christ had all in view. This is one of those Scriptures that states the scope and bearing of the death of Christ rather than its actual realized effects. All are not saved, as we know sadly enough, but the blame of that lies upon their side and not upon God’s. The tidings of Christ’s ransom work are the subject of gospel testimony in the appointed season. Now is that appointed season and the Apostle himself was the great herald thereof in the Gentile world.

All this has been brought before us by the Apostle to enforce upon us how necessary it is that prayer for all men, and not only for ourselves and our own small interests, should mark the church of God if it is to rightly to set forth the God whose house it is. But who are to actually voice the church’s prayers? The answer is, the men. The word used in this eighth verse is not the one which means mankind, the human race in general, but that which means man distinctively, the male as contrasted with the female.

Verse 8 then brings before us that which is to characterize Christian men, and verse 9 to 15 that which is to characterize Christian women. The men are to be marked by holiness and the absence of anger and doubting, or “reasoning” as it more literally is. But then the reasoner usually becomes a doubter so that there is not much difference between the two words. Any breakdown in holiness, any allowance of anger or reasoning is an effectual barrier to effectual prayer, and indicates that there is but little sense of the presence of God.

The women too are to be sensible of the presence of God. Those addressed are spoken of as “Women professing godliness” or more literally “Women professing the fear of God.” The woman living in the fear of God will not run after the extremes of fashion but rather adorn herself in the modest and quiet way of which verse 9 speaks. Moreover she will practice good works and also be content to take the place which God has assigned to her. That place is governed by two considerations, according to this passage. First, there was God’s original act in creation giving priority and headship to the man. This is mentioned in verse 13. Then there is that which happened at the fall when Eve took the leadership and was deceived, and of this verse 14 speaks.

There is not the slightest ambiguity about this passage. There is really no doubt as to what it teaches. Nor is there any uncertainty about the reasons given for woman’s place of subjection and quietness in God’s house. Those reasons have nothing to do with any peculiar prejudices of the Apostle as a Jew or as a bachelor, as some would have us believe. They are founded in God’s original order in creation, and in that order confirmed and perhaps accentuated as the result of the fall. Genesis 3:16 is explicit in naming two results which were to follow for the woman consequent upon her sin. The second of those two results is alluded to in the verses we have been considering, while the first result is alluded to in verse 15 of our chapter, and in connection with that a gracious proviso is attached, no mention of which is found in Genesis 3.

The modern feminist movement must of necessity come into violent collision with the instructions here laid down, and end by rejecting this small portion of the Word of God. This rejection may seem to the unthinking a comparatively harmless thing. But is it so? There is the allied modernist movement which comes into equally violent collision with the truth of the virgin birth of Christ, with His atoning death, with His resurrection. There is just as much reason — or just as little — for conceding the point in the one case as in the other. True, we may not have the slightest wish to concede the point to the modernist, and we may have a good deal of feeling as to matters raised by the feminist but to be swayed by such feelings is to stand on dangerous and uncertain ground. Are we then to virtually say that we believe what commends itself to our way of thinking and what does not we reject? Away with such a thought!

May all our readers stand honestly and happily and altogether upon the authority and integrity of the Word of God.

F. B. HOLE.

In the deep places, Lord,

I learn Thy love below,

As all the heights of joy above

Could never make me know.

Answer to a Correspondent.

PLAISTOW. — When I first knew the Lord I was told that believing in Him I should be baptized. Since then I have been told that baptism is really only for Jews. Is this right?

THE significance of baptism is, in one word, dissociation. The baptized person is there committed to the death of Christ: he is buried with Him. This being so it is not difficult to see that for a Jew baptism is charged with special force and meaning, inasmuch as he of all people has so much from which to be dissociated. Once his eyes are opened to the truth he finds himself a part of that nation especially responsible for the death of Christ, upon whom His blood rests in the way of condemnation. To him comes the word, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation,” and gladly receiving that word he is baptized after the fashion of that which took place on the day of Pentecost. See Acts 2:37 to 41.

All this is clear. Yet this does not mean that baptism has nothing to do with converted Gentiles. Scripture indicates otherwise. When the first Gentiles were converted and received into the bosom of the church, what happened? Jewish prejudice would have kept them at a distance but God Himself settled the matter by the gift of the Spirit. Those who would have forbidden baptism to Cornelius and his friends were silenced and that privilege was conferred upon them, as Acts 10:44 to 48 show us. This was, remember, in the nature of a test case, and thus was it settled.

Nor is it otherwise when we turn to the epistles. The assembly at Rome was mainly composed of Gentiles (See, 1:13) yet in chapter 6. Paul bases important truth upon the fact of their baptism, which would have been unthinkable had the majority among them never been baptized at all. The same thing is found in Colossians 2:12, and that assembly was preeminently a Gentile one.

There can be no doubt therefore that though baptism has a special force in the case of the Jew it is equally a privilege intended for the Gentile.

The Lord will never admit of unity or harmony at the expense of truth or godliness, or of His own glory. The great witness of that is Babel. There the whole family were of one speech and of one language, but because they said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven,” the Lord of heaven came down to scatter them. On the other hand, the harmonies which He purposes will be the display of His glory, and the sustainment of truth and godliness; and the greatest and chiefest and deepest of them all (the oneness of Christ and His members) is the most glorious expression of His glory. In the sight of this we can sing with renewed vigor of soul,

Lord Jesus, are we one with Thee,

O height, O depth of love!

In Old Fields.

SOME chapters in the Bible hold a very special place because of the profoundly vital truths they teach. No preacher needs to offer any apology if he repeatedly calls attention to them — indeed, their immense importance demands that he should do so. The third chapter of the Gospel of John is one of these.

Think of the story with which it opens — that man of the Pharisees, steeped to his ears in religion, coming to the Lord Jesus by night. Possibly a better man than he never walked the streets of his native town. No mere moralist was he. Why religion was the business of his life! And yet the Lord told that man — earnestly, lovingly, emphatically, I doubt not — that unless born again he could never see nor enter God’s kingdom. Did you ever think of it? Anything more sweeping, going down to the very root of things, could not have been said to him had he― Nicodemus — been a devourer of widow’s houses, a hypocrite, a maker of long prayers for the sake of gain. Astonished, dumbfounded at what he heard, this man stood before the Lord, crying out in the amazement of his soul, “How can these things be?”

That great necessity — the new birth requires to be strenuously insisted on today. The need of this vital, indispensable work in the soul of man is not seen, or, if once seen, is being fast forgotten, passing out of sight like a ship at sea as it sinks below the distant horizon. For this is the day of the social gospel preached from a thousand pulpits. Here is the burden of it: “Make men sober, educate them; give them better dwellings, more work, higher wages, shorter hours, extra means of enjoyment, weekend holidays, and other items of the same kind.”

Very well, let them have all these and more, and when they have them, what then? Can any of these things arrest the flight of time, stay the advance of old age, or hinder the coming of that unwelcome visitor who grimly beckons men away from the busy scenes of life and bids them lie down in the narrow bed prepared for them in the crowded cemetery or quiet churchyard? With all this boasted progress, men will still need to be born again — born of the Spirit, or remain forever outside God’s kingdom. All that the social gospel gives, or rather promises, stands on the earthward side of the grave; and as for eternity — that never-ending stretch of time — it does not pretend to deal with that. But what does it profit though a man wear a crown and rule an empire if he pass away leaving all behind, only to meet on the other side the sins which he cannot escape, and for which he will have to answer before the great white throne?

“What win I if I gain the thing I seek?

A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.

Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week?

Or sells eternity to get a toy?

For one sweet grape, who will the wine destroy?

Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,

Would with the scepter strait be stricken down?”

And here I would earnestly inquire whether this social gospel is identical with that which the Lord commanded should be preached to every creature. What has it to say to the King and Queen, to the lords and commoners of England and their ladies, to the men of high social standing, of wealth and liberal education? What message does it bring to them — any or none? They have souls to be saved, have they not, or are they all right for the next world because of advantages inherited in this? Have they but to lead decent lives, use their influence and gold to help the poor and to further works of charity, and having done this, will they be quite sure of a high place in heaven when they die? Or is it a fact that in the sight of God all men stand on a common platform and all need to be born again if they would have part in that kingdom over which God rules? The latter is undoubtedly the case.

But what is this new birth, this being born of water and of the Spirit, that everybody needs? It is nothing less than a new life implanted in the soul, a new moral being having a nature that answers to it. It is no betterment of anything a man already possesses.

It is the communication of what is wholly new. Let what a man is born with be cultivated, refined, polished, made bright and beautiful as burnished gold, it is only “flesh,” and never can be anything else. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” —nothing more. Can the Ethiopian change this skin? Black he is, and black he must remain though, in hope of making himself white, he washes himself every day with soap till he is ready to drop. No moral process can change man’s nature, he must be born again, and this is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit, who uses the Word as His instrument to accomplish it — a man is born of water and of the Spirit.

But there is more in this great chapter. The Lord goes on to speak of the lifting up of the Son of Man. What does that mean, when did it take place, and for what end? He tells the tale of Israel’s sin centuries ago in the wilderness — of the serpent of brass lifted up so that all the dying might see, if they were but willing to look; and when they looked they lived. It is of a truth an astonishing story. But that was only a shadow: the substance is here. Behold the Son of Man lifted up on the cross of Calvary dying that we might live, dying to make atonement for our sins, dying to close up in His death our history as men in the flesh, dying, in short, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Life eternal! Mark the term. This means more than the new birth common to all times. It is a word of another style and quality, a richer term with a broader outlook and wider range of blessing. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Here is the most profoundly blessed thing that mortal man can ever have on earth or in heaven, even the knowledge of the Father and of His Son Jesus Christ―it is everlasting life, the present portion of every believer in Him.

May, I pause here, to ask you, whether you know aught of these momentous matters? Is there any link between your soul and Christ? What has His dying done for you? Have you ever been alone with Him? Have you knelt at His feet as a sinner needing to be saved? Has His great love won your heart? Can you say that He is your Saviour and that He has taught you to call His Father your Father and His God your God? (John 20:17). If so, life everlasting is yours — forever yours.

But of all the verses in this glorious chapter the sixteenth is the grandest. It is like a mountain among mountains whose majestic peak, rising high above the rest, pierces the very clouds. It begins with God, the Fountain of all blessedness. It reveals the amazing fact that He has loved the world — the pale-faced European, the swarthy sons of Africa, the copper-colored Malay, the yellow races of the far East — He has loved them all, so loved them as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Here is news! Oh, let it be sounded far and wide that every ear may hear it Here is a story of love and infinite blessing that urgently calls for messengers—consecrated men and women—willing to run at His command and tell it upon the burning plains of Africa, upon the ice fields of the Eskimos, under the hot skies of India, in the crowded cities of China and in places nearer home, in streets and alleys and slums, and in the gilded saloons where the children of wealth and pleasure go. God so loved that He gave — gave His best gift―the Son of His love, gave Him up for the worst, the vilest, yea, for all the sons and daughters of our ruined race. Yes, the love of God, great, mighty, measureless, lay behind it all. And to this end was He given, that whosoever believeth might have everlasting life. And let us mark the whosoever. It is a spacious word, broad, all-embracing, leaving none out. Blessed be God!

Observe the certainty with which the chapter speaks. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned.” Could words be plainer? Could words be surer? There is no judgment, no condemnation for the simple believer in the Son of God. If words mean anything, it must be so. And what strong confidence it gives to know this on divine authority. “For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God” (vs. 34). These words are veritable coins from God’s own mint, with the color and ring of heaven about them. Nor would anything less do. A trivial matter might be allowed to rest on a doubtful basis, but what concerns the soul — matters of infinite moment — must have a sure foundation. Nothing can be surer than “the words of God.” All else may pass away, but these remain. Here faith finds its warrant. He has said it. He that believeth... is not condemned.” That is enough we can rest there.

The closing verse of our chapter is equally plain and decisive. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” The simplest soul can understand this. With such words before them the harassed may give to the winds their doubts and fears. “The words of God” are a sure resting-place. They are no quicksands, treacherous, yielding to pressure, suffering the one who stands on them to sink and perish. Firm as the everlasting hills are “the words of God,” and on them we build all our hopes for the future and draw from them all our present support.

Let us read this wonderful chapter once again. Let us dig and delve into its exhaustless mines of wealth. Here the poor may find true riches, the weary everlasting rest. It is like the boundless sea on whose shores a little child may play, and in whose deep waters strong men may swim.

W. B.

"Doth not Even Nature Itself Teach You."

THIS question, “Doth not even nature itself teach you?” (1 Cor. 11:14) is capable of a wider application than the specific case in view in this passage. Indeed it is undoubtedly a general principle applied to this particular case. We are, therefore, entitled to use it in a general way.

We must by no means overlook the particular case of which the passage treats. Indeed we ought most carefully to observe it, especially Christian women, since behind all the movements of the world and of fashion lies the god of this age, and his object is the breaking down of all the differences and barriers which God has erected. Thus will Satan’s schemes be more readily brought to fruition. Still we purpose in this paper to look at the general application of the principle, which has greatly helped the writer.

Take the question of inspiration. The Bible is inspired. Creation is inspired or God-made. Inspiration means God-breathed. Creation is the product of the word of God (Heb. 11:3). “He spake [God breathed], and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psa. 33:9). The Bible, too, is the Word of God, God-breathed.

Often one has thought how many things might have been spared out of the Bible, and not be missed. Such a thought is foolish of course and should be refused. But such thoughts cross many minds. Take an extreme case.

Professor F. W. Newman, once an active professing Christian, but who became skeptical, once asked J. N. Darby what use was the verse, “The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee and the books but especially the parchments” (2 Tim. 4:13).

Mr. Darby at once replied, “Why that was the very verse that saved me from scattering my library.”

Take such a verse as “He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow; and the father of a fool hath no joy” (Prov. 17:21). We might suggest that the second half of the verse is only a variation of the first, and could be dispensed with.

Yes; there are a thousand primroses on the bank side in spring. We could dispense with half the number. No, God gives in nature with prodigality. We might never have had, for instance, the musk rat or the sweet scented violet, and probably we should have been in one sense none the poorer, but God gives liberally in nature, and so, if I find a liberality of expression or description in Holy Scripture I am not surprised.

Indeed, one is absolutely amazed at the liberality of God in nature. One might ask. What is the use of flowers? Vegetables and fruits we can understand, but why flowers? God is not a mere utilitarian. He is a lover of form and color and scent, or else He would have not strewn the world with these things with lavish hand. Ask the wan invalid in the hospital why God made flowers, and her face will light up, and a warm answer be given. So with the Word of God. We have the same God to do with.

Spurgeon tells of a godly man, who closed his eyes when sailing down the Rhine, in case the beauties of nature should divert his mind from spiritual themes. The austere Puritan would not look at the exquisite moss rose, as he would count nothing on earth beautiful.

The writer loves to look upon the beauty of beast and flower, of rolling landscape or sequestered valley, of mighty mountain or lonely dell, and say, “My Lord Jesus Christ made that.”

Rather would I be in company with J. H. Barrows, who said, “The Himalayas are the raised letters upon which we blind children put our fingers to spell out the name of God.”

Take the question of numbers and their significance in Scripture. One means unity, three full testimony, five the number of a man, seven perfection, eight resurrection, twelve administration, etc., etc.

Someone may exclaim, There is no end to your imagination if you can see symbolical signification in numbers. But the astronomer, the geologist, the zoologist, the botanist, the naturalist will tell you that certain numbers dominate created things. The planets are governed by laws that are clearly marked by numbers. So with the other departments of knowledge.

Take one instance — the number four in Scripture, which symbolizes that which is universal, i.e., the four ends of the earth, the four winds of heaven, etc.

There are four things which make up the universe — air, solid matter, liquids, fire — outside of these there is nothing. Many instances can be furnished, but space forbids.

Take a last illustration. A lady once hotly contested the idea that it was necessary for anyone to die for her. She did not need the death of Christ for her salvation.

She was met by the question, “How do you sustain your natural life?”

“What has that to do with it?” she retorted.

“Never mind, answer the question,” was the reply.

Of course she was obliged to admit that her natural life was supported by feeding on death, that without sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice she could not maintain even her natural life.

And was it not reasonable to urge, “Doth not even nature itself teach you?” as an analogy? How the Lord Himself tells us, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you” (John 6:53). Of course this graphic way of putting it does not mean literally, but eating and drinking are symbolical of the most thorough appropriation possible. Unless we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our own personal Saviour there is neither reception nor maintaining of spiritual life.

“Doth not even nature itself teach you?” is one sentence in the inspired Word of God, we can be deeply thankful for, and use it as God will teach us the analogy between His ways in nature and grace; never forgetting the immense and peculiar difference between the two. In the book of nature we read the lessons of the first; in the book of revelation, the inspired Word of God, we read the lessons of the second.

The book of nature reveals God’s fingers (Psa. 8:3); the book of revelation His heart. The former tells us of His originality, design, forethought, omnipotence; the latter reveals Himself, His heart, His love, His design in the creation of man and His ways in blessing Him.

The subject is vast, We have only been able to write suggestively and necessarily in a very scrappy manner as space forbids enlargement, inviting as the theme is.

A. J. POLLOCK.

"Save … to the Uttermost."

(Heb. 7:25.)

“OUTERMOST” is quite an old fashioned expression, in fact today it is almost absolete. Some years back however, on every farm lease in Essex, and on every farm plan, the measurements of a field were always given in its “outermost,” as well as its “innermost” area.

For instance, you might hire a field of 21 acres “outermost” measure, and yet only be able to plough 19 acres of it, which would be its “innermost” size. The hedges all round the field have to be allowed for, also the ditches. There might be a small pond-hole in one corner, and possibly a path running across the land. None of these items would produce corn, but all must be included in the total acreage of the farm. Swampy marshes, sandy heaths and woods, all have, to be totaled. Hence the difference between the “outermost” acres of a farm, and those capable of tillage was frequently great. The farmer had to reckon on so much “innermost” or valuable land, with a considerable proportion of “outermost” or unproductive land.

The pathway of every Christian as he journeys home, is along an uphill road. At times, we may find “still waters” and lie down on “green pastures,” but there are steep rugged places to climb, and we travel over barren uncongenial soil that seems impossible for fruit bearing. We are journeying through a waste howling wilderness, through a dry and thirsty land wherein is no water, where the desert sands are hot, scorching our feet, and where enemies mighty and numerous abound.

What a joy to know that our Shepherd not only provides the pleasant innermost “circumstances of our lives, but the contrary and difficult ones also are under His control, so that our Guide is “able to save to the outermost” ones too. Thanks be to His name!

C. E. M.

Christians.

WHEN the Gospel was winning its early triumphs under the preaching of the apostles and converts were multiplying greatly in Jerusalem the people had no difficulty in naming the new movement. Well accustomed as they were to the old sects of the Pharisees, Sadducees, etc., they simple recognized in these people a new sect, that of the Nazarenes.

In a Gentile city such as Antioch the case was different. When a great conversion work sprang up in their midst and many believers were found amongst them they had to distinguish them by some distinctive title. They had no precedents to guide them and hence there was nothing for it but to scrutinize and observe them until seizing their salient feature a descriptive name should occur to them. At last the looked-for word was found, “And the disciples were called CHRISTIANS first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26).

The word itself was just a tag or label attached to these early disciples for convenience sake, yet its choice was a happy one and consequently we find the name soon traveling far outside the confines of Antioch.

Not many years passed and it was used publicly by Herod Agrippa (See, Acts 26:28) and, what is more important, the Holy Ghost adopts it when He speaks of a man suffering “as a Christian” (1 Peter 4:16).

It seems then that the name was at once recognized as appropriate and not just a fancy name capriciously given. This would lead us to inquire what there was about these early converts at Antioch which suggested such a title to the onlookers. If we read Acts 11:19-26 we shall see.

1. The evangelists who visited Antioch were not men of note. Had they been, one of their names might have been seized upon and some kind of a title constructed out of it. No, they were only humble ordinary strangers from a distance but they were full of one subject. They spake “preaching the Lord Jesus.” Jesus as Lord was their one and only theme.

2. Consequently when a great number believed they “turned unto the Lord.” Becoming the Object of their faith He became to them the supreme Master and Authority. From all the powers that formerly had held dominion over them they turned to Jesus and He was their Lord.

3. When a man of note, Barnabas, did arrive on the scene he exhorted them all, “that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord.” He said in effect, “Let nothing divert you from the Lord. He has been preached to you, you have turned to Him, now let nothing turn you aside from personal dealings with Him and from wholehearted subjection to His authority.” He only the more firmly attached the converts to the Lord Himself.

4. Consequently the work went on in its original purity and power and “much people was added to the Lord.” The disciples were numbered now by hundreds rather than scores, and what is more important they were all still marked, by subjection to the Lord.

Such very personal dealings with the Lord as these left their inevitable mark upon these disciples. As they learned His will and were subject to it the very mind of Christ was formed in them and became expressed in their lives. Just as the molten metal is run into the coin-mold and takes on the image and superscription of the King, so they had the image and superscription of Christ upon them. It did not need much discernment to give them a name. The Antioch folk soon said, “These are Christians!”

More might well be said, but we are going to content ourselves for the moment with the raising of a question which might well give rise to some serious thoughts and even heart-searching on the part of both writer and readers. It is this, —

If up to the present the whole matter had not been raised and the folk in the district where we live were watching us wondering what would be an appropriate name to give us, is it at all likely that they would hit upon the name of CHRISTIAN; and if not, what other name would our characters and lives be likely to suggest?

Our Scripture Portion.

(1 Tim. 3:1 — 4:5).

If you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Head thoughtfully.

THE third chapter is a continuation of the same general theme as occupied us in our reading of the second chapter; viz., the behavior that becomes believers as being in the house of God. That this is the general subject is plainly stated in verse 15 of our chapter.

Now God is a God of order and hence in the Christian assembly where He dwells all things are to be done “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). For the furtherance of this the two offices of Bishop and Deacon had been established in the church, and are referred to in this chapter.

From the first verse it would appear that there were some at Ephesus who were aspiring to become bishops. The Apostle acknowledges that what they aimed at was a good work but he insists in this connection upon the all-importance of character. It is not that the bishop may have all the spiritual qualifications that he mentions, but that he must. Moreover, before he is appointed to take care of the, church of God the must have proved his fitness for such a work by the way in which he has governed the far smaller and humbler sphere of his own household. He must not be a novice, one who though possibly well on in years is only a beginner in the things of God, else being lifted up with pride in his new-found importance he may fall into the very fault that caused the overthrow of Satan at the beginning. Diotrephes, who is spoken of in 3 John 9 and 10 would seem to be an illustration of what is meant.

In many of the primitive churches bishops or elders were officially appointed, in others they do not appear to have been. But even if duly appointed the one thing that would confer real weight upon them would be the character of Christian godliness that Paul here describes. Who would be disposed to pay attention to their exhortations otherwise, or submit themselves to their shepherd care and direction in spiritual things? Moreover there was the outside world to be considered, as verse? states. The world has sharp eyes and quickly hurls reproach if there is the least ground for it: and to accomplish this the devil lays his snares.

The word translated “bishop” simply means “overseer.” The word “deacon” means “servant,” There are many services to be rendered in the church that are not primarily of a spiritual nature, such as those mentioned in Acts 6. But if men are to handle such ordinary matters as these in the service of God they need to possess very definite and high spiritual qualifications, and to be tested first ere they begin.

The wives of deacons are specially mentioned in verse 11. This is doubtless because diaconal service was of such a nature that they not infrequently took part in it. Phoebe, for instance, was “a servant [deaconess] of the church which is at Cenchrea” (Rom. 16:1), and was highly commended by the Apostle.

We must remember that bishops and deacons were to possess this sterling Christian character inasmuch as they were to set an example to the mass of believers who looked up to them. Hence all of us reading this chapter today must accept these verses as delineating the character which God desires to see in us. Can we read them without feeling rebuked? How about that greed of money, or the slander, or even the being double-tongued―the saying of one thing in one direction and quite another thing in another direction? Pretty searching considerations, these!

The service of a deacon might seem a very small matter, but nothing in God’s service is really small. Verse 13 definitely states that such service faithfully rendered is the way to higher and larger things. This is clearly illustrated for us in the subsequent history of two who are mentioned in Acts 6:5. Stephen advanced to become the first Christian martyr: Philip to become a greatly used preacher of the Gospel, the only man designated an evangelist in Scripture (See, Acts 21:8). Every true servant of God has begun with, small and humble things, so let none of us despise and shirk them, as naturally we are inclined to do.

Notice that phrase in verse 7, “them which are without.” At the beginning things were quite sharply defined. A man was either within the church of God or part of the great world without, for the church and the world were visibly distinct. Now, alas! it is otherwise. The world has invaded the church and the lines of demarcation are blurred. Not blurred, of course, to God’s view, but very much so to ours. It is consequently far more difficult for us to understand how wonderful a place is God’s house and the conduct that becomes it.

Verse 13 tells us that the house of God is the church of the living God. We are evidently to understand that the fact of our being a part of the church, and therefore in the house, is not a mere idea void of practical significance. The living God dwells there and He has said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them” (2 Cor. 6:16). He scrutinizes everything and He operates there as is illustrated in Acts 5:1-11. Hence we should be marked by suitable conduct.

Then again, the church is “the pillar and ground [or, base] of the truth.” Pillars had a two-fold use. They were largely used as supports, but they were also commonly erected not to support anything but to bear an inscription as a memorial. The reference here is, we believe, to the latter use. God intends that the truth shall not only be stated in the inspired words of Scripture but also exemplified in the lives of His people. The church is to be like a pillar reared up on its base on which the truth is inscribed for all to see, and that in a living way for the church is “the church of the living God.”

The church then is not the authoritative teacher and interpreter of truth as Rome claims but the living witness to the truth which is authoritatively set forth in Scripture. To differentiate between these two things and to keep them in their right relative places in our minds is of extreme importance. AUTHORITY lies in the very word of God which we have in Scripture alone. The living witness to what Scripture sets forth is found in the church, but at the present moment that witness is sadly obscured though it will be perfect and complete in glory. Compare verse 23 and 21 of John 17, and note that what the world has failed to “believe” now it will “know” when the church is perfected in glory.

If verse 15 speaks of the church as the witness to the truth verse 16 gives a wonderful unfolding of that which lies at the heart of truth, the very revelation of God Himself, spoken of as “the mystery of godliness.” There is no thought here of godliness being a mysterious thing. The force of the sentence is rather — that beyond all question great is the hidden spring from whence flows such godliness as is here taught. The godliness displayed by saints in different ages was always in keeping with such knowledge of God as was available to them, and never went beyond it. The New Testament unquestionably indicates a higher type of godliness than the Old Testament. But why? Because we now have not a partial but a full revelation of God.

The godliness then which the Apostle enjoins is only produced as we know God. In the revelation of God lies its great “mystery” or “secret.” It is a secret because made in a way not appreciated by the world but only by believers. “God was manifest in the flesh” in Christ, but in seeing Him unbelievers found “no beauty that they should desire Him,” only believers in seeing Him saw the Father. Verse 16, then, is a condensed summary of the way God has revealed Himself in Christ.

The verse is one that baffles the profoundest meditation―as we might expect., It consists of seven terse statements, six of them summarizing the great revelation. The first of the six shows us God manifested in Manhood, and the last shows us the Man Christ Jesus, in whom God was manifested, received up into glory. The intervening four give us various ways in which the reality of that manifestation was realized.

God was “justified in the Spirit.” Compare with Romans 1:4. The resurrection justified Jesus, declaring Him “Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness” when the world had crucified Him as an impostor. After all, He was God manifested in the flesh.

“Seen of angels.” Had angels ever really seen God before? Certainly not as they saw Him when the great outburst of angelic praise took place at Bethlehem.

“Preached unto the Gentiles” or “proclaimed among the nations,” for He had been so really manifested in historic fashion as to become the subject of gospel witness among the peoples who had been far from the actual scenes of His manifestation.

“Believed on in the world.” Not by the world, notice, but in the world. Though the world knew Him not yet His manifestation was not an intangible something existing only in the subjective consciousness of the onlookers or hearers, but something real and objective, verified, by competent witness and hence received by those in whom faith existed.

The one who knows by faith this real, true, historic Christ, the true God Manifested in flesh, and who as Man has gone up into glory, possesses the secret of a life of godliness. No unbeliever can possibly be godly though he may be of most kindly and amiable disposition as a natural man.

Verse 1 of chapter 4 must be read in connection with the last two verses of chapter 3. God dwells in the church as His house by the Holy Spirit and the church is the pillar on which the truth is inscribed. Now the indwelling Spirit speaks in defense of the truth, warning of the devices of the devil to be expected in the latter times, and He speaks expressly, there is no indefiniteness about His utterances.

When the Apostle wrote the Holy Spirit was still giving inspired messages through prophets, as we see in Acts 13:2. The apostles and prophets who were the vehicles of inspiration belonged to the foundation of the church (See, Eph. 2:20) and inspiration has ceased, though we have as the result of it the Holy Scriptures. Still though He no longer speaks in that authoritative way He abides with us forever and His direction may often be perceived by those who have eyes to see.

The Spirit’s warning in the first three verses has often been taken as applying to Romanism. We believe that the reference is rather to that deliberate trafficking with demons which we see today in spiritism. It is true that Rome imposes celibacy on her clergy which looks like a fulfillment of the opening words of verse 3. Spiritism advocates both celibacy and vegetarianism as necessary if anyone aspires to be a good “medium,” and this fulfils both parts of the verse.

The Holy Spirit then warns us that His speaking will be imitated by unholy and seducing spirits, their object always being to turn away from the faith. They may pose as being very cultured, and as wishing to refine our food on aesthetic grounds, and this may be all that is in the mind of their dupe, who acts as the medium, yet the unclean demon who manipulates the dupe has other thoughts and his ulterior aim is ever the overthrow of the faith. If they can divert from the faith and inculcate their doctrines their end is achieved.

Men may raise prejudice against sound doctrine by calling it dogma, but they only end by substituting some other doctrines, probably the doctrines of demons. So, you see, DOCTRINE DOES MATTER after all.

F. B. HOLE.

Answers to Correspondents.

Does Isaiah 63:3 refer to our Lord’s pathway alone in this world to the cross, or is the meaning judgment, as in Lamentations 1:15, and also Revelation 14:19 and 19:15? — PARKGATE.

THE meaning is judgment as may be seen more clearly if the whole context be considered. The sixtieth chapter gives a glowing description of the glory that awaits both Israel and Jerusalem when “the Redeemer shall come to Zion” (59:20). The two opening verses of chapter 61 show us the two-fold manner of the Redeemer’s advent, being the passage that the Lord Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth when He closed the book without reading the words, “the day of vengeance of our God. The rest of that chapter and chapter 42 give us further details of “the garments of salvation” to be worn by Israel as the result of the Redeemer’s coming. Then 63:1-6, makes it quite plain that all this will not come to pass apart from drastic judgment on the foes of Israel and of Israel’s God.

He who comes from Edom is not trodden down in the winepress but treads the winepress, and the treading of the winepress is consistently used as a figure of judgment, as the verses in Lamentations and Revelation show. We must not overlook the fact that redemption by power means judgment. It meant the crushing of Egypt when God redeemed Israel from the clutches of Pharaoh. It will mean the crushing of Edom and many another adversary when Israel is nationally redeemed at the second Advent.

(1.) Are the “brethren” spoken of in Philippians 1:14-17 mentioned elsewhere in Scripture? Is there any connection with the “false brethren” of Galatians 2:4, or the “brethren” of Romans 9 and 10? (2.) Would you class the woman whom the Lord alluded to as a “dog” in Matt. 15:26 with the “dogs” of Phil. 3:2? EVESHAM.

The “brethren in the Lord” (Phil. 1:14) were of course true Christians at Rome though some of them were acting towards Paul in very unbrotherly fashion actuated by a spirit of contention and not the Spirit of Christ.

The “false brethren” of Galatians 2:14 were not owned as Christians at all by the apostle. They were these Judaising teachers who so dogged his footsteps and opposed his service.

The “brethren” of Romans 9:3, were Paul’s kinsmen according to the flesh, as he explains. They were fellow-Jews, his brethren nationally. The “brethren” of Romans 10:1 were the Christians at Rome, possibly largely identical with those mentioned in Philippians 1:14.

In alluding to the woman of Canaan as a dog the Lord Jesus used the term current amongst the Jews as describing the Gentiles. The apostle’s use of the term in Philippians 3:2 is somewhat different. His point was not that the Philippian believers should beware of Gentiles, but rather of all persons of unclean life and nature and habits whoever and wherever they might be.

Your questions lead us to remark that we must be careful not to lay too much stress on the mere resemblances or identity of the words of our English translation. Noting the whole passage, we may find that the sense is different though the word is the same.

Eternal Life.

SHALL we first of all take our Bibles and read the deeply interesting and instructive little letter written by Paul to Titus.

A cursory perusal may convey to our mind the impression that it is simply a series of practical exhortations as to how the believers in Crete, amongst whom Titus labored, should conduct themselves. A more careful study shows us, however that here, as throughout the Epistles, conduct is based upon doctrine. Any attempt to divorce the one from the other is serious.

We have met those who have professed their preference for the practical — i.e., that which would show them how to live the Christian life — and also have spoken disparagingly of doctrinal teaching, whereas the one is the outcome of the other. Hence the exhortation to Timothy. “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine;” (1 Timothy 4:16); and the statement of the inspired Writer, “Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life,” etc. (2 Tim. 3:10). When we inquire the nature of the doctrine referred to in Titus we find that it is ETERNAL LIFE. This, if possible, clothes the Epistle with increased interest.

When we want to learn something about eternal life we naturally turn to the Gospel of John and also to his first Epistle. We find what it is, whence it comes, who gets it and how it is obtained. So much do we read, about it that it is perfectly evident that John was the vessel selected by the Holy Spirit through whom to instruct us regarding it. Occasionally the divine Author has chosen the pen of Paul, but in so doing He has set the truth before us in a somewhat different Way. Thus in the writings of John we see that eternal life is the present possession of all who are born of God. On the other hand on the few occasions in which it is dealt with in the Epistles of Paul it is invariably presented as something to which we are going on, which we are meanwhile to live, and of which we are to lay hold.

In the portion which we have just read we have

ETERNAL LIFE

(a) PROMISE.

(b)PREACHING.

(d) PROSPECT.

Let us see how this works out.

In chapter 1 verse 2, we read: — “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” This, by the way, explodes the God-dishonoring theory that a person can have eternal life and lose it. Think of the Holy Spirit graciously condescending to tell us that it has been promised by “God that cannot lie.” This might seem to be an unnecessary assurance as to God. Yet, though we cannot think that they realize it, those who entertain the wretched idea to which we have alluded suggest that which the Holy Spirit here tells us is impossible. Further it was “promised before the world began,” therefore it is unaffected by the tragedy of the fall, the inherent unbelief of the natural heart, and the artful insinuation of the enemy.

The question arises: — To whom was it promised? Certainly not to us for we were not there. To whom could it be promised but to Him who “in the beginning was with God... the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.” (John 1:1-18). It may be argued, “He did not require eternal life.” No indeed! He was, and is, “that Eternal Life” (1 John 1:2).

Turn now, however, to John xvii and read verse 2 “As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.” When were the “many” given to Him? “Before the world began.” When was eternal life promised? “Before the world began.” So that “before the world began “we see the Godhead in council, the “many” given to the Son, the promise of eternal life for as many as were given to Him; then “in the fullness of time” He became flesh, and as Man went into death, broke its power, and rising in the power of a new life, His was the authority to communicate eternal life to those given to Him by the Father. How certain we may be then that, according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit by the pen of the Apostle John, this precious incomparable blessing is

A ONCE-GIVEN-NEVER-TO-BE-LOST POSSESSION.

The inspired writer says God “hath in due times manifested His Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.” (verse 3). That is true, and how faithfully He carried out His commission we very well know. It is well to see however that He who commissioned Paul was Himself the first Preacher. How we delight, do we not? to turn ever and anon to that epoch-making interview between our blessed Lord and Nicodemus, when having ploughed deep the fallow ground, and that erstwhile Pharisee stood a convicted sinner in His presence, He, the Eternal Son incarnate, disclosed to him the great, grand, glorious secret of eternity when He said: — “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

For nearly two millenniums the preaching has gone on, and in this year of grace nineteen hundred and twenty-eight it is as fresh, as powerful, as productive of results as ever. The modernist may preach ethics because he knows not Christ. The child of God proclaims the soul-saving gospel of John-three-sixteen, and souls are brought into the possession and enjoyment of eternal life.

Well now in the second chapter of our Epistle we do not have the words “eternal life,” but we undoubtedly have the thing itself. We have only got to read the chapter to see how it is to be demonstrated in practice. Let us warn our readers against any suggestion that our Christian life and our everyday life are to be separated one from the other. On the contrary, they are so closely interwoven that it is in every detail of the daily life that the eternal life has to be manifested. We are not to merely search for a text of Scripture in order to assure ourselves that we have it, nor are we to let our fellow-men know that we have it simply by telling them about it, but WE ARE TO LIVE IT.

Hence the exhortations to aged men and aged women, young women and young men, and also to slaves. The grace of God would not to take them out of their circumstances, it would not alter their environment, but it would teach them how to live so that they might adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” (vs. 10). Shall we seek at home, at school, at business, wherever we are to set forth that life in our day-by-day practice.

We must close however with just a brief allusion to chapter three where we have eternal life in prospect, for we read “That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (vs. 7). It may be asked if we have got eternal life in what sense do we hope for it? Obviously, we cannot enjoy eternal life to the full in a world of death, now while we are subject to the limitations of our bodies of humiliation. Perhaps someone has felt drowsy while reading this paper, another person racked with pain has had to lay aside the magazine and take it up again when feeling better. However willing the spirit may be, the flesh is weak. Soon we will be home for we expect our Lord to come at any time. Then with bodies of glory like that of our precious Lord we shall be introduced into that scene, “Where sin, nor want, nor woe, nor death can come.”

In the Father’s house, in the likeness of Christ we shall revel forever and ever in the shoreless, fathomless ocean of divine love, and lay the tribute of worthy praise at His feet who loved us and gave Himself for us. THAT, THAT will be Eternal Life!

Now to recapitulate. We commenced in eternity, (1:2), we dipped into this little parenthesis of time, (1:3; 2), and we have finished in eternity.

This is just a sort of outline map, and if any of our readers care to fill in the detail, and give their thoughts on the untouched portions, we feel sure these would be welcomed by the editor, as they certainly would be, by

W. BRAMWELL DICK.

The Person and Work of Christ.

SOME years ago I was walking through a Yorkshire mill town with a Christian friend. He pointed out a Unitarian chapel, and proceeded to tell me a deeply interesting story in connection with it, illustrating the title of this paper.

The former minister of this chapel being a Unitarian, believed concerning the person of Christ that He was a good man, the example to humanity, its glory and boast, the very flower of the race, but only a man. As to the work of Christ, he confined this to example, culminating in His death, but in that death on the cross of Calvary he believed there was no atonement, and His shed blood had no efficacy for the removal of sin in it.

One Saturday morning he sat in his lodgings preparing his sermon for the following Sunday. He had chosen the opening verses of the Gospel of John for his subject.

He read of a Divine Person, called “the Word,” that this Person was “WITH God” and “was God,” and “WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH God,” and yet “IN THE BEGINNING was the Word” (John 1:1, 2).

He was arrested. Thoughts passed through his mind that he had never had before. Here was a Divine Person, uncreated, creating everything material (vs. 3), sustaining everything, co-existent with God, and yet God Himself. He was arrested, interested, enthralled by the vast thoughts that took possession of his mind.

He read on, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory is of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” In these simple, profound, beautiful words — their simplicity enhancing their profundity — he discovered that this Divine Person became a Man. Marvelous! That discovery revolutionized everything he had hitherto held concerning Him.

But he read more, “John bare witness OF HIM,” and the witness opened his hitherto blind eyes as to the work He did, “Behold THE LAMB OF GOD, which taketh away the sin of the world” (vs. 29). This Divine Person become man was witnessed to as “the Lamb of God.” A flash of light intuitively illustrated this title by all the Jewish types and shadows, all finding their fulfilment and substance in Him.

“Not all the blood of beasts,

On Jewish altars slain,

Could give the guilty conscience peace,

Or wash away its stain.

“But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,

Took all my guilt away,

A Sacrifice of nobler name

And richer blood than they.”

The title Lamb implied sacrifice, not merely an example to be followed; atonement, not merely a pattern to be admired. True in His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, He has left the believer an example that he should “follow His steps” (1 Peter 2: 21), yet that very scripture is careful to guard the deep essential meaning of that death, for the writer adds, “Who His own self BARE OUR SINS in His own body on the tree” (vs. 24).

What a revelation, a revolutionizing revelation was made to the young minister that memorable morning by the Scripture testimony he read!

He sat down believing—

1. Jesus was ONLY a man.

2. His death MERELY an example to humanity.

He rose up convinced that—

1. Jesus was the Eternal Word — “over all, God blessed forever” — become flesh, a real Man, though never less than God.

2. His death was atoning, redemptive, substitutionary, for him, for his sins.

No wonder, all oblivious of time, the hours had fled in the contemplation of these wondrous truths. The young minister arose a new creature in Christ, converted, saved, forgiven. He was no longer a mere preacher of moral discourses, but a living servant of Christ, with a real message to give.

The dry husks of morality are insufficient to satisfy the hunger of the soul; the empty creed of half Christendom, in which the precious blood of Christ has no place, avails not to satisfy the conscience when aroused to a sense of its guilt.

Error may be subtle, alluring, fascinating, but it cannot meet the needs of the soul. Only a Divine Person can do that.

May I ask the reader a very vital question, What do you think of the Person and work of Christ? Upon your answer depends your eternal blessing. He died for you. Will you trust Him as your Saviour?

“If asked what of Jesus I think,

Though still my best thoughts are but poor,

I say, He’s my meat and my drink,

My life, and my strength, and my store!

My Shepherd, my trust, and my friend;

My Saviour from sin and from thrall;

My hope from beginning to end,

My portion, my Lord, and my all!”

A. J. POLLOCK.

On Following Christ.

EVERY true Christian must surely desire to follow Christ, though he may have only vague ideas as to how to do so. If there should be a reader who has trusted Christ, and whose eternal blessing has been secured by the work which was done for him at Calvary, and who yet does not yet desire to follow Him, then is this page not for him. Let him close the book and betake himself with earnest prayer to the Lord who alone can help him. For his comfort I would quote a well-known hymn with which he is evidently unacquainted—

“If I could find the coldest heart

And in its coldest mood,

A stone beneath the brooding wings,

My Saviour could and would

Put warmth into the icy thing

And give it life and give it wing,

My Saviour could and would.”

What is it then to follow Christ? It is to go the way He went after Him. It was a beautiful way by which He passed through the world — a Stranger here, loved by His Father, ever trusting that love, doing His Father’s will even to the death of the cross, and then going back to His Father’s house.

We see Him at the age of twelve, “about His Father’s business,” but subject to earthly parents; then, apparently unknown, for years working at a humble calling. We trace those three years of gracious ministry; we find Him at a wedding feast, and then at the bedside of a sick woman; again He walks through the cornfields and another day He goes to a funeral. He speaks words of comfort to a mourner and He sits down to supper with a few who loved Him, but in all He was doing His Father’s will, He had come to make known His Father’s name to weary hearts, He lived to please His Father.

He had no home here; His heart’s dear home was where His Father dwelt, but He would call out a people to whom He would make known the secrets of divine love and who should be the objects of His continual love and care, though He knew that to do this He must endure the cross.

Travelers tell us that in Palestine if you ask the way any whither, your friend will answer, “I am the way,” and going a little ahead will lead you to your destination. Do you understand when He says to, you, “I am the way? He called one and another when He was here; we read of one who left all and followed Him, also of one who went away sad because he had great possessions.

He says to you, to me “Follow Me.” Not to do great things, but in the humble, ways of life — its workshops, its weddings, its sick beds, perhaps its funerals — to go the way He went, trusting and obeying His Father, not seeking His own will, but always doing those things that pleased Him.

He may not call us to follow Him unto death, but only to remember “we are buried with Him by baptism unto death,” that His cross has severed ties which bound us here. He does call us to love and serve that church, or “company of called out ones” for which He gave Himself; not some particular community to which we may feel attracted, but, as sharers in His divine solitude, to minister gladly to His own among whom our lot is cast. The aged, the sick, the poor, the bereaved, the lonely are ever with us, and the pattern set before us is to love one another as He loved us.

The late, beloved Col. Jacob once told me of an Indian Christian who desired to confess Christ by baptism and in the remembrance of Him in His death. When the Christian position was put before him he exclaimed “What a lot of brothers and sisters to love me!” “No,” said Col. Jacob “What a lot of brothers and sisters for you to love!” Let us remember this.

There is another way in which we should follow Christ — the way of patient endurance. We read in 1 Peter 2:21-23. “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps; who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not.” There is much of wrong and injustice in the world; its rewards are for the strong and fit, upon the weak and inefficient the world bears heavily. It is a very great thing to endure patiently, to suffer wrong without being soured in spirit, to follow in the way of Him who committed His cause to Him that judgeth righteously.

In John 12:26 the Lord’s promise to the one who follows Him is “Where I am, there shall also My servant be.” In chapter 14:2. He explains where He was going. “In my Father’s house are many mansions.... I go to prepare a place for you.”

The Lord Himself has trodden the path before us; all its difficulties, all its sorrows were tasted by Him as none other could taste them and still He says “I am the Way. Follow Me.” His help is sure, His home awaits you. Your feet that have trodden a thorny path shall assuredly tread those courts of love, you who have often been way-worn and sad shall share His joy in His Father’s house.

Shall we not turn to Him and humbly taking on our lips those, old sweet words, say to Him “Draw me we will run after Thee.” The Lord grant it to writer and reader alike!

L. R.

Our Scripture Portion.

(1 Tim. 4:6 — 5:21).

The writer of this article addresses you assuming that you have opened your Bible at the verses indicated above and are going to follow him with your eye upon the passage. Consequently all long quotations of Scripture are avoided and mere references cut down to a minimum, If you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

In the early verses of our chapter the Spirit’s warning is against the doctrines of demons, which, if received, altogether turn men from the faith. In verse 7 the warning is against a danger of a somewhat different order, “Profane and old wives’ fables.” Timothy is urged to stand firm against both errors.

The Apostle’s instructions in verse 6 seem to have especially in view the first of these dangers. We are to be kept in remembrance of “these things,” and here he alluded not only to what he had just written in verses 4 and 5 but also to the great truth unfolded in chapter 3:16, and indeed to all his instructions given earlier in the Epistle, for verse 6 of chapter 4 cannot be disconnected from verse 14 of chapter 3. Thus we as well as Timothy may be nourished with the words of the faith and of good doctrine and this will effectually render us proof against the seducing doctrines of the devil. But this must be “attained” or “fully followed up” for it is only as we become fully acquainted with the truth that we can detect error and consequently refuse it.

Godliness is set in contrast with the profane and old wives’ fables, from which we gather that they were mainly concerned with the superstitious ideas and customs which have always played so large a part in heathendom and which creep so easily into Christendom. The poor heathen mind is in bondage to endless superstitions connected with the bringing of good fortune or the averting of evil, and all these customs appeal to, and bear far more hardly upon, the womenfolk than the men. Hence the Apostle’s term— “old wives’ fables.” Now godliness brings GOD Himself into the details of one’s life since it is based upon that “trust in the living God” of which verse 10 speaks.

It is instructive though sad to note the great increase in recent years of superstition amongst nominal Christians. The war doubtless gave it a great impetus when hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of charms were made for the protection of soldiers. The cult has spread everywhere and now mascots abound, and more and more people observe customs which are designed to bring “good luck” or avert “bad luck.” All this argues the decline of godliness. If God is shut out of the life these stupid abominations creep in.

Our God is the LIVING God. Nothing escapes His notice and He is “the Saviour [or, Preserver] of all men, specially of those that believe.” The poor heathen enjoying a wonderful deliverance may attribute his escape to the potency of the charm given to him by the medicine man. The British motorist, a nominal Christian, just escaping a fearful crash may declare that he never comes to any harm so long as he has his black cat mascot on board — he has never known it to fail. They are both wrong though the latter is far more guilty. Both are victims of profane and old wives’ fables. The truth is their deliverances came, whether directly or indirectly from the hand of God.

God’s preserving mercy is specially active towards those that believe, so a simple trust in Him should mark us. It marked Paul and carried him through his labors and reproaches. We are to exercise ourselves to godliness. This is a mental exercise of far greater profit than mere bodily exercise. That is profitable in some small things whereas godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of life, both now and to eternity.

Here let us recapitulate for a moment. Godliness is, we may say, the main theme of the epistle, and it is enjoined upon us because we are of the house of God. The knowledge of God Himself as He has been revealed in Christ is the secret spring of it, and it very largely consists in that God-consciousness, that bringing of God into all the details of our daily lives, which is the result of trust in the living God. All this has come before us, and the question would now naturally arise in our minds as to whether any practical instructions can be given which will help us in exercising ourselves unto godliness according to the instruction given in verse 7?

Verse 12 to 16 supply us with a very ample answer. Timothy was a young man yet he was to be an example to the believers who were to see godliness expressed in him, a godliness which affects us in word, in conversation or conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. To this end he was to give himself with all diligence to reading, to exhortation to teaching. The reading enjoined upon him was, we suppose, that public reading in the presence of believers generally which was so necessary when copies of the Scriptures were few and far between, yet it should impress upon us the importance of reading the Scriptures both privately and publicly. When Paul came Timothy might have the joy of hearing God’s Word from the inspired lips of the Apostle; until then he must pay all heed to God’s inspired Word in its written form.

The Christian who neglects the study of the Word of God never makes much progress in the things of God nor in the development of Christian character. “Give attendance to reading” should be a watchword with all of us, for only as we are well furnished ourselves Can we be of help to others.

Timothy was to exhort and teach others and for this a gift had been deposited in him in a special way. Hence “neglect not the gift that is in thee” is the second word instruction. By reading we take in: by exhortation and teaching we give out. Not all of us have received a special gift but all of us are responsible to give out in one way or another, and we neglect it at the peril of our own spiritual good.

“Meditate upon these things” is the third word that comes before us. By reading our minds become well furnished with truth. By meditation the truth in its force and bearing is brought home to us. Just as the ox not only feeds in the pastures but also lies down to chew the cud so we need to ruminate, to turn things over in our minds, for it is not what we eat that nourishes us but what we digest. If we meditate upon the things of God, getting right into them so that they control us then our profiting, our spiritual advancement, becomes apparent to all.

A fourth word of great importance if we would grow in the ways of godliness is that in verse 16, “Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine.” First of all we must get the truth itself, which is set forth in the doctrine, clearly before us. Secondly, we must take heed to ourselves in the light of the truth, testing ourselves and our ways by it altering them as the truth demands. This of course is the crucial matter.

Too often the truth of God has been taken up in a purely theoretical way, when it becomes just a matter of argument, a kind of intellectual battle-ground. When however we come face to face with it in practical fashion we at once become aware of discrepancies between it and ourselves and our ways, and serious questions are raised. Now comes the temptation to somewhat alter or pare down the doctrine so that we may leave our ways untouched and yet the discrepancy largely if not entirely disappear. May God give us all grace to reverse that procedure and rather alter our ways that they may be in conformity with the doctrine. Thus we shall be rightly taking heed to ourselves and to the doctrine as well, and continuing in the truth we shall be saved. The salvation here is from the dangers of which we are expressly warned by the Spirit in the earlier part of the chapter, whether doctrines of demons or profane fables.

Timothy had been entrusted with special responsibilities both as to teaching and as to order in the church. Consequently, if he kept right and in a state of happy deliverance from these dangers he would be a minister of deliverance to many others. But then this might bring him into a measure of conflict with some. An elder even might need admonition as verse 1 of chapter 5 shows us, and Timothy must be careful not to set himself wrong in attempting to set him right. The truth teaches us to render to all our fellow-believers their due, whether men or women, whether old or young.

In verse 3 the question of the treatment of widows comes up and the subject is continued to verse 16. We might be tempted to wonder that so much space is given to the matter did we not remember that it was this very question which first brought the spirit of contention into the church of God, as recorded in Acts 6:1-7.

The general instruction of the passage is quite plain. Widows 60 years old and upwards without relations to support them were to be “taken into the number,” or “put on the list,” as receiving their support from the church if they had been marked by godliness and good works. The Church is to relieve those who are “widows indeed” but not others. How wise is this ordering!

Other instructions come in by the way.

Notice how clearly it is taught that children and descendants (the word is “descendants” rather than “nephews”) are responsible for the support of their parents. Thus they show godliness or piety at home. Let us emphasize this in our minds for it is easily forgotten in these days of “doles” and other forms of public support. The denunciation in verse 8 of the man who avoids or neglects this duty is very severe, showing how serious a sin it is in God’s sight. There may be men quite renowned for piety in public who are nevertheless branded as worse than an infidel for lack of this piety at home.

The characteristics of a “widow indeed” as given in verse 5 are worthy of note. The Christian who in the days of her prosperity gave herself to such good works as are enumerated in verse 10, would have recognized that after all it was just God Himself ministering to the afflicted through her hands. He was the Giver and she but the Channel. Now the position is reversed but she knows well that she must not look to the channels but to the mighty Source of all. Hence her trust is in God and upon Him she waits in prayer. She too is marked by that trust in the living God which is so large an element in practical godliness.

Contrasted with this is the widow living “in pleasure” or “in habits of self-indulgence.” Such an one would be seeing life according to the ideas of the world, but she, is here declared to be dead while living — practically dead, that is, to the things of God.

Sometimes worldly-minded believers ask rather plaintively why it is that they do not make spiritual progress or have much spiritual joy? Verse 6 supplies us with an answer. There is nothing more deadening than self-indulgence in pleasure. The pleasure may be life of a worldly sort but it is death spiritually, for the soul is thereby deadened towards God and His things.

The bad effects of idleness come strongly before us in this passage. The younger widows were not to be supported at the expense of the church lest having no very definite occupation they should decline in heart from Christ and come under judgment — not “damnation” which is too strong a word. Their idleness then would assuredly produce a course of tale-bearing and general interference in other people’s affairs which is most disastrous to the testimony of God. Idleness in the twentieth century produces exactly the same crop of evil fruit as it did in the first century.

Further instruction as to elders is given in verse 17 to 19. An elder was not necessarily a recognized teacher of the word, though he was to be “apt to teach” (3: 2). Those who did “labor in the word and doctrine” were to be counted worthy of double honor, and that honor was to be expressed in a practical way as might be needful. If any of them lacked in material things they were to be supplied as the Scripture indicated. The first quotation of verse 18 is from the Old Testament but the second is from the New, Luke 10:7. This is interesting evidence that Luke’s gospel was already in circulation and recognized as the inspired Word of God equally with the Old Testament.

Above all, Timothy was to be moved by a care for the glory of God in His house. Those who sinned were to be rebuked publicly so that all the believers might be admonished and sobered thereby, only the greatest possible care was to be taken lest anything like partiality should creep in. Nothing is more common in the world than favoritism, and we all of us so easily form prejudices either for or against our brethren in Christ. Hence this solemn charge laid upon Timothy “before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels.”

F. B. HOLE.

An infidel trying to understand God and to comprehend all truth reminds one of a little story told of Augustine. As he walked on the seashore one day he saw a child with a cup, dipping water from the ocean and pouring it into a little hole in the sand. He said, “What are you doing my child?” The little child replied, “I am going to put the ocean in this hole.”

Answers to Correspondents.

Will you kindly explain the following points in connection with Romans 8:4: ―

1. What is the righteous requirement of the law?

2. Is it on the line of “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all?”

3. If so, do we fulfill it practically, i.e. as far as our side of the “covenant” is concerned? — FOREST HILL.

THE “righteousness” or “righteous requirement” of the law was expressed in an immense variety of details. All of them however, can be summarized under two heads, viz., love to God and love to one’s neighbor (See, Luke 10:27,28). So we might answer your first question in one word — LOVE.

If we understand rightly your second question we should answer, No. The verse which you quote from James 2 states the underlying principle of the law of Moses which formed the basis of Israel’s relationship with God. On that line they were wholly and at once condemned, and under the curse of the law they came. Now we Christians are not under law but under grace, as Romans 6:14 definitely says. Romans 7 shows us that the practical effect of the coming in of the law is to revive sin and consequently to bring in condemnation and death. Law consequently revealed the incorrigible nature of the flesh but it could not condemn judicially sin in the flesh, and yet at the same time empower man to fulfill the law.

Now what the law could not do God has done in the sending of His own Son and in His sacrificial death. Sin in the flesh has been condemned and, the believer receiving the Holy Spirit, the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. Thus the believer has power to fulfill the law, and in so far as he walks in the Spirit he does actually fulfill it. The believer fulfils the law not on the line of law but on the: line of grace, and faith, and the indwelling and operations of the Spirit of God.

The answer to your third question is, Yes, we fulfill it practically as regards its righteous requirement though we are not under it as regards its multifarious enactments as was decided at the Jerusalem council recorded in Acts 15. Nor do we fulfill it as our side of any covenant.

There is of course the new covenant to be made in a future day with Israel, and into the spirit of that we come in an anticipative way as other Scriptures show. But there is no “our side” to that covenant for it is all a question of what God is and of what He will do, and those who come under it are the subjects of it and not parties to it. There is however no reference to any covenant in Romans 8, and to imagine that the believer fulfils the righteous requirement of the law as his side of a hard and fast bargain is about as complete a falsification of the teaching of Romans 6-8 as can well be imagined.

The fact is that the Spirit-controlled believer obeys with the glad obedience of a son of God and not with obedience of a mere servant, as Galatians 4:1-9 testifies; consequently he does more than fulfill the strict legal requirement of the law. He finds in Christ a far higher standard than even the law of Moses.

Will you please explain the following passage of Scripture, Hebrews 10:26-30. Is the willful sin any particular form of sin — CHELTENHAM.

In this particular passage the writer of the epistle reverts again to the particular sin of which he had spoken in chapter 3:12 and 6:4-8. These Hebrews naturally were inclined to view matters from a Jewish standpoint and they had been accustomed to repeated sacrifices. Did they sin? Then they brought a sacrifice. Did they sin again? Then again they brought a sacrifice. But that order of things had now passed away. Christ’s one complete and sufficient sacrifice had been offered and now “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” This is a fact of intense gravity in connection with the willful sin.

But what is this sin? Put the three passages together and you will see. It is to depart from the living God. It is to fall away from the profession of Christ in such fashion that “they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.” It is to tread underfoot the Son of God, to count the blood of the covenant wherewith one is sanctified an unholy thing, to do despite unto the Spirit of grace.

There is one sin which embraces within itself all these terrible things, the sin of APOSTASY. That is the sin referred to here. It had special dangers for these Hebrews who at the time were grown somewhat cold, as the later part of chapter 10 shows. No true believer apostatizes though some who are professed believers have done so, and upon the ground of their profession these Hebrews were addressed. Some among them might grow weary of persecution and trials and wish to drop their Christianity and gain reinstatement in the Jewish synagogue and that would entail these terrible things.

The great mark of a true child of God is that he continues in the faith, he abides in the light, and that abides in him which he has heard from the beginning. Such never apostatize.

“Evolutionary doctrines involving the denial of the 1St of Genesis and of the fall of man recorded in the 3rd of Genesis, have become the vogue even with dignitaries within the professing church. The fallacy is propagated that the denial of these in no wise affects the foundation truths of the New Testament, but to repudiate Genesis as must be evident to any serious student of Scripture, is on the contrary to find oneself at irreconcilable variance with the great gospel Epistle to the Romans where the foundations of all the arguments educed are the responsibility and accountability of man towards God, and his moral distance from God in his unregenerate state as the result of the fall. The rejection of Genesis may he presented as the sure road to intellectual freedom, but it will prove to be an easy path to a hopeless spiritual morass.”

The above extract is taken from a pamphlet which has just been sent to us entitled, Evolutionary Theories and Scriptural Teaching, by Roderick McCallum, M.A. B.Sc. We are glad to be able to commend it to our readers. It is published by Marshall Bros. Ltd, of London and Edinburgh, price Ninepence, and may he obtained from them or from the office of this Magazine.

Love so Amazing.

“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” — Romans 5:5.

THERE are truths unfolded in the earlier pages of this grand epistle that bring profound relief to the believing soul long before our text is reached. But when we do reach it, not only is the mist rolled away, but we seem to pass into the warmth and glow and sunshine of a glorious summer day. Here love is mentioned for the first time in the epistle — the love of God — and this love is shed abroad in the believer’s heart. The righteousness of God we read about in chapter three, and a grand thing it is — a righteousness which is our friend and not our foe, which justifies and does not condemn. Still it is cold. Then peace with God is spoken of in the first verse of chapter five, and when the soul knows the meaning of that, it finds itself set free from the reproaches of a guilty conscience and from the frowns of a Law whose commands have not been kept. Still the atmosphere is chilly, though no clouds darken the sky. But when we proceed a few steps further, lo! the love of God pours its bright beams around us, warming us within, gladdening the heart and making the tongue — long dumb — break forth in songs of praise.

It is the love of God that brings all this to pass. Let us understand it well. For some commentators expound the passage as though the Apostle spake of our love to God, and not of His to us. Now, while it is sweetly true that we have learned to love Him — “we love Him, because He first loved us”— yet this is not its meaning, as the context plainly shows. No, not our love to God, but God’s love to us — His own love — is what is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us. In many precious passages of Scripture we read about the love of God. They bear witness to it, and their witness we joyfully receive. But here the love we read about is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit given unto us. It becomes an inward reality — known believed, and enjoyed.

Notice the terms used to describe the former state of those into whose hearts the love of God has been poured. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Without strength! helpless as the paralytic whom his four friends carried on his couch to the Lord. Without strength to fulfill the Law’s demands; holy, just, and good as they surely were. Helpless as the man who fell among thieves, who, having robbed him of everything, left him wounded and dying by the roadside. Such was the plight into which sin had brought us, and from which we had no strength to liberate ourselves, even if we had had the wish.

But was it only weakness we were suffering from? Alas! no. We were ungodly. Of old it had been said that “the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself” Psalms 4:3). But a word like that affords us no hope. It blows out our candle and leaves us in utter darkness and despair. It was when we were in that state — ungodly — that Christ died for us. How wonderful that it should be so! And how great must have been the love that led God not to spare His own Son, but to give Him up for our sakes!

“Oh, for this love let rocks and hills

Their lasting silence break!”

This is the love which, like the fragrance of flowers is shed abroad in our hearts.

Very strikingly and beautifully does the Apostle argue the matter further in the verses that follow. Have you ever noticed it? Let me quote his words: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It is indeed astonishing that He should have loved us so much seeing there was nothing in us on which His love could rest with pleasure and complacency. In human love it is otherwise. If it be almost beyond belief that anyone would be willing to die for a righteous man, still righteousness is there. If for a good man some would even dare to die, still goodness is there. In each case there is a cause. But in us there was none. Search and see if one righteous man can be found among earth’s fairest millions. The answer is: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Search and see if one good man can be found. The answer is the same: “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” And yet God loved us! And His love brings with it this peculiar commendation, that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Such is the love which we have believed, such is the love poured into the believer’s heart.

“Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my life, my soul, my all.”

In verse 10 another word is added which casts a darker, deadlier shade upon our former state — “We were enemies.” There was activity in evil, a will opposed to God’s, a hatred of Himself. That God’s own Son should have been given to die for such, invests God’s love with a beauty that is all its own. It is by that death that we have been reconciled to God — not only forgiven, but reconciled. The enmity is gone, and in the affections that belong to a new creation the believer has been brought into harmony with the Divine mind. As in the case of the prodigal — forgiven, clothed with the best robe with ring and shoes — he was at home in the house of his father. Reconciled indeed, and everything not in keeping with the place into which he was brought gone forever. So with us.

Well might the Apostle conclude this section of the epistle with the words: “Not only so, but we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the reconciliation.” God becomes the joy and boast of our soul. How great the redemption that makes this possible, how complete the reconciliation that brings it all to pass! What an undoing of Satan’s work! What a triumph of grace, abounding over all our sin!

Reader, think us not overbold if we take it upon ourselves to ask whether you have tasted this amazing love. It is the joy and resting-place of your heart? Perhaps you are sometimes overwhelmed by the feeling of your own unworthiness and of your many short-comings. He knows them all. But remember that His love was manifested tard us when we were at our worst — sinners, ungodly, enemies without strength. Oh! do not Jet us doubt a love so wonderful — a love that not only seeks to remove every burden, but to bless us with all that love can give. To disbelieve that love because we judge ourselves unworthy of it is indeed but pride, though it clothes itself with the garments of humility. Worthiness we have not, nor shall ever have. That God should love unworthy ones, and seek their everlasting good at such a cost to Himself, would be beyond belief did not His own Word declare it. Here faith finds its warrant. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken of it, and we can but believe, rejoice, and adore.

“Not what I am, O Lord, but what Thou art!

That, that alone can be my soul’s true rest;

Thy love, not mine, bids fear and doubt depart

And stills the tempest of my tossing breast.

“Thy, Name is Love! I hear it from you cross;

Thy Name is Love! I read it in you tomb;

All meaner love is perishable dross,

But this shall light me through time’s thickest gloom.

“It blesses now, and shall forever bless;

It saves me now, and shall forever save;

It holds me up in days of helplessness,

And bears me safely o’er each swelling wave.

“‘Tis what I know of Thee, my Lord and God,

That fills my soul with peace, my lips with song;

Thou art my health, my joy, my staff, my rod,

Leaning on Thee, in weakness I am strong.”

W. B.

Someone said to a Reformer, “The whole world is against you.” He calmly replied, “Then I am against the whole world!”

We are afraid of being desperate Christians. Oh, let us be desperate! The Church needs extremity — a great tug out of the world.

A weak palsied hand may receive a strong Christ.

Heaven.

“I SHOULD be sorry to find fault with “Pilgrim’s Progress,” it is such a grand book, but if one took exception to anything in it, it would be where Christian and Hopeful are going across the river of death and they are met on the other side by “shining ones.” I do not believe angels will meet me, and escort me into the presence of God, No, I shall go in “with Him to the marriage.”

Some time ago it was my privilege to go over Buckingham Palace. I saw the green drawing room, and the blue drawing room, and the throne room, and the marble staircase, etc., etc., etc. It was all so glorious so superb, so regally magnificent. I enjoyed seeing it, but it was a bit lonesome. I knew no one there. At every turn I was accosted by some man in uniform inquiring my business. A soldier stopped me at the very entrance, there was another guard at the top of the steps, everywhere these men appeared, all challenging my right to be there. Fortunately I had a pass, so, as all was in order I was allowed to proceed. But I am not going to heaven like that.

How different was the case of a little ragged boy outside the Palace during Queen Victoria’s life-time. The little chap was soli quizzing and saying to himself “I should like to see the Queen, I should.” A young man passed, the fame of whose courtesy was well known in later years. He noticed the child speaking and inquired what it was he said. The boy repeated his remark “I should like to see the Queen.”

“Come along with me then,” was his reply, and taking the urchin’s hand they walked along. Together they passed the tall soldier at the entrance, but he only saluted respectfully. Together they ascended the marble staircase, but no guards challenged them for a pass. On, on they went, until they reached the door of a private royal apartment, where without even knocking, the young man entered, taking the boy with him. As he approached a lady who was sitting there, he said, “Mother I have brought someone to see you.” The boy had gone right into the presence of the Queen in the company of her son!

That is how I am going to heaven, “With Him to the marriage.” The angels might be surprised to see me there. They might want to challenge the right of such a wretch as myself to be in the glory, but they will see me walk in with Christ, escorted there by Him. I shall be in the company of the Son of God, Who will Himself take me to His Father, for it says “the Lamb shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.” (Rev. 7. 17).

(FROM NOTES OF AN ADDRESS)

"New Wine" and "New Bottles."

ALL is new in Christianity. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, things are all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Our Lord shows that that which He was introducing was all new. It would be useless to put new wine into old leathern bottles. The bottles would burst and the wine would be spilled and all would be lost. The new wine of Christianity needed new bottles. (See Luke 5:37, 38). A new power in a new being was called for.

In John 20 we find this illustrated for we are brought into a scene where everything is fresh. The storm of Calvary is over and the calm of communion with His own is now to be enjoyed. It is “the first day of the week” (vs. 1) and this is emphasized in verse 19 “Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week.”

A NEW DAY

has dawned. A day of which the sun shall never go down. The Sabbath — the seventh day — had been passed by the Son of God in the tomb. The rest-day of the first creation was broken. It needed that God should work. He could not rest in the presence of sin and sorrow and suffering which sin had entailed. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work;” the Lord had said. He was here to work not to rest. But now the work of atonement had been accomplished. The triumphant cry “It is finished” had been heard at Calvary and the Son of God had come forth in resurrection victory. It is a “first day” beyond death, beyond judgment, beyond cloud and darkness. This is the Christian day; the Lord’s day of Revelation 1:10. So we find later that it was the first day of the week on which the disciples came together to break bread (Acts 20:7) celebrating His victory and remembering Him, who won it at such infinite cost to Himself.

A NEW COMPANY

is seen. The Lord had come as the long promised Messiah to Israel and had been rejected. From the outset of this Gospel of John we find this refusal presented. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power [right or privilege] to become [to take their place as] the sons of God.” To these the Lord sends the message by Mary Magdalene, “Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God and your God.” He speaks from the height of the place He has won for them. He terms them His brethren. They are now regarded in spiritual association with Himself. That is their new standing. He has gained them for His companions. They are His. And He rejoices in being “Firstborn among Many brethren.”

A NEW RELATIONSHIP

is theirs. “My Father and your Father.” Nearly a hundred and twenty times the Father’s name is mentioned in this Gospel before this occasion. It had been made known, as to the sound of it, many a time. He had spoken of the Father; and of how He, the Son had come to reveal Him. He had prayed in the hearing of His disciples saying “Father,” “Holy Father,” “Righteous Father.” Now in resurrection for the first time He says “My Father and your Father, My God and your God.”

He was able to bring them into His own joys and delights before the Father’s face. He had been in that circle of sunshine alone. But He had died for them and was risen. The solitary corn of wheat bore much fruit, many grains. They could share with Him now all that His love could share with them. And this in perfect righteousness, “My God and your God.” Every claim of the throne of God had been met, their sins were cleansed, and all that they were as sinners had been dealt with in judgment. They were cleared from every charge which could ever be raised against them and now could be before God enjoying the new relationship with His Father.

The disciples who had been scattered to their own homes had come together, gathered probably by the wonderful message carried by Mary Magdalene.

And into their midst, when gathered, the Son of God Himself enters, saying “Peace unto you.” And having said this, He showed them His hands and His side.

A NEW REST

was to be theirs. A rest built upon His accomplished work, His completed sacrifice. The sacrifices under the law had not given pleasure to God, nor cleared the consciences of those who had brought them. Their value had been as shadows only of the good things to come. They had pointed on to Calvary as signposts point the pathway to a city. Thus it was they brought about the remembrance of sins and did not avail for the remission of sins. Christ’s one offering, offered once for all, perfects the conscience forever. It can never be repeated. It is all-sufficient and sufficient for all. Peace, perfect and permanent is ours.

There is no more remembrance of sins on God’s part, and no more conscience of sins on part of the one who believes the glorious gospel. He has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Gladness filled the hearts of the disciples as they saw the Lord.

Again the “peace be unto you” was spoken and the Lord added “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.”

A NEW MISSION

was theirs. He, the Sent One of the Father, now sends them as He had been sent. They were to be here in the world for Him as He had been here for the Father. And here not to improve the world but to gather out of it those who were given by the Father to the Son. Here they were to represent Him and bear witness to Him who had been rejected and refused by the world into which they were to go. This was firstly true of the apostles, but in measure it is true of all believers. It was theirs and it is ours to be here on the part of the Son of God; to live or to die in His interests. Alas! that this is so little responded to by His own. How many there are who “seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” even as there were in the Apostle Paul’s day. They receive blessing at His hands and are glad of pardon and peace. But they fail to recognize that their privilege is to be Christ’s representatives on earth.

Not in any power of their own or as though they were sent at their own charges were the disciples to go forth, for we read, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”

A NEW POWER

was to endue them and to give them competency for their new service.

He turns their thoughts away from their own resources, to the Might of the Holy Spirit, who was to be sent by Him from the Father as He had promised before.

It was in this power at Pentecost that the Apostles preached and by which three thousand were converted. And this same power abides. The Holy Spirit has not been taken away. He remaineth with the saints forever. And His strength is as available for us to enable us to glorify Christ as it was for the disciples then. “That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost,” is the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to Timothy and we, walking in the Spirit, not grieving Him, may keep that which is given to us and be here for Christ’s glory till He returns.

All this and more is seen to be new in this chapter. May we be found in the joy of it all, and answering to it, until we are with Himself in the glory which His presence has opened for us in the Father’s house. This as declared by the Lord Jesus, in John 14:1-3, is the

NEW HOPE

in Christianity. Not earthly blessing, in Palestine, under Messiah, but heavenly blessing, with and like the Son of God, is bur expectation. And the consummation of this hope may be realized at any moment when the Lord Himself returns for His own. May we who know these things be like men awaiting their Master, while we seek His glory in the conversion of sinners and the help and encouragement of His own.

I. FLEMING.

Ensnared by Our Enjoyments.

I REMEMBER seeing a flock of sheep many years ago, grazing on a luxuriant pasture in the North of England. They were all moving in one direction as they kept on nibbling the rich verdure which grew in profusion all around.

I was struck by the movements of one of their number feeding all alone in a remote corner of the field. It seemed to be enjoying itself, and I went to where the solitary creature was, but to my surprise it was firmly ensnared by a rope of grass which it had twisted itself. It would have remained a prisoner had I not set it at liberty. It was really in a sorry plight, although unconscious of it.

It was a wry-necked sheep, — its neck being twisted round in such a way that one of its eyes was always looking on the ground. I was told by a shepherd that sheep of this sort always spotted the nice tufts of herbage as they moved along, and stopped, and nibbled them up.

Well it would appear that this particular sheep, had come across some fine tit-bit, which it had so enjoyed, that it kept on turning round and round without lifting one of its hind feet, which consequently had got entangled in the long grass. It was so completely ensnared that it would never have extricated itself. I took my knife and cut away the grass, which was tightly twisted around its foot, and it ran away and found itself in the company of the flock.

While I was thinking over the incident in connection with the flock of Christ I felt how often Christians think of nothing so much as their own particular good and pleasure and ultimately become ensnared by the very thing that pleases them. It is safe to keep in the company of the sheep of God’s pasture, and not to think we can understand and enjoy His things all alone, while keeping aloof from His people, for by so doing we may fall into the snare of the devil.

Like the ensnared sheep we may be enjoying ourselves alone but at the same time get entangled by that on which we are feeding. Had the sheep moved in line with the flock, it would have been fed with the rest, and enjoyed their company, and not been ensnared.

We may well feel anxious for those who get out of touch with the Lord’s people, and neglect the meetings when able to get there; and we urge upon such the necessity of getting together, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and So much the more as we see the day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25).

The Lord’s desire for His own during His absence is that we should keep a united front toward the enemy, who is ever on the alert to entangle anyone who loiters or lags behind. Let us be like David’s men of old, “Able to keep rank.”

But let us not forget how the Lord in His care for His own goes after the ones who stray, as we read in Luke 24 concerning the two who left the company of His disciples, and were going to Emmaus. He went after them, introduced Himself to them, and unfolded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Afterwards He Was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Their hearts were drawn after Himself, and they retraced their footsteps and again found themselves amongst His people. While they were assembled together, He appeared in their midst, and said unto them, “Peace be unto you.” Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.

If our hearts are true to the Lord we shall keep rank with our fellow-disciples and not be ensnared.

W. DUNS.

Our Scripture Portion.

(1 Tim. 5:22 — 6:21).

The writer of this article addresses you assuming that you have opened your Bible at the verses indicated above and are going to follow him with your eye upon the passage. Consequently all long quotations of Scripture are avoided and mere references cut down to a minimum. If you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

Connected with the solemn charge of verse 21 against partiality comes the injunction, “Lay hands suddenly on no man.”

The laying on of hands is expressive of fellowship and identification, as Acts 13:3 shows us. Barnabas and Saul were already prophets and teachers when the Spirit called them to launch forth in the evangelization of the Gentile world. There was therefore no thought of “consecrating” them when their fellow-workers laid hands upon them, but rather of showing full fellowship and identification with their mission.

Timothy was to avoid haste in giving his sanction to any man lest later he should have to discover that he had accredited one who was unworthy, and thereby he might find himself in the unhappy position of having a share in his misdeeds. The believer is to be careful not only as to purity of a personal sort but also as to his associations.

Paul evidently knew how careful Timothy was as to personal purity, hence the instruction of verse 23. This verse has been much quoted in arguments as to the “temperance” question. It shows without a doubt that Scripture does not warrant the propaganda of extreme reformers. It shows however with equal clearness that a really godly Christian, such as Timothy was, kept so clear of wine that he had to be exhorted to take some medicinally, and then he was only told to take “a little.”

Verse 24 is connected with the earlier part of verse 22. Many things whether evil or good are not at all open and manifest and we may therefore be easily deceived in our judgments. Ultimately however all will be manifested for nothing can be permanently hid. A solemn thought this!

In the Apostolic age, as now, the gospel won many of its triumphs among the poor, hence not a few servants, or slaves, were found in the church. chapter 6. opens with instructions which show the way of godliness as it applies to them. Slavery is foreign to Christianity yet inasmuch as the rectifying of earthly wrongs was not the Lord’s object in His first coming, (See, Luke 12:14) and is only to be accomplished when He comes again, the will of God for His people now is to accept the conditions which characterize their times, and in them adorn the doctrine and honor His name.

Servants have the lower place, then let them be marked by subjection and the honoring of their masters, and should these themselves be believers far from it being a reason for slighting them or belittling their authority it would only furnish the slave with an additional reason for serving them faithfully. These instructions the Apostle calls “the doctrine which is according to godliness,” for they were wholesome words as given by the Lord Himself.

The present age is marked by a very considerable uprising against authority even in Christian circles. The thing itself is not new for it was in evidence when this epistle was written. There were men teaching things which were in contradiction of “the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,” even in the first century; it is not surprising therefore that such abound in these later times. The Apostle writes very plainly about these opponents. He unmasks their true character. They were marked by pride and ignorance. How often these two things go together! The less a man knows of God and of himself the more he imagines he has something to boast in. The true knowledge of God and of himself at once dispels his pride.

Verse 4 also makes plain what is the effect of repudiating the authority of the Lord. Questions and strife’s of words come to the fore. This of course is inevitable, since if the Lord’s authority is set aside it all becomes a question of opinion; and if so one man’s opinion is as good as another, and argumentized and verbal strife may be carried on almost ad infinitum, and all kinds of envy and strife flourish.

Men who thus dispute show themselves to have corrupt minds and to be destitute of the truth, and that which underlies their proud thoughts is the idea that personal gain is the real end of godliness — that a man is only godly for what he can get out of it. If that is their idea then of course they would not advocate a slave rendering such service as is enjoined in verse 2, since any gain from that would accrue to his master and not to himself. The truth is that not gain but God is the end of godliness, though as the Apostle so strikingly adds, “godliness with contentment is great gain.” To walk as in the presence of the living God with a simple trust in His goodness and with contentment of heart is very great gain of a spiritual sort.

We have to recognize that we are but life tenants of all that we possess. We entered the world with nothing; we go out with nothing. God may indeed give us much for our enjoyment but on the other hand we should be contented with just the necessaries of life — food and raiment. This sets a high standard before us; one that but few of us come up to, though the Apostle himself did. The exhortation of verse 8 is much needed by us all in these days.

On all hands are people who earnestly desire to become rich; the making of money is to them the chief end of life. The Christian may all too easily become infected with this spirit to his great loss. Verse 9 does not speak of those that are rich, as does verse 17, but of those that “will be rich” or “desire to be rich,” that is, they set it before them as the object to be pursued. Such become ensnared by many lusts, which in the case of the man of the world plunge him into destruction and ruin. This is so whether they succeed in their aim and amass wealth or whether they do not, for the coveting of money it is that turns men aside from the faith and pierces them through with sorrows, and not the acquisition and misuse of it only. The love of money is declared to be the root of every kind of evil. It is not that every bit of evil in the world can be traced to the love of money, but that the love of motley is a root from which on various occasions every description of evil springs.

The appeal to Timothy in verse 11 to 14 sets before us the will of God for the believer, which is wholly apart from and opposed to the idea that gain is godliness with its consequent love of money. Timothy is here addressed as “man of God.” The meaning of this term is evident if we, observe its use in Scripture. It signifies a man who stands with God and acts for God in days of emergency when the majority of those who are professedly His people are proving faithless to His cause.

The man of God then, or for the matter of that, all true believers are, to flee all these evil things that follow in the train of the love of money and they are to pursue the things which are the fruit of the Spirit. Seven lovely features are enumerated which hang together like a cluster of fruit; beginning with righteousness, which ever has to be to the fore in a world of unrighteousness and sin, and ending with meekness, which is the very opposite of what we are by nature, for it concerns our spirit as righteousness concerns our acts.

If we make such things as these our pursuit we shall at once become conscious of opposition. There is plenty of opposition in the pursuit of money for we live in a competitive world. Money-making becomes usually a fight, in some cases a fight of a pretty sordid kind. It is a fight also if we pursue these things that please God, only this time it is a fight of faith, for our opponents now will be the world, the flesh and the devil, and nothing but faith in the living God will prevail against these.

Moreover these excellent things are the working out into expression of that eternal life which is the portion of the believer on the Son of God. The life is ours as is made so abundantly plain in the writings of the Apostle John, yet we are exhorted to lay hold of it, for it is a dependent life, Christ being its Source and Object, and we lay hold of it in laying hold by faith of Him and of all those things which find their center in Him. The men of the world lay hold of earthly gain, or of as much of it as they can compress into their fists. We are called to eternal life, and are to lay hold of it by going in for all those things in which from a practical standpoint it consists.

Timothy had made a good profession and now he is solemnly charged in the sight of God, who is the Source of all life, and of the Lord Jesus, who was the great Confessor of truth before the highest circles of the world, to walk according to these instructions in an untarnished way until the moment when the servant’s responsibility shall cease.

The time is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ shall shine forth in His glory and then the faithful servant shall see the happy fruit of faithfulness and of the good confession rendered. That time is fixed by the blessed and only Potentate whose purposes nothing can frustrate, who dwells in fadeless splendor beyond the reach of mortal eye.

Notice the full and complete way in which Scripture identifies the Lord Jesus and God. In these verses (14-16) it is not easy to discern which of the two is spoken of. It appears however that in this Scripture it is God who is King of kings and Lord of lords, who is going to show forth the Lord Jesus in His glory when the time is come. In Revelation 19:16 it is without a doubt the Lord Jesus who is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Observe also the force of the words, “who only hath immortality,” for there are not wanting those who attempt to press them into service, as supporting the denial of immortality to the soul of man and the teaching of annihilation. Their meaning is of course that God alone has immortality in an essential and unqualified way. If creatures possess it they have it as derived from Him. Did it mean that as to actual fact God only is immortal we should have of course to accept the ultimate extinction of all the saints and even of the holy angels. Read in that way the words mean too much even for the annihilationist.

Having ascribed “honor and power everlasting” to the immortal, invisible God, before whom Timothy was to walk far removed from the spirit and ways of those whose main object was the acquisition of riches, the Apostle turns in verse 17 to give instructions as to those believers who are “rich in this world.” His words indicate first of all the dangers attached to the possession of wealth. It has a tendency to generate high-mindedness and to divert the possessor from trust in God to trust in money. The worldly man of wealth naturally fancies himself greatly and feels himself secure against the ordinary troubles and struggles of humanity. The wealthy Christian must not imagine that his money entitles him to dominate the church of God and lord it over his fellow-believers.

Secondly Paul shows us the privileges attaching to wealth. It may be used in the service of God, in the help of His people; and thus he who starts by being rich in money may end in being rich in good works and this is wealth of a more enduring kind. Earthly riches are uncertain, and he who lays it up in store for himself may find his store sadly depleted just when most needed. He who uses his riches in the service of God is laying up in store a good foundation of reward in eternity and meanwhile his trust is in the living God, who after all does not deny us what is good but gives it to us richly for our enjoyment. It is just those who hold and use their possessions as stewards responsible to God that can be trusted to enjoy God’s good, gifts without misusing them.

We saw that trust in the living God is the very essence of godliness when we were looking at verse 10 of chapter 3. The expression occurs again in verse 17 here. Rich believers are to be godly and to bend their energies not to the laying hold of larger things in this world but to the laying hold of “eternal life,” or “that which is really life.” The latter is probably the correct reading. Real life is not found in money and the pleasures it procures (See, verse 6.) but in the knowledge and service of God.

The closing charge to Timothy is very striking. To him had been entrusted as a deposit the knowledge and maintenance of the revealed truth of God, as stated more fully in 2 Timothy 3:14-17. This he was to jealously guard for it would be imperiled, on the one hand by profane and vain babblings — doubtless foolish teachings akin to the “profane and old wives’ fables” of 4:7 — and on the other hand by “science falsely so called.” These words plainly infer that true science exists which is in complete harmony with revelation. They plainly state that there was even 2000 years ago a mis-named science which opposed revelation. It was largely composed of the speculations of the philosophers. The misnamed science of today also is composed of partial knowledge based on imperfect or inaccurate observations with a very large admixture of speculation, often of the wildest kind. If that kind of “science” be professed the faith is missed altogether.

As to all this the instructions are very simple. Avoid the babblings and AVOID the mis-named science no less than the babblings. We shall need grace from God to do this. Hence the closing words, “Grace be with thee. Amen.”

F. B. HOLE.

I hear you are getting rich. Take care; for it is the road by which the devil leads thousands to destruction.

“I never knew how it was,” said Baxter, “but I always seem to have the most come in when I give the most away.”

Not the tax-gatherer, but the Word of God, can decide what a man is worth.

The Christian Calling.

OF old Abram was called of God when he lived in Mesopotamia. There his fathers and he had served “other gods”— the idols of the nations. To him “the God of glory” appeared. In some way of which we are not told He made Himself known and called Abram to leave his country, kith and kin and go to a land which he should be shown. And Abram arose and went.

By that call he was separated from all that which had surrounded him previously. God had called. Henceforth all for him was to be found in or provided by “God Almighty” who had made Himself known to him.

Today it is the same with the believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is called of God. It is of this calling — as brought before us in the first epistle of Peter I wish to briefly speak.

In the first chapter we read, “As He which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (vs. 15).

God who has called us is holy. Therefore those called are to be holy also. We are

CALLED TO HOLINESS.

From those honored with such a call a manner of life consistent with the privilege is looked for. We are to answer to the position in which we are placed. Our whole life is to be befitting― “as becometh” those “professing godliness.” The call has come, the favor is conferred and therefore our whole course is to be in accordance with it.

He who called us is holy. Sin, in every form, is abhorrent to Him. The world has cast out and rejected His beloved Son. The world has broken with God and God has broken with the world which now lies under condemnation. His grace lingers over it. His long suffering is salvation. But its judgment is pronounced. It has been tried in various ways. The same result has always been reached. Man has failed, without law and under law — judges, priests, kings, Jews and Gentiles alike all are plunged into one common ruin. “Last of all” God’s beloved Son was sent. “The world hath seen and hated both Me and My Father” was the sad and solemn pronouncement of the Lord. Out of this world God has called us — to be holy in our words and ways.

In the second chapter we find,

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His Marvelous light.” (vs. 9)

Here we find our calling distinguished as

“CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELLOUS LIGHT.”

The world lies in darkness. The rulers of this world-darkness control it. Man vaunts himself as to discoveries and inventions and engages his mind with “some new thing,” and boasts of twentieth century progress. He shuts his eyes to the future. Death — judgment — eternity are banished from his thoughts if possible. He is deceived, duped by the devil who “deceiveth the whole world.” He is in the dark and blinded “by the god of this world.” Out of that condition Christians have been called — called into light — into marvelous light — into God’s marvelous light. God has revealed Himself fully. He is now in the light of manifestation. The Christian walks in that light. He can be there happily because he knows the value of the blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin. And knowing God in His love, he worships as a holy priest, offering up “spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And as a royal priest he is privileged to show forth the praises of the God whose grace and goodness he knows. In the holiest of all he worships pouring out his heart’s thanksgivings. In the world, through which he has to pass, he witnesses bearing testimony to the wonderful grace of God. These two forms of priest-hood — holy and royal — are seen exercised by Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. They “prayed and sang praises to God,” this was holy priesthood. “They spake to him the word of God” — this was royal priesthood. How great is our privilege to sing to God and to speak for God.

Another view of our calling is found in verse 21. We are

CALLED TO SUFFERING.

Our Lord Jesus trod a pathway of suffering in this world and in each chapter of the epistle He is spoken of as a Sufferer (1:11; 2:21; 3:18; 4:1; 5:1). And we who are His are called to follow His steps.

“If, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps.”

The world being what it is, the path of the Christian is necessarily one of trial and difficulty. He has to hold himself aloof from every form of evil. His separation may bring upon him reproach and shame. And it may be that persecution and distress become his portion. If so this is favor from God. To us, “it is given [given as a favor] ... not only to believe on Him but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29).

Let us not seek a path of ease and comfort in the world of our Saviour’s refusal and betrayal and murder. Let us “take our share in suffering as good soldiers of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3).

In chapter 3:9 we read,

“Not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing; but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.”

We are

CALLED TO BLESSING.

Called to inherit blessing — blessing abundant, — blessing eternal. Called to live in the enjoyment of the blessing. Called to minister blessing to others. We are reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus; “Bless them that curse you.” So it was that He prayed for His murderers, saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

God has blessed us so abundantly — blessed us with all spiritual blessings — so that we — set up in blessing — may be here for the help and cheer and encouragement of others. Should we not ever cry,

“Make me a channel of blessing today,

Make me a channel of blessing, I pray:

My life possessing, my service blessing,

Make me a channel of blessing today.”

This is an honor which we may prize. We are allowed to be channels through which good may reach others. We have had the light shine in that the light may shine out.

The Lord proposed this when He cried “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.”

Should we not seek grace to be here in a weary, unsatisfied world as clear channels through which the blessing of God may flow unhinderedly?

It is but a little while and the journey will be over and our openings for usefulness and helpfulness here will cease. Therefore we should buy up our opportunities. If we are fit for the Master’s use, He will employ us. He has called us to service thus.

Finally, in the last chapter verse 10 we read, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

Wonderful thought, we are

CALLED TO GLORY

Called by God Himself — to holiness, ― into light, — to suffering and to blessing. All this in the present time. As to the future the glory of God — “His eternal glory” is before us. Its brightness draws us on, attracting us ever forward, encouraging us in the midst of every difficulty. The suffering we may know, is but for “awhile.” The glory is eternal. “The God of glory” who called Abram has called us and He has called us to “the glory of God.” This is our only sure future.

A young man was speaking with an aged servant of God of the future. He was proposing to take a step in faithfulness to God, a step which might mean suffering and difficulty. He said “If when I take this step this or that thing happens — “He was interrupted by the older one who exclaimed “There’s no future but glory for the Christian.”

Let us remember this — our Lord Jesus is coming quickly — “He that cometh will come and will not delay.” Any moment He may return to receive us unto Himself that where He is we may be also. Then the joys of His company in the Father’s house will be ours. And like Him then we shall enjoy unbroken unbreakable communion forever and ever.

“The glory shines before me!

I know that all is well!

My Father’s care is o’er me,

His praises I would tell.

The love of Christ constraineth me

His blood has washed me white;

Where Jesus is in glory, —

“Tis home! and love! and light!”

Wonderful is our calling — May we answer to it more faithfully.

INGLIS FLEMING.

His Last Request.

NOT many episodes in the life of our blessed Lord are recounted as many as three times in the four Gospels, yet the institution by the Lord of His supper on the night of His betrayal is one of them. The Apostle John, the only one of the four Evangelists who omits it, occupies his time in giving us a full account of the wonderful words spoken by the Lord to His disciples on that occasion, and his divinely-ordered omission is made up for by the Apostle Paul being inspired to tell us in 1 Corinthians 11 how this ordinance of the Lord was specially confirmed to him by revelation from the Lord Himself. He received it, not from Peter or John or some other one of the eleven who were actually present on the occasion but “from the Lord.” Having so received it he faithfully delivered it to the Corinthians, and to us.

Did we read only the accounts given to us in Matthew 26 and Mark 14 we might be led to regard it as a touching little ceremony specially designed to affect, the hearts of the disciples on that most sacred occasion, but without any bearing upon ourselves, for no word is there recorded which makes it clear that it has an application to days to come. The same thing might almost be said also concerning the account given us in Luke 23, only there we do get the word, “This do in remembrance of Me.” That might leave us with the impression that in saying this the Lord had the future in view, but it would be only an impression for there was still no definite instruction from the Lord’s lips. “This do” might after all only be meant to apply to that particular moment on the betrayal night.

But when we turn to the inspired words of the Apostle Paul we are no longer left to our impressions: we have the certainty of divine instructions. He recalls the words of our Lord in connection with the bread, as also with the cup; only in the case of the latter he records words omitted by the other three — “as oft as ye drink it.” Then upon these words he adds his own inspired comment, “for as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.” (1 Cor. 11:26). It is absolutely certain then that the Lord requests His disciples to observe this simple ordinance throughout the time of His absence until He comes again.

The question now arises as to what was the Lord’s intention and purpose in instituting His supper that it might be observed during the period of His absence? We will summarize our answer to this under three heads.

REMEMBRANCE.

The first and obvious answer is that He desired to be remembered by His saints and He knew very well that they were to pass through a world where Satan would be multiplying every possible kind of distraction, every device that would have the tendency to blur the distinctness with which He should stand out before the faith and love of their souls. Hence His words, thrice repeated in Scripture, “This do, in remembrance of Me.”

He loves to be remembered by His people, there can be no doubt about that. He particularly loves to be remembered during this time of His rejection, the time in which He is practically forgotten by the world. Does not this fact appeal to us apart from any other consideration, and move our hearts towards a response to His desire?

There is however the other consideration of that which is good and needful upon our side. To have Him in abiding remembrance, to be kept under the gracious influence of His love is most necessary for us, and hence not only the institution itself but also the nature of it. Both the elements represent before us His death. The bread He spoke of as His body. The cup He spoke of as His blood. Not both in some way together, as though they represented a living Christ upon earth, but entirely separated the one from the other, representing His body given for us and His blood poured forth in death. As we eat and drink of them we have before our very eyes the symbols of the Christ who died for us and who thereby enabled us to say, “Hereby perceive we the love of God.” (1 John 3:16).

We should of course have Himself and His death in abiding remembrance but this is no reason for our neglecting these special seasons which are according to His word. If the early disciples at Troas habitually came together on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread — as evidently they did, according to Acts 20:7, and there is nothing to show that they were singular in so doing but rather the reverse — do you not think that twentieth-century disciples might well observe the ordinance with similar frequency? These at Troas lived in close proximity to the great event commemorated, it occurred doubtless within the lifetime of many of them. We are nearly nineteen centuries removed from it. Is not the great commemoration for us a more vital necessity, if possible, than for them?

And if our Lord and Master had bidden us do some great thing would we not have done it? How much more then when He has set before us such simple symbols, with the request that we should do so small a thing as eat and drink for a remembrance of Him? And see His wisdom in this, for man’s way is frequently enough to raise the most elaborate monuments to keep alive the memory of persons or things which eventually turn out to be of little real moment.

The Lord’s way was to use the simplest possible means to set before us that which is of infinite and eternal importance. Were it otherwise we might have all our thoughts centered on the emblems and overlook their significance. As it is, the extreme simplicity of the emblems is calculated to lay all the stress on the great realities that they represent.

Besides remembering Him in His death when we partake of His supper we also “show the Lord’s death” or “announce the death of the Lord.” This indicates that the Lord intended the ordinance to have an evidential value before men. It is the

STANDING WITNESS

to the fact that He has died; a witness of a character that cannot be gainsaid. It consists of an outward act to be performed, originated at the very moment when that which is commemorated happened, and continuing to be performed up to the present moment. The great force of this witness may not be apparent to many of our readers, if so, as space forbids any elaboration of the matter here, we refer them to a paper entitled, Christianity True: an Unanswerable Argument.

The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is of course the theme of the Gospel so that a testimony to it is presented to men whenever the Gospel is faithfully preached. Yet this does not take the place which the Lord’s Supper has in this connection. The Gospel proclaims His death and its wonderful results, whereas His Supper furnishes the abiding and standing witness to its reality. Both are needed, but in the first only a few comparatively can take part, whereas in the second every true-hearted saint may have a share, joining together in the making of the great announcement. Does not the thought of doing so make a very definite appeal to your heart?

In the third place the Lord instituted His supper that it might be expressive of fellowship — the fellowship of His death, and connected with this are certain

RESPONSIBILITIES.

This is unfolded to us in 1 Corinthians 10:15-22. It was not instituted nor is it to be observed as an individual Matter. It is “we, being many” who partake of it and thereby we express the fact that we “are one bread and one body.” Note very carefully the wording of these verses. The one loaf of the Lord’s supper sets forth the sacred personal body of Christ given for us in death. Our joint-participation in eating of that one loaf sets forth our oneness as belonging to the one body of Christ, the church. It is not the one loaf which sets forth the oneness of believers but rather their act in partaking of that one loaf. Thereby we each and every one express our identification with His death and commit ourselves to all the responsibilities flowing therefrom.

The poor heathen offering and eating of things sacrificed to idols had fellowship with demons. This verse 19 and 20 tell us. The Israelite who ate of the sacrifices was put into touch with God, partaking of His altar, and consequently he had to be very careful how he ate, as is witnessed by Leviticus 10:12-14. This verse 18 tells us. So it is for the Christian as verse 21 tells us. Partaking of the Lord’s table we must necessarily exercise great care. We cannot touch the “table of demons” and many another defiling and inconsistent thing. The responsibility rests upon us to be true to the One who died and who is the Center of our fellowship. The point is not that we all have to be true to each other, but that we all have to be true to Him and lo the fact that He has died. This is a responsibility indeed.

And to that responsibility the Lord will hold us. As we infringe it we provoke Him to jealousy, as verse 22 reminds us, and as is exemplified in chapter 11:29-32. But of this we cannot say more just now.

The responsibility is there and we must face it. Even were we to ignore this last request of our Lord, as some alas! do, we should not thereby evade the responsibility, but only incur greater responsibility. And after all it is nothing hard or irksome to the one who really loves the Lord.

The appeal of His last request is to our heart’s deepest affections. Is there not within us each that answering love which will lead us to respond?

F. B. HOLE.

The Invitation and the Response.

“Drink ye all of it” (Matt. 26:27)

“They all drank of it” (Mark 14:22)

MANY have been the attempts to harmonize the four gospels but it is well to see that each evangelist writes from a particular standpoint, and not with the idea of harmonizing with the other writers, nor even of supplementing what they wrote.

At the same time there is no contradiction in any of their records, and each is intended to fill out our knowledge of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord.

The texts which we quote at the head of this article afford a case of point.

The Lord is instituting the supper, the memorial feast of His death, that is intended to gather His own together as nothing else will.

In Matthew’s Gospel He is recorded as saying to His disciples, “Drink ye all of it.” Imagine the scene. A world of sin and darkness outside. The power of Satan concentrated on the destruction of the Lord. Man’s greatest crime is about to be perpetrated. He is everything to His own, and dimly do they realize what that death, the fulfillment of this Passover type, and which was to be remembered in the supper, would effect for them.

But the invitation goes forth from His sacred lips, “Drink ye all of it.” Can you imagine our failing to respond to such an invitation, based on such love, love that expressed itself, even in death?

Is it any wonder that in Mark’s Gospel we read, “They all drank of it”? The response was full and complete.

But is the Lord’s invitation confined to that one occasion and to those few who heard it then? Surely not! Is it not as insistent an invitation today and should not the response be as complete now as then?

May I ask the reader, Has the Invitation had a response with you?

When King George issues an invitation, it is a common saying that it equal to a command; everything that would hinder the acceptance of it is to be put aside, if possible, and the invitation responded to.

Shall our Lord’s invitation be less honored? Surely not! May I ask the reader once more, “Has the Invitation had a response with you?”

A. J. POLLOCK.

"Your Mortal Bodies."

HE was such a fine aristocratic looking old gentleman, with all the dignified military bearing of an officer of the time of Queen Victoria. In spite of his four score and more years, he had spoken at some length, and with great power, on the various offices of the Holy Ghost.

He had reached his last point in Romans 8:11, as to what the Holy Ghost is yet going to do for us in the future. This was his illustration―

“Every year I go to the Isle of Wight. I make a point of going each summer to look at a little house near Ryde. I am not sure that it is more than a cottage. Most probably if you saw it you would call it a cottage. But I love it. Every brick of it is dear to me, and each year I take the steamer and cross the water so that I may have another look at it. Unfortunately now the place is occupied by strangers, so that I cannot wander at will all over the inside of it, but I have a good look at the old cottage from the outside. First I look at the front, then I walk round and look at both sides of it, and then at as much of the back as is visible. You see I love the place and that is why I take all this trouble. Shall I tell you why I love it? Well the reason is that I was born there, and in that little house I spent the first eight years of my life. Oh, the happy days of my childhood that it recalls! What delightful memories of early days it brings back to my mind. I love the place, and if I had my way it should never be pulled down.

“Now that is exactly what the Holy Ghost says as He looks at your poor body. Maybe it is not a very fine one, and likely enough nearly worn out, but the Holy Ghost says “I love it, that has been My home. I have lived in it, for ten, twenty or thirty years and it shall never be destroyed. Even should it fall asleep, I shall one day quicken that mortal body and raise it in glory.”

What a cheer for the sick! In 1 Corinthians, each member of the Trinity is mentioned in connection with our body. It is called the “temple of God” (3:16) “members of Christ.” (6:15), and a “temple of the Holy Ghost.” (6:19). When the time comes for us to fall asleep, it is the special work of the Holy Ghost to call us home, for “the grass withereth and the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.” (Isa. 40:7).

“Delays are not refusals. Many a prayer is registered and underneath it the words, “My time is not yet come.” God has a set time, as well as a set purpose.”

Our Scripture Portion.

(2 Timothy 1).

The writer of this article addresses you assuming that you have opened your Bible at the verses indicated above and are going to follow him with your eye upon the passage. Consequently all long quotations of Scripture are avoided and mere references cut down to a minimum. If you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

WE have no certain knowledge of how many years elapsed between the writing of the 1St and 2nd epistles to Timothy but evidently there had been sufficient time for the development of a big down-grade movement in the church of God. The diverse characters stamped upon the two Epistles make this quite plain. In the first epistle Timothy is instructed as to good order in the church and exhorted to maintain it in the presence of disorders that threatened it. In the second we find that, while there is still disorder, serious defection has developed and that in some quarters even the foundations of the faith are in danger; consequently that which is official is not mentioned and the appeal is to individual faithfulness. This we shall see as we pursue our way through the epistle.

In his opening words, presenting his apostleship, Paul strikes a note which is prominent all through this epistle. He is an apostle, not only “by the will of God” that gave him his authority — but also “according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus” — that conferred upon his apostleship an unconquerable character. Nature furnishes us with many illustrations of the extraordinary power of life. Here is a green sapling so tender that an infant could crush it in its tiny fist yet under certain conditions the life that is in it will force it through pavements or cause it to displace great stones weighing hundredweights. Here again is life of a certain order with its distinguishing characteristics. From these characteristics no one can divert it try as they will. Neither training nor cajoling nor whip will make a dog express its pleasure by purring nor a cat do so by wagging its tail. The life of the animal with its innate characteristics will conquer all your efforts.

In nature life is an immense force, but the life in Christ Jesus is unconquerable. The life of nature in all its forms, the life of Adam — which is human life — included, ultimately meets its match and is conquered by DEATH. The life in Christ is beyond the reach of death, for it was as having died and risen again that He became the Fountainhead of life do others. That life was promised before the world began (See, Titus 1:2) and brought to light in the Gospel (See, verse 10 of our chapter). Its fruition will be seen in ages yet to come. Hence it is spoken of as a promise here.

We start the epistle therefore with that which will survive all the failures and defections of believers and all the other ravages of time. How good to be connected with a sheet-anchor which never moves before we face the storms indicated in the epistle. Everything that is “in Christ Jesus” abides to eternity.

Having saluted Timothy the Apostle in verse 3 expresses his prayerful remembrance of him; in verse 4 and 5 he calls to mind the features in him which were to be commended, and then from verse 6 and onwards he exhorts and encourages him in the fear of God.

Both Paul and Timothy came of good stock. The former could speak of serving God from his forefathers with a pure conscience; that is, without defiling his conscience by doing that which he knew to be wrong. He was true up to his light, though, as he confesses elsewhere, once his light was so defective that he was found opposing Christ with conscientious zeal. Timothy was the third generation to be marked by faith. Indeed his faith is called “unfeigned,” and faith of a very genuine order is a, prime necessity when times of declension and testing set in. Moreover the Apostle can speak of his tears and these indicated that he was a man of deep feeling and of spiritual exercises.

The very remembrance of Timothy’s tears filled Paul with joy. How would he feel about us? Would he turn from us sad and disappointed at our feeble faith and general shallowness of conviction and feeling? Depend upon it, unfeigned faith, the maintenance of a pure conscience and the deep spiritual feelings which express themselves in tears are immense assets wherewith to face the difficulties and perils of “the last days.”

Timothy possessed in addition a special gift from God, which had been administered to him through Paul, and gift carries with it a responsibility to use it in a proper and adequate way. A person of quiet and retiring mind, as Timothy seems to have been, is sorely tempted to lay up his “pound” in a napkin when confronted by trying circumstances. On the contrary, difficult circumstances are really a trumpet call for the stirring up of any gift that may be possessed, and this is possible for God has given to us His Holy Spirit, and thereby we have a spirit of power and love and a sound mind and not a spirit of fear.

“Power” here does not mean “authority” but rather “might” or “force.” We have the force but it needs to be controlled by love, and both force and love must be governed by “a sound mind” or “wise discretion if the energy that we have by the Holy Spirit is to be rightly employed.

We are not therefore to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.

There was no danger of Timothy being ashamed of the testimony in earlier days when as recorded in Acts 14-19, it was triumphing in spite of bitter opposition. Now however it was in reproach, believers even were growing cold and Paul, the chiefest of its heralds, was in prison with no hope of release. There is nothing more trying than to come into a movement when it is on a rising tide of prosperity and then to see it pass its crest and a heavy ebb tide set in. This is the thing to test one’s mettle.

Timothy’s mettle was being tested, but the Apostle’s call to him was that he should now partake of the afflictions of the Gospel. We are all glad to partake of the blessings of the Gospel, and many of us are glad to have a share in the work of the Gospel so that we may partake of its successes, and finally of the rewards in the coming kingdom for faithful service in it, but to partake of its afflictions is another matter. This is only possible “according to the power of God.” Here as in Colossians 1:11, power is connected not with that which is active but with that which is passive — suffering.

Power is in itself a cold impersonal thing. In this passage however the warm personal touch is given to it by verses 9 and 10. The God, whose power it is, is known to us as the Author of both our salvation and our calling. These two things ever go together, for they give us what we may call the negative and positive sides of the matter. We are saved from that we may be called to. We are delivered from the misery and peril into which sin has plunged us in order that we might be designated to the place of favor and blessing which is to be ours according to the purpose of God.

What God does in saving and calling is always according to His purpose. It was so when He saved Israel out of Egypt, for He called them to bring them into the land that He had purposed for them. There is a great difference however between Israel’s salvation and calling and ours. They were saved in a national way from foes of flesh and blood in this world. We are saved from every spiritual foe and in an individual way. They were called, to the Land of Promise with its attendant earthly blessings. We are called into heavenly relationships with their attendant spiritual and heavenly blessings. The kingdom, of which Israel will be the center-piece was purposed by God “from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34), and their land was mapped out for them from the time when “the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance” (Deut. 32:8), that is, from the time of Babe]. Our calling, as we are told here, is according to divine purpose which dates back before the world began.

Moreover the calling which we enjoy as Christians is according to grace as well as purpose. In this too we see a contrast, for Israel brought out of Egypt was put under law, and being thus put on their own responsibility they very soon forfeited their inheritance. Our calling rests upon what God Himself is and does on our behalf, and therefore it can never pass away. Yet once again, both our salvation and our calling were given us “in Christ Jesus,” and this could not be said of Israel in the Old Testament. The covenant established with them addressed them as natural men and all stood upon a natural basis, and hence did not stand for long. All that we have is ours not as natural men having our standing in Adam, but as those who are before God in Christ Jesus.

Our holy calling was thus purposed before the world began, and its full blessedness will abide when the world has passed away. As yet we have not entered into its full blessedness, still it has been made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour, and we have a foretaste of it inasmuch as death has been annulled by His death and resurrection and life and incorruptibility have been brought to light in the Gospel. “Annulled” and not “abolished” is the right translation. Death most evidently is not yet abolished, but its power is annulled for those who believe in Jesus. Also “incorruptibility” is the word and not “immortality.” The souls of the wicked are not subject to death, but we have the larger hope of being finally placed beyond corruption, where the last breath of it can never touch us.

Paul had been appointed a herald of this Gospel in the Gentile world and his diligent labors had brought him into all this suffering and reproach. Men were beginning to shrug their shoulders and say that his cause was a lost one. He himself began to see the glint of the executioner’s ax as the termination of the dark tunnel of his imprisonment. How did he feel about it?

“Nevertheless, I am not ashamed” were his words. Of course not! How could he be? The very Gospel he carried was the glad tidings of life in the present and a glorious state of incorruptibility to come, consequent upon the breaking of the power of death. Who is there that really believing and understanding such tidings as these will be ashamed of them? Moreover his mission and authority proceeded from One whom he knew and believed, and this knowledge gave him the persuasion that all was safe in His hands.

Paul had committed his all to Christ inasmuch as he was a man that had “hazarded” or “delivered up” his life “for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 15:26). He had “suffered the loss of all things” (Phil. 3:8). He had deposited his reputation and his cause in the hands of his Master, and he had the full assurance that in the day of Christ he would be fully vindicated and recompensed. With that blessed assurance in his heart how could he be ashamed?

All this has been mentioned by the Apostle in order to enforce his earlier exhortation to Timothy that he should not be ashamed of the testimony in days when reproach was increasing. In verse 13 he gives him a second exhortation of great moment. If the adversary cannot intimidate us into defection from the truth he may nevertheless succeed by filching away the truth from us.

Now the truth to be of any practical use to us must be stated in words, and in this the devil may find his opportunity. Timothy had heard the truth from the lips of Paul to whom it was first revealed. It was a good thing — a good deposit — entrusted to him and it was to be kept by the indwelling Holy Spirit, but it only could be preserved intact as he held fast the form, or outline, of sound words in which Paul had conveyed it to him. There are plenty of deceivers today who under cover of zeal for the “idea,” the “conception,” the “spirit” of the truth advocates extreme latitude as to the words used. They ridicule verbal accuracy and especially “verbal inspiration;” but this in order to make it very easy for them to abstract from the minds of their dupes the divine idea and substitute for its ideas of their own. We have never heard Paul personally but we have the form of sound words in his inspired epistles.

He can say to us, as well as to Timothy “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me”— only we have received it not from his living voice but through his pen, which is after all the more reliable Way. If held fast “in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” the truth will be operative in ourselves and effective in others.

Alas! it is very easy to turn away. All in Asia had already done so. The context would indicate that this turning away from Paul was in connection with his inspired unfolding of the truth, to which he had just referred. These Asians were evidently ashamed of Paul and of the testimony. On the other hand there was Onesiphorus who was not ashamed and for whom a bright reward is waiting in “that day.”

F. B. HOLE.

“We know of nothing more dangerous than familiarity with truth without an exercised conscience. It throws one directly into the hands of Satan. Whereas an exercised conscience, an upright mind, a single eye keep us steadily going on in the holy, peaceful, lightsome ways of God.”

Righteousness and Holiness.

“The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” (Rom. 3: 22)

“Follow... holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12: 14).

Let it be clearly understood that the righteousness that engages our attention in this article is IMPUTED righteousness.

There is the practical righteousness that God expects from His people, the full result of which is seen in Revelation 19:8. But whilst remembering this, we wish to take up IMPUTED righteousness contrasting it with holiness in this article.

These Scriptures connect the thought of righteousness with a work done outside of the believer altogether, whilst the thought of holiness is linked up with a work done inside the believer. In the former case the work done is that of the Lord Jesus on the cross; in the latter it is that of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the believer.

The former is judicial: the latter is experimental. Each is distinct and should be kept so in our minds, and yet the one cannot be divorced from the other. They stand in vital relation to each other.

It must be ever remembered that there are two great results of the death of Christ for the believer. Not only is what we have done — our sins — atoned for, but what we are, as utterly fallen children of Adam’s race, is condemned and set aside from before God. In the one case God is “the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26); in the other, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, CONDEMNED sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3).

There is forgiveness for sins, but no forgiveness for a sinful nature. Nature can only express itself according to what it is, “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). There can be nothing for that but condemnation, root and branch.

But there is the positive side to this. It is not all condemnation. Where would any of us be if there were no positive side?

What is the positive side? It is the communication of divine life to the believer, through the death of Christ. We come to the realm of what is truly marvelous. Do you not, fellow believer, feel the stirring of that divine life in your heart? It was pithily described by a young convert, when he said to the writer, “The things I loved two years ago I hate now, and the things that I hated two years ago, I love now.”

When the bitten Israelites lay on the desert sand, fast dying from the poison-bite of the fiery serpents, what they needed was LIFE. This type is used by the Apostle John in his wonderful Gospel. His theme is not salvation, or forgiveness of sins, but LIFE, LIFE, WE. He rings the changes on “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting LIFE.” (John 3:36).

In chapter 6 He is the Bread from heaven, which is given for the LIFE of the world.

In chapter 10 He gives eternal LIFE to His sheep, and they shall never perish.

In chapter 11 He is the Resurrection and the LIFE.

In chapter 14 He is the Way, the Truth and the LIFE.

And life in Him, is life for the believer on Him.

Thus condemnation of the flesh, the evil nature that is ours as inherited at our birth into the world, is the one side of the death and resurrection of Christ, the impartation of divine life is the other side. Both are the result of His death and resurrection, as well as the forgiveness of our sins.

Now having cleared the ground somewhat, we trust, let us contrast righteousness and holiness, let us mark how distinct the one is from the other, yet carefully note how they cannot be divorced in relation to the believer.

To begin with righteousness is imputed. That is the great theme of Romans.

“Justification by faith,” was the trumpet cry of the glorious reformation that was used of God in freeing multitudes from the tyranny and superstition of Rome and brought them into the glorious liberty of the Gospel of God.

If righteousness is imputed it needs no argument to prove that the one to whom it is imputed had no hand in it. It comes by faith, and not by works. “God imputeth righteousness without works.” (Rom. 4:6). It is by faith, but faith in what Another has done. It is contingent on believing on God, “who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” (Rom. 4:24-25).

How completely it is outside us is seen when we read that “Christ Jesus... is made unto us... righteousness.” (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ is our Righteousness. How perfect and complete then it must be.

The result of all this is that imputed righteousness affords the only righteous ground on which we can stand in the presence of God, and be accepted by Him. We owe it all to the great atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We may never grasp in all its fullness the wonderful devotedness that led Him through that terrible ordeal for the satisfaction of a holy God about the whole question of sin, and for the everlasting salvation of all who put their trust in Him. We may well rise to the height of the gospel and “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement [or, reconciliation]” (Rom. 5:11). The Greek word is elsewhere rightly rendered reconciliation, and it should be so here.

If righteousness, is imputed, if it is without works, if it is of faith, then once received it is ours forever. It comes to us as the unalienable gift of God. How blessed and happy to realize this!

Now as to the question of holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Both righteousness and holiness were typified in connection with the service of the Tabernacle. The priests were consecrated to the service of Jehovah by blood. There was the blood of the sin-offering and burnt-offering. There was no approach save by blood, by sacrifice. This gave a priest his title.

But when he went into the Tabernacle to perform his priestly service he had to wash his hands and feet in the water of the brazen laver. Does this not illustrate how separate the one is from the other, and yet how connected? The blood of the sin-offering speaks, in figure, of the atoning death of Christ; the water speaks of personal cleanliness or holiness without which the Priest could not be in the presence of the Lord.

It is the blood that gives us judicial standing; it is practical holiness that gives moral fitness.

Let us give a purely supposititious case. Suppose a thoroughly bad man with depraved tastes and governed by low passions were saved, and there was no change in his nature. Could God, in whose holy sight the very heavens are unclean, be happy in the company of such a man? Would the man be happy in the blaze of the glory of God? Impossible! The man would indeed be in a sorry plight, if it were possible for him to have imputed righteousness, and yet to be dominated by his depraved tastes and governed by his vile passions. You may well cry out that such a case is impossible.

But give that man a nature that is in such consonance with God that the Apostle Peter can speak of being “partakers of the divine nature,” and the problem is solved.

True it is that the evil nature which characterized us at conversion, is still in us, its tastes and propensities unchanged. It is the presence of the two natures that brings in the conflict, and it is in the power of the Holy Spirit acting on the new nature that holiness of walk characterizes the believer, and as such characterizes him he will be happy and at home in the things of the Lord.

How cheering it is to realize that when the Lord takes His own at His coming, the flesh shall be left behind, and nothing will remain but the new nature, and then without a stain or a wrong desire the believer will realize that his supreme joy lies in righteousness and holiness, — righteousness, he has, a perfect title to be in the presence of God through the precious blood of Christ — holiness, that in the new nature, whose every movement is in accord with God, there will be perfect moral fitness.

And it is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer here and now to bring his state into happy accord with all that God is. Seeing this, let us not be content unless that which will be in fullness and completeness in heaven, shall be seen in us on earth for God’s glory and our own true gain.

A. J. POLLOCK.

Things Freely Given to us of God.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” — Ephesians 1:3.

“Now we, have received... the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”―1 Corinthians 2:12.

WE were reading the other day a paper by a well-known writer on “The love of Christ and the experiences that flow from it.” A sentence or two on the first page struck us very much. The more so, perhaps, because our own mind had been running in the same direction. This is what he says: —

“There are two points seen distinctly in our salvation and in the ways of God. The first is God bringing His thoughts to pass about us in grace; the second is the dealings of God with us to bring us into the enjoyment of them. I am sure we ought to take heed to the difference between these two things and to hold both distinctly. The first is as sure, settled, and steadfast as God Himself is, because ‘Hath He said, and shall He not do it?’ But the other is His work also, and it is a process that must be carried on in our souls.”

It is upon those two points that we want to say a few words.

First, the blessings wherewith God has blessed His saints have been freely bestowed on all of them alike. They are the gifts of His grace — that is, they are neither inherited by right, nor do we acquire them by anything of a meritorious nature that we can do. He gives them of His own free favor. Unlike an earthly patrimony, which is often unequally distributed, the blessings with which God enriches His children belong in equal measure to every member of His family. No one has more than another, and no one less. They all share alike. Every spiritual blessing is the assured portion of the youngest believer, nor is it possible for the oldest to have more. All that love could give has been given, and no labor on our part can enlarge the boundaries of our spiritual inheritance. If the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, it is clear that more than “all” none can have. But when we speak of the soul being led into the knowledge and conscious possession of them by the Holy Spirit, then we speak of another thing. But more of this anon.

If we name some of the spiritual blessings which the infinite grace of God has made ours, it will be seen that there is no difference between the believer of yesterday and the one who has known Christ and served Him faithfully from youth to old age. Take the name of Father. It indicates the relationship in which we have been set — that of children. “Beloved, now are we the children of God” (1 John 3:2). It is plain that in this there can be no degrees. The babes in the family of God are His children now. They will not be more so at any later period of their Christian life, not even when they are in glory with Christ. In our own families this is never doubted. The new-born babe, cradled in his mother’s arms and dandled on her knees, is as much her child as that other son who is perseveringly pushing his way to the first form at school, and whose growing intelligence is the delight and pride of his parent’s heart. There is no difference. So is it in the family of God. All there are His dear children, born of Him and sealed with the Spirit of His Son (Gal. 4:6).

The same may be said of other blessings. There is the justification of the believer — his clearance from every charge of guilt. “By Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). In this there can be no measures. The believing soul just starting on his Christian course is as completely justified as was “Paul the aged” when he said: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.” The young recruit and the veteran with scars received in many a conflict with the foe, the newly enrolled disciple only beginning to decipher the first letters of the Christian alphabet, and the advanced scholar at home among the profoundest truths of the Bible, are alike justified before God. There is no difference. God has justified them both, and none can condemn or lay aught to their charge (Rom. 8:33).

And it is equally true if we speak of the believer’s fitness for heaven. “Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). Note those words, “Who hath made us meet,” not “Who is making us meet.” And this was said of all the saints at Colosse, and it is assuredly true of all saints today. We are now dealing with a point that is not clearly seen by every Christian. Many think that our fitness for heaven is in proportion to the progress we make in personal sanctification. In their judgment it is a matter of growth, and as a necessary consequence some saints (all believers are called saints in Scripture) are more fit for heaven than others because they are more devoted to Christ and have made greater progress in the divine life. We believe this to be a profound mistake. Do we, then, make little of devotedness and of spiritual progress? God forbid! But we distinguish between things that differ. Observe afresh the reading of Colossians 1:12: “Who hath made us meet.” It is perfectly done, and nothing can be added to make it more complete. From whence, then, is our fitness derived? We answer, first of all, that, on the ground of the One Sacrifice for sins offered on Calvary, the believer’s sins and iniquities shall be remembered no more (Heb. 10:17). They are forever gone — blotted out, cast into the depths of the sea. Clean, clean as the blood of Jesus can make him, so is he in God’s sight. Nor is he ever otherwise. “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel” (Num. 23:21). Plenty of both if you examine their practical ways, but in “the vision of the Almighty” it had no place. The eye of God sees our sins no more. The Blood, the precious blood of Christ, covers them and hides them out of sight forever.

But not only so, the believer has been born again. He is a new creation in Christ; he is God’s handiwork, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). This is not poor fallen human nature made better; the flesh improved; our old man revived and set upon his feet again. “Our old man has been crucified with Christ,” says Paul in Romans 6:6. How, then, can it be made better and get a new start? No, there is no betterment of “our old man.” Thank God, there is a new man. “If anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17, N.Tr.). Thus cleansed from their sins and a new creation in Christ Jesus, all believers are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. In this, too, there is no difference, inasmuch as our fitness to stand before God is the fruit of the redemption work of Calvary and of our being “in Christ.”

And so we might go on naming, one after another, the spiritual blessings freely bestowed on us. But we must turn to another side of the truth in which there are undoubtedly varying measures, and in which the soul should be making progress.

It will be evident to every reflective mind that such things as these of which we have been speaking are revealed in the Holy Scriptures that we might really possess them in the faith of our souls. Otherwise, though they are all ours, they yield no spiritual increase, we do not become enriched by them, and we miss the good they are intended to bring. Diligence of soul is called for, a searching of the Word of God with an earnest desire to know what is made known there, together with prayer for teaching which the Holy Spirit alone can give. Without this we shall starve in the midst of plenty and be poor though boundless riches are waiting to be claimed. And when we begin to be in earnest on this line, then experiences begin and God deals with us to bring us to the real and true knowledge of things, which, perhaps, we have known in the letter long ago.

Take Rom. 7, for example. It is a deeply experimental chapter. It describes, not true Christian experience, but the experience of many true Christians. In speaking thus we are not playing upon words, for the difference is very great. Now, what are two of the main lessons the soul learns by the painful processes so vividly portrayed?

First, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) good does not dwell” (vs. 18). The discovery is made that no good is there, not the smallest particle of it. There is no tiny germ which under holy influences might grow and develop into something good.

“The flesh” is wholly and hopelessly evil. Can a (rotten apple be made sound again, or a bad egg ever become fresh and sweet?

Secondly, “How to perform that which is good I find not... When I would do good, evil is present with me” (verse 18:21.). The soul is unable to attain to the good it longs to reach. It is without strength. It strives to conquer the evil it finds within, but is baffled, beaten back, and discomfited. It labors with all its might to come up to the standard the Law requires, but never succeeds. Worn out and utterly exhausted, it is obliged at last to give up the contest and, to cry: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?” Now let me ask, Was all this only true of the individual when he had learned those lessons? Nay, it had been always true. Goodness and strength he had never had. But what possibly he would have confessed in terms long before had now been learned experimentally. “I know” is not now mental light, but deep inward knowledge. To that point the soul had to be brought that it might go on to understand and enjoy by divine teaching the blessedness of being “in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1)

To pursue this a step further. Look at the opening statement of Rom. 8. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Is not every saint “in Christ Jesus”? Can anyone receive the forgiveness of sins through faith in Him and the gift of the Holy Spirit and not be “in Christ Jesus”? Impossible! But is every converted soul intelligently and consciously there? We think not. Why, the experiences described in Rom. 7 are the experiences of one who is passing in the consciousness of his soul from Adam to Christ — from Adam, whose disobedience overwhelmed all his posterity in one common ruin, to Christ, whose obedience even unto death brings all who are His out of the Adam ruin, into a new standing and condition before God. But is a person only “in Christ Jesus” when the blessedness of all this breaks in upon his soul? Nay, he was there before. In “the vision of the Almighty” he was there from the first moment he had believed in Christ Jesus and been sealed with the Holy Spirit. But what is true of us in God’s sight is made true in our souls by the ministry of the truth and the power of the Holy Ghost. To stop short of this last is to suffer great loss. It is to have riches without really possessing them, like a man having land under the surface of which are rich mineral deposits who either does not know that they are there, or, if knowing, does not delve and dig for them.

And the same line of argument might be pursued in reference to other great Christian truths. It would carry us too far to discuss them. Enough has been said to show that many truths have more sides than one. It is the forgetfulness of this that sometimes leads to misunderstandings. We are apt to press one side as if there were no other. There is danger in that. The thoughts of God about His people are revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and to the Scriptures we must go if we would learn them. But, then it is also true that it is the office of the Holy Spirit to lead us into the knowledge and enjoyment of them, so that they become glorious realities to us, separating us by their sanctifying power from the world and unto God. Hence the importance of our not grieving the Holy Spirit by indifference and worldly ways. The Corinthians were doing this, and the Apostle had to tell them that he had given them milk to drink, for they were not able to be fed with meat (1 Cor. 3:2). So was it with the Hebrews. They had become such as had need of milk (Heb. 5:12). It was to their reproach. Yet to these same Corinthians the apostle said: “All things are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21). And all things are ours, every spiritual blessing in Christ. In this we may rejoice and bless God, the Giver of them all. But let us not be content with knowing that it is so. Let it be our constant prayer that what is truly, really, alienably ours, as the gift of God, may also be known and possessed by our souls in the power of the Spirit.

W. B.

Our Scripture Portion.

(2 Tim. 2:1-22).

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

THE first verse of our chapter brings before us a third thing that is needful if the truth of God is to be maintained. A good deposit had been entrusted to Timothy. It had been conveyed to him by Paul in an outline of sound words, and was to be kept by the indwelling Holy Spirit, as verses 13 and 14 of chapter 1 have told us. Now to have the truth enshrined in an outline of sound words is good, and yet no such outline can in itself keep the truth alive; for this the Holy Ghost is needed. Apart from Him the sound words do but embalm the truth, as may be seen in some of the orthodox confessions where creed has become altogether divorced from practice. By the indwelling Spirit however the truth may be kept in its living power.

Even so, a third thing is necessary for the truth is not only to be kept but to be propagated: indeed it cannot be effectually kept if it be not propagated — and for this we must be “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” We must be kept in immediate and personal touch with Him that we may be partakers of His grace. The three then are these,

1. The form or outline of truth, which we have in the Holy Scriptures.

2.The indwelling Holy Spirit as life and power.

3.The grace of the risen Christ, as the fruit of communion with Him, strengthening the believer.

Not one of the three can be dispensed with. No two are sufficient without the third.

Thus strengthened Timothy was to diligently teach others, and especially to commit the truth to faithful men who would hand it on to others in their turn. We might almost be tempted to add “faithful men” as a fourth thing to the three already given, but of course a faithful man is one that is strong in the grace of Christ, so he really comes under point number three. We do well to remember all the same that the human element cannot be eliminated from the matter. When faithful men are wanting the grace of Christ remains unappropriated, the indwelling Spirit is grieved, and the light and safeguard of Scripture neglected.

Now anyone who is really identified in this way with the truth — be it an inspired apostle, as Paul, or an apostolic man, like Timothy, or faithful men, or even very ordinary believers, like ourselves — cannot expect to have an easy time of it in this world. Oppositions and tests of all kinds must be expected, And the rest of our chapter is occupied with instructions in view of such things, and we shall find emphasized the characteristics, which found in the believer will enable him to meet them.

First of all comes conflict. This is quite inevitable for we are in the enemy’s land and the Christian is a soldier. Two qualities are called for in this connection: we must be prepared for “hardness,” that is, we must not complain if we get plenty of hard knocks and suffer many inconveniences in serving the Lord; further we must hold ourselves absolutely at the disposal of the One whom we serve and hence be disentangled from the world. We handle the affairs of this life of course, perhaps we do so very largely, yet we must refuse to be entangled in them.

The Christian also wears the athlete character, he is like those who “strive for masteries.” In this connection obedience is stressed. Except he strive lawfully, except he run according to the rules of the contest, he is not crowned even though he comes in first. Do we sufficiently bear this in mind when we serve the Lord? Except we serve according to His instructions and in obedience to His word we cannot expect a full reward.

Further, he is like the husbandman, the farmer. This, man’s earliest occupation, is one that entails the maximum amount of real hard physical work. It means downright labor. So it is for the servant of the Lord. He must be prepared for real hard work, yet when the autumn fruits are garnered he has rightly enough the very first claim upon them. We make a great mistake if we favored British folk in this luxurious twentieth century imagine it is our special privilege to be exceptions to this rule and to be carried to heaven on downy beds of ease.

There is more in these simple illustrations than is apparent at first sight; hence we are bidden in verse 7 to give them a careful consideration, and if we do we may expect to receive understanding from the Lord.

In verse 8 the Apostle reminded Timothy of that which was the very key-note of the gospel which he preached. The verse should read “Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead.” We are to remember Him as the risen One rather than merely to remember the fact that He is risen, important as that is. Being of the seed of David He has the legal title to God’s throne on the earth, and He will in due time bring in all the blessing promised in connection with it, but as risen from the dead far wider regions of blessing are opened up to us. If we keep Him in view as the risen One we shall find it a preservative against innumerable perversions of the truth of the gospel.

Now it was just because Paul himself so firmly maintained the truth of the gospel that he suffered so much trouble culminating in imprisonment. Still even in his captivity he found consolation in three directions. First, the adversaries might bind him, the messenger of the word of God, but the word of God itself they could not bind for that was in the hand of the Holy Spirit who could raise up messengers to carry it as and where He would.

Second, his sufferings were not going to be in vain. They were for the sake of “the elect,” i.e., of those who should receive the gospel, that salvation in Christ with eternal glory might be theirs. Paul suffered that the truth of the gospel might be established and propagated. The Lord Jesus suffered in atonement that there might be a gospel to preach. We must never allow any confusion in our thoughts between the sufferings of Christ and those of any of His servants, even the greatest of them.

Third, there was the sure working of the government of God, as expressed in verse 11 to 13. Those who are identified with the death of Christ in this world shall enjoy life together with Him. Those who suffer in His interests shall be identified with Him when He reigns in glory. Those who deny Him will be denied by Him. God’s government acts in both directions: there shall be approbation and reward for the faithful believer, such as Paul was, and how great must have been this encouragement for him. Equally there shall be disapprobation and retribution for the unfaithful, and this may be a very serious matter for some of us. There is however just one qualification introduced into the working out of the government of God, and that is that if we “are unfaithful” (that is a better rendering than “believe not”) He remains faithful. Hence no act of His government can ever militate against or override His own purpose and grace. His government is necessary for our good and His glory, but His grace is founded upon what He is in Himself and, “He cannot deny Himself.” A faint illustration of this is seen in the actions of any right-minded earthly father who disciplines his child but never allows it to obscure the fundamental relationship that exists between them.

In verse 14 Timothy is exhorted to put believers in remembrance of these solemn considerations that thereby they may be delivered from wasting their time over unprofitable matters that only breed contentions, and in this connection Paul appeals to him under the figure of a workman. He was to make it his object to be approved of God, “rightly dividing,” or “cutting in a straight line” the word of truth. It takes a skilled carpenter to cut a really straight line, and spiritual skillfulness is needed in dividing up the Word of God so as to set it forth in detail.

When the Scriptures are rightly handled what light and edification is the result! When, on the other hand, they are cut crookedly what confusion is introduced to the subverting of the hearers! Who can estimate the loss that has been suffered by believers in sitting under preaching which has hopelessly mixed up things Jewish and things Christian, confused law with grace, and failed to discern any difference between the work of Christ wrought for us and the work of the Spirit wrought in us? These are alas but a few mild instances of the havoc that may be made in handling the Word of God.

To Timothy the Apostle proceeded to cite a glaring case which had arisen in these early days. Hymenæus and Philetus had divided the word of truth so crookedly that they were found propagating the notion that, “the resurrection is past already.” In so teaching they tampered with the very foundations of the faith of the gospel and they overthrew the individual faith of any who came under their power. They could not of course overthrow the faith of Christianity for that was a divine foundation, and whatever God founds always stands firm as a rock. Nor could they overthrow anything which God had founded in the hearts of His people. That always remains come what may, and “the Lord knoweth them that are His” even if they become misled under false teaching and hence undistinguishable to others.

The twofold seal of verse 19 is almost certainly an allusion to Numbers 16 verses 5 and 26, and we shall do well to read and consider that incident at this point as an illustration of the matter before us. The two principles set before us are quite clear and distinct: first, God is sovereign in His mercy and actings, hence He always knows and finally extricates those that are His: second, man is nevertheless responsible, hence everyone who takes upon his lips the acknowledgment of the Lord is under the solemn obligation to depart from iniquity. The Christian must never be found in complicity with evil of any kind, from that which is least to that which is greatest.

The case brought before us in these verses was one of great seriousness for it was error as to fundamental truth and also error of an infectious kind, for, says the Apostle, “their word will eat [or, spread] as doth a canker.” Instructions are therefore given us as to the course to be pursued by the saint who desires to be faithful to the Lord and His Word. These instructions evidently contemplate the error having spread like a canker to the point when the church is powerless to deal with it as the bad case of moral evil was dealt with at Corinth. (See, 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Cor. 2:4-8). The evidence of other Scriptures, notably of 1 John 2:18 19, would show that these early onslaughts of error were repulsed by the church, so that for the moment there may have been no necessity for Timothy to act on the instructions; if so it only emphasizes the goodness of God in seizing the occasion presented by the dangerous situation that arose over this matter to give the instructions so badly needed by us today.

In this connection another figure is used, that of a vessel. Verse 20 is an illustration whereby the apostle makes clear and enforces his instructions. In a large establishment there are many vessels of different qualities, and put to different uses. Only those however that are set apart from dishonorable use are fit for the Master’s use. Verse 21 applies this illustration to the case in point. A man must” purge himself from these,” i.e., from men such as Hymenæus and Philetus, and from the false doctrines they teach, if he would be “a vessel unto honor” and fit for the use of the Master.

F. B. HOLE.

Answer to a Correspondent.

I would be thankful to know your thoughts in answer to the following questions on John 4:23 and 24.

1. What constitutes real worship?

2. Does prayer or praise enter into real worship?

3. How am I to view the Lord in regard to worship, which seems to me to be a peculiar honor due to God as Father? —DUDLEY

WORSHIP is that spontaneous uprising of the heart, that outflow of homage, which is provoked in the subjects of redemption by the knowledge and enjoyment of God Himself, as He has been made known to us in Jesus. It may, or may not, express itself in words, but it must be “in spirit and in truth.”

It must be in spirit in contrast with that which is merely outward in the flesh, consisting in matters of ceremony and bodily posture; in contrast also with that emotional enthusiasm which might be spoken of as being in soul. All that concerns religious emotion and bodily posture is very dear to the heart of the ritualist but it is far removed from that worship in spirit which alone is true worship. It is also true of course that we can only worship in spirit by the Spirit of God. This is what Philippians 3:3, tells us, for the better attested reading there is, “who worship by the Spirit of God.”

It must also be in truth; that is, in the light of that wonderful revelation of things as they really are which has reached us in Christ, for, “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17). Now that we have this perfect revelation of God in Jesus, worship to be true and acceptable must be in the light of that revelation. We cannot set aside, or even ignore, that revelation and worship God in the light of Sinai, and much less in the dim light of creation, or nature, as it is sometimes called. This completely sets aside the so-called worship of the rationalist. Men may talk of going forth among the beauties of nature in order to worship the Almighty Creator, but if that be all they know of Him they cannot offer true worship.

Prayer, praise and worship have this in common, that in all three we address ourselves to God; but in prayer we do so as making requests of Him; in praise we tell forth His glory as expressed in His acts but in such a way that others may hear us; in worship we pour forth our adoration in a way intended for His ear alone. Though distinct, all three may be very closely intertwined in our experience. We may get upon our knees and pass from one to the other in the course of a very few minutes. An illustration of the difference between praise and worship may be found in Revelation 5. Praise is offered by myriads of angels and by every creature in verse 11 to 13. They speak ABOUT Him in the third person. It is “Worthy is the Lamb... Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, unto Him... and unto the Lamb.” Worship is rendered by the four and twenty elders in verses 9,10 and 14. They address themselves directly TO Him in the second person. It is “Thou art worthy... Thou wast slain.”

Worship is certainly a peculiar honor due to God, and it is as Father that we worship Him. This we are told in John 4:23. But then the very next chapter tells us, “That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him.” (vs. 23). Hence we cannot really worship the Father if we do not worship the Son. In keeping with this, we have just seen that the One who sits on the throne and the Lamb were equally and jointly the Objects of worship in Revelation 5.

It is equally true of course that the Lord Jesus is become our great High Priest. One of the chief reasons for His becoming Man was that He might assume this great office. It is through Him that we offer our praises to God, indeed in this character we may view Him as the Leader of our praise and worship. But this does not in the least militate against the fact that being God He Himself is the worthy Object of our worship; any more than the fact of His having become Man militates against the fact that He is God.

We quite understand your feeling a certain difficulty in putting these things together, but do you not see that it is really just the difficulty that meets us everywhere in connection with our blessed Lord and Saviour, owing to the fact that being God He has become Man? Our wisdom is to maintain both sides in faith and love. The difficulty is often more of an intellectual than a practical sort. We do not ourselves find much difficulty when with others we have come before the Lord for praise and worship. Do you?

Honoring God.

“Them that honor Me, I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Sam. 2:30).

SCRIPTURE furnishes wonderful examples of men and women, who have honored God, and of how God honored them in return.

Amongst the many shining examples in Hebrews 11, the parents of Moses find an honored place. Pharaoh had issued a harsh decree, ordering the destruction of the male Hebrew children at birth. Moses was born at that time, but his parents feared not to break the king’s commandment, and hid the child for three months.

A healthy child, however, cannot be hid for long. A babe cannot be made to understand the necessity of maintaining silence, but will cry and exercise its lungs.

Finding it impossible to hide the child any longer, the mother prepared an ark of bulrushes, and with her own hands placed the child in it, and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

Try to put yourself in the place of this noble woman. She dared the wrath of a cruel despot. Life was held cheap in those days, and she risked her life to save her child’s. Think of the hours of dread and alarm when the infant cried aloud, causing the parents to come to the conclusion that something desperate must be done to meet the situation. Think of the sorrow that filled her heart when, making the ark of bulrushes, she committed her darling child to the river.

Ah! it was not all anguish and sorrow of heart. It was not only the river that was in question. She committed her child to the river, and — GOD. On the human side it was, indeed, heart-breaking sorrow and anguish of spirit. She would not have been human if it had not cost her sore. But there was the divine side. There was faith. Well might she find her place in the galaxy of faith — worthies found in Hebrews 11. Well might she be bracketed with Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and her own illustrious son and David and Samuel.

She honored God. See now how He honored her.

Who is this that steps down to the river’s side to bathe? She is evidently of high rank. She is accompanied by her maidens, who respectfully wait on her. She espies the ark among the flags, and sending her maid to fetch it, and opening its lid she sees the beautiful healthy child — “a proper child” and behold, the child weeps.

Woman like, for princesses have mother instincts as much as their lowly sisters, she has compassion on the child. She recognizes that it is one of the Hebrews’ children, one that is lying under the sentence of death. The sister of the babe comes forward and offers to bring a nurse of the Hebrew women for the child.

The offer is accepted. The Hebrew nurse is engaged, to rear the child. The terms are explicit, “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” (Ex. 2:9).

The daughter of Pharaoh, the very despot who had issued the decree to destroy the male children, is the one who is used of God to honor the faith of the parents, who were “not afraid of the king’s commandment” (Heb. 11:23). The very mother, herself was the Hebrew woman who was hired as nurse to bring up the infant.

One can imagine, albeit there was sublime faith in God, the grief that consumed that devoted mother’s heart, as she committed her child to the waters of the Nile with its crocodiles and other dangers, with the bitter ukase of the occupant of the throne hanging over the life of the child and threatening it, and any who dared to befriend it.

If one can imagine the mother’s sorrow as she committed her child to the river, one can likewise imagine the tumultuous joy that filled her heart as she carried away her child to nurse it at the bidding of one high enough to guarantee its exemption from the cruel commandment of the king.

And was it ever heard in the history of the world that a mother should be paid wages for nursing her own child? The mother of Moses needed no wages to make her willing to nurse her child, but wages were given her, — she, the wife of a slave of foreign race engaged in making bricks without straw, had her wages paid by princely hands.

Yet further the story must be told. In due time Moses was taken into the palace, and trained in all the learning and arts of the Egyptians, securing for him an education that fitted him on the human side for the strenuous life-work that lay before Him.

See how God honored the faith of those humble parents, who had honored Him. Put these two extracts from Scripture side by side, and they tell their own tale.

“They [the parents of Moses] were not afraid of the King’s commandment” (Heb. 11:23).

“He [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King” (Heb. 11:27).

The mother of Moses doubtless closed her eyes in death long before she could have realized the remarkable history her son would have. Trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, military and otherwise; disciplined in the backside of the desert for forty years by God; taught the presence of God and His commission to serve Him at the burning bush: behold him facing Pharaoh, bringing Judgment upon judgment upon the land of Egypt, and leading the Israelites through the Red Sea on the Passover night. Behold him on Sinai’s awful mount receiving the law by the disposition of angels, and with it all these wonderful types land shadows that spoke of the coming Christ and His work upon the cross. Behold him leading God’s people across the waste howling desert for forty years, and then with strength unabated and eye undimmed, viewing from Pisgah’s height at the behest of God the promised land, and dying at God’s appointment — God the sole Spectator of his demise, God burying him, perhaps by the agency of angel hands, no man knowing his sepulcher unto this day.

Come to the New Testament. The Lord speaks of the writings of Moses (John 5:47) putting His divine imprimatur on the five books of the law, the Pentateuch, and giving them such a place, as speaking of Him, that belief in them would prepare men to believe in Him. Then remember the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Moses and Elias appeared with their Lord in the unspeakable splendor of that wonderful hour.

Move on to Revelation 15:3, and see how the servant and his Master are coupled together. “And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”

Then go back to the birth of that infant, and think of all that was wrapped up in the faith of that mother, and see how true are God’s words, “Them that honor Me, I will honor.”

God give us each our little measure and opportunity to copy the faith and steadfastness of the parents of Moses.

A. J. POLLOCK.

Let Us Draw Near.

GOD loves to have His people near Himself. He has done everything on His side to remove the distance brought in by sin. Hebrews 10:19 reminds us that we may now enter with boldness into the holiest “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 — the Apostle adds — “having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near.”

Approach to God is here set forth, first in connection with the work, next the person, and then with the priesthood of Christ.

First in order we get the atoning work. Of old the blood was sprinkled on, and before, the mercy-seat, so here we are reminded that there is a blood-sprinkled way into the very presence of God. The blood of Jesus is our title, which nothing can invalidate. Time cannot lessen its value or impair its efficacy. It not only proclaims a righteous way of blessing for a sinner, but a holy ground of approach to God. Therefore we can draw near with a true heart on full assurance of faith. In other words, with a heart full of confidence in the worth and cleansing power of the precious blood of Christ.

Then He whose blood has been shed for us is alive again, and, in resurrection, is a new and living way. He is the same Jesus who was known on earth, but in new conditions. He is risen from the dead, and in Him we now are made nigh. The way is “new” in contrast to the way the Jew drew near of old, and “living.” in contrast to the dead sacrifices under the Mosaic ritual which never gave the worshipper access into the immediate presence of God, much less set him at rest and made him at home there.

Ephesians 2:13 says: “In Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Here all is viewed on God’s side. Hence every believer is said to be made nigh in Christ Jesus. But in Hebrews 10 the approach is spoken of from our side. We are exhorted to “draw near,” to avail ourselves of our privileges, to appropriate Christ as the new and living way, and enjoy what is ours in Christ Jesus.

But this is not all. The Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, were conversant with the fact of the tabernacle being under the care of the high priest. All was in his charge and under his hand.

We also have a Priest — a great Priest―over the house of God, and all its worship and its activities are under His gracious care. It is His delight to bring us into the very holiest. There He leads the praises of His redeemed, and there He presents us to God, in all the value of His finished work, and in all the excellency of His person. We have “boldness” to enter.

Not only have we access to God, but boldness to speak to Him, to open our lips in praise, adoration, and worship. Let us never forget that this privilege is ours at all times, and not only when we are found in the company of our fellow-Christians gathered together unto the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the Psalmist we are to say, “His praises shall be continually in my mouth,” and the sacrifices of praise are to be offered to God continually by Him who is our great Priest. The more we draw near individually, the more truly we shall enjoy this privilege collectively.

Do you inquire how you can draw near and what is your fitness to enter the holiest? Hebrews 10:24 answers: “Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

At the fall man’s affections were alienated from God, he became defiled by sin, and his conscience burdened with evil. The death of Jesus has perfectly provided for all this. In it the love of God has been fully declared, and His grace and goodness made known. Thus our hearts have been taught to confide in God as revealed in Christ Jesus. What marks “a true heart” is not some goodness of its own which makes it differ from others. It is a heart that has been won, that believes in the love of God and confides in Him. An evil heart is marked by unbelief, a true heart by faith. The soul no longer departs from the Saviour, but rests and rejoices in that love which has been declared in the sorrows of Gethsemane and the sufferings of Calvary. The blood of Jesus is the answer for our guilt. It is the cleansing and efficacious means of freeing us from the burden of sin. Faith appropriates it and sings―

“Christ died, then I am clean,

Not a cloud above, not a spot within!”

and thus the conscience is purged.

But the death of Christ not only removes our guilt Godward, but cleanses manward. Out of His side came forth blood and water, the blood to atone, the water to cleanse. In the Old Testament, when the priests were consecrated (see Ex. 29), the high priest and his sons were first washed with water together, and this cleansing process was never repeated. So we Christians are purified by the application of the water of the Word. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” And the same word brings home to our conscience, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus. Thus purified we are fitted once for all to draw near in priestly access to God.

With us, as with them, there is a need-be for constant cleansing of the feet, for we walk through a defiling world. Here the water of the word comes in, as we see from John 13:10. But never, never can we be more perfectly washed from all our unfitness for the presence of God than we were when first we put our trust in the Saviour. Let us also remember that these priests of old were cleansed, in order that they might be practically separated from their former associations, and live habitually in the sanctuary where God was pleased to dwell. So with us Christians, we are to purify ourselves, even as Christ is pure, and cleanse ourselves according to that measure. But this in no way alters the fact that we have been cleansed once for all and are now in association with our great Priest. Let us then draw near, and live habitually in the presence of God, a cleansed, purged, holy, happy, worshipping people.

H. N.

The Bethany Sisterhood.

IF we invite attention to the concluding verses of Luke 10 it is not to draw an invidious comparison between Martha and her sister Mary. We have often heard this done. Poor Martha has suffered many things at the hands of many interpreters, and her character has been sketched in dark and dismal colors. As we have looked upon the picture we have been almost tempted to regard her as a black sheep, in whose company we should scarcely care to be — a beacon to warn us off the rocks on which she, dear soul! had come to grief. But is this just and right? True, she was cumbered about much serving. She thought of our Lord’s needs rather than of His mission. But who casts away a choice apple because it chances to have a speck upon it? And is there not something to be said for Martha? We believe there is.

First, she had an ever-open door for Christ. She “received Him into her house.” What was that but a fearless confession of His name in the face of friend and foe? And it possibly cost Martha much. Not many―we may be sure of it —were ready to throw open their door to One who was scorned, despised, and rejected, whom the rulers of the people sought to destroy. This is what Martha did. Are they who see nothing but her faults equally courageous? Do they confess His name with the same boldness, always and everywhere? Oh, that every Christian had the courage of this dear Bethany sister! A whole-hearted avowal that we are on the Lord’s side is a fine thing, and just what is wanted in many quarters. Is it known in the home, business, and social circle that if a thousand doors are closed against Christ ours is not? And are we ever ready to confess Him with a courage that falters not, nor fears the face of man?

Look at the epistle to Laodicea in Revelation 3. What is the question that rings out there? Have you an open door for Me? In that sphere of Christian profession all were rich―rich in truth, rich in doctrine, richer than ever they had been before, growingly rich. They needed nothing. This was their estimate of themselves; it was not His, for in the midst of that vainglorious assembly Christ had no place. He was outside of it and the door was closed against Him. These Laodicean Christians, whose successors are still among us, were living in dreamland, in a paradise of their own, wherein were new theologies, higher criticisms, and all manner of illusive objects, ever-changing clouds and mirages of the desert which they mistook for real and substantial things. They were better off than others in having more light and more knowledge (so they believed); which, like a rolling snowball was ever growing greater; this was their boast. It was but a delusion, for, in fact, they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. At their door He knocks and of these He asks, Is there one who has an open door for Me? It is indeed a great thing to have an, open door for Him. This Martha had.

It was from the standpoint of His temporal needs that Martha for the moment thought of Jesus. To her He was the Good Samaritan of the parable that immediately precedes this story of the Bethany sisterhood. He it was who walked that the object of His saving pity might ride all the way to the inn. “Wearied with His journey” was said of Him as He sat down by the well-side of Sychar. Wearied with His journey He might have been when He entered Martha’s house, and she was anxious to do her best for the Master’s comfort. Who would not? Were He now on earth would not we do our very best for Him? Her service then was right, and not to have rendered it would have been to her reproach. And there is still abundant room for service after Martha’s kind if it be without distraction. He is not here. He is beyond the need of loving deeds. But He is here in the person of His saints and servants. Anything done to the least of these He counts as done to Himself. And He has said that a cup of water given to one of His own, because he belongs to Christ, shall have its sure reward. Let us mark those words well. The cup of water is given, not because the recipient “worships in the same church,” or sits in the same meeting-room, and sings out of the same hymnbook as we do. We serve him for no such sectarian reason; we give him the cup of water gladly, joyfully, because he belongs to Christ.

Martha was cumbered about much serving. That was her mistake. Her household plans for the Saviour’s entertainment were on too large a scale — larger than she could carry out alone, larger than met the Master’s mind. A thousand pities she had not curtailed them! Instead of which she earnestly appeals to the Lord to bid her sister help her — as if her service was the only thing to be considered, and all else should give way to that. In this she greatly erred, and some might fall into the same mistake today; but not so very many, at least among those whose eyes are likely to scan these lines. Our danger possibly lies in another direction. But Martha’s blunder led the Lord to say, “One thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

And one thing is still needful. Without it our service will suffer in quality if not in quantity; our growth in the divine life will be at a standstill, and the boundaries of our spiritual vision will not be enlarged. Things which “eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” will be hid from our knowledge. We may have the activities of a giant, but they will be coupled with the understanding of a babe. What is that one thing needful? It is to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear His word. Mary sat there.

For Mary viewed the Lord with other eyes than those of her sister Martha. She saw in Him the One who had “the words of God,” words of eternal life they were — things that He had received from His Father and which He loved to make known to His friends (John 15:15). The words of the Lord Jesus were the revelation of Himself and of the Father whose name He had come to declare. To listen to these, to drink them in to feed upon them, to make them the subject of her heart’s meditation, this was the good part which fell to Mary’s choice. And her choice should be ours. Some of us may lead busy lives. In these days of growing competition and of doubtful practices, the claims of business are more exacting than ever. We have to be first in the field and the last to leave it. Household and family duties have not to be neglected, and there is scant leisure and scarcely a moment to call one’s own. Yet, somehow, if we would not suffer great loss — greater than words can tell — we must it “at Jesus’ feet,” and hear His word. Is it possible amid all the rush of daily duty to have an ear attentive to what the Lord may wish to say? Is it possible to hear His voice, not simply in the way of direction, but as telling us something about Himself, about His God and Father, an opening up to our souls of some passage of Holy Scripture which He will make to shine and sparkle as stars in the clear night sky. We think it is possible. We are sure of it. Mary’s part is not beyond our reach, no matter how busy our life may be.

Oh, that we could emphasize this a little more, and impart to your soul a sense of its unspeakable importance. The heavenly communications which He will bring will bring life and health and strength to the heart that is ready to receive them. They will separate from the world and its things by opening up to the soul another world in which the things of the Spirit lie. They will give tone and color and beauty to our Christian life that cannot be had without. They will fill the heart with praise and ever-growing wonderment as God Himself becomes thus better known.

And they will give a richer tone to our corporate worship. For the worship offered to God and the Father in the assemblies of His saints is intimately connected with the condition of the worshippers. It cannot be set in a higher key by the most faultless rules and regulations. No words telling us what worship should be are of the least avail. They are no more than vain and empty sounds. The one way to elevate assembly worship is to raise the spiritual condition of those who offer it, and this can only be done by each one sitting “at Jesus’ feet.” There is no other way.

And the truth of this is shown in that other Bethany story in John 12. There this selfsame Mary is seen bringing her box of ointment, “very costly,” wherewith to anoint her Lord and Saviour. Precious fruit of her former happy choice! Her tribute, poured upon His feet, was but the ungrudging offering of a loving and devoted heart that had been enriched from His boundless treasury. It is only as we receive that we are able to give. It is when His words are eaten, and become the joy and rejoicing of our heart, that we are constrained to worship and adore.

In conclusion, while avoiding the mistake into which Martha fell, let us not overlook, much less despise, the service in which she was engaged. At the same time may we never forget the place that Mary took. To give a cup of cold water to a needy soul because he belongs to Christ shall have its abundant recompense. Such deeds the Lord appreciates. May we not also say that He regards with peculiar pleasure the soul that esteems His words to be sweeter than honey and of greater worth than much fine gold? This was Mary’s part. May it be ours also!

“O that we may forever sit

With Mary at the Master’s feet;

Be this our happy choice!

Our only care, delight and bliss,

Our joy, our heaven on earth, be this,

To hear the Bridegroom’s voice!”

W. B.

Our Scripture Portion.

(2 Tim. 21―3:17).

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

LET us at this point recapitulate for a moment. Verses 17 and 18 of the second chapter have given us in few words the case of grave doctrinal error which was in question. Verse 19 states in general terms the responsibility that rests abidingly upon all those who name the Name of the Lord. Verse 20 enforces this responsibility by an illustration. Verse 21 applies the general principle of verse 19 to the case in point in a very definite and particular way.

The word in the original which is translated “purge” is a very strong one. It means not only to purge or cleanse but to cleanse out. The same word is used in 1 Corinthians 5:7, where it is rightly translated, “purge out.” The evil was purged out by putting the wicked person away from amongst themselves, according to verse 13 of that chapter. Here the individual believer — “a man”— is to purge himself out from amongst the wicked persons and their teaching; thus he will depart from iniquity and be prepared for all that is good.

These instructions are very important, for experience, no less than Scripture, teaches us how impossible it is to maintain personal holiness and spiritual fitness in association with evil. Righteous Lot may form links with Sodom, God-fearing Jehoshaphat may strike up an alliance with Baal-worshipping Ahab, but both inevitably become lowered and defiled in the process. So it will be for us today. So let us be warned.

We are not however to expect complete isolation because we cut our links with evil for we are to find happy association with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, or, “a purged heart,” for it is the same word used again only without the prefix signifying “out.” In so doing we are to “flee youthful lusts,” that is, be very careful as to purity and holiness of a personal sort, for without that all this care as to purity in one’s associations would degenerate into mere hypocrisy. We are also to make the pursuit of “righteousness, faith, love, peace” our great concern. This will preserve us from becoming mere separatists in the spirit of, “stand by, for I am holier than thou!” We shall rather be actively and happily occupied with what is good and of eternal worth.

The four things we are to pursue are intimately connected. Righteousness is that which is right before God, and if we pursue it we shall certainly be marked by obedience to His truth and will. To pursue faith means following after those great spiritual realities made known to us in the Scriptures, for faith serves as the telescope of the soul and brings them into view. To pursue love is to follow that which is the very expression of the divine nature. Peace naturally follows the other three. Any peace apart from them would be no true peace at all.

Verse 23 indicates that, when Timothy or others have carried out the apostolic instructions we have been considering, they still have need to avoid pitfalls which the adversary will place in their way. He will still introduce, if he can, “foolish and unlearned questions” in order to create strife. The literal meaning of the word is not quite “unlearned” but “undisciplined,” it indicates, “a mind not subject to God, a man following his own mind and will.” There is nothing we ought to fear more than the working of our own minds and wills in the things of God.

The servant of the Lord must avoid strife at all costs. He cannot avoid conflict if he remains true to his Master, but he must not strive, i.e., he must avoid the contentious spirit, he must never forget that though he stands for the Lord he is only a servant, and hence he must be marked by the meekness that befits that position. In reading the earlier part of the chapter we noticed that various figures are used to show the different characters that the believer wears. He is a soldier, an athlete, a husbandman, a workman, a vessel, and now we are reminded that he is a servant, and not only so but, a servant of the Lord, and hence he must be careful not to belie the character of the Lord whom he serves.

We might have supposed that anyone obeying the instructions of verses 19-22 would be entirely removed from everybody who would be likely to oppose. Verses 24-26 show that this is not so. The Lord’s servant will still come into contact with those who oppose and he must know how to meet them. He must be apt to teach and give himself to instructing his opponents rather than arguing with them. He must be armed with the love that will enable him to meet them in gentleness, patience and meekness; with the faith that will keep the truth clearly and steadily before his own mind and theirs; with the hope that counts on God to grant to them the mercy of repentance and recovery from the snare of Satan.

With the opening of chapter 3. the Apostle turns from these instructions, which sprang out of the dangers which were threatening at that moment, to foretell the conditions which should prevail in the last clays. The picture that he presents is a very dark one.

In the first verse he gives us the general character of the last days in two words “perilous times.” We shall do well to bear this warning continually in mind inasmuch as there can be but little doubt that we are now in the last days and spiritual perils are thick around us.

In verses 2 to 5 the characteristics of the men of the last days are brought before us. It is a terrible list, rivalling the list given us in Romans 1:28 to 31, when the sins of the ancient heathen world are described. The most fearful thing about the list of our chapter is that all this evil is covered under “a form of godliness,” that is, the people who are thus described are Christian as far as their claims and outward appearance go. The real power of Christianity they utterly deny.

“Men shall be lovers of their own selves,” this is the first item on the list. The second is, “covetous” or “lovers of money.” The list ends, “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” Love of self, love of money and love of pleasure are to mark the religious people of the last days, and as for all the evil things mentioned between they indicate the various ways in which the proud, self-sufficient, lawless spirit of fallen man expresses itself ― and all this, remember, in people who call themselves followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. If we know anything of the present state of the so-called Christian nations we may well conclude that we have reached the last days.

The attitude of the faithful believer to such is very simple; from such he is enjoined to turn away, rather than go along with them in the hope of reclaiming them. Separation is enjoined for the sixth time in this short passage; the words used being, “shun,” “depart,” “purge out,” “flee,” “avoid,” and now, “turn away.” The present age being one which loves compromise the word, “separation,” is naturally not at all popular, still here is that which the word stands for, urged upon us as the commandment of the Lord; and our business is not to reason about it but to obey.

The description of verse 2 to 5 applies generally to the men of the last days. In verse 6 two special classes come into view — first, those who are active deceivers, and second, those who fall an easy prey to their deceits. The Apostle’s word indicates that there were to be found in his day examples of both these classes. The deceivers, he says, are “of this sort” i.e., of the kind described in verse 2 to 5, and their work is carried on in a semi-private way for they “creep into houses.” In the light of this inspired word it is very significant what an amount of house to house propaganda, with considerable success in creeping into houses and beguiling unstable souls, is carried on by the agents of false religious cults, such as Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, Russellites, etc.

Those deceived are spoken of here as “silly women,” doubtless a term of contempt and applicable to that type of person who is always inquiring and yet never reaching any settled convictions, be they man or woman. The reason for their blindness and consequent lack of conviction is their sins and the lusts which bring forth sin. It is a striking fact that this “silly women” class is recruited quite as much from the ranks of the refined and learned as from the rude and illiterate. The rough man of the street generally has pretty definite opinions of some sort; opinions which, right or wrong, he can express with vigor. It is frequently the highly educated who lose themselves in mazes of speculation and finish by accepting some pretentious nonsense which is the very opposite of the truth. Take, for instance, the way in which Christian Science captures its victims almost entirely from the rich and would-be intellectual folk.

We cannot however, shut out from all this the power of Satan, as verse 8 and 9 show us. Jannes and Jambres were evidently leaders of the band of magicians who influenced Pharoah’s court and withstood Moses, working their wonders in league with demons. The deceivers of the last days will be like them, resisting the truth as agents of the devil. God has however, set a limit to their power and ultimately their folly shall be manifest to all. This does not mean that this kind of evil is going to receive an immediate check for, as verse 13 tells us, evil men and seducers are going to wax worse and worse until the end of the age. We are not left in any uncertainty as to what we must expect.

Nor are we left in uncertainty as to our resources in the presence of the evil. They are set before us in our chapter from verse 10 and onwards. Over against the character of the men of the last days the Apostle was inspired to set the character which he bore and which Timothy well knew. What an extraordinary contrast to verse 2 to 5 is presented by verse 10 and 11! Self-love, pride, opposition to and persecution of those that are good, on the one hand; faith love, patient endurance under persecution, on the other. The one is the full-blown spirit of the world; the other is the spirit of Christ; and it has always been the case that “he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit” (Gal. 4:29). Hence persecution must always be expected by those who “live godly in Christ Jesus,” though the form that persecution takes may vary in different countries and in different ages. The type of godliness produced by the law of Moses might excite but little or no opposition whilst godliness “in Christ Jesus” is being hotly resisted.

Paul’s “manner of life” was based upon his doctrine; it gave expression, to it in practice; hence in verse 10 doctrine comes first. With that doctrine Timothy was well acquainted, and he had but to continue in the truth he had learned from such a source. He also had the inestimable advantage of having known the Holy Scriptures—the Old Testament, of course—from a child. In these two things Timothy’s resource lay.

In these two things lies our resource today, only for us the two practically coalesce into one. Timothy had Paul’s doctrine from his own lips, expressed in a “form of sound words” (1:13) exemplified and enforced by his wonderful manner of life. We have his doctrine in his inspired epistles preserved in the New Testament, and no form of sound words is more reliable than that. In the New Testament we have also an inspired account of Paul’s wonderful life, and also the other apostolic writings. We have therefore in this respect a little more than Timothy had, and we have the Old Testament equally with him, though alas! we may not be nearly as fully acquainted with it or with Paul’s doctrine as he was. For us then the great resource is the Holy Scripture in its entirety.

This being so the Holy Spirit seized the occasion to assure us of the inspiration of all Scripture. Its profitableness for various uses all depends upon this fact. Who can teach or reprove or correct or instruct in what is right, in any perfect and absolute sense, but God? The reason why Scripture can do these things is that it is “inspired of God” or “God-breathed.”

The claim here unquestionably is that the Book which we know as the Bible is a God-breathed book. Some of our readers might like to inquire — What about the Revised Version of this passage? Our reply is that the Authorized Version is right here and the Revised is wrong. In the original, according to Greek idiom, the verb “is” does not appear, being understood though not expressed. In English it must appear and the question is as to where it should be? Remarkably enough there are eight other passages in the New Testament of exactly similar construction and every one of them but this the Revisers translated just as the Authorized has translated this. Why make an exception in this case?

Hebrews 4:13 is one of the eight passages. Had the Revisers followed their rendering of 2 Timothy 3:16 they would have made it, “All things that are naked are also opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do,” which simply reduces the solemn statement to a trivial absurdity; hardly more so however than the rendering they have given us of our passage.

The thing that Timothy needed was to be assured that he had in the Scriptures that which was of God and therefore wholly reliable — something on which he could safely take his stand when confronted with the dangers and seductions to be expected in the last days. This is exactly what we too want, and, God be thanked, we have it in the Bible.

F. B. HOLE.

The Right Kind of Faith.

SOME people are in great fear lest their faith should not be of the right kind. It causes them a good deal of anxious thought. They look within, they listen to their feelings, and examine the state of their own heart, but nothing they can do suffices to make them quite sure that their faith is genuine. Hence they have no settled peace. Ease and comfort they sometimes have, but only to be followed by seasons of profound disquietude. A sorry state indeed!

Now there is a right sort of faith and a wrong, but what makes it either one or the other is not exactly the faith itself, but the object on which it rests. I may have a faith that cannot be shaken — firm as mountains and strong as chains of steel, but if the individual in whom my faith is placed is not worthy of it, then it is a worthless faith. Suppose a man deposits all his fortune in a bank with unbounded confidence in its solvency and stability―his faith in it is like a rock which nothing can disturb―but if on the morrow it shuts its doors and suspends payment, then his faith, though strong, is worth nothing. It cannot save him from utter ruin. On the other hand, if our faith is founded on something that will never give way, then it is a right faith, and no disappointment is in store for us. Therefore, our serious inquiry should be―not whether our faith is of the right kind, but whether it is built on a sure and right foundation.

On what, then, does the faith of a Christian rest? First of all on the Gospel of God; those glad tidings which declare unto us the forgiveness of sins through the Saviour’s name (Acts 13:38, 39). Now this is no doubtful testimony. There are no elements of uncertainty in it. It says not one thing today and another tomorrow. It is the Gospel of God, invested with His authority and bearing, so to speak, His signature and seal. A firmer foundation no one can have. The word of a fellow-creature may perish and pass away like the flower of the field, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto us (1 Peter 1:25). We believe this Gospel, we know it is true, and are sure that we shall never be confounded.

In the forefront of the Gospel stands the glorious fact that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). The death and resurrection of Christ are set before our eyes. He died for our sins and thus has put them forever away (Heb. 9:26). This is no mere matter of feeling. It is what the Gospel testifies, and our soul receives this testimony. It comes from God. We believe Him and dare not doubt His Word. Of all persons to be disbelieved, God is the last. Who would care or dare to make Him a liar? (1 John 5:10).

And this is faith — the simple soul-belief of His Gospel. There is nothing mysterious about faith, nothing hard to understand, nothing to make us take down the dictionary to find out the meaning of it. It is nothing more than the soul hearkening to God and believing what He says. Does He say that whosoever believeth in Jesus shall receive remission of sins? (Acts 10:43). Then it must be so. Does He declare that by Him all that believe are justified from all things? (Acts 13:39). Then so it is.

It may require some effort to implicitly believe the word of one about whom we know nothing, and we may be excused if sometimes we have misgivings as to what has been said, especially if it be about important matters. But the God whom we believe is not a stranger to us. He has revealed Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus. We have listened to His words, for the words of the Son are the words of the Father who sent Him (John 3:34). From His lips we have heard the story of the love of God―the God who so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). This is the One whom we believe — whose word we trust. And in doing so we exercise faith, for faith is believing, and believing is faith. Now faith is the hand and eye of the soul. We do not think of our hand when we stretch it forth to receive the gift, nor do we think of our eyes as we look on the hills and valleys that lie at our feet. Without our eyes we could not see them at all, but our eyes are never thought of as we point out to others the beauties of the landscape on which we gaze with admiration and delight. But if faith is the eye of the soul, the eye is not formed to look at itself, but at objects other than itself. So faith looks away to Jesus, once dead but now alive and in glory; faith looks at the testimony of God, believes it, and in believing is filled with joy and peace (Rom. 15:13). Here has been your mistake. You have been looking to see whether you have the right kind of faith. You might as well look to see whether you have the right kind of eyes. You use your eyes all the day long without thinking of them, so let it be with your faith. Look off unto Him who is the Object of faith, and in doing so you will have abiding happiness and peace.

W. B.

[Is this quite clear? If not please write to the Editor, whose address is on the cover, and he will try to make it so.]

A Prophecy Over 2,600 Years Old.

“Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips [foreign vine slips. Revised Version].

In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.” (Isa. 17:10, 11).

THERE is a great deal more than meets the eye of the casual reader in this interesting and ancient prophecy. Startling things had to occur, stretched over two millenniums, before it could be fulfilled.

The Jew and his history is an insoluble and an incredible mystery apart from the governmental dealings of God. If only the infidel would honestly study the records of the Jews, he would find facts that could not be explained away, proving that the direct hand of God was passed over this nation.

Israel’s turning her back upon God was an act of peculiar heinousness. They stood in a relationship to God that none other nation did. Their sustainment in the desert for forty years was a miracle of the first magnitude. The possession of Canaan was an act of grace on the part of God. Again and again He sought to teach them the lesson that departure from God is a grievous thing. Again and again were they given into the power of their enemies. Again and again God raised up deliverers.

Israel’s ingratitude to God must surely be marked by events that would show unmistakably that they were from the hand of God. But God in patience waited till the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ had sealed their rejection of Him with a deeper dye of guilt, followed up by their rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit through Stephen’s witness.

Then the blow fell. Titus, the Roman general and son of the reigning emperor, besieged Jerusalem, captured the city, the temple was razed to the ground, fulfilling the prophecy of the Lord Himself when here on earth, and the Jews were driven from their own land to be the dispersed of Israel throughout the Gentile nations. Their survival as a separate people during these nearly two thousand years of wandering and persecution is without a parallel in the history of the world, and cannot be explained on natural grounds. It is SUPER-NATURAL. It is the finger of God.

But two things had to happen to begin with to prepare things for the fulfillment of Isaiah’s ancient prophecy. The land had first to be depopulated, and second to become barren and sterile. The first was brought about by the dispersion of the Jews by Titus. The second came about by the withdrawal of the latter rain by God, which withdrawal was so serious in its consequences, in the absence of the rainfall when it was acutely needed in the month of May, that the country was reduced to sterility and barrenness, and became overrun with thorns.

In this way the native vines and other fruits perished, and the land became a barren possession to the Gentile power that held it. In other words, whilst the miraculous power of God was preserving the people for the land, in this miraculous way the land was being preserved for the people.

Some fifty or sixty years ago the latter rain began gently to return, and gradually became established, so that it could be counted upon. The result was that the hopes of those, who took an interest in the agricultural and horticultural prospects of the country, began to rise, and took practical shape in the establishment of agricultural colonies. The war gave a check to this for the moment, but the Turk being flung out of the land, and the suzerainty of Great Britain inspiring confidence, the enterprise was revived, and at the present time there are more than one hundred such establishments. One of the oldest and the largest is named, Rishon-le-Zion. This colony planted 400,000 fruit trees and 3,000 000 vine slips imported from Spain.

The writer possesses a wine bottle label, part of it reading as follows:—

PALESTINE.

Guaranteed to be the production

of vines transplanted from

Portugal to Palestine.

Is this not a striking fulfillment of the prophecy of over 2.600 years ago? Does it not tell us that God keeps His word?

Part of the prophecy still has to have its fulfillment. It speaks of the prosperity of the country in the beginning, and of the glad hopes of the colonists, who settle in the land promised to Abraham without. Abraham’s faith. Their hopes, however, will be dashed to the ground when the day of the great tribulation bursts upon them, the time of “Jacob’s trouble,” or as our verse graphically phrases it, “the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.” That time is yet future for the great tribulation is yet to come. Come it must for only in that way will the Jew be finally humbled and blessed. Israel can only come into the land of her possession through purification, repentance, and acknowledgement of their Messiah our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

A. J. POLLOCK.

A Song from a Convict Station.

WOULD it surprise you to hear, that part of the Canon of Holy Scripture was written in a convict station?

Such however is the actual fact, though the convict penman was no criminal guilty of any misdemeanor against the laws of his land. On the contrary, he was a “holy man of God” who wrote as he “was moved by the Holy Ghost.” The inspired convict thus honored, tells us that the reason for his being in this gloomy captivity was on account of “the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

The apostle John―for it was he―had lain on the bosom of the Lord Jesus, and the revelation of His love produced an outflow from his heart that nothing afterward could stop. Twice over, the Sanhedrim had threatened him, and commanded him not to preach any more in the Name of Jesus.

It was a terrible risk, in those days, to ignore the decision of that angst Council with its 71 members, but John treated with quiet disdain anything that interfered with the claims of God, and replied that he could not “but speak what he had seen and heard.”

The high priest next tried whether prison would more effectively silence him, but an angel upset this foolish action, by opening the gaol doors and bringing John out into freedom once more. When he was arraigned the second time before the Sanhedrim. Council, the high priest then prescribed “beating” as a curative, but we find John and the other apostles only “rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer” for their Lord. Not for a day did they stop speaking of the Saviour.

The despotic Emperor was in a quandary. Here was a man on whom threatenings, beatings, and imprisonments had no effect, and on whose account angelic ministry interfered. What could be done to such a one? His next expedient was banishment to the dreary Isle of Patmos. Patmos is a bare unfertile sea-girt rock in the Grecian Archipelago. The Roman Emperors had turned it into a place of compulsory residence for outlaws, desperadoes, and for those men whose violent conduct made them a menace to civilization. Thither was the beloved Apostle banished. To some natures, solitary isolation is worse than bodily suffering. But Domitian’s calculations had overlooked the fact, that while the galley ship conveyed into exile many characters undesirable for intercourse with the world in general, when John went on board there accompanied him the Son of God.

John was gladdened at Patmos with a vision of his glorified Master such as no other human eyes have ever beheld, and into his ears were poured secrets of future events, that no other mortal had ever heard. The Emperor Domitian had no idea of the gain that would accrue to the whole Church of God through his cruel edict. Patmos was no loss to John, and the blessing of it has descended to us through all the ages.

It is useless to put God’s nightingales into a cage. The pressure from below only forces the sound of their joyous song to greater exuberance. What restriction were the confines of a prison wall to a man meditating on the wonders of Calvary, of which he had been an eye witness? In spite of brutal gaolers, and the convict-herd that surrounded him, his soul bubbles over in adoration, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”

John was well versed in the ceremonial ritual of the Law, with its ceaseless offerings of sacrifices, but his eyes had rested on Jesus, God’s Paschal Lamb, and for him thenceforth, all ordinances are things superseded. As he wrote this wondrous book of the Revelation, he refers to the Lord Jesus as “the Lamb,” no less than 25 times. John had retraced his steps on the dark day of the Crucifixion, and had seen the Lamb of God in His dying agony on the Cross. When our blessed Substitute had been “made sin,” “made a curse,” and been forsaken of God, John had stood so near the shameful Cross, that he had been able to hear a message for himself from the parched lips of the Saviour. John had heard that agonized cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” and he had seen the soldier’s spear bring forth the cleansing stream of blood.

“Yes, he had seen Him, should John not remember?

Yes, he had heard Him, and should John forget?”

No power of emperor or demon can silence the adoration of his grateful heart. How the song of the nightingale trills! “To Him be glory forever and ever.” Not one word about his own deprivations; not a single expression of indignation against the injustice of his treatment; no call for vengeance on his cruel persecutors; no complaints as to his prison fare; no rebellion at the forced companionship of goal birds; no petition for his rights; no, none of these. John’s heart is full of Christ and his soul utters its praise. He “loved”... He “washed”... and He “made,” and the cost of it all, was “His own blood.”

No Mediterranean waves could drown his song! No Euroclydon wind could blow away those mighty chords of praise. Its melody has reverberated from continent to continent all over the world during, the last two thousand years. Today the echo of that peerless doxology in Patmos is sounding in millions of hearts. “To Him that loved us... to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” Two millenniums of years have passed, but in lowly adoration our hearts add to that paean of worship, our own glad “Amen.”

E. R. M.

High Time to Awake.

“Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” (Romans 13:11).

FELOW-CHRISTIANS, receive a loving word of exhortation from one who feels his own great need of what he seeks to inspire in others.

If we believe the word of our Lord Jesus Christ about the broad and narrow ways, we must believe that very many of our friends and neighbors and countrymen are fast going on to judgment and eternal condemnation.

What, then, should be our conduct towards them? No angels hold a commission to preach the Gospel. No voices from heaven wake the dead. We Christians are the people responsible. We alone have this trust―ay, this blessed privilege committed to our charge. It is ours to make known “the Gospel of the grace of God to men.

What bright examples we have in Scripture of the faithful discharge of this trust! I will instance but one; that of him who cried, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16), who, when men would dissuade him by warnings of prison and death, felt his heart would break if they hindered him (Acts 21:13); one whom “tears and temptations” did not weary; whom “bonds and afflictions” did not move; who counted not his life dear unto himself if only he might surrender it with the joy of conscious steadfastness to the end; who could say, “I am pure from the blood of all men, for I HAVE NOT SHUNNED to declare unto you ALL the counsel of God; who “ceased not to warn EVERY ONE night and day with tears.”

He was “troubled on every side,” yet not turned aside; he was “perplexed,” yet did not despair; “persecuted,” yet upheld; “cast down,” but toiling on. He lived in daily expectation of death, was pressed OUT OF MEASURE, BEYOND STREGTH, insomuch that he despaired even of life, yet never seemed to think of giving up his work. Afflictions, necessities, distresses, strifes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleepless nights, fasting’s (2 Cor. 6), slander, reproach, sorrow, and poverty were the daily details of his history and were accepted without a murmur. Fightings without and fears within were mingled with the most poignant pain that man is called on to suffer; that pain of heart, that disappointed affection, expressed in those touching words,

“The more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor. 12:15). Beatings, stoning’s, storms And shipwreck, a night and a day spent in the deep, journeying incessantly, in danger of drowning and of robbers, perils from murderous Jews and Gentiles, in cities and in deserts, in dangers from the violence of mobs of idolaters and the perfidy of false brethren; weariness and pain, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness — these were the weapons with which the devil sought to bar his way and turn him aside. But in vain; he believed too certainly what he preached, his doctrines were too great realities, heaven’s glory was too bright in his eyes, and hell’s torment too vivid to his apprehension for such trifles as these to affect him.

On he went in his career of faithfulness, impelled by an unseen power, and supported by strength not his own. His faith made the unseen future a reality and a substance to him, and the same faith made to be but as shadows trials that were seen and keenly felt — shadows not worthy for a moment to be compared with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory beyond.

Let us turn our eyes from Paul to ourselves, my beloved brethren. Our doctrine is his; our creed is the same as his. We have the same adorable. Saviour, the glory before us is not another. The souls around us are in the same condition as regards their future state. And yet what comparison can be made between our lives and Paul’s? If we did not believe the doctrines of the Bible, if we believed hell to be a fable, and heaven an old wives’ dream, God’s love to man a hollow invention, and the cross of Calvary a worthless tradition, then our luke-warmness would be accounted for. But this is not OUR CASE. We are not infidels, but Christians, who for ourselves believe as Paul believed, but whose faith bears but little fruit as regards our fellow-men.

I do not mean to say that all are called to work as Paul did, for none have the gifts that he possessed; but this I urge, that his life is a reproach and an exhortation to every believer in Christ. Is the care for the souls of others to be left to the gifted preachers of the Word exclusively, or have we not all a work to fulfill?

When Saul “made havoc of the Church, entering into every house and haling men and women, committed them to prison — THEREFORE they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word” (Acts 8:3, 4).

“Stand fast,” says Paul to all the saints at Philippi. “Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel” (Phil. 1:27). “Many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.... Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Phil. 1:14,18). Thus it is evident that all saints — all believers, all Christians — should make the Gospel known, one in this way, one in that, one in private, another in public, one by writing, another by preaching. All should be at work, warning every man to flee from the wrath to come and to seek refuge in Christ.

Oh! this is a pernicious evil, this idleness among God’s people; this paltry seeking for excuse under the miserable pleas of health, or business, or circumstances, or need of recreation; this fearless self-appropriation of all God’s promises and blessings with this quiet renunciation of responsibility towards our neighbors, not expressed indeed in words but shown out in our lives. To those who watch for the eternal interests of their fellowmen there are a thousand means by which the great and blessed work of winning souls may be done, no matter what our walk in life may be. Only give me a man whose heart is set upon this blessed service, and I will show you one who never lacks opportunities.

May we all be more alive to the solemn realities of eternity. Let us remember that we are left in this world for no other reason than to glorify God, and we should therefore earnestly strive to bring souls to Christ.

Then we shall find it an impossible thing to yield ourselves to the trifling and vain conversation with which the precious time of many of God’s people is now taken up, while those they thus trifle with are passing on to their doom in ignorance of that salvation which it is in our power to declare.

Let our “morning calls” or other calls “be henceforth calls to the unconverted to flee from the wrath to come, or calls to God’s saints to give themselves more entirely to His service.

Then again with our guests, our servants, our children, the poor around us. We must be faithful to them all.

People may be sometimes a little offended when we speak to them about their soul’s salvation; but, lest this should daunt us, let us rather consider how bitterly their reproaches will be heaped upon our heads by and by when they hear their sentence of eternal punishment, and turn to you and me as if to know why we let them pass us by on the road to destruction without a warning voice.

Oh, speak to them, brothers! Speak and keep not silence. This is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace!

“He that winneth souls is wise.”

ANON.

Our Scripture Portion.

(2 Tim. 3:15—4:22).

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

IN the Scriptures we have an infallible standard because they are God-breathed. By that standard we may test all that is presented to us as truth, and detect and expose all the deceits of “evil men and seducers” though they grow “worse and worse.” We have however more than that in them as verse 15 and 17 show us. They can make us wise unto salvation, though it be only a child who is in question. They can equally perfect the man of God and furnish him unto all good works.

In reading verse 15 we must not confine our thoughts of salvation to that which reaches us at conversion. Salvation in that sense is of course included in the statement, but it reaches out to embrace also the daily salvation which we Christians need in a multitude of ways. The whole Scripture—and particularly the Old Testament, which is here primarily in view—abounds with examples which expose before us the snares and pitfalls which beset us, and the workings of our own hearts, and which reveal to us the dealings of God’s grace and government. If enlightened by faith in Christ and giving heed to these warnings, we are made wise to salvation from similar snares which exist in our day.

It is one thing to be preserved from danger; it is another to be thoroughly instructed in what is right. The most devoted of God’s servants, the man of God, will find in Scripture that which equips him in the completest manner. By it he may be rendered “perfect” or “complete” and be “thoroughly, furnished” or “fully fitted” to every good work. These statements make a tremendous claim for Scripture. They clearly infer that within its covers there is guidance in regard to every work that can be called good, and that the man of God, who of all believers most needs light from on high, needs no light outside that which Scripture affords.

We do not overlook the fact that we need the teaching and illumination of the Holy Spirit if we are to profit by the Scripture. That is stated in other passages. Here we have the nature and power of the Scriptures brought before us. We may well rejoice and thank God that the Bible has been preserved to us and that the Spirit of God abides with us forever.

In view of all this Paul solemnly charges Timothy to preach “the word.” He carries, away his thoughts to the tremendous hour when the Lord Jesus shall appear in glory to judge the living and the dead, so that he should serve and speak in view of that moment, and not succumb to the temptation to speak so as to please the itching ears of men.

In the four striking verses which open chapter 6 the Apostle uses three expressions, all of which are intimately connected with the Scriptures, viz., “the word,”, “sound doctrine,” “the truth.” In contrast with them we find “fables,” which are desired by those who merely want to hear those things which pander to their lusts. Timothy however was not merely to preach the word but he was to bring it to bear upon the consciences and hearts of his hearers, either for conviction or rebuke or encouragement, and he was to be urgent about it both in season and out of season.

The word “lusts” simply means “desires.” The time will come, says the Apostle, when men will insist upon hearing, not what is true but what pleases them, and they will “heap up” to themselves teachers who will give them what they want. That time is now arrived. Many features of the Apostle’s doctrine, as recorded in the New Testament are quite repugnant to the “morn mind,” therefore, we are told, they must be discarded by all progressive thinkers and preachers, who must learn to harmonize their utterances with the latest fashions in scientific thought and the latest crazes as to popular pleasures. Hence all that advanced modernistic preaching which the Apostle here dismisses in one word—FABLES!

The servant of the Lord, on the other hand, is to keep steadily on with his ministry. He is to “watch” or rather “be sober” in all things: the word used means, “that sober clearness of mind resulting from exemption from false influences—not muddled with the influence of what intoxicates.” A very important word this for all of us, for there is nothing that so intoxicates the mind and muddles the perceptions as the false modernistic teaching to which we have just alluded. Further he is to be prepared to suffer, for he cannot expect to be popular, either with the purveyors of fables who stand in the pulpit or with the consumers of fables who sit in the pew. Timothy was to do the work of an evangelist and so fill up the full measure of his ministry.

The Apostle’s words here would indicate that to Timothy had been committed a ministry of an all-round character. He was not only gifted to teach and preach the word for the instruction, correction and exhortation of believers, but also to preach the gospel for the conversion of sinners; and he was not to neglect any part of this comprehensive work. Had he reasoned after a human sort he might have concluded that with so much evil threatening inside the church he must concentrate all his energies on inside work in order to meet the situation, and so abandon all effort to reach outsiders. This however was not to be, and we may learn a lesson from it today. It is evidently the will of God that, come what may in the history of the church, the work of evangelization is to go forward. The great Head of the church lives and He is well able to deal in due season with every situation that may arise, however disastrous it may appear to us; and meanwhile an all-round ministry of the truth to both saint and sinner is to be maintained.

Moreover it was to be a special incentive to Timothy that the hour of Paul’s “departure” or “release” was just at hand. He knew full well that his martyrdom was imminent, when like a warrior he would leave the field of combat. All the more need then for Timothy to gird up his loins like a man and be fully engaged in the fight. The more difficult the situation, the fewer those who fight the good fight the louder the call to the true-hearted to engage in it. In exactly that way we should view things today.

The earth is filled with fighting’s as the fruit of sin, and perhaps none have been fiercer and worse than those that have been waged in the arena of “the church.” What a tragic misuse of energy there has been all down the ages when brother has drawn the sword against brother over comparatively trivial and oft-times selfish matters, to the great delight and profit of the common foe! Alive to this and tired, of it, we must not slip into the opposite error of thinking that there is really nothing worth fighting about. There is such a thing as “a good fight” as verse 7 makes manifest. The Apostle fought a good fight inasmuch as his contentions were for God and His truth and not of any selfish sort, and further he used spiritual and not carnal weapons in his warfare (See, 2 Cor. 10:3-6). If we go to war for ourselves, or if warring for God we use carnal weapons, our fight is not a good fight.

Paul not only fought a good fight but he ran his race to the finish and he kept the faith. Having kept it, he could hand it on intact to those who were to follow him. The faith of Christianity is the great object of the adversary’s attack. If he attacks us it is just in order that he may damage the faith. It would almost seem as if the Apostle in these verses had in his mind’s eye a relay race. The baton of the faith had been placed in his hands and beating off the attacks of the foe he had raced through to the finish of his section and was now handing it on intact to another, with the assurance that at the day of Christ’s appearing the crown of righteousness would be his; and not only awarded to him but also to all others who like him faithfully run their bit of the race with their eye on the goal. The rewards of faithfulness will be seen at the appearing of Christ and that moment will be loved by those who diligently seek His pleasure. To those who seek their own pleasure His appearing will be an unwelcome thought.

It is an inspiring yet a searching thought for each believer who reads these lines, that we are now engaged in running our little section of the great relay race with the responsibility of carrying the baton of the faith and of preserving it and of handing it on intact to future runners, or of handing it over directly to the Lord Himself if He comes within our lifetime.

From verse 9 and onwards the Apostle mentions matters of a personal sort, that concerned himself or his acquaintances. Yet even these personal matters present points of much instruction and interest. Timothy was to endeavor to quickly rejoin Paul at Rome since only Luke was with him. Others had left, some evidently on the Lord’s service, such as Crescens, Titus and Tychicus. With Demas the case was different. He had loved the present world and consequently had forsaken Paul, for Paul preached a Gospel that worked deliverance from this present world which it characterized as evil (See, Gal. 1:4). His action in forsaking Paul was therefore only the visible expression of the fact that he had forsaken in heart the real power of the Gospel.

Demas then stands as a warning beacon, illustrating the fact that backsliding may take place even in one who came under the influence of so great a servant as Paul. In happy contrast we have Mark, who is mentioned in verse 11. In earlier clays he had been carried into a position which was beyond his faith and in consequence he had after a while retreated from it, as recorded in Acts 15:37-39. This act of his was not only to his own hurt but also furnished the cause of the estrangement which came in between such eminent servants of Christ as Paul and Barnabas. Now however we find him fully recovered and reinstated. Paul, the one who had objected to him previously, now declares him to be “profitable to me for the ministry.” The case of Mark then is full of encouragement as showing how the backslidden may be recovered.

In Alexander we have an opponent of the Apostle and of the truth, whether an open enemy or a secret we have no means of determining. As to him only one thing is said, “The Lord will reward him according to his works.” This seems to be the better attested rendering. Paul just left him in the hands of the Lord, who will deal with him in due season in perfect righteousness. We all may well ask the Lord that we may be preserved from working any kind of evil against His servants or His interests.

Verse 16 shows us that there were others who had not opposed Paul like Alexander, nor definitely forsaken him like Demas, yet they had been guilty of a temporary forsaking, by failing to stand by him in the crisis of his trial. They could not face the stigma entailed by a full identification with this despised prisoner. Still their cowardice only made the faithfulness of the Lord to His servant the more conspicuous and such power was ministered to Paul in that trying hour that instead of summoning every ounce of wit that he possessed and straining every nerve to establish his own innocence, he concentrated upon rendering the fullest and plainest testimony to the Gospel. His trial became the occasion in which “the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear.” Paul eagerly seized the occasion to fully set the Gospel forth before the most august assemblage that then could be found upon earth. There his words stood on record in the official report of the proceedings available for any and every Gentile.

For the moment the Apostle was delivered “out of the mouth of the lion.” Just when his case looked hopeless he had been snatched back from the jaws of death by the hand of God, acting it may have been through a sudden whim of the capricious and godless Nero. In verse 18 he looks right away from men altogether. No evil work of man could ultimately prevail against him. Come what may, and martyrdom under Nero did very soon come, he would be carried through in triumph to His heavenly kingdom. The coming kingdom of our Lord Jesus has a heavenly as well as an earthly side, and we as well as Paul are destined to the heavenly.

A few more greetings and the Epistle finishes. Verse 20 leads one to think that Paul was released from captivity after his trial since his first voyage to Rome was taken under the circumstances recorded in Acts 27 and 28, when there was no opportunity for his leaving Trophimus at Miletum. The fact that he left him there sick shows that it is not always God’s way to heal sick believers directly, as is asserted by some. In just the same way verse 13 shows us that the highest spirituality goes quite consistently with carefulness over quite small and humble details of daily life. This is a thing that we do well to remember.

F. B. HOLE.

I ask you to remember those three words: Hold fast! Hold together! Hold forth! Hold fast the faithful Word; strive together for the faith of the Gospel; hold forth the Word of life.

The Knowledge of Salvation.

IN studying such a subject as salvation it is helpful to begin with the first mention or illustration of it in Scripture because the earliest references to any subject often contain the key to it. Noah is the first man with whom salvation is connected in the Bible. He “prepared an ark to the saving of his house” (Heb. 11:7).

He doubtless stands as a type of Israel who will pass through the great tribulation and enter into blessing on the other side of it, when “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26), but his case would prove that while he was in process of being saved he possessed the knowledge of being safe. His salvation was not full and complete until he stood by his altar of sacrifice with the bow arched in the heavens above his head, nor will ours be until we are like Christ in the glory of God, yet he knew God, his Saviour, whose word he had heard, believed and obeyed, and whose hand had shut him into the ark before the flood of great waters destroyed the world, and he would have no fear. The point I would stress is that he was safe and he knew it, for if God has spoken, faith counts it as good as though it were already done. And so abiding in the ark and believing God, he was a confident and a saved man.

I should use this story of the salvation of Noah to illustrate our place as being justified in Christ. Noah was accounted righteous and shut into the ark by God, as we are justified and safe in Christ; and we read, “Being now justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:9). It may be said that that looks on to the future, and so it does, but we have the assurance that it shall be, for being justified by His blood we are cleared from everything that the wrath could have to say to. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

The case of Joseph and his brethren comes next. Joseph was the great saviour of Old Testament days, one of the chiefest of the types of our Lord Jesus. The name given to him by Pharaoh, when he exalted him to be lord of all Egypt, carries the meaning of “the Saviour” and in revealing himself to his brethren he labored to assure them that God had raised him up to save them. “God sent me... to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Gen. 45:7). By the wisdom given to him of God he became the source and center of salvation to the whole world. At once Acts 4:12 Comes to the mind. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

It is important, I think to associate salvation with the Lord Himself. We have it in present and enjoyed possession when we have Him. This is surely taught in the words of Simeon as he held the infant Jesus is his arms and said, “Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” And again in the Lord’s words to Zaccheus, “This day is salvation come to this house.” He was there and He was salvation. I advise young Christians to spell salvation “H.I.M.” and not “I.T.” It was only as the brethren of Joseph were dependent on him and were attached to him in Egypt that they enjoyed the salvation that he had secured for them. They doubted him and so were not fully happy, but when they poured out their fears to him, he assured them that he was their salvation. He was in the place of God to save much people alive.

Thus does the New Testament present our Lord to us. He has, been raised up from among the dead and made both LORD and Christ, and the grace of God that bringeth salvation is all stored up in Him, whether that salvation be considered as future or present. We have been concerned about the future, but thank God, we now know Jesus as our Deliverer from the wrath to come. That matter concerns us no longer except to bless and adore Him for giving us peace and assurance about it all. But the present is a totally different matter, we need salvation every day, and if we are concerned about this, as we ought to be, our Lord is the answer to all our fears. “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).

This is the testimony that the Word of God bears to Him for our encouragement, but we have His own words also, often quoted, but of no use to us unless proved in practical, daily experience, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” The corn in Joseph’s store houses was sufficient for his brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for us, and thus we are “saved by His life” now, as we shall be “saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:9, 10). But on our side we must “cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart.” Then shall we sing,

“No fear of foes prevailing

I triumph, Lord, in Thee.

O, Jesus, Friend unfailing,

How dear art Thou to me.”

The case of Israel pursued by Pharaoh follows. They had to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord; but when the mighty work was done and their enemies were all covered by the mighty sea and they stood on the wilderness side of it, they sang, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and He is become my salvation” (Ex. 15:2). They were a saved people and in that hour of glorious triumph they knew it, and long after Moses in his farewell song to them said, “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency!” (Deut. 33:29).

There is a great thrill in this beautiful type. God had claimed these people as His, and He undertook to save them from all their foes and bring them to Himself. Let us only realize the teaching of this and we shall have no more fears, for no longer have we to measure our strength and match it against the foe. We stand still and let God do the fighting and we sing, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Yes, if we know the Saviour who once suffered for sins, “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,” we are saved and we know it, for God “hath saved us called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9), and we have this salvation in “our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” We have the knowledge of salvation by the remission of our sins.

J. T. MAWSON.

A Word of Counsel

to those who desire to be servants of Christ now, and to receive His “well done” hereafter.

IF you have been truly converted to God seek to begin and continue as Saul of Tarsus did. Immediately he heard the voice from heaven saying to him “I am Jesus” he answered, trembling, “LORD, what wilt Thou have me to do?” It was a good beginning; well will it be for you, if you also receive your commission from above and if all your faith and service be learned from the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation. We live in a day in which the Scriptures are questioned and discredited; let them be to you the more sure word of prophecy “whereunto ye do well that ye take heed” (2 Peter 1:19-21).

Should there be a reader of this page who is not assured as to his own standing before God, will he read and ponder Romans 3:10-26, and when he can praise God who has justified him “freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” let him pass on to Romans 5:1-11, and rejoice in “the love of God, shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us.”

The servant of Christ is exhorted to be

1. “Strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

2. To endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, not entangling himself with the affairs of this life.

3. To strive for masteries lawfully.

4. To be a husbandman laboring.

5. To preach the word, to watch, to endure.

6. To do the work of an evangelist.

7. To make full proof of his ministry, remembering that in the last days perilous times shall come; indeed, we may say without fear of contradiction, have come.

May it be yours to fight a good fight, to finish your course, to keep the faith, and at the end to hear from the lips of your Lord and Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:21).

Crowns await those who are true to Him today―

For steadfastness, The crown of life (James 1:12; Rev. 2:10).

For faithfulness, The crown of righteousness. (2 Tim. 4:8).

For self control, The crown incorruptible. (1 Cor. 9:25).

For winning souls, The crown of rejoicing. (1 Thess. 2:19).

For feeding the flock of God, The crown of glory. (1 Peter 5:4).

Your joy in that day will be great indeed, but His, who in all things shall have the pre-eminence, shall be the greater.

J. R.

"Have Ye Understood?"

THAT was a startling question that the Lord Jesus asked his disciples at the close of one of his longest recorded addresses: —

“HAVE YE UNDERSTOOD ALL THESE THINGS?” Matthew 13:51.

Had they been inattentive, or had they been listening in a sort of detached, disinterested way, it would have been rather awkward. Had they been ruminating on point number two while their teacher was stating point number three it would have been equally unfortunate for He inquired: — Have ye understood all these things?”

Happily they had followed His wonderful discourse with intelligent interest, for without hesitation they gave an affirmative reply.

Now shall we have a friendly, heart-to-heart talk about this? When we read our Scripture portion day by day, or when we give ourselves to the more intensive study of the Word of God, do we ask ourselves, or, to put it in a better form, do we hear the Lord asking us: — “Have ye understood all these things? “If so, do we, can we answer, “Yea, Lord?” Take for example this very chapter which is full of the most precious teaching. Let us put ourselves in the place of the disciples, let us imagine ourselves sitting at the feet of our blessed Lord, and, as we read, fancy that we are literally listening to Him speaking to us. Then comes the question. Could we reply “Yea, Lord”?

If not, what do we do? Do we console ourselves by saying “That is beyond my comprehension, I must leave it to those who know more about it,” and thus pass on to something which we consider is much more easily understood; or do we ask the Lord to open our understanding, and linger over it in His presence till we can reply as did the disciples?

Similarly, if we read an article in Edification, or some other magazine or book, do we dismiss it with the remark: “That is too deep for me,” or do we read it again and again till we do understand it?

We confess that when we were young we did not quite appreciate those speakers who were wont to say: — “I desire to be very simple so that the young may understand,” we liked to listen to some of the giants in the truth who lived in those days and whose ministry we were unable at the moment to understand, but which we determined that by the Lord’s help we would understand later.

We read years ago of a lady who took her son to a professor and said she would be grateful if he would take him in hand and judge the measure of his intelligence. The professor handed the young fellow a bone, told him to look at it for an hour and tell him what he saw in it. At the end of that time the would-be student said he saw nothing. “Look at it for another hour” said the professor; this time the lad made some discovery. “Continue,” said his teacher, and after prolonged observation the seemingly dull scholar was able to report many wonderful things that he had noticed in a dry and seemingly uninteresting bone.

We are afraid it has to be admitted that we do not always display that keenness in studying the Word of God and the things of God that is shown by many a student in analyzing the profundities of his professor; or by the youth in the commercial house in solving the problems of trade; or by the smart business lady in unravelling the numberless intricacies of her calling. They do so because they know that in the world they must either get on or get out, move up or go under. Shall we be less diligent in divine things? in the things that matter? in the things that will fit us to be men of God here, and which will enable us to lay up now that which we shall enjoy forever?

Now let us note one or two things. (1) There are some things that we never shall understand; e.g. the marvelous love of God; the knowledge surpassing love of Christ; the holy mystery of Christ’s adorable Person, but of these things we can ever know more and more and still more, and the more we know the more will our hearts overflow in praise and worship.

2. We cannot understand divine things by the natural mind for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Let us avoid using human reason in seeking to understand the things of God.

3. We can always count upon the Lord to enable us to understand His things. In His wonderful meeting with His disciples after He rose from the dead, we are told that “then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” (Luke 24:45). In encouraging his son in the faith, Timothy, to read, to study, and to understand, Paul wrote: — “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things” (2 Tim. 2:7. N. Tr.). We have such a patient, gracious, long-suffering Teacher, who so greatly desires our constant progress in divine things.

Just before we close, let us look again at Matt. 13. Having received this encouraging answer the Lord Jesus said to His disciples: — “Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” We read, we study, we enjoy, we lay up choice treasure; but we do not keep it locked up, we bring it forth. A person who has something that he or she treasures, shows it and speaks of it if with becoming modesty, with pardonable pride. In fact he can enthuse others with his own enthusiasm regarding it. Why then should we be slow to speak of the things of God? Why, when we do so, should we do so with bated breath? If we are living in them; growing by them; if we esteem such as choice treasure, “More to be desired... than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psa. 19:10); then shall we not with holy enthusiasm bring forth out of our treasure things new and old? Thus we shall show our gratitude to the Lord on the one hand, and our desire on the other hand to share the good things with others.

By the time this appears in print those of us who are still young will be thinking about our program for the winter. The line of study will be decided and attendance at the classes will be arranged, all to fit us to be more efficient in our respective vocations. Let us not forget to include the study of the Holy Scriptures, the gathering with our fellow-christians around the Word of God, and that which will enable us more consistently to follow our adorable Lord, and will maintain us in a condition of suitability to Himself, so that when He comes we shall greet Him as one well known.

May the Lord graciously give us real desire, divine energy, spiritual understanding, and Spirit-begotten enthusiasm for Himself and for His things.

W. BRAMWELL DICK.

A Striking Request.

PASSING through a park recently our eye was arrested by a notice couched in polite language: — “The Public are asked to protect what has been provided for their enjoyment.”

Looking at the well-kept flower beds, admiring the roses in all their magnificent bloom, we reflected that if some thoughtless or dishonest person were to appropriate those roses for his private pleasure, he would be robbing others of the enjoyment they were intended to give. Whereas by enjoying them where they were, not only would we enjoy them, but they would be available for the enjoyment of others.

The notice set us thinking of something which is of infinitely more importance. God has given to men a revelation of the truth, of Himself, of His ways in grace to sinful men, of His thoughts concerning His people. All this centers round the Lord Jesus Christ, the Revealer of God and His love,

“Who came to earth to make it known,

That we might share His joy.”

All this is given to us in the Bible. The truth, the Person of Christ, the Word of God, have been the objects of the ceaseless attacks of Satan. It is the responsibility of God’s people to protect what God has provided for their enjoyment, nay more than for their enjoyment, for their salvation and eternal blessing, without which there can be no blessing at all.

It was early in the Christian era that we read the words, “It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). And if it was needful in Jude’s day, how much more necessary is it today. We are clearly at the very end of the Christian Dispensation. At any moment we may hear the summoning shout of our blessed Lord to call us hence to be forever with Himself. But whilst we are left here the fight gets hotter and hotter.

The truth is indestructible. “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (2 Cor. 13:8). Thank God for this! We have no changing foundation. We stand on the Rock of Ages, which has withstood all the storms and assaults of the enemy.

The truth is indestructible! A professor of a theological college may, for instance, deny the existence of hell. His denial does not alter the truth that there is a hell. So with any truth. We may deny the truth, we may give it up in parts as, in our opinion, impracticable, but

THE TRUTH REMAINS.

But there is a responsibility resting on every believer, that is more and more serious in its call upon our earnestness and fidelity as the threatened apostasy foretold in Scripture asserts itself. We cannot destroy the truth, but we can allow it to be filched from ourselves and others, so that we lose its enjoyment, and, what is worse, God loses the satisfaction that His heart desires in seeing His children walking in the truth.

If the Apostle John could write, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth,” surely it can be said of God Himself that this is His joy, in far deeper measure than known to the most devoted servant on earth.

These are days when Modernism, which is infidelity of the worst kind, and Ritualism, which is undoubtedly seeking to put the yoke of Rome on the necks of believers, are rampant. Perhaps the most insistent call that comes to the Christian today is this:―

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel [unbeliever]?...

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor. 6:14-18).

If all Christians had acted on this plain word of God the apostasy would not have advanced as far as it has. How often one has heard the plea of expediency; that by staying in fellowship with those who teach Modernism, or practice Ritualism, they are able to put a brake on the wheels and stem the tide of apostasy. But it is just this temporizing that has helped on the apostasy.

It is nothing short of disloyalty to the Lord to remain in outward fellowship with men, who deny the inspiration of the Scriptures, the Virgin Birth, eternal punishment—men who deny the very fundamentals of the Christian faith.

If any of our readers are in this entanglement, we would ask you to get upon your knees, open your Bible at the passage just quoted, read it aloud, and then ask God’s grace to act upon it.

We have heard cultured Christians say with a shudder, Do not send your sons to this or that University or College if you want them to remain Christians. One young graduate said, “I attended the college chapel and heard all the sermons, and thank God, I am still a Christian.” The heads of theological colleges are with a few exceptions Modernists.

It is no protection of the truth to go on in outward fellowship with men that deny their Lord. The Word of God is prophetic with a graphic clearness. We read: —

“There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of” (2 Peter 2:1, 2)

The day has come for plain speaking, and for action. If the true Christians were to a man to refuse to darken the doors of places where modernism and ritualism hold sway, it would be the dawning of a better day for the church of God.

Before the Lord comes may there be a revival among God’s people, an awakening to righteousness in this matter. May we one and all put the Lord first. To do so may entail the breaking of links long formed, but He is worthy, and faithfulness to His word is the only practical way that we can take in preserving for ourselves and our children the truth of God.

Someone said to me recently that one Sunday they would be treated to a sound gospel discourse, or a sound exposition of the Scripture, the next Sunday they could hardly sit upon their seats as they listened to blatant Modernism from the same pulpit.

We replied, “Would you be content to let your children have a drink of milk and then a drink of poison? You know you would not.”

These are serious days, and we need to put the Lord and His word above every other consideration.

A. J. POLLOCK.

Our Scripture Portion.

(Titus 1:1-2:11)

If you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

THERE is a very strong general resemblance between the 1St Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus; so much so that at first sight we might be misled into thinking that the latter is mainly a repetition of the former. As we examine the Epistle to Titus in more detail we shall soon become conscious that it has features all its own, and that it fills a niche in the scheme of Christian truth which without it would remain empty.

As we remarked when surveying the four personal epistles of Paul at the beginning of the year. Titus is the epistle of sobriety and soundness. It is also marked by the strong assertion of authority, the authority vested in Paul as an Apostle of the Lord, and in Titus acting as his delegate. The conditions prevailing in Crete, owing to the racial characteristics of the Cretans to which Paul alludes in his first chapter, rendered this strong assertion necessary; but as there is all too much of the Cretain difficulties—if not of the Cretain character—about us and amongst us all today, we shall find the exhortations of this epistle peculiarly healthful to our souls.

Paul addresses Titus in verse 4 but before doing so he points out the characteristic features of his apostleship and service in a series of short and pithy statements. It was “according to the faith of God’s elect.” Speaking in a general way we may say that the preposition “according to” indicates character. What characterized his apostleship was the faith, and also the truth which is “after” or “according to” godliness. There are all too many nowadays claiming to be ministers of Christ who wish nevertheless to minister “according to” the latest conclusions of science, falsely so called, or the latest reasonings of unbelief. Notice that “the faith” spoken of is not the faith of the world nor even the faith of Christendom, but of “God’s elect.” That unconverted ministers and preachers should deny and even ridicule the faith is very sad but not at all surprising. The faith was never theirs though they may have once given an intellectual adherence to it.

Observe too that the truth is said to be characterized by godliness. Here is a very good test which may be applied in either direction. Certain things are urged upon us as being the very truth of God. We may be hardly equal to the task of analyzing them, comparing them with Scripture and demonstrating their falsity, yet we have no difficulty in observing that the practical effect produced by accepting them as truth is the casting off of godliness. That is sufficient. These things are not the truth of God. Or, it may be, a certain course of action is urged upon us which would be quite profitable and seem sensible enough. But it is not according to the truth. Then we may be quite sure it is not godliness and is to be avoided.

Further, as verse 2 tells us, Paul’s apostleship was in view of an immense blessing which in its fullness lay in the future. In reading the New Testament we meet pretty frequently with the expression, “eternal life,” and if we carefully considered all the passages we should discover that its meaning is not easily exhausted: it carries within its profound depths of blessing.

Nothing is more certain in Scripture than that the believer in Christ has eternal life, and has it now. This side of things is specially stressed in the writings of the apostle John. We believers already have this life in Christ, and already we are introduced into the relationships, and made participators of the understanding and communion and joys and activities which are proper to that life. Still the fullness of eternal life is not yet arrived, as our verse indicates, and this view of it is in keeping with the first allusion that Scripture makes to it in Psa. 133:3. The only other allusion in the Old Testament is in Dan. 12:2, and in both these passages it refers to the blessing of the bright age which is coming, when the curse will be lifted from off creation and death be the exception rather than the rule as at present. When the earth is flooded with the light of the knowledge of the Lord the blessing of everlasting life will be enjoyed.

The Old Testament does not lift our thoughts from the earth as the New Testament does. The verse we are considering shows us that eternal life was in God’s thoughts before the world began, and in keeping with that it will abide in all its fullness when this world has ceased to be. We live in hope of it, and our hope is sure because based upon the Word of God, who cannot lie.

If any find difficulty in reconciling John’s assurance of the present possession of eternal life with Paul’s hope of it in the future, they will do well to remember that we commonly use the word “life” in more senses than one. For instance a man refers to a person critically ill and says, “While there is life there is hope.” By “life” he means the vital spark, the vital energy BY which we live. Another man who has been squandering a lot of money in the pursuit of pleasure remarks that he has been “seeing life.” He is mistaken of course as to what really constitutes life, but he clearly uses the word as meaning those relationships and enjoyments that go to make up life practically—the life IN which we live.

We have eternal life now as truly and as much as we shall have it, if we are speaking of the former use of the word. But if we think of the latter use we can rejoice that we are going to know it in far fuller measure than we do today. Walking through a greenhouse we espied amongst other tropical plants a cactus which looked like a fairly straight cucumber covered with small spines and stuck upright in a pot. We recognized in it a dwarf specimen of the cactus we had seen by the score in Jamaica standing 20 feet high or perhaps more. The little dwarf was as much alive as the giant cactus. Its life was of precisely the same order. All the difference lay in the environment.

This may illustrate our point, for though we have eternal life the world is an icy place, and the enjoyments proper to that life are found, by the Holy Spirit given to us, in God’s Word and amongst God’s people and in God’s service, which provide us with a kind of greenhouse in the midst of the cold world. We are in hope however of transplantation into the warm tropical regions to which eternal life belongs. In hope of that the Apostle lived and served, and so do we.

We must notice the word “promised” in vs. 2. Eternal life was not merely purposed before the world existed but promised. To whom? — seeing that man as yet did not exist. At any rate we may safely say that when the Lord Jesus became Man to glorify God’s name and redeem men it was under the promise that He should become the Fountain Head of eternal life to those given to Him, as is stated in John 17:2.

If verse 2 of our chapter looks on into a coming eternity when the promise made in a past eternity shall be fulfilled, verse 3 speaks of the present in which God’s word is being manifested through preaching; and the commandment authorizing that preaching has come forth from God our Saviour, consequently the result of that preaching when believed is salvation. This preaching or proclamation was entrusted in the first place to Paul. It would indeed be well if everyone who today has a part in this great work were deeply impressed with its dignity and importance. Woe betide us if we make the preaching a platform for the manifestation of our own cleverness or importance! It is for the manifestation of the Word of God.

With verse 5 the main theme of the epistle begins. Paul had been to Crete and left before he had had time to give the infant churches instructions as to many things. He therefore left Titus behind that he might do it, and also appoint elders with his authority. Verses 6 to 9 follow, giving the characteristics that must be found in such.

These verses are not a mere repetition of what we have in 1 Timothy 3. Conditions in Crete differed from those at Ephesus. There were similar dangers from “unruly and vain talkers and deceivers” in both places, but the natural characteristics of the Cretan race were peculiarly bad, so much so that some prophet of their own, some heathen seer, had been moved to denounce them in strong terms as “always liars, evil wild beasts, lazy gluttons.” Such was the old nature of the converted Cretans, and such it remained in them when converted; and alas 1 it was manifesting itself and hence Titus in verse 13 is instructed to administer to them a sharp rebuke.

A liar is evidently no lover of the truth. An evil wild beast (for that is what the word used really means) does not love restraint, especially the restraint of good, since in-subjection is its very nature. A lazy glutton thinks of little save that which ministers to self, and self in its lowest desires. See, then, how completely the apostolic instructions meet this sad condition.

Those elder men whom Titus was to appoint as bishops were to be such as held fast the faithful word. They were to be lovers of the truth. Moreover they were to hold it fast as they had been taught; that is, they were to recognize the authority with which it had been originally given and to carefully respect that authority and be subject to it. Hence in addition to being themselves sober men they were to be able to minister sound doctrine with effect. The men branded by the Apostle as ‘deceivers were ready to teach anything if only there were money in it, and this of course would be quite in keeping with the Cretan spirit, for to be able to acquire money easily is a prime necessity for the lazy glutton. On the other hand the bishop is to be a man neither given to wine nor to “filthy lucre,” or “base gain.” Marked himself then by godly features, the very opposite of those which were natural to the Cretans, he would be well qualified to exercise rule amongst them.

Before proceeding, notice that this scripture assumes that matters in the assembly are to be regulated by God. Had it been just a matter of human preference or choice Paul would have told Titus to stir up the Cretans to develop a church order and to establish church customs as they thought most suited to their island and its ways. He did nothing of the kind, but rather told him to “set in order the things that are wanting” since the divine order has been made known. The fact is that the divine order is extremely simple demanding nothing but lowliness and grace and spirituality—but that really is where the trouble lies, for men naturally love that which is ornate and showy and imposing.

Notice also that the men who were to be ordained as elders, in verse 5, are spoken of as bishops in verse 7. The word in the former verse is presbuteros from which we get the words presbyter, Presbyterian. The word in the latter verse is, episcopes from which we get episcopal, Episcopalian. A presbyter is an elder and an episcopes or bishop is an overseer—for that is the simple meaning of the word—and originally they were but different terms for the same man!

Now the bishops were to be men of soberness and sound in the faith, as we have seen, but all believers are to be sound in the faith as verse 13 shows. That is the thing of first importance. If we are right ourselves—pure ourselves—then all things are pure to us for the inward holiness preserves from infection. On the contrary, the defiled and unbelieving defile all they touch.

Hence in the opening verses of chapter 2 The Apostle turns the thoughts of Titus away from the bishops to those whom we may call the rank and file of the church. There were more bishops than one in each of these early assemblies yet not all elder men were bishops. Consequently there were found aged men who could be addressed as a class by themselves, as also aged women, young women and young men. Instructions suitable to their varying conditions are given as to each class. It is striking how the words “sound” and “sober” occur in these verses. Each is found three times, though the words in the original may not be in each case precisely the same. It is worthy of note however that the word, occurring again and again, translated “sound” is one from which we get the word “hygienic” which is so often upon people’s lips today. It means healthful. Sound doctrine is in very deed doctrine which makes for spiritual health.

In verse 9 he turns to servants. Any kind of service would be like a galling yoke on the neck of one who was an evil wild beast by nature. Yet here were some of these converted. In their old wild beast days they had served under the lash, as a wild beast serves: they answered again and contradicted as much as they dared, they robbed their masters whenever an opportunity offered. Now they are to be obedient to their masters, acting in an acceptable way in all things, showing all good fidelity, the effect of which would be the adorning of the doctrine of God our Saviour in everything. The doctrine is beautiful in itself, so beautiful, it might be thought, that it is impossible to adorn it further. Yet it may be. When the doctrine of God is exemplified and carried into effect in the beautiful life of a poor slave, who before his conversion was a perfect terror of a man, it is adorned indeed, and made beautiful in the eyes even of careless onlookers.

Now, what can produce such an effect in our lives? What produced it in the lives of some of the degraded Cretans? Nothing but the grace of God. Of that grace and its appearing verse 11 speaks. The law was given by Moses and was made known in the small circle of Israel’s race. The grace of God has risen like the sun in the heavens to shine upon all men. Into its shining we have come, for which we shall bless God forever and ever.

F. B. HOLE.

Salvation.

SALVATION is a word of large meaning. Sometimes it refers to the Saviour’s past and finished work, sometimes to His present priestly work, and sometimes to His future and glorious work, when our body will be changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body. Then the salvation of God will be complete.

The death of Christ has saved us from the penalty of sin. The present ministry of Christ is saving us from the power of sin, and when we are caught up to be with Him in glory we shall be saved from the presence of sin.

Moses brought Israel out of the house of bondage, Aaron accompanied them through the wilderness, Joshua led them into Canaan.

Christ Jesus unites all these in His own person. The youngest and feeblest believer is entitled to say, “I am saved, saved now, saved eternally. If he thinks of his sins and judgment to come, he can sing as confidently as the children of Israel when they saw Pharaoh engulfed in the Red Sea: “The Lord hath triumphed gloriously, ... He is become my salvation” (Ex. 15:1, 2).

Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4. What are the three grand facts brought before us there? These: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Hold these facts fast, keep them in memory. This was the Gospel Paul preached unto the Corinthians, which also they received, and wherein they stood; by which also they were saved.

Salvation then is yours, if with simple unquestioning faith you cling to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, as the sole and only ground of your confidence.

We have this assurance of possessed salvation in many passages of Holy Scripture. Look at these three: —

Ye ARE saved (1 Cor. 15:2).

We ARE saved (1 Cor. 1:18).

Who HATH saved us (2 Tim. 1:9).

Doubt, then, no longer. The work of Christ is a solid foundation on which our salvation is, firmly built. Be assured of its eternal security. The rock of ages can never be shaken. Christ is a tried stone, a safe hiding-place, a shelter from the wrath to come.

Looking back to the cross we can say that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ; looking onward to the future we know that we shall be saved “from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10). “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

“In our place condemned He stood.”

Hence there is no condemnation for us.

This aspect of salvation never changes. We are as completely wrested from Satan’s hand as Israel from Pharaoh’s when they were on the other side of the Red Sea. The blood on the door-post has sheltered us from judgment, the enemy of our souls is a vanquished foe, his power is annulled in Christ’s death.

We can say, then, with great emphasis that salvation is now ours through the sorrows and sufferings of Calvary, whereby God’s holy claims have been met, our sins atoned for, and Satan has been overcome.

Salvation—in this aspect―is as fully ours now as it will be in the glorious eternity which awaits us.

It is not difficult to see that Israel’s “salvation” was not complete at the Red Sea. Faith might travel to Canaan, but their feet were on the wilderness sands they were “redeemed” but not “gathered,” they were pilgrims to “a city of habitation,” they needed support, counsel, guidance, salvation at every step.

Look at the description of their experience in Psalms 107. At death’s door one day, tossed like a frail barque on a tempestuous sea; another, hungry and thirsty, sick and sorrowful, weak and helpless, what would have become of them without a present Saviour? Had they one? They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He “saved” them out of all their distresses.

They found a day-by-day salvation. Scarcely had their journey begun before another adversary appeared. Amalek, like a roaring lion, bars their way. For us it is Satan acting on “the flesh”; for though defeated he is not dead, though vanquished he is still active, and in some form or other he ever opposes God’s people.

Joshua leads Israel to the actual battle-field. Moses, supported by Aaron―the priest—on one side, and Hur―purity—on the other, intercedes on the mountain-top.

Sight would say all depended on Joshua; faith, piercing the unseen, sees that all depends on intercession above. During the whole day of conflict the priest was for the people with God. So with us. We are saved to the uttermost—to the very end—not only because Christ died, but because He “ever liveth to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25). Moses’ hands were steady until the going down of the sun; as a result, Israel gained the victory.

We are to act like Joshua. On our side we are to “work out our own salvation,” always remembering it is God who works in us as well as for us. We are to take heed to ourselves, like Timothy; we are to continue in the doctrine, and thus “save ourselves.” But we are to do this in the abiding consciousness that apart from Christ we can do nothing, and therefore we must ever look to Him for priestly succor for every passing hour.

We need, “salvation” from all the pernicious influences surrounding us, from all the subtility and malice of Satan, from the flesh within, and the world without. The language of our lips and heart should ever be, “Lord, save me!” Let us daily not with temptation, nor seek to overcome it in our own strength, but turn at once to a present Saviour, if we would be saved from the power as truly as from the penalty of sin.

Sin shall not have dominion over you; reckon yourself dead to it, avoid it, refuse it, resist it, like Joshua did Amalek; but never forget that “salvation belongeth unto the Lord.” Our strength to overcome must be drawn from Him. Be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

The next time temptation assails you, and you feel, like Peter, that you are sinking, look at once away to Jesus, turn to Him for present salvation, say, “Lord, save me!”

Salvation also includes the body of the believer. Christ is the “Saviour of the body.” This part of salvation is “nearer” day by day.

Man is a tripartite being. He is composed of spirit, soul, and body. Salvation applies to every part. Soul salvation is already ours; we have received the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:9). The spirit of the believer is referred to in a remarkable passage which speaks of a Christian being delivered unto Satan for “the destruction of the flesh” (1 Cor. 5:5). This is a solemn warning to us all not to trifle with sin, lest we find ourselves outside the Christian circle, back in the world, out of which Christ died to save us, and eventually removed by death as unfit to remain any longer here. It is in this connection we read of the spirit being “saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Under the government of God the man might die, through the grace of God his spirit will be saved. It is the grace of God which brings salvation to all men, but that same grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world.

The salvation of our body will be the last link completing the golden chain of the salvation of God. This part is connected with power, the present with patience, and the past with suffering. All is found in Christ; the salvation we have is an eternal salvation, but is never separated from the One in whom we have it, “the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).

We may therefore conclude, on the authority of God’s word, that we are saved, we are being saved, and we shall be finally saved.

We are saved with an everlasting salvation, we shall be saved from wrath to come, our souls are to rejoice in a known, consciously enjoyed salvation.

We are being saved by the activities of Christ’s life now, from the dangers which beset us on our journey. Let us ever look to Him every step of our pathway!

We shall be saved, and in glorified bodies celebrate the perfection of the work of Christ. Meanwhile we wait with longing hearts to see the Saviour who is about to appear the second time, apart from sin, to display us with Himself in salvation’s full and glorious results.

H. N.

"Meet for the Master's Use."

In the previous issue of “Edification” an article appeared addressed to those who desire to be Christ’s servants now, and to receive His well-done hereafter.

Surely every true Christian would desire this and it is with the wish to strengthen this desire that we seek to enlarge on the theme.

We have seen writers alliteration mad, writers who are always seeking to address us by means of seven S’s or five P’s or something of the sort. Often they are tempted to twist things to fit their scheme, and generally speaking “alliteration’s gentle art” is one to be avoided, or at least used with careful reserve.

But in what lies before us there is a string of S’s leading up to the expression in 2 Timothy 2:21, “Meet for the Master’s use.” These are found in the earlier part of that Epistle, so that for once we are encouraged to use this aid to memory.

We all desire to be “meet for the Master’s use.” In older to be this we first of all note that the Apostle refers to God as the one who “hath

SAVED

us” (2 Tim. 1:9). The first step necessary to being “meet for the Master’s use” is to be really saved. We remember that the first device of the enemy was to sow tares among the wheat, in other words to introduce mere professors among the true believers. How many are vainly seeking to please the Lord, who are strangers to His saving grace. Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, himself was very zealous, seeking to serve God when all the while he was “injurious and a blasphemer.”

The first step, then, is to be SAVED, and, we may add, to associate only with saved people in the things of God. To join with a mixed congregation of believers and unbelievers is sad indeed. The devil knows how evilly this works. He is a past master at strategy.

Next we are exhorted to “hold fast the form of

SOUND WORDS”

(2 Tim. 1:13). In the Apostle’s day before the Scriptures were complete, and when education was the privilege of the few, and printing unknown, and therefore the opportunity of consulting the Scriptures rare, the exhortation was to pay heed to what was heard. Today the Scriptures are complete, any believer can possess himself of a copy for a few pence, and the exhortation to pay heed to sound words comes with as much force as ever. We read these sound words in the Scriptures.

The Scriptures alone are our source of knowledge. It is well to have a textual knowledge of the Scriptures. To be saturated in the very language of Scripture is a great help. Yet we must be careful that our knowledge is more than memory, or else our knowledge will be like the manna that bred worms. We are told in Scripture that the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life. The “letter” in this passage takes the character of law, but it is when the Holy Spirit teaches us the real inner meaning of the truth that we are spiritually quickened. So whilst holding “the form of sound words” let us see to it that it includes having the true meaning of those words.

We next come to the exhortation to “be

STRONG in the grace

that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1). Unless we are characterized by grace we cannot be “meet for the Master’s use.” Some people think that grace means to be soft, but here we are exhorted not to be soft, but to be “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” What a character it gives to conduct to seek to walk in grace that as its illimitable reservoir in Christ. If we are in circumstances that call for grace how it will help us to realize that it is in Christ Jesus. With Him as our Pattern and Source of supply we shall travel far in that direction. Certainly a hard legal spirit exacting the last ounce of flesh is not the spirit that is “meet for the Master’s use.” It is much easier to be assertive, to seek the front place, to resent injuries, — all that is natural to the flesh. It needs moral, spiritual strength and occupation with Christ to be gracious.

The next thing we are exhorted to is to “endure hardness as

a good SOLDIER

of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). We are in the enemy’s country. The whole scheme and make-up of the world is against the Christian. From another standpoint we are in a world of terrible need. Men and women are moving in one mighty stream to a lost eternity. What are we doing in the gospel? There are thousands of villages in darkness—a darkness literally as gross as many a heathen country. It may take strenuous physical toil to reach these villages. It may take more than we can conveniently spare to buy the tracts and gospel literature that may be the means of bringing the news of salvation to many a dark home.

There are saints to be cared for, assemblies to be visited. All this may entail real hardship. It may be still more so, when devoted servants of the Lord leave friends and home comforts, and the happy fellowship of saints, and plunge in the malarial forests of Africa or travel up the water-ways of China, or visit India, or the far-off islands of the sea in order to carry the gospel to the heathen.

Or there is the humdrum of life, and having to stand the sneers and jeers of unconverted fellow-workmen or clerks.

Let us ever remember that we are soldiers of Jesus Christ, and let us see to it that we are good soldiers.

When the great war was on the soldiers had to endure hardness. Shall it be less in the battles of the Lord?

The next thing we read is that the Apostle himself could say that for the gospel’s sake he suffered trouble, even as an evil doer. Himself an example, with what weight the statement comes, “If we

SUFFER,

we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12).

Can we expect less when our great Exemplar was crucified and cast out? “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). When He was reviled He reviled not again, when He suffered He threatened not. The reigning time is coming. Truth is fallen in the streets today, but it is going to triumph, and righteousness shall be enthroned. We cannot have it both ways. If we want to reign we must be prepared to suffer, and to be a consistent Christian is to be prepared to be a suffering Christian.

The next exhortation is to”

STUDY

to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Our great concern should be to be approved of GOD. It matters little what man may think as long as GOD approves. It was said of Lord Lawrence, once Governor-General of India, that he feared the face of man so little, because he feared the face of God so much.

And to be approved of God we have to practice the truths of the Scriptures, and to do so we must study the Scriptures, not in a haphazard way, but in order to ‘see the great principles of the Word of God, “rightly dividing the word of truth,” or, as another translation renders it, “cutting in a straight line the word of truth.” What a muddle some Christians make of the Weird of God. They are not clear as to the dispensations, they fail to see that man in the flesh will not do for God and hence he is not to be cultivated, but has been condemned. They lose valuable time and waste valuable strength in seeking to improve and uphold what God has condemned. They go on with systems that are unsupported by the Word of God. In this way their true fitness is weakened.

Then we are exhorted to

“SHUN

profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness” (2 Tim. 2:16). Following that the Apostle warns against two men, who taught that the resurrection was past already. How the Bible always puts its finger unerringly on the sore spot! All vain babblings move on to the weakening and overthrow of the foundation.

Never was there a day when there was such an amount of vain babbling. One bishop teaches that we are descended from apes; another that the priest at the altar has the power to turn the bread and wine at the Lord’s supper into the very body and blood of our Lord, whilst all around we have strange crank sects, all claiming to be the only one and true thing for God in the world, and all marked by tampering with the foundations of the Christian faith.

Just as one avoids those nostrums that are advertised to cure all the ills the flesh is heir to, and to introduce the millennium into the world instanter, so one is well advised to give these “profane and vain babblings,” that promise so much and perform so little, a very wide berth. The word, shun, is a pretty strong word to use.

Things are in a pretty mixed-up state in Christendom today, and therefore the Apostle exhorts that the believer should purge himself from vessels to dishonor, if, indeed, he is to be a “vessel into honor

SANCTIFIED

and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.”

Sanctified, set apart paying heed to the exhortations we have already considered, the believer will have the joy of being meet for the Master’s use.”

Our little day of opportunity will soon be over. Let us not miss the wondrous privilege of being serviceable to the Lord. Let us remember that it means diligence of soul. Let us go over the points raised in this article, and ask ourselves how far we are answering to the exhortations.

A. J. POLLOCK.

"Able to Build You up."

How much we need the strengthening

Of Faith, of Hope, of Christian Life!

And the Blest Word that strength will bring,

Making victorious in the strife

Against our spiritual foes,

Who, to the end, our course oppose.

Then, Divine Author of the Word!

Grant us The Grace ne’er to neglect

The Truth of this Book from the Lord;

But, studying it, may we expect,

Like manna in the wilderness,

It will our pilgrim journey bless.

W. OLNEY.

Our Scripture Portion.

(Titus 2:2―3:15).

Read carefully. Read prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

THE marginal reading of verse 11, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared,” is to be preferred to the text. The point is that now there is salvation for all, and that the grace of God which has brought that worldwide salvation teaches us how to live, while we await the appearing of the glory. The passage is not as clear as it might be in our Authorized Version inasmuch as in verse 13 the words “of the glory” are turned into an adjective, “glorious.” There is this striking connection and contrast between the grace which has appeared and the glory which is yet to appear.

The grace of God has shone forth in al] its splendor in Christ and His redeeming work. In its scope and bearing it is not confined to Israel, as was the law, but it embraces all; though in its application it is of course limited to all that believe. Hence verse 12 begins, “Teaching us.” Not teaching all but as, who believe. Those who receive this salvation that grace has brought are thereby introduced into the school that grace has instituted.

How often is this great fact overlooked to much harm and loss. Why, there are those who refuse and denounce the fact of the eternal security of the true believer because they think it opens the door to all kinds of loose living! They imagine that if once we were assured of an eternal salvation restraint would be gone; as though the only effective restraint is fear of the whip—the whip of eternal damnation. Grace is far more powerful in its effects than fear, even that fear that was engendered by the law of Moses.

The law, we read, was “weak through the flesh” (Rom. 8:3) and it failed altogether to restrain its workings. Every true believer is however a subject of the new birth and possesses therefore a new nature. The flesh, the old nature, still remains within him, yet it is a judged and condemned thing and upon it grace lays a restraining hand whilst fostering all that is of the new nature. “Ungodliness and worldly lusts” are the natural expression of the old nature, and grace teaches us to deny all these. The new nature expresses itself in sobriety, righteousness and godliness, and the teaching of grace is that these things should characterize us.

There was of course teaching of a sort under the law, for the Jew had “the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Rom. 2:20). It consisted in the clear laying down of what was right and what was wrong. The law was like a schoolmaster who impartially hands round a code of rules, very peremptory, very clear and well printed, yet without offering to his scholars the least assistance in putting those rules into effect. Grace teaches in a far more effectual way. There is of course the same clearness about all that it enjoins and the standard set is even higher than that which the law demanded, but there is this in addition, it works IN us. When Paul preached the grace of God to the Thessalonians and they received his message in its true character as the Word of God he was able to say that it “effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 3:13).

That is the way of grace. It works in us, it subdues us. It not only sets a lesson-book before our eyes but bit by bit produces within us the very things that the lesson-book indicates. This is the case of course where the grace of God is really received. Where it is not really received men may do all kinds of things under cover of it, “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” as Jude puts it in his fourth verse. But this is because they are ungodly men and not true Christians.

Grace teaches us to live soberly, that is, “with self-restraint and consideration.” It thus puts us each right in regard to ourselves. It teaches us to live righteously, that is, in a way that is right in regard to our fellows. It teaches us to live godly, that is, to give God His right place in our lives. It puts us right in regard to God and man and self, and it sets us in expectation of the appearing of the glory.

Here is a converted Cretian. This wild beast of a man is thoroughly tamed and now plods on serving his master in a sober, righteous and godly way. But suppose he had no prospect! Life to him might then wear a very drab aspect. But grace teaches him to lift up his eyes and look for the approaching glory; the glory being that of “our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” The glory will be the fruition of all the hopes that grace has awakened. It may well be that by, “the blessed hope” the Apostle indicated the coming of the Lord for His saints, of which he writes to the Thessalonians in His first epistle (4:15-17), and if so we have both His coming for and His coming with His saints bet before us as our hope in verse 13.

The One who is soon to appear is the One who gave Himself for us upon the cross, and verse 14 very strikingly states one of the great objects He had before Him in giving Himself. It was in order to redeem us from the “iniquity” or “lawlessness” under which we had fallen, so that being thoroughly cleansed we might be a people for His own special possession and filled with zeal for good works. It is not enough that we should be delivered from the practice of evil; we are to be keen in the pursuit of what is good, and that not only in a theoretical but also a practical way. We are not only to do good works but also to do them with zeal. How strikingly will all this “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.” Once a liar, an evil wild beast, a lazy glutton: now, redeemed from lawlessness, purified before God, a zealot for good works. What a transformation!

The first and second verses of chapter 3 follow up the same theme, giving further details of the godly behavior that the Gospel inculcates. Obedience and subjection to authorities, and gentleness and meekness unto all men are features very much the opposite of all that the Cretans were by nature. They are also very much the opposite of what we all are, and this the Apostle puts on record in verse 3. “We ourselves “he says in contrast with the “them” of verse 1. What a picture he gives us in this verse of himself and Titus and all the rest of us, if viewed in our natural characteristics: a fearful indictment but true! That, being such, we should hate one another is hardly surprising, but then we were hateful ourselves. Coming after this how wonderful is verse 4!

Hateful were we, every one of us. Though we were each blind to the hateful features in ourselves we were quite alive to what was hateful in other people, hence the world is full of hatred. Now God looks down upon this scene and there breaks upon the world of hatred the light of His kindness and love. That God should love the unlovable is wonderful: that He should love the positively hateful is more wonderful still! Yet such is the case. The words, “love... toward man” are the translation of the one Greek word, philanthropy. The kindness and philanthropy of our Saviour God have appeared. The word indicates not merely that God loves man as He loves all His creatures but that He has a special affection for man—a specially warm corner in His heart for man, if we may so speak. His philanthropy expressed itself in kindness and mercy, and by His mercy we have been saved.

In Scripture salvation is generally connected with a work accomplished for us. This is true whether we consider Old Testament types or New Testament doctrine. We have to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which is achieved outside of us. The passage before us is however an exception to this general rule, inasmuch as we are said to be saved by a work wrought upon us and in us. The work in us is quite as necessary as the work for us. This is very plain if we consider the type of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. By the mighty work of God wrought for them they were saved out of the land of bondage, yet in spite of all the wonders accomplished on their behalf the vast majority of them fell in the wilderness and never reached the land of promise. Why? The answer of Scripture is, “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:19); that is, they had no faith, no work of God took place within them.

Salvation then, according to verse 5, is not according to our works of righteousness but according to God’s mercy, and the means of it are “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” In John 3 where the new birth is in question we have the Spirit of God as the Agent or Operator and the “water” as the instrument producing it. Here too we have the Spirit and the water, only the latter is alluded to under the term “washing.” But we must note that the word, “regeneration” in our verse is not exactly the equivalent of the new birth. The only other place in the New Testament where the word is used is in Matthew 19:28, and it indicates the new order of things which is to be established in the day of Christ’s glory. We have not got that new order of things yet but we have come under the washing, the cleansing, the moral and spiritual renovation which is in keeping with that day.

This washing is by the Word. It is so stated in Ephesians 5:26, only there it is the repeated and continuous action of the Word which is in question, here it is the once-for-all, never-to-be-repeated action of the Word in our new birth. The Word however is not operative upon us apart from the action of the Holy Spirit who works in renewing power.

This Scripture speaks not only of the Spirit’s initial work in us in new birth, and of the renewing which is consequent upon that, but also of the gift of the Spirit. He has been “poured out” on us abundantly. Thus bestowed He energizes the new life that we now have and works a day-by-day renewing within us, which works out a continuous and increasing salvation from the old life in which once we lived. The Spirit has been poured on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour, and as the fruit of His work. He has been poured on us abundantly, and hence it is that we may enjoy that which really is life in, abundant measure. We not only have life but have it abundantly, as the Lord Himself tells us in John 10:10.

The work in us, then, is quite as necessary as the work for us. It is equally true that the work for us is quite as necessary as the work in us, and this is indicated in verse 7. We could not become heirs of God merely by the work of the Spirit in us, for we needed to be justified before God and this is accomplished by the grace that wrought for us in Christ. Washed, renewed and justified it was possible for grace to go further and make us heirs, but all these three things were equally necessary.

We are made heirs, you will notice, according to the hope of eternal life; that is, we share equally with Paul in this wonderful hope, as may be seen by comparing this verse with the second verse of chapter 1; though we are none of us apostles as he was.

God saves us in order to make us His heirs and it is striking how He is presented as Saviour in this epistle. It is even more striking how the term Saviour is applied to both God and the Lord Jesus in such a way as to assure us that Jesus is God. In chapter 1, it is “God our Saviour” in verse 3, and “Christ our Saviour” in verse 4. In chapter 3, it is “God our Saviour” in verse 4, and “Christ our Saviour” in verse 6. In chapter 2, it is “our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” in verse 13.

When at the beginning of verse 8 the Apostle says, “This is a faithful saying” it is not easy to determine whether he refers to what he has just written or whether to what immediately follows, but it would appear to be the former. It seems that Titus was to constantly bring before these converted Cretians the way in which they had been washed and renewed and justified and made heirs, in order that they might be stirred up to the maintenance of those good works which were in keeping with such grace, and not only in keeping with grace but also good and profitable to men. How clearly this illustrates what is often said, namely that all suitable conduct flows from an understanding of the place in which we are set. Here again we meet with the fact that the knowledge of grace promotes practical holiness and does not lead to carelessness.

By constantly maintaining and affirming the truth Titus would be enabled to avoid all those foolish questions and contentions about the law which were so common in those days. There is nothing like diligence in what is good to shut out evil. There might of course be a man who carried these questions and strivings to such a point that he became a leader of a faction in the church, a maker of a sect―for this is what the word, “heretic” means. Such an one was to be admonished once and twice, but if then he still remained obdurate he was to be rejected. To make oneself into a leader of a party is a serious sin.

The epistle closes with a few words as to other laborers in the service of the Lord. They were to be supplied with all necessary things, and this leads the Apostle to lay it as an obligation upon all saints to apply themselves to labor of a good kind that they might not only have themselves the necessities of life but have the wherewithal to give and thus be fruitful. The once lazy Cretan is now to be a diligent worker and a helper of others.

F. B. HOLE.

Answer to a Correspondent.

Please give a definition or righteousness and holiness in Psalm 145:17, and Luke 1:70. I am not quite sure whether I really understand the difference in the meaning of the two words. — HEREFORD.

YOUR question is not one that can be answered in very few words, especially as in both the passages you refer to the words translated “holy” and “holiness” are not the usual ones.

The Hebrew word used in the Psalm has the force of kind, gracious, merciful, as a reference Bible or a Young’s Concordance will show. The word used in Luke is the corresponding word in Greek meaning kindness, graciousness, but it is perhaps better rendered in this passage by the word, “piety.” The words which commonly occur in both Old and New Testaments and are translated “holy,” “holiness,” and often “sanctify,” “sanctification,” have the root idea of separation, setting apart.

If these facts be borne in mind the force of the two verses becomes clearer; and if you wish somewhat fuller light as to the exact force of these different words, and you happen to have a copy of the “New Translation” by J. N. Darby with full notes, you will find illuminating footnotes to Hebrews 7:26 and Revelation 15:4 bearing upon the matter.

We rather gather however that your main question is as to the broad distinction between holiness (as usually presented in Scripture) and righteousness. A short article appeared in our July issue in which the wri.er contrasted imputed righteousness with holiness of an experimental and practical sort, and he confined himself to that particular aspect of things. There are of course other aspects. The fact is that both righteousness and holiness may be considered, firstly as positional, and secondly as practical.

To be righteous is to be right in all one’s relations, whether Godward or man-ward or in any other direction. We are justified, i.e., put right in our relations with God, “through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” God Himself is our Justifier; it is His judicial act. We consequently stand in a righteous position before Him. This is what we mean by positional righteousness. The one who is thus justified manifests that fact by a life brought into subjection to the will of God, a life governed by the consideration of what is right in all directions. Speaking from this standpoint Scripture says, “He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7). This is what we mean by practical righteousness.

To be holy is to be altogether separated or set apart to God. Now all true Christians are in that separated, set apart position before God, and hence may be addressed as “Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1). This is what we mean by positional holiness. It is equally true, as a consequence of this, that all believers are to be separate in their ways. They are to share in the very nature and character and feelings of God Himself, to love what He loves and hate what He hates. In this sense holiness is progressive, as is shown in such verses as 1 Corinthians 7:1, and 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13. This is what we mean by practical holiness.

From what we have said we think you will see that righteousness and holiness are very closely connected and cannot be divorced the one from the other, yet they are distinct. The distinction between them lies mainly in this, that whereas righteousness has to do with actions and attitude, holiness is a matter of nature and character. God is both righteous and holy in an inconceivably perfect measure. Yet when we consider His righteousness we at once view Him as in relation with others—His creatures. Hence we speak of righteousness as relative. When we consider His holiness we can exclude from our minds all thought of others. It is what He is intrinsically, in the depths of His Being and nature. Hence we speak of holiness as absolute.

We hope that in the above we may have answered what was in your mind.

“What is man, even the best of men? Or what are his thoughts worth? Just nothing if not founded on the eternal foundation of the Holy Scriptures. Do we not see every day how easily men slip away from Scripture and get into their own notions? And do we not also see the disastrous consequence of so slipping away? It is like the points on the railway; at first the measure of divergence seems hardly perceptible, but look at the end.”

C. H. M.

Signs and Wonders.

OF recent years a number of sincere and earnest Christians have been much taken up with certain remarkable doings and manifestations, which, they claim, are a revival of those spiritual gifts of a divine and miraculous kind which were comparatively common in the Apostolic age. In 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, we get a list of those gifts, but the claims as to a modern revival are centered mainly in two only, the “gift” of healing and the “gift” of tongues.

Where these “gifts” are exercised a stir is created, and this is particularly so in regard to the former. Huge crowds assemble for healing campaigns and this is not surprising; nor is it surprising that many zealous believers are attracted to it all. Feeling keenly the low spiritual state of the mass of believers, to say nothing of the condition of the immense number of people who are Christian in name only, they naturally long for something that will act as a spiritual tonic, something so supernatural and divine that the incredulous may be convinced and Christianity itself freshly vindicated in the eyes of a skeptical world.

In these modern signs and wonders they think they have found the very thing that their souls desire. But have they? ―that is the question.

We are not among those who assert that such gifts as those mentioned in Corinthians are quite impossible in our days, for who are we to place limits on the power of God or to take it upon ourselves to say what He will or will not do? We are responsible however to discern the true character of all that presents itself to us as being of God. We may face undoubted facts judging of them in the light of the Word, which if really understood will put us on our guard save us from being deceived and lead us only to accredit what is unmistakably of Himself. May we point out a few things that Scripture indicates?

In the first place have you noticed what is said as to the wonderful display of miraculous powers which characterized our Lord Himself. Said Peter, “Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs” (Acts 2:22). Men despised Jesus of Nazareth but God approved Him; and the miracles which marked the whole course of His public ministry were God’s attestation to His worthiness and to His claims, the seal of God’s approval placed upon Him. This verse is like a key, unlocking for us the real force and meaning of all miraculous signs and gifts.

The only miracles we read of in Genesis are those connected directly with God Himself or His Angel. Not until we come to Exodus and Moses do we find miracles performed by a man. Why was this? Because not until this point in the history of the world did God intervene through a man to unfold and establish His Word. Now however He sends Moses to boldly confront earth’s mightiest monarch, to rally and lead out of bondage His oppressed and disheartened people, and to be for them the mediator of the old covenant, the covenant of law. Moses was consequently accredited by a wonderful display of miraculous gifts.

Again did God intervene through men in matters of great importance when fie raised up Elijah and Elisha. Both were amply accredited by miraculous gifts. Indeed their times and the time of Moses were the two epochs of Old Testament history when the miraculous was strongly in evidence.

After a long period of silence John the Baptist, one of the very greatest of the prophets, appeared; yet, “John did no miracle” (John 10:41). Why? Because, great man though he was, he was only the humble fore-runner of the infinitely Greater, the Lord Himself. Then it was that the miraculous blazed forth as never before, as God signified His approval of Jesus. Yet in spite of it He was rejected.

His rejection however was followed by His resurrection, His ascension to heaven and the consequent descent of the Holy Spirit, which resulted in the formation of the church. It now became necessary for God to show that He had moved beyond the weak and beggarly elements of Judaism, that His presence was no longer to be found in Jerusalem’s temple, nor indeed in any tele made with hands, but in The church which had become His house. Hence the era of miracles extended onwards from the time of our Lord through the apostolic age. The apostolic witness to the resurrection and glory of Christ was in this way fully approved of God amongst the people.

The object of these miraculous manifestations then, whether healings or tongues or anything else, was not that believers might enjoy them as their own special privilege— their preserve, so to speak—but that they might be a testimony to the world, authenticating whatever is God’s testimony at any given time as being truly and unmistakably of Himself. Understanding this, we shall not be surprised to notice that the healings recorded in the Acts of the Apostles were all of people not known as believers when they were healed. We are not forgetting the cases of Dorcas and Eutychus and Paul with the venomous viper, in so saying. The last was a case of miraculous preservation of the apostolic messenger; the two former were cases of the raising of the dead which is something reserved for believers. No unconverted person has been brought back to life in this world during this gospel age, else indeed they would be having a second chance after death. Let believers in a second chance note this!

Notice further that in the Epistles various cases of sickness or infirmity amongst believers are mentioned: —amongst the Corinthians—the very people with whom the gifts of healing were found (1 Cor. 11:30); with Paul himself (2 Cor. 12:7-9; Gal. 4:13); with Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25-30); with Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23); with Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20); amongst the scattered Jewish believers generally (James 5:14-16); with Gaius (3 John 2); yet only in James is there any word as to a way of healing, namely prayer and confession. If sick we are to pray for one another with confession; and if the elders of the church can pray in faith for the sufferer, having anointed him with oil, he shall be healed. It is the faith of those who pray that is in question not the faith of the sick person.

It is an evident fact that by the close of the apostolic age these miraculous gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 had ceased. The Apostle Paul indicated that they would in 1 Corinthians 13:8, just as the miracles of the days of Moses and Elijah had passed away. What happened when the apostles were gone? Just what happened when Moses was gone and when Elijah and Elisha were gone —rapid declension. If bestowed to accredit a people and a message as being indubitably of God, what is likely to happen when both people and message begin to be corrupted? Obviously, the withdrawal of the authentication. From a worldly church and a defective or corrupted gospel, no longer “approved of God,” the signs and wonders were withdrawn.

At this point we make an assertion: — In spite of faithfulness here and there, and possibly “a little strength” (Rev. 3:8) in certain directions, that which can be called “the church” was never more worldly than it is today; the gospel was never more flagrantly and publicly corrupted.

We now ask a question: This being so, is it likely that God would select this moment for a revival on any substantial scale of such gifts as marked the church at the binning when it was in the days of its first love? The answer is very obvious: —It is in the highest degree improbable.

Notice another Scriptural fact bearing upon this matter. Whilst there is no prediction of a restoration of signs and wonders from God at the end of this age, there is a prediction that there will be a working of Satan to that very end. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, and see.

This passage evidently refers to what will transpire after the Lord has come for His saints, and the restraining influence exerted by the Holy Spirit, who indwells them, is removed from the earth. Still it is frequently the case that before any system or power of evil reaches its climax and full expression there are sundry preliminary manifestations of its working. We believe that it is exactly something of that kind which is taking place before our eyes today. About a century ago in connection with a movement known as “Irvingism” there began to be signs and wonders in the form of what purported to be speaking in unknown tongues and “inspired” prophecies. One of the chief actors hover afterward confessed that the power under which he spoke was not of, God. From the days of Irvingism until now there has been a succession of similar things, until today we have a regular epidemic of them, particularly in the way of healings, connected with teachings fairly sound in some cases, and in others with teachings utterly unsound—such as Christian Science. We have no hesitation in saying that as it was a century ago so it is today: the great mass of these wonders are not of God.

We have one more remark to make, and it is this: —the great mass of these “signs and wonders” are not genuine. Time and again the supposed results of these great healing campaigns have been subjected to a calm investigation months afterward, when all the furor and excitement have died down. Invariably the final residuum of real healings has been painfully small—if any existed at all.

We fully believe that occasionally it pleases God to intervene on behalf of the sick in ways that are super-natural, on the lines indicated in James 5:14-16. We believe that there have been cases even in our days of wretched victims of demoniacal power out in the heathen world being delivered by the faith and prayer and fasting of devoted servants of God. These things have come to pass as the fruit of dealings with God in secret just as they did, only far more commonly, in apostolic days. But we also fully believe that false cults can present us with lists of equally well attested wonders, especially in the form of healings—take for example the Romish cures at Lourdes, and the cures of Christian Science and of Spiritism―which are not of God at all.

Amongst the miraculous gifts at Corinth was one called, “discerning of spirits” (12:10). Had that gift been revived we should not see so many carried away by these modern crazes. A word for us today is, “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men” (1 Cor. 14:20).

F. B. HOLE.

Crowns!

IN continuation of the article in the October issue, entitled, A Word of Counsel, the writer would like to enlarge on the subject of CROWNS, which was briefly alluded to at the end of the article.

There are two kinds of crowns brought before our notice in the New Testament. First there is the monarch’s crown (Greek, diadeema). This the Lord Himself has the only right to wear. We read, “On His head were many crowns” (Rev. 19:12). Then there is the victor’s crown (Greek, stephanos). This is worn by the Lord Himself. We read, “Thou crownedst Him with glory and honor.” This crown the Lord earned as a dependent Man, though ever “God manifest in the flesh.” The stephanos is also awarded to the Christian, who is faithful.

Of course we must guard against a merely materialistic use of the word in this connection. The thought is spiritual surely, the word “CROWN” indicating the reward and honor to be bestowed in the day of glory because of faithfulness in some way or other during this life.

Let us enumerate the crowns.

THE CROWN OF LIFE.

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him” (James 12). “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 10).

Here is a blessed incentive to the Christian to steadfastness. We are bound to find the current of the world against us. Further, we still have the flesh in us, and we have to deny the temptations that come from the flesh. The current of the world at present does not carry us to the length of martyrdom. If the current were as strong as that, what an incentive to stand firm to the end is the prospect of the crown of life. The current was strong enough in the days of the Smyrna church, to whom was addressed the words in the second of the texts just quoted.

The Lord has promised this crown to them that love Him. Those who love Him will find out that the world does not love Him, and would crucify Him afresh, if He were presented to it, as He once was. Thus they will find themselves against the current.

THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The Apostle Paul at the end of his career of ardent service for Christ wrote, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). This is the reward given for faithfulness.

The Apostle could say that he had fought a good fight, that he had finished his course and had kept the faith. He was at the finish, we are in the midst of the fight. Do we sleep on beds of ease? Are we taking our place in the fight of faith? Sure it is, that we shall never earn the crown of righteousness save by faithfulness.

Alas! too many Christians, perhaps all of us in measure, are content to be assured that our souls are saved forever, and are not very concerned as to taking our place in the Christian warfare. Oh! that we might be stimulated to greater earnestness in the things of the Lord, and not lose the reward.

THE CROWN INCORRUPTIBLE.

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (1 Cor. 9:24, 25).

Here the Apostle uses the illustration afforded by the athletic games of the Corinthian Isthmus. We all know of the strenuous training the athlete will subject himself to. How he will abstain from foods and drinks that would impair his fitness. In other words he is self-restrained, for that is the meaning of the word “temperate” in our text.

Are we gratifying our appetites, considering our ease, or are we exercising self-restraint? One earnest nobleman sold the family jewels, his carriages and horses, in order to spread the gospel in Russia. What an example for us all! We often give what we can spare of our time and money, but where is there the denial and self-restraint that will win this reward?

THE CROWN OF REJOICING.

The Apostle writing to the believers at Thessalonica, to whose conversion he had been used, writes, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19, 20). There is no joy like that of winning souls. No crown of rejoicing will there he like that which is the fruit of having been used, under God’s hand, in the salvation of an immortal soul. Have you tasted this joy? Have you sought to reach another soul for Christ? Pray about it. I heard of a young sister who wrote a very simple letter putting the way of salvation before a dying man, and it was used to the conversion of both husband and wife. The Lord stir us up in this matter.

THE CROWN OF GLORY.

“When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4). Here the Apostle Peter is addressing the pastors of the flock of God and telling them of the unfading crown of glory that the Chief Shepherd will award to faithful under shepherds. It is an unfading crown, unlike the laurel crown of the Corinthian games, that began to fade as soon as it was placed on the head of the victor.

Is there not in this an incentive to all of us. A girl of fourteen gets converted. How happy if a young Christian woman, but three or four years older in the Christian life, were to care specially for the soul of the young convert. Would she not be an under shepherd? One thing is certain if we are faithful in little things, God will entrust us with greater. But the one who despises the little things, and who wants to do the big thing right away, is not the one to succeed.

A young medical student had his heart touched by the homeless condition of two lads, who were sleeping under an arch in the Whitechapel district. Little did he dream that that pity was the little acorn that was to grow into the mighty oak of the immense Dr. Barnardo’s homes, which have been the means of the salvation of many homeless, derelict lads and lasses.

OUR JOY! HIS JOY!

What joy will be ours, if we receive any of these crowns! But we may be assured that the Lord’s joy in awarding them will be infinitely greater than ours! What an hour of rejoicing it will be!

Alas! there may be many, who will miss this joy, either in part or in whole. Are any of us doing all that we can in the way of winning souls or in caring for the sheep of Christ? Are we as steadfast and faithful and self-controlled as we-might be?

The Lord stir us up as to these matters. One thing is certain, it is not human effort that will count, but it is in the strength of the Lord and in the power of His might and from the springs of love and faith and hope, that we can go forward on these lines.

And further, when the believer is rewarded by receiving a crown or crowns at the judgment seat of Christ, there will be no flesh to be puffed up, but the crowns will be used to cast at the feet of Him, who awarded them, and whose grace it was that worked in the believer this fruit for His praise.

So we read, “The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne saying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they were and are created” (Rev. 4:10, 11).

A. J. POLLOCK.

Our Scripture Portion.

(Philemon).

The writer of this article addresses you assuming that you have opened your Bible at the verses indicated above and are going to follow him with your eye upon the passage. Consequently all long quotations of Scripture are avoided and mere references cut down to a minimum, if you do not read with the Scripture open before you it is hardly likely that you will derive much help from your reading.

Read carefully. React prayerfully. Read thoughtfully.

AFTER reading this short epistle it would be well to read the last twelve verses of the Epistle to the Colossians, especially noting the various names that are mentioned by Paul. No less than right of those mentioned in Philemon are found in Colossians, and several of them in a way that throws light upon their history.

Philemon, a much loved friend and fellow-servant of the apostle, evidently lived at Colosse. Apphia would appear to have been his wife, and Archippus his son, who was also a gifted man with a very definite service committed to him from the Lord. Philon’s house was a meeting place for God’s people, so that Paul could write of “the church in thy house.”

Onesimus, with whom the Epistle is mainly concerned, had formerly been a servant or bond-slave of Philemon, as verse 16 shows. He had wronged his Christian master and then had run away (verses 15,18). In God’s great mercy however the runaway slave had been thrown into contact with Paul at Rome during his imprisonment and through his instrumentality converted (verse 10): converted speak of him not long after as “a faithful and beloved brother” (Col. 4:9).

Tychicus was at that time leaving Rome for Colosse, bearing Paul’s letter to that assembly and the Apostle seized this favorable occasion to send off Onesimus in his company back to his own people, so that again he might meet the master, whom once he had so wronged. It was no light matter for Onesimus to once more stand in the presence of, Philemon, even though the grace of God had wrought in his Conversion since the time of his wrong-doing, and Paul thoughtfully wrote an explanatory and intercessory letter to Philemon, making Onesimus the bearer of it. That short letter—the Epistle before us—God has seen fit to enshrine, as an inspired production, in His word. It fills its own niche in the scheme of truth, revealed to us in Scripture.

In the first place it shows us how the converted sinner has his feet turned into paths of practical righteousness. When Onesimus wronged his master, Philemon, he was an unconverted man. Now he has become a brother beloved, but this does not relieve him of obligations incurred by his former sin. As regards God that sin was forgiven amongst all his other sins, for he stood “justified from all things” (Acts 13:39); but as regards Philemon confession and some kind of restitution was needful. How restitution was made in this case the Epistle shows. Here at once there meets us an important lesson. If we have done some palpable wrong to another, no more effectual proof of our repentance can be given than that of confession and restitution, as far as that may be within our power. It is ever a trying process, but it is practical righteousness, most effective as a testimony and most glorifying to God.

Again, the Epistle endorses and emphasizes courtesy as being a grace that befits Christianity. It is very evident that the Christian is to be marked by an honesty, a candor, a transparency which is the very opposite of that hypocrisy and flattery which so greatly marks the world. Yet he is not to allow candor to degenerate into an unfeeling rudeness. He is to consider and acknowledge the rights of others and express himself with refinement of feeling and courtesy. Notice the happy way in which Paul expresses in verse 7 his approbation of the grace and kindness that characterized Philemon.

Notice too the tactful and delicate way in which he introduces the subject of Onesimus, in verse 8 to 10; beseeching where he might have used apostolic authority and commanded; presenting Onesimus as his spiritual son, given to him during the time of his trial in his captivity—a consideration well calculated to move the heart of Philemon. Divinely given tact and courtesy is also seen in the verses from 13, and onwards. Paul would have liked to retain Onesimus as a helper in his time of trial, but to have done so without consulting Philemon would have been, he felt, an unwarranted liberty. His old master had certain rights which Paul scrupulously observed; acknowledging that for him to have the advantage of Onesimus’ help would have been a “benefit” conferred by Philon. This benefit he would not first appropriate leaving Philemon to learn of it afterward when he could not do otherwise than acquiesce “of necessity.” No: he sends Onesimus back, content to have the benefit, if ever, as the fruit of Philemon’s action “willingly.”

Perhaps however Onesimus was returning to the place where once he had served sin and to the master whom he had wronged that he might more fully and forever be at his service―the New Translation renders the end of verse 15, “that thou mightest possess him fully forever.” But in any event all was now to be on a new footing. Notice again the courteous and tactful way in which the Apostle conveyed this fact to Philemon, pointing out that he is now to possess him not as a mere bondman but as a brother beloved. Under these new circumstances Philemon would get service of a far finer quality out of Onesimus, even if it were less in quantity or if he willingly yielded him up to go back to Rome to help the Apostle, or to go elsewhere in the service of Christ.

But apparently Onesimus had wronged Philemon in those earlier days when as yet he was unconverted. His old master had suffered loss through his unfaithful service or defalcations. Knowing or suspecting this, Paul assumes full responsibility for making proper restitution. The damage done is to be put down to Paul’s account and he writes with his own hand a promissory note— “I will repay it.” But what a master-stroke are the succeeding words, “albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides”!

So Philemon himself had been converted through Paul; and if he opened in his ledger an account with Paul’s name at the head and debited him with the pecuniary loss suffered through Onesimus, he would have to credit him with the value of that devoted service, which had brought to him, through terrific opposition and suffering, life and salvation unto eternal days.

We have but to ponder quietly to feel how irresistible must have been the effect of these words. If Philemon up to this point had been inclined to be righteous overmuch and harsh, what melting must have supervened. What was his loss after all! How paltry it, must all have seemed, even if it ran into thousands, in the presence of the mighty debt of love he owed to the Apostle. The effect upon Philemon must have been simply overwhelming.

The Apostle was conscious that it would be so, as verse 20 and 21 disclose. Indeed such was his confidence in Philemon that he expected him to even go beyond what he was enjoining as to his treatment of Onesimus. A wonderful tribute to Philemon this! No wonder Paul addressed him as “our dearly beloved!”

Knowing what fearful damage to the fair name of Christ is wrought amongst God’s people in connection with similar episodes we feel as if we could not sufficiently stress this important Epistle. It inculcates: ―

As to the offending party, a return in all humility to the one offended with confession and an acknowledgment of his rights as to restitution.

As to the offended party, the reception of the repentant offender in grace with the fullest possible acknowledgment of all that God has wrought in him; whether it be through conversion as in the case of Onesimus, or through restoration as might be the case with many of ourselves.

As to the mediating party, an absence of anything approaching a dictatorial spirit, coupled with ardent love for both the offended and the offender, expressing itself in entreaties marked by courtesy and tact.

We must not leave this epistle without noticing the striking way in which the whole story illustrates what mediatorship means and involves; illustrating really the statement, “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). God is the One offended by sin: man, the offender: the Man Christ Jesus, the Mediator.

We can see ourselves depicted in Onesimus and his sad history. We too were “unprofitable.” We “wronged” God and consequently were His debtors, owing what we could not pay. We too “departed” from Him, since we feared Him and desired to be as far as possible removed from His presence. Our alienation was the fruit of sin.

Paul’s mediation between Philemon and Onesimus illustrates, though only faintly, what Christ has done. Can we not almost hear the blessed Saviour so speaking when upon the cross He charged Himself with our iniquities and took up the judgment we deserved? Shall we not bless Him forever that in regard to all that was due to us on account of our sins, He said to God, “Put that on Mine account.”

There is this difference however, that whereas Paul had to write “I will repay it” our risen Saviour does not use the future tense. His word to us in the gospel as the fruit of His death and resurrection is, “I have repaid it.” He has been delivered for our offenses and has been raised again for our justification. Hence it is that, justified by faith, we have peace with God. In this point therefore the illustration falls far short of the reality illustrated.

Our illustration also fails in this, that God needs no such persuasion to the full exercise of grace as was needed in the case of Philemon. He is Himself the Source of grace. He does however need a righteous ground-work whereon to display His grace even as Paul provided Philemon with a righteous reason for grace in assuming all the liabilities of Onesimus. Mediatorship involves the acceptance of such liabilities if it (is to be fully and effectively exercised, for only then can grace reign through righteousness.

Praise be to God for the effective mediatorship of our Lord Jesus, the results of which are eternal. As to these our illustration again helps us.

In the first place, Paul’s word as to Onesimus is, “receive him” (vs. 12). He was not to be ignored and much less to be rejected, but to be received. How fully and really has God received us who have believed.

In the second place, the word was, “receive him forever.” Formerly the relations between Onesimus and his master were of a sort that could be broken, and in fact were broken by the misconduct of Onesimus. Now there were to be new relations of an order that could not be broken. It is just thus in God’s gracious dealings with us. As the fruit of Christ’s work we stand before Him in relations that are indefectible and eternal.

In the third place we have Paul making a request of Philemon which might seem utterly beyond his powers to comply with. “If thou count me a partner,” he says, “receive him as myself.” Philemon might well have replied, “With all the good will in the world I simply cannot do it. Receive him, I will. Receive him forever, I will. But it would be mere hypocrisy to pretend that I can bring myself to the point of receiving him as, my beloved Paul, I would receive you.”

That which Philemon could hardly have done, as we venture to think, God has done. Every believer, from Paul himself down to ourselves, and down to the weakest of us and those most recently converted, has no other standing before God than “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). We have been received in all the acceptance and favor of Christ Himself—a thing amazing beyond words, and utterly incredible were it not so stated in the Word of God.

In this the illustration is entirely to the point, as also in regard to the underlying facts which govern the whole. As before remarked, the link between Paul, the mediator, And Onesimus, the offender, was love. Between Paul and Philemon, the offended party, it was partnership.

As we look up by faith to the glorified Man Christ Jesus, the one Mediator, we adoringly acknowledge that His link with God is that of PARTNERSHIP, for He is God. He is great enough therefore to “lay his hand upon us both” (Job 9:33). He can lay His hand upon God Himself, being His “fellow” (Zech. 13:7). Yet He has laid His hand upon us to our eternal blessing. He has brought us into His own place and relationship, linking us up in the strength of His eternal LOVE.

Yet here again we need to note how the illustration falls short, for God the Father loves, equally with Christ the Son. The Father’s love and the love of Christ are sweetly intertwined. We rightly sing: ―

“Father, Thy sovereign love has sought

Captives to sin, gone far from Thee.

The work which Thine own Son has wrought,

Has brought us back in peace and free.”

F. B. HOLE.

Edification: Volume 2

Table of Contents

Editor's Foreword.

A New Year's Reflection.

Standing and State.

The Unity of Scripture.

A Common Mistake.

Our Scripture Portion.

Three Dominant Verbs.

With a Great Price.

One of God's Heroes.

The Eternal State.

Our Scripture Portion.

Answer to a Correspondent.

In Old Fields.

"Doth not Even Nature Itself Teach You."

"Save … to the Uttermost."

Christians.

Our Scripture Portion.

Answers to Correspondents.

Eternal Life.

The Person and Work of Christ.

On Following Christ.

Our Scripture Portion.

Answers to Correspondents.

Love so Amazing.

Heaven.

"New Wine" and "New Bottles."

Ensnared by Our Enjoyments.

Our Scripture Portion.

The Christian Calling.

His Last Request.

The Invitation and the Response.

"Your Mortal Bodies."

Our Scripture Portion.

Righteousness and Holiness.

Things Freely Given to us of God.

Our Scripture Portion.

Answer to a Correspondent.

Honoring God.

Let Us Draw Near.

The Bethany Sisterhood.

Our Scripture Portion.

The Right Kind of Faith.

A Prophecy Over 2,600 Years Old.

A Song from a Convict Station.

High Time to Awake.

Our Scripture Portion.

The Knowledge of Salvation.

A Word of Counsel

"Have Ye Understood?"

A Striking Request.

Our Scripture Portion.

Salvation.

"Meet for the Master's Use."

"Able to Build You up."

Our Scripture Portion.

Answer to a Correspondent.

Signs and Wonders.

Crowns!

Our Scripture Portion.