Present Testimony: Volume N1, 1867-1868

"We commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."

Additional Notes on the Greek Article

Every noun which is not itself a proper name is in direct contrast with this latter; it is the name of what a thing is, not of an individual. Where, in the nature of things, there is ostensibly only one, as Sun, Moon, Heaven,-imagination easily personifies them. But as John, Peter, etc., are names of individuals, or become so, so tree, table, glass, etc., is the name of a thing not of an individual. Such a word, or appellative noun, answers to the question

What? Just so a proper name answers to the question

Who? I say, " Who, what individual, is that "? The reply is, "Peter, John," etc. If I say, " What is that"?

The answer is, " It is a tree, a table," etc., that is, what it is.

Habits of language may vary. A language may have an indefinite article, or use the number one for it; and either of these individualizes; thus in French, un homme, a man; and even in Greek, εἱς (one) is often so used in the New Testament. But the noun in itself states what a thing is, -table, chair, etc.

In this lies the whole doctrine of the article; at least the root of it all. The style of language varies as the mind of the people who speak it. An Englishman says, law; that is, he uses the abstract idea law by itself'. French cannot bear this. It must have a positive object before the mind, it cannot deal in abstractions. Hence it can say sans loi, because sans excludes existence, but not par loi. Where the sentence implies existence, it cannot use a mere abstract word. It must be toute loi, toute loi quelconque, or something tantamount.

Each nation may insist that its own habits of thought are the best. That does not affect the question which we have to treat.

Whenever a word is merely descriptive of something else, not an individual, it needs no article. So, even in French, par bonte. In Latin all is thus abstract. Every noun, when not defined by a pronoun possessive, or the like, answers to the question "What "? not to " Who"? or, it is not individualized. German and Dutch are more like French. Our business now is with the Greek; but the general principle will help us to understand it.

A noun, as elsewhere, is always a quality or kind of being, or answers to "What"? As for instance,

ανθρωρος, βιος, οικια, etc. The article makes it individual, ὁ ανθρωπος; a similar principle will be found in Hebrew; and its form, when a word is in regimen, shows the individualizing, indicative character of the article; Ish ha-elohim, the man of God, that is, a man, that one that is of God. So we have ha-Adam that special race, or being, which God had created, and Himself quickened so ha-nahar, the Euphrates.; ha-baal the lord (baal). Now, in Greek, when once we have taken a noun substantive for what a thing is called, and the article as indicative of individualization, all becomes easy; -νομος παρεισηλθε-(Rom. 5:20) in English, "law," the thing so called; ὁ νομος, the law (scilicet) of Moses; ανθρωπος, What (not who) came? A being that was a man not an angel. In English we should say "a man;" δἰ ανθρωπον, by man. In English, either "by a man," or "by man" would do, but better " by man."

What follows is striking: ὁ θανατος; but αναστασις νεκρων, anarthrous: The latter-this thing what is called by that name; the former might have been equally anarthrous, but ὁ points it out as the well known king of terrors. It is individualized, a being to the mind. Abstractions are the chief difficulty: being the article individualizes. But a thoroughly abstract word is made a unity of, i.e., individualized by contrast with all other things possible compared with it. Hence an individual of any kind, and an abstraction will both have the article. When I say "man," I individualize the kind or race, sum up qualities which distinguish him from animals, angels, God, etc., with which the mind would compare him. So ὁ ανθρωπος may be man, that kind of being summed up as an individual being in thought, or a particular individual man, already known. So ὁ νομος may be " law," or " Moses's law," or any other known law; less familiar here because νομος is more difficult to individualize abstractedly by a tacit comparison with other things: a few particular laws, is what we think of, or law simply in its nature, i.e., the name for what it is. Law cannot be so abstract a thought, is more positively instituted. With abstract qualities, the case is simple. That particular one is, itself, in contrast with all other qualities, ἡ ανομια, ἡ ἁμαρτια. I think it will be found that of such words, those that are in kind familiar to us in detail, we make what is called an abstraction of; i.e., we sum up the various things as a whole, and it becomes a unity, and in Greek has an article: as ἡ ἁμαρτια, ἡ ανομια. The principle applies anywhere, but such a word as νομος, for example, is less liable to be summed up thus. Species afford facility for this; if accustomed to be viewed as species, they are individualized in contrast with other species. In English every species is not individualized: the word remains -a kind of adjective. I say man. I say the horse, meaning the horse tribe, and the ox, sheep, that class. God and man are alone, I think, given a personal name thus, in English. It is not a set of beings, but a being. It is really a name.

Take, now, to illustrate the principle John chap. 1:- ὁ λογος is an individual personal being;-Θεος a kind of being;-προς τον Θεον a personal being; εν αρχη is absolute, [εν τη αρχη would be a particular beginning, perhaps, of all things, but one, designated one]; ξωη ην; it is, what was there [ἡ ξωη would have individualized it, and there would have been none anywhere else,—that life would have been in Him alone as a whole]; then ἡ ζωη, because it is the life mentioned, i.e., it is individualized. It is not what—but which life. So το φως το αληθινον, it was the light of men. Here it is clearly individualized, a particular light, and, indeed, the only one owned as of men. In the case of τη σκοτια, it is important. You could not say φως φαινει εν because there would be no darkness if the nature (the what) of the thing was in question, but τη σκοτια is a particular darkness,—abstract, no doubt, but what was opposite to the light of men, which was life in Christ the Word. What that found itself in, was a darkness opposed to it, and which could not comprehend it, the darkness of this world. It is stated mysteriously, but it is that darkness in which the light of men, Christ, shines.

That darkness did not comprehend it,—no doubt because it was darkness, but the opposite of that light. Whatever is contrasted has an article. for it is thereby a positive object individualized, consequently, as one whole before the mind; hence as above species. Εγενετο ανθρωπος sent παρα Θεου. What was sent? A man, not an angel; here it is evident. So παρα Θεου is what the being was, he was sent from; παρα του Θεου is Greek, but it individualizes God, παρα Θεου characterizes Him: the messenger was a man, but a man sent from God;-ονομα αυτω, is not his name was, but there was a name to him, John. We have, lower down, το ονομα αυτου, here it is a particular name amongst others. Here, what had he? a name, which was John. You could not say, I apprehend; as stating a fact ονομα αυτου, because the genitive gives a particular name-his name. It is known that in ordinary cases the possessive pronoun requires the article before the noun;-εις μαρτυριαν, that is what he came for-his mission, what particular testimony it was, he goes on to say;-ὁ κοσμος is the one individual world, clearly;-τα ιδια, οἱ ιδιοι, I note as being plural, where the plurality itself clearly individualizes, gives positive objects as units to the mind,-only it also embraces all of them, τα, οἱ all the units which bear the name or designation of ιδια, ιδιοι;-εξ αἱματων, etc., is clearly of what: εκ των αἱματων would have specified the particular kinds, i.e., individualized each kind of blood,-probably it is meant to exclude all, if not a mere hebraism εκ θεληματος ανδρος is noticeable, because a genitive very commonly brings an article with it, as giving the particular kind of the governing noun, and so objectively individualizes it (το φως των ανθρωπων), but here the whole is merely what the thing is, εκ marking nature or quality. Their birth was not of that kind, that was not what it was. It is not merely an actual will supposed to exist in the individual man.

ὁ λογος σαρξ is a common form of proposition, that individual person or being did now become that.

την δοξαν αμτου, there was the particular actual glory which they saw; δοξαν ὡς, then, what it was, its quality. This may suffice.

την δοξαν stands as a name. Yet involving they saw. Yet even here, where it is used personally and objectively, the article is used; προς τον Θεον it was somebody He was with; but παρα Θεου, the quality of His mission. So here ἑωρακε Θεον, Him, who is truly such; τον Θεον would have been personally, and not have given the force; it would have been the fact. Here it is more in the nature of things. In John 8 it is εκ του Θεου, for it was from God himself [that] He came out.

In verse 44 you are εκ πατρος του διαβολου; the Devil, is personal, individual; but they were not out of him personally but characteristically. They had him morally as their father. From the Devil as father, the source of what they were.

το φευδος objectively contrasted-with ἡ αληθεια and, so, individualized; ἡ αληθεια what he is.

εκ των ιδιων-Of distinct things which are his own.

So περι ἁμαρτιας is neither one particular sin, nor as Ian ideal or abstract whole, but what they could or could not convict Him of.

So αληθειαν, speak truth, what characterizes the speaking. Hence, as heretofore observed, in such cases of accusatives after verbs, and of the verb substantive, an anarthrous word is usual.

In John 5:37 we have an instance which might seem strange, φωνην αυτου. It is not properly his voice as one known voice which speaks, but a voice, any voice of his; so ειδος αυτου, anything that was his form. It is not one known voice or form, but anything that (what) was that. But τον λογον αυτου (ver. 38) because that is one recognized word. In (ver. 41) παρα ανθρωπων that character of praise, παρα των ανθρωπων living individuals in fact. So (ver. 44) δοξαν παρ’αλληλων, but την δοξαν την παρα του μονου Θεου.

John, perhaps, tests the principle best, from the peculiar, abstract way in which many things are stated by him. In more narrative books it is simpler.

I quote now some more peculiar forms. Acts 14:3, ικανον μεν χρονον.

Here, clearly, it was not the object to designate one particular, pretty long, time, individualizing it from others-but what the time was; it was a ἱκανον χρονον. With ην and εγενετο, as stated, it is the question of what took place; there was a ὁρμη there [ver. 4 and some (ησαν) were with the Jews and some with the apostles] ver. 5, ως δε εγενετο ὁρμη των εθνων τε και Ιουδαιων συν τοις, etc. The individuals των of both classes.

It is a mistake to think there is never an anarthrous noun followed by an article. When the first noun depends on another word to which it answers, as "What," and the following one is of individuals who refer to that, you will have the first anarthrous, the second not. When the first is an individual whole, dependent on the following genitive, it must have the article, το πληθος της πολεως.

It was the multitude, the one whole multitude of that city, not of another (ver. 4); but ὀρμη των εθνων, etc., because there it is merely what took place and does not belong wholly and exclusively as an embodied individual to those people..

Ver. 8, και τις ανηρ εν Αυστροις αδυνατος τοις ποσιν. The man was αδυνατος τοις ποσιν: his two individual feet, though there is no αυτου (his); χωλος εκ κοιλιας μητρος. [αυτου], his mother's womb is merely a date to characterize his lameness. The womb is not before us objectively as an existing thing.

Ver. 10, ειπε μεγαλη τη φωνη is somewhat peculiar, but accounted for in the same way; μεγαλη φωνη would do, but simply characterize the manner of ειπε: τη φωνη is his voice, raised to a loud pitch,-I have not the character of speaking but Paul's voice; μεγαλη φωνη is, practically, one word. Hence, the article in the plural, unless there be a limiting word, means all of that kind.

Ver. 13, ταυρους bulls, τους ταυρους would be individuals designated; and the what is ταυρους, i.e.; all that comes under that name.

All this is not a different principle from the previous paper on it, but goes to the root; the other more to the form. The former grammatical, this metaphysical.

The noun is always characteristic, or the what of something, even when there is an article. The article indicates an individual, or single (many if plural) object which is that, "What." The form of subject and predicate is merely an effect of this. The person “ό”or object I call man, the what of the object is an animal.

Other words may take the place of the article in individualizing as τις, πας, πολλοι. Oἱ πολλοι is something else; οἱ gives a number of designated individuals in contrast with one, a number of individuals lost in the designation πολλοι in contrast with some one or few otherwise connected though contrasted with them-οι ἱγγεμονες, οἱ πολλοι, πολλοι is, becomes, a qualification, not a mere uncertain number. Hence, as a general rule, an unmentioned individual kind has no article; αιγγελος, ανθρωπος, προς παρθενον. It is what the being is; singular, but known by its character.

When mentioned, the article comes, too, as a rule, because an individual (now known) is designated.

There is an oracular absence of the article which, though apparently exceptional, only confirms the rule: πνευμα ἁιγιον: και δυναμις ὑψιστου. It specially characterizes what it was and is, not merely historical of what took place; in which case, the article would have been used. The translation (Acts 1:8) is right: "Ye shall receive power, the Holy Ghost coming upon you;" not as in the margin, that would have been, I conceive, την δυναμιν.

Address

THAT the present moment is, in the last degree, critical for the Church of God, none scarcely would be found to deny.

The desire, under divine grace, of those who have undertaken the present publication, is to meet the need of the Church in the position in which it is actually placed, by the communication of that truth (according to the measure in which it is given them), which the grace of God has furnished in the word for this as for every time of His Church's need. They are ready to receive any communication which may minister to this.(provided it be according to truth and godliness), though it should not be precisely according to their own thoughts in every point, leaving each writer responsible for his particular view: yet they would carefully watch that nothing may escape them contrary to the faith of God's elect, or lowering to the standard of holiness and separation from the world, which becomes the Church of God-the Bride of the Lamb. That standard it is their desire to maintain in the fullest way in all earnestness of purpose and grace. They can only trust. God, to be kept and helped in this case. On the same ground, without sanctioning everything in the original " Christian Witness," and satisfied that God has brought out many things in a clearer light on several important points, yet they cannot doubt that God did by it afford to His Church much true light from Himself, to help it on its way. That grace they would own, and thus far receive, as the proof of God's goodness to the Church. To own the goodness of God, is to receive the blessing of it. But they trust also to be enabled to afford a present testimony, according to the mind of God, towards His Church and Saints now. The rapidity of events, that is, of the development of principles-the principles of this world and of Satan-demand such a light and help to the Saints. Those who have undertaken this publication count upon the goodness of God, however feeble they may be, to supply it. Whatever really assists in the intelligence of Scripture will surely minister to this, and will find a ready place in " The Present Testimony." Their confidence is in the Lord, that He will help them in thus ministering to the need of His Church. Upon His grace they cast themselves, recommending themselves and their labor to the love and prayers of their brethren.

The Editor (for the time being) adds a word:-

He feels and desires to keep intact, his own individuality of responsibility to the Lord Jesus, as Head-and to Him alone. As thus placed, he has, through grace, found fellowship with his brethren, partakers of one Spirit, children of one Father; their servant and fellow-helper, therefore, he would be; yet always under Christ.

While availing himself of all brotherly counsel, as to the details of his duty, he does not feel free to alter anything whatsoever, in any paper, except by request of the writer. At the same time he will feel free to add a note, signed ED., upon his own sole responsibility. EDITOR.

*** As it does not seem to harmonize with the walk of faith to settle " how often such a Part or Number should appear"-let this be left where Faith casts all its burdens.

All Things Are of God

“All things are of God”

It is a well known fact, that Satan, when he cannot entirely set aside any truth of God, seeks to pervert it; and' the most advanced saint has need to watch, and be prepared, for such perversion. Nay, so subtle is the nature of it that invariably the most effectual instrument, in the hand of Satan, is the one who hitherto has progressed furthest in truth; for the higher one has reached, and the more one has learned, the more extensive the injury he perpetrates, if he be perverted. The higher, and the larger the building, the greater the crash when it falls. A small one might be unnoticed, but a great one necessarily involves great damage.

In every day it has been according to the vigor in. which truth was presented, that there was opposition to it but the opposition most successful, and the one most difficult to counteract, has always been that which dome' within a shade of the truth. The greatest lie is that which is nearest to that truth which it seeks to supplant, and to be accepted instead of. And often the line of difference is so fine that to give a definition of it is difficult;' and it can only be determined by the eye set on God, and not on man; for it will be found that the perversion of the most dangerous and injurious order takes its rise from having the eye turned to man, and seeking to make the truth suit him, and not to conform man to the truth; so that the way to resolve this almost invisible line of difference is by the simple question, Is it God-ward Tam looking, or man-ward? 'When Satan turns Eve's eye to herself' and her own advantages, God gets no place in her mind; but on the contrary, His will is refused, and His nature denied. Cain thinks only of man, and what suits the creature as such, without any reference to what God, in His nature, may require of the creature now under judgment, because of sin.. Lot thinks of himself, and of what suits his own interests: he does not leave Canaan; but while remaining in it, he thinks of things entirely in relation to himself. God is not thought of; and thus, His object, and purpose, in calling Abram out of Mesopotamia, is entirely over. looked. This is a sample of the most dangerous and effectual order of opposition; and that to which the people of God so continually fall victims. Lot does not depart from the call of God; but while acceding to the letter of the truth, he thinks only of himself; and is eventually found in Sodom; his righteous soul vexed from day to day with their ungodly deeds. Jacob, in the same way, thinks only of his own interests and what suits himself' (and that, too, after he had been taught in the wrestling that God is supreme, and that man is set aside in His presence, as his halt ever after declared) and settles down at Shalem. He might say that as within the land, he was within the territory of God, the limits of divine call; but yet he was thinking only of what suited himself. God was not in his thoughts, but with reference to himself, his altar, El-Elohe-Israel, and hence, not only, like Lot, does he personally suffer, but he and his family become an offense instead of a testimony to the world. If God had been simply before his eyes, how differently would he have acted! It appears very small at the beginning; but with what grave, and singular consequences, is this, almost imperceptible departure, attended. Moses in another way, is an example of how the most earnest and devoted may be turned aside, by having self before the mind more than God. He in the zeal and freshness of his heart attempts to deliver his brethren by his own hand. He rests on his own strength, fails, and has to retire discomfited and helpless into the land of Midian. And forty years afterward he is as slow to stand.-for God, -where-he had-failed before, as he was, in the former instance, rash. Why? Because his eye was on the failing Moses again, and not on God, where it ought always to be set.

I need not multiply examples. For 490 years, even during David's time; Israel neglected the observance of the sabbatical year; which was the most distinct and blessed opportunity and call to them to declare their dependence on God; and how He was for them; for, though apparently God's kingdom, they, at the very refused to confess Him in ah act of the greatest moment and significance; and which more than anything would have marked them on the earth, as His people. What a testimony to all around for those three years, and to their own souls too, that all things were of God! If God had been before their eye, and not what suited themselves, how His favor, and blessing, would have enriched them! In one year they would have received from Him a supply for three years. They could have rested without care on the sabbatical year, and have said daily and hourly to themselves, in the joy, of their hearts, " all things are of God." The brightest glory of the kingdom; the chief brilliant of the crown, is surrendered thoughtlessly, almost imperceptibly, and without an expression of regret; just because man is thought of and not God. I do not speak of the gross evil into which the people of God fall, but of the indifference to which the most advanced are exposed, and into which they fall, while apparently on the right ground, and going on in the line of His counsels. I do not speak of Israel as idolaters, or as corrupted among the nations; but I would refer to such as the captivity in the days of Haggai, who had returned from Babylon; who had sought the Lord's glory on their return; but being hindered, had now contented themselves with being in the right place, and had no longer thought of the temple, and of God's things, but simply and entirely of their own. They are in fact as. " the slothful man, who will not roast what he took in hunting." They had surmounted all the difficulties; had braved everything, and had openly declared for God, according to His mind, in Jerusalem; but-now they went-away everyone to his own house, and the house of the Lord lay waste! The point I desire to impress is, that those who are most right, are liable to religious selfishness, their altar is El-Elohe-Israel; and that their self-occupation is more damaging than the grossness of the ignorant, or unbelieving. Now, our Lord's disciples, in His day, were examples of the snare of self-occupation and self-seeking, of which I speak, more than the Pharisees. The latter were open and avowed opposers, never accepting or assenting to the truth, while the disciples were openly and boldly on the right ground; but were continually misinterpreting the Lord, and His purposes, simply and solely because their eyes rested on man, and not on God. Who tells the Lord to send away the hungry multitude? The disciples-they, who of all others, ought not to obstruct His will, or check His grace. Who pray Him to send away the Syrophenician, " for she crieth after us"? Was it not they, who ought to have understood His mind, and not to have attempted to thwart it, in its finest purposes? Where young children were brought to Him that He might touch them, who rebuked those that brought them? The disciples, " And when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased." Who suggest to Him to call down fire on the Samaritans but the disciples? Peter, the most earnest and foremost of them, rebukes Him when He foretells His rejection and death; which subjected him to the severest reproof from the Lord. " Get thee behind me, Satan, thou savourest not the things which be of God, but the things which be of man." Do not all these instances pronounce to us, that being on the right ground and being nearest to the Lord, in zeal and affection, does not preserve from the self-thought, which one falls into, if the eye rests on man and not on God. I have not referred to every instance in which the disciples attempt to check, or compromise, the work of the Lord; but I have noticed enough to convince any true heart, that if the eye is turned to man, no knowledge, no zeal, or purpose, will preserve from false judgment, and false apprehension of the-Lord's mind.—No -amount -of enlightenment, or practical walk in the right path, will secure from perversion, if the eye is turned man-ward, instead of God-ward. Not only will a Mark return from Pamphylia, but a Barnabas will be carried away by the dissimulation of a Peter. " Of your own selves" (the elders), " shall men arise, speaking perverse things; to draw away disciples after them." Nothing can be more distinctly set before us in Scripture than the fact, that among the most advanced, and the most earnest, some have been turned aside, and have slipped from the true line, because, in a crisis, their eye considered for man, and not for God. While, on the other hand, when God simply controlled the vision of the soul, everything opened out according to His mind. And hence, in every time, there was a reaching forth, and a yearning, for that era of full blessing, when it shall literally be true-that -" all things are of God." And it is in this connection, that the Apostle uses those wondrous. words (2 Cor. 5:14). He had said that "if one died for all, then were all dead. And that he died for all; that they which live should henceforth not live unto themselves, but to him who died for them, and rose again." And then, to make this more decided, and unequivocal, he adds, " though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more Therefore, if any man be in.Christ, he is a new creature Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself, by Jesus Christ." Failure in saints is always attributable in one way, or another, to the eye being turned to man, instead of to God; and there never can be any real strength or ability but as the eye rests simply on God.

But now, we are not struggling by faith outside the being, and he world, in which we are, as were the saints before the death of Christ; but by the Spirit of Christ, we are before God, on the ground that all is swept away. They (the saints of old) occupied a creation which had fallen from God, and which by faith they saw as, one day, to be set aside in resurrection. This was all faith could do before the death of Christ; but now we are on the ground of all things being new, all things of God." The understanding of the difference between the faith of the most advanced saint before the death of Christ, and what it is now, is of great moment and value, both for our blessing and testimony. We have seen that the great and unfailing balk to the saint is man; and that in every instance, where any servant of God walked with Him, it was in proportion as God, in His own purpose, was before his soul. Be it an Enoch translated; an Abraham ascending Mount Moriah; the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea; or Peter walking on the water; one and all are great only in proportion as man is overlooked, and God only, and entirely, before the soul. But in each of these cases there was no knowledge of the ground where faith now puts the soul. With each of them it set them before God, and all was pure blessing; but it could, at best, be but as expectant of the removal of all that which stood in the way. There was, by faith, a flight above and beyond the old creation, but there could have been no clear or distinct perception of the fact of its removal, for it was not as yet removed, which is the only true place for faith now; for " old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new." Faith did carry a saint, before the death of Christ, unto God; but though it filled his soul with God, it could not give him a clear and positive assurance that old things had passed away, for they had not passed away; and faith, while connecting the soul with God, and blessing it in God, could not lead it to see and know, that there was an end to the flesh (even Christ in the flesh) until the fact was accomplished. And the knowledge of this fact is the simple, yet momentous, difference between the saint who has only the faith in God which those before the death of Christ had, and the faith which saints now are entitled to have. The faith proper to me now, asserts not only that I am before God, but that there is nothing remaining which is not judged in the cross of Christ, and therefore judicially passed out of existence before Him; so that, on this ground, man in no wise appears. " Old things are passed away." It is not that the eye rests-on God, stepping over the old creation; but it rests on God now, all the old things having passed away. There is nothing to cross, or to skip over; for all are removed, as judged in the cross; they have no recognized existence before God; and when I am in faith, I am entitled to see that no such thing exists; the ground is cleared; all things are of God.

I fear many in the present day fall back to the faith known to the saints before the death of Christ; instead of dwelling in that proper to them now; realized, I suppose, in its blessed extent, by Stephen only, when he saw his place in the glory with Jesus. It is impossible to explain fully the difference; but the spiritual will at once see how morally important and wide is the difference. In the one case, I must, as it were, close my eyes to all I am in, and by faith remove myself away from it, because I am in the standing of the first Adam which is at enmity with God, and hateful to Him (Rom. 7). The body of this death must depress me, and I necessarily have a conscience ever anxious and harassed, and seeking absolution in a satisfactory sacrifice; for there is no assurance, nor indeed could there be, of the judicial removal of it; and, consequently, if not removed, I am while in it, answerable for it according to God's claim on it; whereas I am by faith in Christ Jesus, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and entitled to see the flesh as entirely removed, judicially terminated before God. And if I return to it, I have not to seek a sacrifice to atone for the delinquency of that which is a recognized, responsible existence; but I have, because Christ is my advocate, to take in confession God's side against myself, and repudiate in toto that which, being judged and re-moved from God's eye in judgment, I have no right to return to, or acknowledge; and the more I am in His light, the more do I see, not only how blessed it would be to be borne over it, and at rest before Him, but that I may search for it in vain; for " old things are passed away; behold, all are become new and all things are of God. ' Oh how blessed! My true standing now is, the life which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." In the one case, I mourn over that which is unequal to its imposed responsibility; in the other, I denounce its intrusion with horror, because judged in the cross, and I return it, by the power of the spirit to the " burial " from which it had escaped.

Now, if this truth be clearly apprehended, it must produce very marked practical effects. Man, as man, would not be consulted or ministered to. Christ alone would be the guide, strength, and motive for everything. Now, as we have seen, there is no strength or rest, but as faith reaches above and apart from man; and this at every time, even when man was still standing on the ground of responsibility before God, and when there could be no escape from it. To be in a " dry and barren land, where no water is " was always the trial to faith. And the Lord says to His disciples, " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' There was then a demand on the flesh. Though weak, its existence was owned as still responsible; and there was no escape from it. There must have been a very different exercise of soul then, when the flesh was required to please God (which, in the person of Jesus on earth, was truly fulfilled); and now, when we are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. To understand clearly the consequences of being in the Spirit, and not in the flesh, is of great moment; for if there is confusion in the mind on this point, the conscience suffers accordingly. If I could realize ever so distinctly the goodness and love of God, as the disciples did in Christ (by Whom, while present, they were preserved from open evils, into which they; according to the weakness of nature, fell, when separated from Him), I still must feel myself bound (and the more I knew His grace, the more so), to make my flesh do its required duty to Him, and even if it did, my distress must be " Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death." Its very weakness, not to speak of its willfulness, would be unceasing trial to me, and this weakness the disciples betrayed the moment they were, even for a little while, separated from the Lord. They could not watch one hour. The moment He is betrayed by Judas, they all forsook Him and fled. The immense difference cannot but be plain, whether I am regarded by God, in a creature existence, which is entirely inadequate (or worse) to meet His will-one positively under judgment; or, that this existence, being judged in the cross of Christ, I can now enjoy every revelation of His love without the mortifying feeling that the more He shows me of Himself, the more I am convicted of the weakness and wretchedness of myself, as His creature, to walk before Him. The knowledge of His love and grace to me, a sinner, saving me eventually, would not in any measure relieve this exercise of conscience; nay, on the contrary, would aggravate it. What could more distress me than to be led to see God's love and mercy, for me, as it is in His heart, and yet to know that I am a creature before Him, never pleasing Him; and that as such a creature, I am under judgment, which indeed he had redeemed me from, yet that He required me to meet the duties which He had enjoined, and to act up to the law which he had given. In a word, though assured of my final redemption, because of the virtue of Christ's sacrifice, which in perfection did all that the offerings under the law proposed to do; yet that I was still in the flesh, and required of God, as now a partaker of this grace, to do exactly what those under the Jewish economy were enjoined to do, but failed to accomplish. If this were true, which many think, my conscience would be always in the seventh of Romans, and never rise to the happiness of even a saint, who had by faith, through the types and shadows, reached God. The nearer God comes to man, as in the case of Job, the more is he, however amiable, made to feel how entirely unfit in nature he is for His presence. There cannot (unintentionally done I admit) be devised a more effectual way for depressing and saddening a soul than to proclaim to it all the grace of God in Christ, in redemption, and then tell the man, that as man, he is bound to maintain the law as the duty of one so largely indebted to God. Why nothing can so aggravate my sense of misery as to show me all I have received because of my ruin in -the flesh, and then say that I am expected to live in the flesh, as if I were not ruined and helpless. It is surely singing songs to a heavy heart. It is, in a word, to declare to me, how gracious God is in redeeming me, a poor undone sinner, and telling me to live henceforth, because of this mercy, in the flesh which needed the mercy, as if it had never needed it;-that it is a duty I owe to my blessed Savior, to live now as if I had never required a Savior; and that the very grace shown me as a sinner and undone, makes it obligatory on me henceforth to act, as if I had not need of any Savior, because that I should now do and keep the law. The favor, though inconceivable, is counteracted by the obligation attached to it. What would be thought of the one who would pay all the debts of a bankrupt, but insist that, as an obligation, the bankrupt should resume his former business without capital, and never get into debt again, and thus show that his getting into bankruptcy could have been avoided by the exemplary manner in which he now gets on, though he had nothing but a clearance of debt in resuming his business. It is plain that with such a notion as this, there could be no clear or true, apprehension of how all things are of God. Everything of man in the flesh is ended judicially in the cross for God, and now I am through grace, not only freed from the burden of my sins, but I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away, I am to live in Christ, and thus I am higher in moral life than ever the law required me to be.

It ought to be hardly necessary to go into this point; but the more one inquires into the condition of souls, the more will it be found that there is more or less a sense of obligation because of the grace conferred in Christ, that though I could not, before partaking of this grace, make my flesh please God, yet that now I can; and hence the greater the sense of the grace, the greater the distress of soul, because of the inability to answer to the obligation. Conceal it, cloak it, or call it what name you like, but if I am in the flesh, in the old man, I must, if I have any conscience, seek to make it answer to God's demand on man, and I cannot get rid of the sense of obligation without getting rid of the man to whom the obligation would attach. Hence, -I-should regard-sins in a very different way if I am still as a man under obligation; and if not, not that the enormity of sins could be lessened. Sins are sins whatever way they be dealt with; but let us see for a moment how the soul is before God. in His grace, if the flesh has no longer a recognized existence, and is therefore no longer under any obligation, but is to be regarded really as dead.

If the existence of the creature, which I am in by nature, is under judgment, and if judgment has been passed on it in the cross of Christ, and I by faith accept this judgment, surely I do not desire or expect it to be revived. If I, by faith, accept what Christ has accomplished for me, I am delivered from the judgment. If I do not, I refuse the only door of escape, and the judgment resting on me is not removed. The judgment for sin inflicted on man has been borne by the Son of God, but He has risen out of it, and as the risen one, is the author of eternal salvation. Having judicially terminated the existence of the man under judgment, and on the ground of full victory over death, He says that He draws all men unto Him. Every man is under judgment, but every one who looks to Him, the Risen Man, receives life from Him, just as he had received death from the first Adam. Everyone who does not, has the judgment resting on him, and if it be not removed, it abides on him (John 3:36). Christ's death has ended man for God, and God no longer addresses him as capable of doing ought to please Him. The old man is crucified in the cross of His Son, and any one who walks in the first

Adam, practically denies the death of Christ, and still links himself with that which is under judgment, and that, in the presence of One, who has borne the judgment. The Gospel calls man to accept Christ as the One who bore it, and is therefore the only door of escape to him out of it; but if he disbelieves or does not find the mercy, the judgment on himself is not arrested; he has not participated in the benefit secured by Christ's death; he has not life eternal; but is lost eternally under judgment. Thus we see the fact of Christ's bearing the judgment on man, and judicially ending man before God, -does not of -itself-entail the-salvation-of every man without exception. It opens the way in righteousness for God to save every man; but on every one who does not receive life, through this open door for mercy, the wrath of God abides. God is quite free in righteousness to go forth, and bring every one into this blessing; but if man lingers in the place of judgment, he will find that the One who would have been his Savior is his Judge; and simply because he preferred his own life to the life that cometh from God. The believer accepts Christ, and finds life in Him, outside that life and being which is judged in the cross; and as he lives in this life, now his in Christ, he is consciously above and apart from all of that (man) which is judged in the cross, so that he seeks to live no longer unto himself, but unto Him who died for him, and rose again. As he enters into and understands the place of life and new creation in which he is in Christ Jesus, so the more fully does he see that he ought not any longer live to himself, but to Him. In a word, that living to himself is incompatible with the fact and the blessing in which he is set, namely, that he is dead, as the death of Christ for him proved; and that if he lives in that which was thus proved to be dead, he contravenes the necessity and value of Christ's death; for if he recognized the necessity and value of it, he could not dare live to that for which He died, for " he died that they which live should henceforth live not unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again." How could I live in that which He by dying proved to be dead, and prefer it too, to Him who died for me. The fact of grace is, that every man in Christ is a new creation. It is senseless, as well as defiant to Christ, to live to myself in that standing, which is not only counted dead by God, but which was judged in the cross. If I am alive in Christ, and outside of myself which is dead through His death, can 1 nullify and make nothing of His death by returning to myself, at one and the same time losing my own blessing, and despising His love and service? No. If I am true to that which is true, namely, that I myself am dead, which is proved, not merely by judgment having had its course-but because that-judgment having been borne by Christ, who died for me, I must live outside of that which is dead, and in Him who is my life, and in whom I am a new creation; for " old things are passed away, behold all things are become new, and all things are of God." If I go back to that which is dead, I am returning to the things which have passed away. I am in that flesh which cannot please God; I am reviving that which is not only weak, but which lusteth against the Spirit of God and is not " of God." And still more, I have despised the truth that I am outside of the old creation, because made a new creation in Christ. " Old things," and the very best things connected with the flesh as flesh, have passed away.

Hence, if I go back to the flesh and walk in it, I am placed in a very different position from the transgressor before the death of Christ. Such an one had to relieve his conscience by an offering, which never purged the conscience, because " the worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sin." But he was not purged-even though by faith, his soul rose up to the mercy of God, as did an Abel, an Abraham, or a David; he was still in that being, which was held responsible to God; yet never able to stand before God as required, for by mercy only could man be preserved from the judgment which rested on him.

As to the law, so long as the law was kept, the judgment was staved off; but the moment he departed from the law, not only was he exposed to the judgment lying on man, but also to penalties attached to the breach of the law. Hence, under the law, the saint before the death of Christ sought to keep the law, in order to stave off the judgment under which he lay; and therefore the law was a great boon to him as living on the earth, for if he had kept it, it would have saved him for the time from the penalty resting on all men. Hence, the sense of a transgression was only felt or known when it was committed; for it was only after committal that the law declared the act as one of transgression; so that, though the law condemned evil, it did not prevent it, but condemned it when it noticed it, only to exact a penalty for the breach-of it.

Now, with the knowledge of a full sacrifice in Christ, there is, in the present day, an effort to appease the conscience for a transgression committed after believing, in the thought, that if the 'transgressions are put away, one is saved from the judgment after death; thus where the gospel of salvation is apprehended, the effort of the conscience on practical failure is to assure the heart of final salvation, while approving of its exercise, as to present forgiveness. But this gives no real rest or power. If I, as a responsible being, sin, I need an atoning sacrifice to free me from my sin; but if I return to that man which was once responsible, but now is dead because judged in the cross of Christ, and sin thereby, I find that the way for me into the presence of God is by the priest and not by a sacrifice. The Priest before God, in all the efficacy of the sacrifice, assures me of my acceptance before God. I confess my sins; repudiate them, as utterly abhorrent in me, because He suffered for me. I judge myself, and find my link before God, in the advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the source of, and link to, all blessing for me; and in Him only do I find my place of acceptance with God; and my place, as His child before Him. I do not seek to have a set-off for my transgressions in the repetition of the sacrifice: That set-off I have in; but it was by One who not only bore my sins in judgment, but in whom was crucified the old man, in and by which the sins were committed, so that I do not seek to relieve the old nature of a burden lying on it, but I now repudiate it, in all its working, as that which is already judged, which I ought not to touch, and which it is horrible to be connected with, because in the cross I see the gulf between my flesh and God. In the one case, I seek to obtain a righteous exemption for a fault committed, so that the failing thing might still remain; in the other, I acknowledge my sins, as that which I denounce, and as that in which I ought not to be. I have no standing to maintain in that which commits the sins; and hence I confess them not because the law, or any one else, condemns me; I condemn myself; I do not wait for exposure; I expose myself, because I now stand against myself, instead of for myself; and I am freed in my conscience through God's grace, according to the extent of my confession. If I have a standing to sustain, I wait until I am exposed, or found out; but now having none, I discover myself unto God, because I repudiate the flesh, and its works. I am the first to throw a stone at myself: my return to the flesh is darkness; and inconsistent with the place of light, in which I am set. I own my sin, and repudiate my apostasy, and my heart finds its assurance, and solace in doing this, because Jesus Christ holds all my interests in Himself, and is the Righteous One, and has been the propitiation for my sins, and for the whole world. Is there not then necessarily great practical effect, from seeing that I have not to recognize the standing of that which cannot please God; that I have no standing in the flesh, and that when I touch or tamper with it I am the first to expose and denounce myself as having returned to that which I have renounced? Surely there must be, for thus practically I begin to see' how all things are of God; and how, in order that all things should be of Him, everything of man, as to his first estate and condition, must have passed away. I then see, too, the force and necessity of the expression: "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, henceforth know we him no more." Nothing of the once order of the flesh remains. The flesh is an ended existence before Him, and the man now is of entirely another order: not an order in any way predicable, or to be determined or known by that which is judicially ended, but by the last Adam, the Lord from heaven. It is not that the first man has reached up to God, but the Son of God, who has taken flesh and blood and has borne the judgment in the first Adam, forms the new creature now, entirely in Himself and thus in the place and life in which He is Himself. It is not man exalted into heaven exactly; nor is it the Son of God come down to man. It is a new man, the Son made flesh, and ending in His death the man under judgment; but then rising out of the judgment, He is the beginning of a new race and order, which is no wise comprehensible to, or like, the first Adam as to nature, though like in bodily appearance, and as God made man in His own likeness and image. One word more in conclusion. If man, in his first standing is still the existing one before God, then God must require of him; and if he fails on another trial, then there. must be another sacrifice. The man must have been fully tried, and his total inability and depravity, under all trial proved and exposed. The truth is, that both have been done; there has been made full trial, and full exposure of his depravity; and the substitute has conic, and has ended in Himself through judgment, the standing of the first; old things have passed away, and there is no dealing with that man now from God, but with regard to the offer of mercy, which he now presents to him through Christ, risen out from among the dead. If old things have passed away, there ought to be no return to them; though the will of the flesh would ever seduce one into them; and this in every specious way. The humanizing of Christ, and the introduction of natural feelings into Christianity, allowing one's own feelings to influence one more than Christ's mind, are among the many devisings of the flesh to connect the soul with the old things passed away. If old things have not passed away, God cannot condemn man on the 'ground of refusing the light; He can condemn him for having been ever rebellious and self-willed; but if old things have passed away, God, on this ground, condemns man for not accepting the mercy which He freely and fully offers. Nay, " he that believeth not is condemned already;"

because he refuses to accept God's grace offered to him on clear ground-ground where there is nothing, no barrier, between him and God; nothing to bar his acceptance of it; no, nothing! The offer of mercy is on the very terms that every barrier, every old thing has passed away; and the condemnation necessarily is, not on account of disobedience, as in the day of the " old things;" but because man does not believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God. By that Son, God has cleared away all; and hence there is condemnation if I do not believe in Him who has effected-this wondrous work. Man adheres to the old things as if they were not put away, and refuses the Son of God, who now before God occupies the place of the old things, and hence the wrath of God abides on him. If old things have not passed away, we cannot say " Behold all things are become new."

Remarks on "Christianity and Modern Progress"

Allow me to draw your attention to a recent publication which professes to give grounds for harmonizing Christianity and modern progress. Such a production ought to produce pain and sorrow, and be dealt with in the spirit which such sorrow will, through grace, engender.

Still I feel, as it has been brought under my eye, that I ought not to pass it over.

No one, of course, is strictly responsible for it but the author; still as it is an address from the Chair of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, at its annual meeting, it acquires a weight which a mere individual discourse would not have. It shows the tone of the dissenting mind—what finds utterance from the lips of those whom it sets in its high places and in the chief seats of its teachers. It shows us to what point the dissenting body is come in the conflict now going on between faith and unbelief; how completely the high and holy ground of possession of the truth by divine revelation is abandoned, to look for tolerance from the infidel reason of man without God in the world. It is, in fact, a humble supplication to the infidel to be allowed to have share in the inheritance of truth—admitting they have it in their sphere, and craving the admission that the Christian has it in his.

The infidel reasoners are far enough from troubling their heads about the petitioners; as Dr. Raleigh admits, they turn up their noses with contempt at the evidences of Christianity. The air, he tells us, is weary with their repetitions of scorn at Christian creeds. But Dr. R. begs for quarter. If they have scientific facts, Christianity has historic facts.

No doubt it has facts far better proved than any other facts of history, as every sober mind admits. Science has no such facts really. What are called the facts of science are merely the general laws deduced from phenomena or appearances; many, of course, I admit, adequately proved; but which, when of importance to our subject, are not really facts. Nobody, unless some rare German, for I have known such, doubts of the astronomical system, demonstrated by the laws of a principle we call gravity. It is admitted because it accounts for the phenomena. I admit, if you please, as a fact, that the earth goes round the sun. Hence when these laws are known, calculations can be made, as to what will happen if all goes on as usual. In a word, appearances, accounted for by general laws, enable man's mind to draw mental consequences, that is, to calculate the ordinary succession of phenomena.

In natural science, facts have another place. They are observed in their present existence, and what is observed, and that only, is a fact. These facts are then generalized. Not into laws, such as the law of gravity, but into general principles of causes, or rather similarity and successions of forms. Be it that all animal being is reduced to cellular atoms. I have nothing against it. I leave science in possession of its facts, and the gradual development of theories connected with them. The uniformity of succession of facts may be adequately ascertained. Harvey may find that nothing had living being which was not previously in an egg, and sufficient instances may be found in various forms of being to justify a general conclusion. It may or may not be adequately investigated to justify the conclusion that the fact is universal. In these cases I dare say it is. Still the conclusion is not a fact. It is sufficient to make a science, for classification, and for man to act on and to learn by.

So geology, though facts are much less accurately ascertained, still we may say a general succession of formations in a certain order is pretty well ascertained. Sufficiently so to classify, though with defects and difficulties, and to form a science. Now no Christian has the slightest interest in combating these facts, nor, if done honestly and simply, scientific generalizations from them. But man's conclusions are not facts. Sir C. Lye11 finds a skull or some evidence of human existence, in the delta of the Mississippi, begins to calculate the silth deposited by the river, and says man must have lived 100,000 years. That I read in his second edition. I gave that away and got afterward the third, and here he admits he was wrongly informed as to the data, and it must have been 50,000 years. Now, when I find such leaps as this, to say nothing of other questions, can I speak of facts? The fact is, there was a skull in the delta. All the rest is calculation or supposition.

We get some human remains in the Floridas. It must have taken 10,000 years for the coral insects to make the coral. But all this assumes depth of water, rate of increase of the growth of coral, which are not facts; the only fact is that some human remains are in Florida. The case of cutting through what the Tine torrent has brought down has been insisted upon—Roman remains, bronze remains, and then those of the stone period, and then a skull: one thus thousands of years old. I was assured by a member of the Antiquarian Society, referred to in the account, that they all thought this a mistake, and that the skull was clearly stained with bronze on one side. Now I am not a geologist like Sir C. L., but when we have got the facts, others are, or may be, as competent to reason. We have to remember that "is" represents a fact; "must be" always man's reasoning: a very different thing from facts. It is a fact that there is a layer of sandstone of many feet thickness. It is a reasoning, not a fact, that it must have taken 20,000 years to have formed it. When I come to reasoning, and to probable calculations, and probable causes, I come to the uncertainty of man's reasonings, and to speculation as to how things came about, in which a thousand possibilities come in to make the "must be" uncertain. My experience of scientific investigation of causes and calculations has led me to conclude that they are extremely uncertain, and little to be relied on. Astronomy, being a question of mathematical calculation for the most part, is, of course, not liable to the same uncertainty. In general we may say, Science is not a system of facts, but of conclusions from phenomena; and conclusions, however interesting and often adequately proved for common life, are never facts.

But on what different ground matters stand, as Dr. R. puts it, is soon seen when the real question is stated.

Those who take this suppliant ground with the infidel, admit that if the man of science has his facts, all must give way. "When so proved," he tells us, " we have but one thing to do—accept it." "No matter what

they may seem to involve or bring after them. No matter what cosmogonies, ethnologies, chronologies, the facts may seem to favor or frown upon." Now I am perfectly assured that God's work and God's Word cannot contradict each other. But that is not the real question here, but the means of certainty of knowledge, our knowledge. And Dr. R. says: "if they are facts, professed and declared such by the whole scientific world," etc. Now turn the case. Scripture affirms, plainly and positively, something, in the clearest way, as a fact. It upsets the theory of the scientific world. Will Dr. R. say: Well, if Scripture professes and declares it, it is to be accepted, no matter what scientific conclusion it favors or frowns on? If not he has accepted the authority of science as a means of certain knowledge, and rejected the title of Revelation to be such. It is a question of authority, and certainty of knowledge.

I admit science is not the object of Scripture in any way. Of course it is not. It deals with the relationships of man with God. Material facts are before men, and left to men. Scripture speaks on ordinary subjects the ordinary language of men, that man may understand it. It says the sun rises: it does not speak of the sun's rays being, by the revolution of the earth, a tangent at the point forming the horizon to the eye of the spectator. But there are cases where scientific conclusions, not facts, come across the domain of Scripture: say, such as the unity of the human race, involving the race in the ruin and effects of the guilt of the first parents of that race,—cases, consequently, where it is a question of means of certainty.

Which am I to trust, man or God? Thus: there are blacks; that is a fact. Many of these new philosophers conclude that there were originally more than one race. That is a conclusion, not a fact. I read, " by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned;" and that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Now I am not discussing here the point in itself of races of men, but what authority is the Word of God to have? Which am I- to trust; man's conclusions; or the statement- of Scripture, because it is a revelation?

I find men differing. Mr. Agassiz may tell me, he is a naturalist, that it is not Darwinian development, that that is utterly unfounded, but that there are many races and that the types of animal forms are different in different quarters of the globe, and that man in each partakes of this typical and characteristic form. Dr. Darwin and followers may insist that the gorilla of Africa, of one quarter of the globe, is the original type of the whole human race everywhere, his own ancestors, as the gorilla is the development of some less perfect form still, and that a stupid penguin may, in a sufficient number of ages, be formed into a clever man by natural selection, let alone gorillas. The ethnologist assures me that negro faces are found in Egyptian monuments in the times of the Osirtasens and Rameses in the earliest records we have of man, and that there must be two races.

Pictet, by accurate investigations of Zend and Sanscrit, assures me that no data of pre-historic man goes beyond some 3,000 years before Christ, as a limit. Now the only fact in all this is that there are figures of negroes on Egyptian monuments, and, if you please, different kinds of pigeons. The causes of which difference of typical form no one has yet adequately explained. But scientific facts, Dr. R. tells us, we are to accept, no matter what cosmogonies or ethnologies they seem to favor or frown on. If they set aside Moses' account, so much the worse for Moses, or Paul's declarations, so much the worse for his ignorance. " It is just as certain (Dr. R. tells us) that there are errors and mistakes in the Bible, considered as a human book ... . as it is certain that fallible men wrote the several parts of it, distinguished and selected them one by one from other contemporary writings," etc.

Now I will give all credit to Dr. R. possible. The gap I have left out contains this salvo... "which, however, do not affect the substance of its inspiration, or impair the certainty we have of the complete communication of the divine meaning in it. "What is the substance of its inspiration? Who is to put the limits? For instance, is the unity of the human race involving all in sin? The real question is that of the authority when Scripture has spoken.

Critical examination of copies or translations are the careful ascertainment of what is Scripture; the oracles of God having been committed to man, though secured to us by God in grace and providential care. The authority of what is ascertained to be so, is another question. As to this, we have Dr. R.'s assertion: "It is just as certain that there are errors and mistakes in the Bible, as it is certain that fallible men wrote the several parts of it." What then is inspiration? What the authority of the Scriptures? We find in the word that in the perilous days of the last times we are referred to the Scriptures, and it is declared that every Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that what the apostle taught, having received it by revelation, he communicated it, not by words which man's wisdom taught, but which the Holy Ghost taught (1 Cor. 2). And Peter: holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I need not recall how the Lord Himself puts His seal on the authority of the Scriptures, and uses them as of divine authority against Satan, and in reference to Himself. The facts of Christianity, Dr. R. tells us, are adequately proved history, and that is sufficient.

Proved by what? "They stand on the highest ground of historic credibility." No doubt they do, so as to prove the folly of infidels. But what has that to do with the authority of the Word of God: our one security, according to the apostle, in the last days? But still if all rests on historic credibility, there may be mistakes. Where is the authority of the Word? "But here is our case (says Dr. R.), that out of this book, as history, and out of other books as histories contemporary and subsequent, there arise up to our view, first dimly in type and shadow, then clearly in personal life, the great facts which stand at the heart of Christianity," etc. Now here the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, I suppose, and other books, are heaped together to prove facts historically. One book may be more exact than another; they are all histories written by fallible men. And all this is to curry favor with, to get a little allowance from, those who care not for them, and will not have, save as an historical document, such as others are for ethnology, their book; nor their Christianity at all at any price.

What shall we say to such pandering to infidelity. "For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes, they were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor a profit, but a shame also and a reproach." If the Church rests on the authority of God and of His Word, they have a place which that authority will sanction and give honor to. He that believeth not, hath made God a liar. He that is of God heareth us. If they relinquish this to try and put themselves on a level with men, and try and drag in Christianity after them, they have lost all their vantage ground, Divine authority over the heart and conscience; and the infidel, to use an oriental expression, will make them eat dirt, and won't be bothered with their Christianity. And this is the ground leading dissenters have now taken. This is what it is important to notice in what is passing around us. They are giving up the only solid ground of truth. We must know now-a-days who is to be trusted. Christians must be Christ's, and on the ground He has laid for it in the revelation He has given. God's Word must have authority over men, or it is not His Word, and it, and they who should have wielded it as the sword of the Spirit, have lost their place and title and true greatness.

And now, see what a singular and strange blindness this treachery to the authority of God's Word., this pandering to infidels, brings in; It is perfectly incredible that an intelligent man should have fallen into such utter darkness, if it were not that unfaithfulness to God ever brings in blindness, and confusion in man. Men, Dr. R. tells us, were to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. Man was made," he tells us, "for this world" (the Italics are his), "as, we may say, an earthly man in the higher sense—reproductive, progressive through the ages, industrial, scientific, artistic, conquering, lordly." Is this Adam in Paradise, or out of it? How wholly is the fall ignored here! But, to pursue. "But this is not all: the first chapters of Genesis are full of art and science. Poetry, music, metal working, husbandry, architecture; a whole city is built almost before Eden had time to wither. So far is it from being true that natural knowledge is the natural enemy of revealed religion, we see them here in their cradle, and they are twin sisters." Who would have thought that all here referred to sprung up under the hand of Cain and his family, after he had killed Abel, the accepted one of God and because he was so, and when God had driven him out from his presence because he had thus filled up the measure of sin, and had chased him as a vagabond (Nod) from before his face, from which Cain declares he was now hid, and that Cain had now built the city and embellished it, invented the music and the metal working, to get on as happily as he could without God, and that the result of all was the flood. "This they willingly are ignorant of," even how the World that then was perished—the result of the mixture of the sons of God with the daughters of men.

Let us see the account from which the statement is drawn:—"And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah." (Gen. 4:11-22.)

And then Abel and Cain and his city of progress are twin sisters in the same cradle. Is it possible to conceive a greater degree of infatuation than that to which this pitiable servility to infidelity has reduced the writer of the address! Cain, driven out from the presence of the Lord, hid from His face, a mark set on him by God, establishing a city where God had made him a vagabond, and embellishing it with arts and sciences to make it pleasant without God—for God he certainly had not—and which ended in result in the judgment of God in the flood: this is our pattern, this is the twin sister whose embraces we are to court. We are to learn by it, we are told, that there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. Is it possible for infatuation to be more complete? But such is the ground taken by dissent now. And while reading that the friendship of the world is enmity against God, pandering to the world, that the world may, in some small degree, admit it to its company, and its career of progress.

And what is the grand point of agreement? "The need is just this—that each party (if we may speak of parties in the matter) shall accept frankly the facts which are universally accepted by the other."Can anything be more absurd? Why, as to facts, am I to accept all that are accepted by another party? Why are infidels to trust the facts the Christian party accepts? It is merely trusting the competent investigation of the party, they would say their prejudices, a book or fifty books full of errors and mistakes, according to Dr. R. Why should I accept the facts other people accept, without knowing their infallibility or competency as conclusive, or investigating for myself? I take facts on adequate testimony not on other people's accepting them. Nothing can be more absurd. A treaty of peace with those who reject the truth of God on such ground as this; because, indeed, my party believes it, they are to do so too, and I to be bound by their facts as they choose to state them. And where is God in all this, where a revelation? Where a word sharper than any two-edged sword? Men's opinions, for the acceptance of facts is only that, are to be trusted, and trusted on both sides without examination, by an agreement between Christians and infidels; and that is to be the ground of faith and common progress: a ground impossible, I do not say to a Christian, who would be abhorrent from the whole scheme, but to an honest man. But my object is not now to discuss the scheme, which seems to me the shallowest thing imaginable, and base in its servile pandering to infidel men of science; but in these days, when everyone sees that all is breaking up (and dissenters know it as well as anybody else, and this discourse is the proof of it, and the betrayal of their fears), we need to know what we can trust, and whom; and while I doubt not there are many beloved brethren amongst dissenters, saints who believe in and trust the Word of God as I do myself, such a testimony from such a place is a witness and a proof that we cannot trust for a moment the ground on which dissenters have placed themselves, nor the dissenting body as standing on the sure ground of divine truth. I urge, and such statements should only press upon the soul the need of doing so, every humble soul to hold fast the Word of God and its authority, its divine authority.

We all know translations are man's work, and of course in a measure partake of his imperfection. All may know from the Word of God that the oracles of God were committed to men to keep. But they are prophetic, or inspired writings which were so. Their authority is a matter of faith. And though man's failure in faithfulness may affect details, as in the work of his own salvation, they are given, according to the wisdom and will of God to be His Word, and are their own evidence, as the sun in the firmament. Man may, in one sense, labor for his own salvation; he may diligently seek to have the Word of God pure; but the soul taught of God knows God has given both, and will have both owned as His, and appreciated as His. It is God's will that man should use diligence thus; but the humble soul taught of God knows on whom it leans with confidence, and from whom it has alike received eternal life, and the Word by which it has been engendered in him. He may make mistakes in his path, in his interpretation of the Word, but he is; for all that, led and guided of God in both, and attributes his mistakes to man in both, and faithfulness and truth to God. He says: "Let God be true, and every man a liar," and he knows God has not left him in darkness, but that God has given him a revelation from Himself, a revelation of grace and truth come by Jesus Christ; and of all His preliminary dealings, so important to the full understanding of that, and that the Scriptures are able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, able to make the man of God perfect, and that the entering of God's Word gives light and understanding to the simple. The Christian is one who, by divine teaching, knows the truth, and authority, and power of the divine Word. He accepts it in the largeness and fullness in which it is given, thankful if learned enquirers, as hewers of wood and drawers of water, can give it to him as free from all human imperfections as possible, labor that no earthly particles of mud be in the water, but the water he knows to be water, he drinks it and lives.

J. N. D.

END OF VOL. I.-NEW SERIES.

Remarks on the Church and the World: Part 1

AND is it really come to this? All the boasted attractions of the English Liturgy, its adaptation to all wants, the ease with which it can be followed-(as contrasted with extempore prayer),-is found to be an unintelligible farrago for the masses, impossible for an uneducated. mind to follow.

(* 1866. Third Edition. London Longman and Co.)

The Roman Catholics (where the writer of this paper has known them well), manage the matter better. The service is histrionic, no doubt. But it is in Latin, and the worshipper has nothing to follow. But he is furnished with prayers for himself in his own tongue, which he can say while the priest is saying his, and which are not what the priest is saying at all; a curious form of public worship,, indeed, but the priestly distinction is fully carried out. But, taking the English Liturgy as it is, what is the remedy? A worship in spirit and in truth, such as the Lord God requires from spiritual worshippers, such as the Father seeks? Nothing of the kind. That must besought for, if we believe the Tractarians, neither at Rome nor Canterbury,-neither at this Mountain nor at Jerusalem. Spiritual worship is not sought, nor the object desired. In that they would have to do with God; that is not their object; they seek influence over the masses for themselves, to regain numbers, the many who have slipped away from their influence; and if the end do not justify the means, the means betray the end. Worship is to be histrionic, they tell us; that is, the acting of a play so as to attract the imagination by theatrical spectacles, and secure an unintelligent crowd, pleased with what is acted before them. Let it not be for a moment supposed that this is a harsh accusation. It is their own statement (p. 37).

"Hence a lesson may be learned, by all who are not too proud to learn from the stage. For it is an axiom in liturgiology, that no public worship is really deserving of its name, unless it be histrionic."

Can Christians who know what spiritual worship is believe this?

"To adopt another principle, whether it be that of sermon hearing or meditation, may be salutary enough in its proper time and place, but it is not worship, with which alone ritualism has to do."

Surely neither sermons nor meditation is worship; but neither is histrionic ritualism. The writer only proves that what is worship has never entered into his mind;- but to proceed. The writer then speaks of gin palaces (p. 39)-" so widely and so universally popular amongst the London poor "-these, he urges, are lighted, ornamented, etc., but-

"Many landlords have found even all this insufficient, without the additional attraction of music; and the low singing-hall is sure to indicate the most thriving drinking-shops in the worst quarters of the metropolis. If, then, painting, light, and music are found necessary adjuncts to a trade which has already enlisted on- its side one of the strongest of human passions, it is the merest besotted folly to reject their assistance, when endeavoring to persuade men to accept and voluntarily seek an article for which they have never learned to care, even if they are not actively hostile to it-to wit religion."

"`The fact is seized on by secular bodies, whose aim is to gather as many members as possible from the lower orders. Societies like the Odd Fellows and the Foresters " have found this, " and consequently elaborate processions, with badges, music, and banners, are found needful appliances for attracting numbers; and keeping them together," etc.

" The Tractarians alone, of all the schools in the Church of England, have recognized this truth, and appraised it at its true value," p. 40.

Is it possible! Is it possible to conceive anything more degraded, or more degrading, or more contrary to Christianity? In true Christianity we see the power of the divine word, through the Holy Ghost, bringing light and grace into the soul, revealing God to the heart and conscience, and so leading men through redemption to worship God in spirit and in truth, knowing the grace of the Father which has sought such to worship Him. Instead of this unutterably blessed and holy worship, fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the aim of the Tractarian is to substitute what one is ashamed to mention in the same sentence, the attractions of a gin palace, and the singing halls of the worst parts of London, the processions and banners of the Odd Fellows and Foresters, to win the masses by pleasing their tastes as they are. They have told their Own tale. The persons they attract to worship, mark it well, not to Christ as a Savior or to salvation, are persons who do not care for-or who hate religion, and they are to be won, not to God or to eternal life, but to outward worship, by that which attracts the fleshly nature, as it would to a gin palace or a society of Odd Fellows! It is not the degradation of the thought in connection with such a subject which (offensive as it is) most strikes one here, but the evidence of the total absence of divine life, spirituality, or thought of spirituality, in those who can take such views. The masses are to be drawn by attractions like those of a gin palace, to see a histrionic spectacle; and that is worship! But we must not therefore suppose that there is not a diligent, and, for its own purposes, efficient system at work. By all human means-means calculated to act on men's wants and natural feelings, and the influences of priest-craft, which are very great-they would exercise universal influence. They would have their agents nurses at all hospitals; guilds of females, made respectable and religious by the patronage of " Sisters," to keep them from mischief in manufacturing towns; confraternities in parishes to get amongst men whom the parochial ministers cannot reach, deferring to influential classes, who might resist such as physicians, but getting their ear so as to be their instruments and carry on their own purposes, and carefully excluding, only one thing, from getting access, as to all they can -the truth of God. The clergy and upper classes need some means to hold the poor under their influence. But the clergy must have the lead, as is natural if of God, yet by service to the poor, by which they may be gained, but the effect is priestly power. If it be a work of Satan (and likening worship to a gin palace and to the processions of the Odd. Fellows is certainly not of God), we must not fancy that Satan does not know what suits and acts on human nature; He knows it well. He cannot stem the power of God, nor love the truth, nor give true spirituality or holiness; but he can, where these safeguards are not, gain human nature and take the form of godliness, and change himself into an angel of light, and thus gain masses of men, and, in this form still more, women; and that is what they want. Of the truth, or the power of the truth, they know nothing, and care nothing. Priestly influence is the object. Take a statement from another paper in the same volume, in which there are many truths, as to the effect of various practices, and whose tone is not so offensive as the one I have quoted above, as that from which my first quotation was taken. There I read:-

," And, it must not be forgotten, that the godless in a parish have to be brought to the consciousness of the existence of a. God, a Heaven, a Hell, and the value of their immortal souls, before they come to Church. Their consciences must first be roused, and then they may be brought to the parish Church to learn the details of their duty to God and their duty to man." (p. 96).

Now is it not a very striking thing that in the case of a godless man, who has to learn the existence of a God, a Heaven, a Hell, and the value of his immortal soul, it never occurs to the writer to think of salvation, or a Savior, of Christ or the truth. Yet so it is. Let it riot be said: But it is assumed he will hear of it at Church.'. No; there he is to learn the details of his duty to God and his duty to man. He will find histrionic spectacles to engage his imagination, but he is not to learn salvation or a Savior; and in truth, with such teachers, he never will. But is not such a statement a striking display of the system? " Thy speech bewrayeth thee." One paper brings him to a theatrical display, the other to learn his duty; neither to God. What a contrast is apostolic simplicity. " Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." But let it be noted, this display is not to win to hear the truth, no catching with guile, as people have falsely applied the text, nor even what Dissenters and Presbyterians do, or are anxious to do, viz., have organs and good singing to attract, and then present Christ, (itself an unholy and evil practice, and savoring of priestcraft), but they are to be attracted thus to worship. It is the worship which is histrionic-to the worship they are to be brought.

Now, I will speak seriously of worship, and Tractarian worship by-and-bye. There are a great many points in which, as to form, though not as to substance, the Tractarians are right, just as Romanists have kept up the name of the unity of the Church. Worship is that for which Christians should meet, and, I add, the Lord's Supper is the center of worship. But to bring persons who do not care for religion or are hostile to it, to worship by histrionic displays, could never have entered into the mind of any but a Tractarian; nor have been invented but by priestcraft and the seekers of priestly power. It is not Christianity. That, and we have the authority of the divine founder of it for saying so, looks for worship in spirit and in truth, and reveals the grace in which the Father seeks such to worship Him. IT IS NOT CHRISTIANITY. Christianity is the activity of God's love towards sinners, and the joying in and worship of God by those who have been reconciled to Him, with all the fruits which flow from it through the presence of the Spirit, and the display of the life of Christ which is imparted by it, wrought, all of it, by the Spirit of God, and the fruit of the accomplishment of redemption, eternal redemption, by Christ. If it is not Christianity, what is-it?

Nor is this insensibility to divine truth or divine objects shown in a casual passage, treating of some collateral subject, or in view of some particular difficulty. There is no other thought presented to us. It is generally known that clergy and laity of all classes hired several of the lower class of theaters to preach in, with the hope of reaching the masses who never go anywhere, and they were successful. The means may have been desirable or not. It is not needful to decide that question here. Speaking of the Liturgy, our Tractarians say (p. 41):-

" There is nothing to impress the eye, nothing to quicken the attention, nothing to make the breath come short, or the pulse beat quicker."...... " It is all very sedate, very decorous, very good, no doubt, for those who like it; but it is not in the very least degree missionary." -

One hardly is aware how worship in itself can be properly so, but (p. 42):-

" The evangelical school has practically admitted this truth by its adoption of theater-preachings, thereby confessing, on the one hand, that it is hopeless of making the Church service attractive to outsiders, and on the other that some fillip of excitement in the way of novelty is needful as a lure."

A lure! Is that the object of worship, that which the Spirit of God can propose to itself in prayer and adoration? and a lure to what? That the zeal which sought the outcasts of London in their own haunts, and

found a response because these outcasts were cared for, may have been mixed with excitement and the attraction of novelty, is possible. But they were allured to God, at least, to salvation, not to " our Church," even if it were Anglican or Catholic. A vast number of preachers, even not ordained by man, and if they were, nobody knew to what denomination they belonged, and a service in a theater was not, and could not be to win them to go there or to belong to any body of Christians. This is evident, be it an evil or a good. It was to win their souls to God, but of that, while declaring that people do not know the existence of a God, nor the value of a soul, a genuine Tractarian has no idea. It does not enter his mind. He can only see a plan to win partisans by novelty and excitements. Again:-

" The Prayer Book, with its somewhat antique phraseology and high spiritual level, is, to the mass of uneducated worshippers, like the score of a piece of music, simply unintelligible. Put the score into the hands of a band of musicians for execution, and all will benefit from the harmony. So, too, let the dramatic aspect of Common Prayer be manifested, and every one can join, however uninstructed." (p. 42).

Join in what?

I close this part of my remarks with one more quotation, leaving the historical part for further consideration.

"Take two Street Arabs, perfectly ignorant of Christianity. Read to one of them the Gospel narrative of the Passion, and comment on it as fully as may be. Show the other a crucifix, and tell him simply what it means. Question each a week afterward, and see which has the clearest notions about the history of Calvary." (p. 50).

Now, to say nothing of the utter Pelagianism of this, the total leaving out of preventive grace, as is the case indeed in the whole of the statements furnished by this article, and, to speak only of means used, I ask what is declared by the Lord and his apostles to be the means of quickening, saving, edifying? Is it the word of truth, or pictures and crucifixes? Let not the objector talk to me of sacraments; they are not in question here. In the alternative put by the writer, he has chosen what God has not chosen;-and God has chosen (what he condemns) the word written and the word ministered by men. But still, though this article be low and degraded, the same fundamental principles characterize it which are insisted on in others.

"The constant appeal to antiquity, the tenets of the dignity of the human body, and of the superiority of prayer over preaching, the appreciation of symbolism, the magnifying the Sacraments as spiritual agents, could not otherwise be practically brought within the observation of the mass of Christians, which has neither taste nor leisure for abstruse research, and this is one of the reasons why, as has been said before in this paper, simplicity, that is, bareness and poverty in the externals of worship, is unsuited for a national, much less for a universal religion." (p. 36).

Gathering for worship by a dramatic display which magnifies the Sacraments (and it is carried even to the adoration of the Eucharist), so as to gather the whole nation or be even universal in its effect, such is the system. But it must be added:-all are not supposed to be communicants; there are to be "non-communicating attendance," or better " non-communicants," to be put indeed out of the choir, but stay in the nave and look on (pp. 500-503); so that in this center of Christian worship (for such the Lord's Supper is, as far as rites go), which ought to be accompanied with the holiest Christian affections, we are to find a drama enacted within the rails, to win by stage effects; and spectators without, kept there by what is now intelligible to all, but not taking any part in it.

Such is Tractarianism-not worship by saints, but religion for the nation, to keep them together! How totally contrary this is to antiquity, it is not needful for one who is the least acquainted with it to say. The word " mass " is simply the corruption of the words " lte, missa est," by which all who did not communicate were sent away. Primitive antiquity had not such a thought as missionary dramas in worship. It did magnify the holy mysteries, as they were called, but it did so by removing all who were not about to communicate. To insist on the. word "mass," as is done by these Tractarians, and provide for a non-communicating attendance, is imposing on the ignorance or inattention of the reader.

Remarks on the Church and the World: Part 2

In my present review I have to do with a more serious paper, written in a more earnest and serious tone, treating upon subjects of the deepest interest, detecting the false points in current evangelical views, and opposing to them forms of truth drawn from the word, but appropriating the value of these truths to that which is wholly unscriptural and even antichristian in its nature, so as to give, if received, the force of these truths to that which is itself, such. Now when truth is used to detect error, and the defects of the erroneous scheme are seen by it, the human mind is apt to believe that what is associated by the detector of the error with these truths is part; of the truth, and thus dangerous error is often introduced by the force of the truth.

It was thus with Irvingism. The Church had lost the doctrines of the coming of the Lord and the presence of the. Holy Ghost in the Church, and the enemy used these truths to introduce deadly error. So it is with the Tractarians. On nearly every point on which they attack the Dissenters and Evangelicals they can produce Scripture to prove their defects; but they use this only to accredit more deadly error still, and to sanction views and practices which subvert Christianity. I will quote their statements as to Dissenters and Evangelicals:

" The theory of the latter requires a disbelief in the doctrine of the visible church; that is, in a divinely instituted Body and an equally divinely-appointed government of the visible Body; it requires a denial of the fact that our Lord appointed a Priesthood in His Church, whose office is to celebrate those mysteries' which are the means and channels of grace and communion between CHRIST and His body. Nay it denies that the Body itself is a visible community or kingdom, separated from the rest of mankind by the partaking of, or communicating in, these Sacraments. On the contrary, the notion seems to be that the Church is not strictly a Body, but an aggregation of individuals who hold a certain theological or philosophical system, gathered out of the Holy Scriptures; that certain truths are revealed in the Scriptures, which truths were systematized by certain learned men in the sixteenth century; and that a belief in these truths constitutes the membership with CHRIST, irrespective of the visible Body and the Sacraments. This is the objective aspect.

Besides this, there is the subjective aspect: a certain consciousness of personal interest in these truths, and a sense of general unworthiness, and a further sense of the removal of that unworthiness, in the belief and apprehension of these truths-the whole matter of salvation being a personal one, between the individual and CHRIST the Savior; and that for purposes of mutual edification and advantage, it is expedient that individuals should unite into distinct bodies or communities, appoint their own teachers, frame their own terms of communion, and administer their own ordinances. Admitting for the most part-not universally-the divine authority of the two greater Sacraments, a form of Baptism is used, and a form of Communion in bread and wine; but these are not really Sacramental in the sense that the Church holds them, as means of grace to the recipients; but rather as seals and pledges of grace already given, outward signs of GOD'S SPIRIT already bestowed, on the part of GOD; and signs of faith in His promises, or rather the fulfillment of His promises, on the part of the recipient " (Pp. 183, 184).

The writer avows he, is " not speaking of the formularies of the different Protestant sects " (p. 184), but " of the views of Protestants at the present time." He is wise; he would have to speak of himself and his own church; nor would it be true in some important statements, and further he takes no notice of national Churches formed by the Magistrate, of which his is one, although he may urge its having in a great measure escaped the hand of the spoiler: " the least deformed because reformed the least." Still, as describing the present state of Protestants, Dissenters and those associated with them in their general views, it is in the main just as to the principal charges. I continue my citation that we may fully have the views of the essayist:

"We repeat, then, that the idea held by Protestants of the present day really amounts to this-That there is no such thing as a visible Church; but there is in the world a body of elect members, known to God only, who shall finally be saved; and that these, and these only, form the. Church of Christ; that the union with CHRIST consists chiefly, if not wholly, in holding certain doctrines of Justification by faith alone in the Atonement of CHRIST, together with a belief in God's promises as set forth in Scripture: and that, consequently, the whole matter is a private and personal one between each individual and CHRIST, quite independent of the belonging to the visible Church, or any sect. In accordance with this, we hear everywhere proclaimed the doctrine of a Universal Priesthood-every man is his own priest, and, in some sects, every woman her own priestess-but that it tends to good order and mutual advantage that individuals thinking alike should unite in some one community or another, choose their own teachers, and frame rules for general government and conduct; that the gifts of grace are not attached to any outward form or ordinance, excepting perhaps that of preaching, but that they are a private concern between Go]) and the individual; that the highest form in which grace manifests itself, is in the knowledge of Scripture and of Protestant doctrine, and especially in the power of preaching.

"In direct opposition to this, is the idea of the Catholic Church, the leading features of which may be stated in the following propositions:-First, that it is a spiritual system, not an intellectual one; a system whose purpose is a re-union of man with GOD, through the incarnation of the Second Person of the HOLY TRINITY. That this union is not effected by merely believing in a certain system of theology, or in the Revelation of GOD in the Bible; but, being essentially spiritual, only effected through those means by which spiritual gifts are conveyed to man. That those means are the Sacraments, which may be termed "extensions of the Incarnation," or means whereby the benefits of the Incarnation are applied to man. That such a union is, in most cases, and at first, independent and irrespective of any exercise of the intellect on the part of the person brought into union, but is by means of the gift of GOD in CHRIST'S own appointed way-Holy Baptism. That that Sacrament is the means of conferring on the recipient a new and spiritual life, similar and parallel to the natural life into which every infant enters at birth: so that it is called regeneration, or the new birth: and that one great effect of the Church is to feed, support, educate, this spiritual life till it comes to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ.' That the Church is the body of persons possessing this life, and consequently wholly distinct from the world' without; it is, therefore, a visible body with an invisible life, and that the means of support for this invisible life is invisible grace conveyed through visible forms or signs, instituted and appointed of Christ for that purpose. That the whole being of the Church rests on the Incarnation, or rather, to speak properly, on the SON of GOD become man. CHRIST is the Head of the Body, the Church' (Col. 1:18). That in order to the extension and communication of this spiritual life and grace, our Divine Lord appointed a ministry in His Church, whose office is to administer the means of grace to its members; so that it is His work, though done by the hands of His ministers and ambassadors: consequently, no one can take this office on himself without a direct commission from CHRIST. That He appointed His disciples, in the first place, to be Apostles, with a power to transmit their commission to others, as the need of the Body required; and that without this commission no acts are valid, and no ordinances have any assurance of grace attached to them. That the Episcopate and Priesthood is not only a form of Church government most nearly after the model of Scripture; but it is the one only of divine appointment in the Body, the one only which has the promise of grace attached to it, the one only which has the stamp of the divine commission" (Pp. 184-186).

The Protestant assertion that ministers are mere delegates of and therefore are elected and commissioned by the congregation, at once completely overturns the whole constitution of the Church, reverses the divine order, and substitutes human authority for that of CHRIST."... " The Body is dependent on the ministry, and the ministry is ordained for the Body, mutual fellowship and communion being requisite for growth in grace. Thus the Catholic idea is, that union and communion with the Church is absolutely necessary for union and communion with CHRIST; and that persons are received into communion with the Church in order to union with CHRIST; and, further, that this communion is effected by a communication of a spiritual gift, an actual bestowal of the grace of GOD to the person 'through this ministration of the Church's ordinances; that thus communion with the Church implies and connotes union with CHRIST, as well as supplies the means of such union (p.187).

"On the other hand, the Protestant theory reverses this making an intellectual process called Faith, and a mental conviction. called apprehension of CHRIST by faith, to be the means -not the condition, but the means -of effecting this union with CHRIST; it puts out of sight the fact that a special gift of the Spirit is necessary to create a union; or, perhaps, we shall describe the theory more correctly if we say, that it supposes grace to be an intellectual process going on in the mind, whereby a certain effect called Faith is produced; and that the production of this mental effect accomplishes the union between the individual and CHRIST; that any communion with fellow Christians is subsequent to this, not necessary in itself, but productive of good to the individual in a secondary and inferior way. Thus, according to this theory, the existence of the Church is in no way necessary. It may be believed in as an abstract proposition. but its existence, and communion with it, are quite immaterial" (p.187).

The writer refers to Eph. 4:4,5,6, and adds (p.187):

" A unity of faith and a unity of constitution are predicated here, both of which are essential to the idea of the oneness of the body. The former is defined in the Creeds and the decrees of the Six General Councils; the latter is found in the universal practice of the one Body. We shall not attempt to prove either of these from Holy Scripture; for we must bear in mind, that both the faith of the Church and her visible constitution were complete and in full force before a single word of the New Testament Scriptures was written."

Now there are very grave questions here. The assumptions are without end, and I shall notice them before I close, but the questions meantime are to be met seriously; but I beg my reader to mark the confession that the system is not found in Scripture. There are, they say, allusions to it. But such a confession, when the Word of God assures us that in the last days perilous times shall come, in which there will be a form of godliness with the denial of its power, referring to the Scriptures as the safeguard in them and to nothing else; but those from whom Timothy had learned, had personally learned, the truths he held, that is, Paul himself, to which we may add the other inspired witnesses whose teaching, so

as to know from whom we have learner' them, we have now only in the Scriptures-such a confession is of all importance. But, further, the Scripture, if it does not teach these doctrines, may contradict and condemn them. All this must be seen into. But they tell us the creeds and the six general councils have defined the faith. With what authority? why the six? Are there no more than six? why am I to believe six? Anglican authority speaks of four-why six? Romanists, though it be a sore subject with them for many reasons, and they declare some are to be said " to be and not to be" a council, as Pisa and Basel, yet they make some nineteen. The Anglican articles say they are not infallible and have erred. How can I trust to them as defining faith? And as to the creeds, the Nicene creed which we have now, contains an article-and an article which has divided the Greek, or most ancient Church system, and the Roman- which was not in the ancient creed, and which, was inserted contrary to the express decree of one of these councils and the decision of a very illustrious Pope, who put up the creed without it on silver plates in a Church at Rome that it might not be added; it was introduced by a small Spanish council, insisted on by Charlemagne; sanctioned by a council of three hundred prelates at Frankfort, who also condemned image-worship which had been sanctioned by what the Romanists hold for the seventh general council at Nice; and if we are to believe modern Anglican Catholics, an article forced upon the Pope against his better judgment, and authority, and certainly in spite of the prohibition of a general council and the Pope of the day. And this article is not on some immaterial point, but nothing less than the procession of the Holy Ghost, the third person in the Trinity, and the nature of His relationship with the Father and the Son. The Greeks hold procession from the Son to be error (nor do they nor the Anglicans believe in purgatory with the Romanists); the Anglicans and Romanists believe it to be truth, and recite it in the creed as essential truth. One of these general councils forbad any addition to the creed which did not contain it, and the Pope forbad insertion of this particular clause. What can we say of the certainly defined faith?

But further, " the universal practice of the one body" is the authority for the unity of the constitution. To say that one spirit and one body proves the unity of the constitution of the body and its form on earth, is rather violent; but this we may take up on its own merits further on. Only if this be a strict definition of the unity, it certainly defines nothing as to any constitution on earth, nor even alludes to it. They did well not to attempt to prove it from Holy Scripture, but then why say it defines it strictly? If it did, being Scripture it would prove it clearly; but it says nothing about any constitution, about the only point to be proved-a visibly constituted form on earth displayed in an episcopate and priesthood. But, in point of fact, about one-third of the universal professing Church has not this form, say a quarter of it; universal practice does not prove it now.

It will be said, "But they have separated from the unity as they have not the episcopate and priesthood"; but this is begging the question; universal practice, they say, proves the unity of the constitution of the one body. I show the practice is not universal, and I am told-they are therefore not of the body. This is a mere vicious circle. I shall be told that this is a mere modern thing. Now in the dark ages it was universal, or nearly so; but so, with rare exceptions, was the grossest and most horrible corruption. Our Anglican Catholic essayist will not receive the councils held in these days. Why not? Nor do the Greeks. Why not? But in earlier days it was not universal. We may inquire from Scripture whether it existed anywhere in the earliest days. This is certain, that in the Patriarchate next to Rome in dignity, till the council of Nice set up Constantinople, this constitution did not prevail; but what contradicts formally the whole theory of our Anglican of the necessity of Episcopal ordination to the communication of grace. For this we have no less authority than Jerome, or, if they please, St. Jerome, who declares moreover that there was no difference originally between bishops and, presbyters and that it was introduced as a matter of order to prevent disputes. A singular thing if it was a necessary channel of grace, and equally singular that he should not have known it if it was universal practice, one who was a correspondent of Popes, translator of the Bible and equally conversant with the East and West. He tells us there were not originally bishops, that it was only introduced to keep peace among the presbyters. But all this is by the bye.

But before I treat the main subject I have a few not unimportant remarks to make. In the first place the statement that faith is a mere intellectual process, and alleging this to be the theory of Protestants is an unfounded one-and savors of infidelity in the objector. At least it is the view taken of faith by modern infidels, or at least of belief, for they make faith a sentiment, a feeling of the heart. But the soul may be acted on by the Spirit of God so as to produce a divine conviction' of unseen things revealed by the word-when Paul says, " when it pleased God.... to reveal His Son in me," it was not an intellectual process, and it was not a sacrament. It would seem that the Essayist ignores this altogether—a very serious lack indeed in his religious system. The direct operation of the Spirit of God in bringing truth home to the soul is wholly ignored. His doctrine is practical Pelagianism. All he owns is a sacrament or an intellectual process. What then of the grace of the Spirit of God, as the Lord opened the heart of Lydia. I would further draw my readers' attention to the total absence of all reference to the truth, except to depreciate it and faith in it, in order to exalt the sacraments.

"Grace is communicated, life is communicated, by sacraments, is only effected through these means," "irrespective of any exercise of the intellect on the part of the person brought into union."

But, according to our Essayist, the truth has no place as an instrument in God's hands for quickening and converting souls. In the same way and for the same reason the action of the Holy Ghost is ignored. We have His gifts conferred in Baptism, but no action of the Spirit of God Himself on the soul. Hence preaching is depreciated, and the truth so little material, that in the case of those who have, according to the Essayist, been in heresy for centuries, and out of the pale of the Catholic Church, denying the true faith-yet because the Episcopal form is there, their orders are all valid, effectual grace has been communicated, and they have only to return to a sound confession, and they are part of the Catholic visible Church. Grace, union, life were all there. They denied the faith, left the visible Church through this; but they have all that is essential. But in the case, of Presbyterians or Lutherans, who are not charged with any heresy but may hold the truth as such, all must be begun over again.

"They have cut themselves off from the participation in the one Spirit as living in the Church and flowing through the sacraments, which are the arteries and veins of the body."

In a word, the truth as the instrument of God in the soul is wholly ignored by the Essayist, the action of the Holy Ghost also, and hence also preaching, which surely is not worship, of the importance of which I shall speak. Further, individual salvation, and hence individual responsibility is slighted as much as possible. It is inconsistent with Church authority. Hence we find, too, the Spirit in the Church insisted on; but the Spirit in the individual, mocked at among Romanists as fanaticism, by Anglicans ignored.. Now conscience must be individual, responsibility must be individual, no man can answer for another at the judgment seat of Christ. He may pretend to secure him here, he must leave him to answer for himself if he gets there. The priest will be on the same ground or worse. Hence salvation must be individual, and responsibility. Everyone of us shall give an account of himself to God, and if he is saved he is saved individually; if purged, purged individually. The saint does also become a member of Christ, of His body the Church; but it is a second and distinct thing, though both are true of those who have now believed through grace. But this individual salvation and responsibility does not chime in with the asserted authority of the Church, and they carefully set aside what they cannot secure anyone against, direct individual responsibility to God, and what goes necessarily with it, individual salvation. If I have an individual soul, I must have individual salvation. They reproach Protestants with this saying, "This is a private and personal matter between Christ and the individual." I answer, "It will surely be so for all in the day of judgment."

Even a Romish priest would admit that in the day of judgment each one must answer for himself, just as his conscience is individual now, his soul individual, his sin individual. Scripture is as plain as can be on the point. It, teaches plainly the unity of the body and its union with Christ the head, most true and precious; but the Lord dealt always with individuals as such, and further our individual relationship as Christians takes the first place, because it is with His Father. We are individually His children, the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty; El Shadai is our Father. We cry individually, Abba, Father, and Christ's relationship with us in this respect is of the first-born among many brethren. The reader will find in the first chapter of Ephesians, the epistle where the unity of the body is most fully brought out, that the children's or individual's place with God and the Father is first brought out, and then the relationship to Christ, as the body to the head; but only at the end of the chapter. All John's writings speak exclusively of the individual and of divine life in him. He never refers to the Church at all, but to individual life from and in Christ, adding our individual perfection in Him before God. The truth is, the Church is never mentioned in the epistles, but by Paul, nor the word even used, save in the case referred to in the note, and, similarly, in James. Paul declares he was a minister of the Church (as well as of the Gospel) to fulfill, or complete, the word of God.

This system then, is characterized by leaving out the truth's action in testimony on the soul. The presence and action of the Holy Ghost, and individual responsibility and salvation: all are passed by or slighted. The church is trusted, God is not. Man gets union with Christ, life, and every blessing, unconsciously, without the smallest actual effect in conscience, heart, or any. thing, in any way in which he is brought to God with the sense of what he is, and of God's grace. The parable of the Prodigal is all nothing to the purpose, the weeping, lost one of the city, or the believing thief, the invitation of the laboring and heavy laden, is all, according to this horrible teaching, misleading instruction, for this was individual; this was (not an exercise of intellect indeed, but) individual consciousness of their own state, wrought by God, individual faith in the Son of God, individual salvation taught, if the Savior is to be believed; divine action on the heart, the soul, the conscience, the affections; the eyes opened spiritually to see the Son and believe on Him; men brought to God and the state of their souls manifested, and a divine work wrought in them by the word of the Lord reaching them. I may ask my reader, Does the Savior teach this on the bringing of a person unconsciously into union by holy baptism? Read the Gospels and see if this unholy rejection of the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ, and the divine operation on souls around Him by it, producing faith in His person, in order to substitute unconscious union in baptism, is to be found in them.

But if these great principles and truths be ignored by the Anglican Catholic system, there are important truths on' which it pronounces, and in. which, while it can justly object to Protestant Evangelicism, it is far more deeply and fatally in error. It sets aside all that is vital in individual salvation, leading to carelessness of conscience. and insensibility to personal responsibility. It makes the world not what Scripture does, " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," but simply, the unbaptized heathen, so as to allow worldliness in Christians. It sets aside Scripture authority; ignores the Holy Ghost in individuals, on which the word of God insists, and passes over or falsifies history, when it meddles with it, and, as I shall now shew, is wholly false on the points as to which it has laid hold of certain truths which evangelical Christians have, by inefficient teaching, left in its hands.

It is not true that Protestants or Evangelicals make faith a mere intellectual process. No Christian does, unless it be the party of the Essayist. But the unity of a visible body on earth has been ignored or denied by them,-they have not generally held the real communication of a new, spiritual life; and they have (at least Dissenters) held the meeting together of voluntary associations which they call churches, and which frame regulations and choose or dismiss their ministers. In all this Scripture condemns them. On the last point the "Catholic," indeed, has not much to say; for it is held by them that everyone is at liberty to choose his own director or confessor, the most important of all their ministers in practice. As regards the true body of Christ, it is become invisible, and Scripture contemplates this without sanctioning it. " The Lord knows them that are His," though, of course, always true, is a state of things contemplated in the last days; but it was not the original state of things. On that, " the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." There is in Scripture, as I. shall fully show, the doctrine of a visible body. But the object of the Anglican is not to prove that the word of God teaches the doctrine of a visible body on earth, but to set up a human priesthood in the clergy, and show that grace is communicated by their means, only, that grace comes by sacraments; divine life and union with Christ by baptism; that that visible body is to be found only where this priesthood or clergy is. The Reformers taught the being born of God in baptism, and, at any rate, the Anglican body becoming members of Christ by it-Evangelicals hold neither now, but they speak of union with Christ by faith which Scripture never does. When they speak of regeneration they do not, generally speaking, mean a new life really communicated, but the effect, produced by the operation of the Spirit of God on man as he is, not a really new, life communicated. Now Scripture does speak of the Church as one body on the earth, and of only one, with particular churches in each locality, which in that place held that of the body so far though not separated from other members of Christ. It has no idea of distinct churches in one place nor of a national church.

It does speak of the Church in the purpose of. God, as finally one with Christ in glory; but it also speaks of a Church and body of Christ on earth, responsible here below. It also speaks of the Church as the dwelling-place of the Spirit on earth, as the house of God as well as the body of Christ. Scripture does speak of a life really communicated to man; it does speak of a ministry received directly from Christ so as to exclude man s choice and nomination. It speaks of union with Christ. I will take up these points in order, and the setting forth Scriptural truth will, in a great measure, answer the erroneous statements on the subject, both of Evangelicals and Anglicans; but I will also take up, afterward, the positive errors taught by the latter, which are very grave indeed.

As regards the general truth of a body on earth, the Scriptures are plain. Thus, in 1 Cor. 12:12,13, " For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit, and ver. 27 " Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular; and God hath set some in the Church-first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers; after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." From this it is evident that there is a body, the Church, and that that body, the Church, is on earth. There are no healings in heaven. " So if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it" (ver. 26). So in Rom. 12:4 and 5, "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another "; and then they are exhorted to the present exercise of their gifts accordingly. So Eph. 1:22,23, only here it is looked at in its completeness and perfection in the counsels of God as a whole, not yet attained, for " we see not yet all things put under Him," though we own Jesus' title as exalted to the right hand of God.. So Eph. 3:10;5. 25-32, all which show the Church set up on the earth as the body of Christ, though letting us understand that it will be presented to Christ a glorious Church. We have the Church also in the character of a building, and, as we shall see, which is of great moment, in a two-fold way. First, Christ Himself says, Matt. 16:18, "And on this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Whom Peter follows, " Unto whom coming, as unto a living stone.... ye, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house " (1 Peter 2:4,5); and so Paul (1 Tim. 3:15), "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Here it is on earth too, for the question is of Timothy's conduct in it. So Eph. 2:21, " In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." Here, as also in 1 Pet., it is only growing up to a future temple, not yet finished; but, in Eph. 22, it is added, "In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Here it is a present thing; God's habitation in the person of the Spirit come down from heaven. Now it is to be remarked that in the temple, as forming for its final perfectness and glory, in the gospels the workman is Christ only. " I will build." In the Epistles there is no workman at all who builds. The building, see Eph. 2:21, " fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple": in 1 Pet. the saints come " as living stones." Here it is growing to a house, and Christ carries on the work-against which the gates of hell cannot prevail-on earth but for glory. But when we come down to a present house or building on earth, the case is different "as a wise master-builder," says the apostle, 1 Cor. 3:10. "I have laid the foundation. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon"; men may build with wood, hay and stubble, and their work come to nothing; or with gold and silver, and their work abide. Nay more, a man may defile the temple of God and be destroyed himself. Here men are responsible for the way they build in this building of God on earth. So in the passage in 1 Tim. he was to learn how to behave himself in the house of God. The doctrine therefore of the body of Christ, a body to be perfected in glory, and also that of a body existing on earth-of a house to become a perfect and holy temple in the Lord, and that of a present habitation of God through the Spirit, that which Christ builds infallibly and perfectly for the final result, and that in which, as a present thing, man is responsible by the way-are all clearly taught in Scripture. One the Evangelicals and Dissenters admit, though obscurely, what Christ is building for final glory; but the body now formed on earth, by the Spirit, and the house now the habitation of the Spirit, they have wholly lost sight of; and of these Scripture speaks.

I turn to the doctrine of communicating life. The common Evangelical teaching is, that the operation of the Spirit changes a man's heart, takes the stony heart out of us, subdues the will, renews the affections, etc. Now this is practically true, but is in no way the whole truth. There is the reception of a new life; God hath given to us eternal life, and that life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God bath not life. Christ is that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, and through grace becomes our life, as it is written, when Christ, who is our life." We are really born of God, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, as that which is born of the flesh is flesh; as everything born partakes of the nature of that it is born of. He that is born of God sinneth not, the seed of God remains in him, he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Hence the apostle sought that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his body. It is a new creation in Christ Jesus,. a new man. And farther; living in Christ _risen, we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, crucified with Christ, yet alive, but not we but Christ living in us. The flesh still lusts against the Spirit; but we have the life of the last Adam as we had the life of the first. On this Scripture is clear. Christ is become the life of the Christian, but it is Christ who has died and who is risen, so that the Christian is accounted quickened together with Him and all trespasses forgiven-can reckon himself dead, is dead for faith, crucified with Christ, but Christ risen, his life. There is no condemnation thus for him. The word of God does speak of a new life communicated, a new man.

Lastly, the choice of a minister by man is not scriptural. Ministry is directly received from Christ. He, when He ascended up on high, gave gifts to men; apostles, prophets-who were, we are told, the foundation-pastors, teachers, evangelists. The Spirit distributed to every man severally as he would, and as every man has received the gift he is to minister the same as a good steward of the manifold grace of Christ. He that teacheth is to wait on his teaching, and the various gifts are so many various members of the body, to be exercised in their place; as Rom. 12, 1 Cor. 12, 1 Peter 4:10, and all the history of the Acts show us; only women are not to speak in the assembly. The received talent is to be traded with, or woe be to him who possesses it. In the assembly, order was to be kept; not more than two or three speak, and in succession. These are a summary of the statements as to gifts of ministry in Scripture.

As regards offices, elders and deacons, the only ones spoken of, the elders were chosen by the apostles, Barnabas and Paul; among the Gentiles at least, or by Paul's delegate Titus. Those who served tables were chosen by the multitude, the apostles laying their hands on them when chosen. Choosing a minister or a pastor by the people is wholly unknown to Scripture. Christ chose and endowed them, they were bound to serve: they were again members in the body, and what they were at Ephesus they were at Corinth, that specific member of the-body, whose ministry was for the edification of the body everywhere. Elders, on the contrary, were chosen for each city by the apostles. But gifts were specific members of the body, men could not choose them. They were directly from Christ by the distribution of the Holy Ghost, and the possessors of them Christ's servants in them.' diversities of gifts, but the same. Spirit; differences of administrations, but the same Lord. Men cannot choose when Christ has chosen the vessel, and conferred the gift, and when they are Christ's servants in it, wherever they are, that member in His body,-its exercise being withal, ordered, and that for edification, by Scriptural rules. They are not ministers or pastors of a Church, but in the Church according to Scripture. Nor would such an idea as a pastor and his _flock have been tolerated in the apostles' days or have entered into anyone's mind; they had higher thoughts of service, lowlier of themselves, they were to shepherd the flock OF GOD. The truth is, a set of churches in a place is foreign to the whole teaching of Scripture. If Paul or John were to write now an epistle to the Church of God, which is at -, no one would get it. There is no such one recognized body to be found, not in the boasting Anglican, more than in the narrow Baptist; the Romanist would mock at the Anglican, and raise up his pretensions above all, and the rest would not in general dare to ascribe it to themselves. There is no Church for the letter to reach-the Church has ceased to be what it was, one, known, visible, and united body manifested in different places, but only one in all. Anglicans have pretensions enough, but Rome would not own them, if they own Rome, and no man's commendation of himself will do to give him a title. I know not whose commendation else the Anglican Catholic has got. Of his own he has plenty.

I admit, then, according to Scripture, a new life is communicated. We have now to consider what communicates life. " Holy baptism " says the Anglican. I recognize that the Church was, and ought to be, one visible body on the earth; but we have to consider what constitutes the body. I own a ministry direct from the Lord, but what makes the minister? This is the real question. if we bow to Scripture we have no ground, and, if taught of God, can have no wish to deny the manifestations and blessing of the unity of the body on earth; the communication of divine life; the direct gift of ministry from Christ not of man. But the Anglican uses these truths to set up a. humanly ordained priesthood and deny grace out of it; be attributes the communication of life and union with Christ to baptism. Priesthood and sacraments are the only divine means of grace and unity. The Evangelicals have foolishly denied or neglected the truths, which they have thus thrown into the hands of Anglicans to use as a weapon against themselves; but the Anglicans have- taken these truths to set up a wholly anti-Christian system of priesthood and sacraments of which these truths say nothing. They are wrong, even on their own ground, as to the sacraments, as I shall show; but the main point is, they teach falsely as to the whole way and application of grace to the soul, and set up, not Christianity, but the deceit of Satan clothed with the form of neglected Christian truths.

And first as to life. We have seen how they slight truth and faith, and drop the action of the Spirit of God. Now I shall show from Scripture that to these the communications of divine life is attributed by God. They slight preaching-and preaching, I repeat, is not worship—but to it Scripture attributes salvation. Let us remember that in the beginning Christians had to deal with Jews or the heathen world, and this will much simplify the matter; for unquestionably preaching-it may be private communications as well as public ones, for publicly, says Paul, and from house to house -but the ministry of the word was that which acted on souls, and that by which they were brought to baptism. As many as received the word. gladly, we read, were baptized. So Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ to them. But when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. They believed and were baptized. The time was not come for winning kings by processions, so delighted in by Anglicans. and those Christianizing their subjects en masse; nor for driving the Saxons, by arms, into the Elbe to baptize and make Christians of them, as the famous Charlemagne. Faith came by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Let us see the positive teaching of the apostles on this subject. Whoever called on the name of the Lord was to be saved. " How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed; and how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard; and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.... So then faith cometh by hearing (the report), and hearing by the word of God." Salvation is for faith, according to the apostle, and faith by hearing the word, And this is a moral dealing with souls, "Wherefore when I came was there no man when I called was there none to answer," is the appeal of to Israel.

No person can read the Gospels or Acts without seeing that the testimony of the word was the great means of divine dealing with souls. Whatever the miracles of goodness and the ineffable excellency of His person, the service of Christ was preaching, and so He declares, " And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also; for therefore am I sent" (Luke 4:43). Accordingly, in describing his service in Matt. 4:23, "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching." " The poor have the gospel preached unto them " was one of the signs of His divine and blessed presence;-when He sent out His disciples, it was (Matt. 10:7), "And as ye go, preach, saying," etc. And after His ascension (Mark 16:20), " They went forth, and preached everywhere." They were to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, he that believed and was baptized would be saved, and he that believed not would be damned. So in Luke 24:47, "Repentance and remission of sins were to be preached in his name, beginning at Jerusalem." In carrying it out, Peter's preaching in Acts 2 reaches the hearts of some three thousand and brings them, as gladly receiving the word, to baptism. They could not but speak the things they had seen and heard, and sought grace to speak God's word with boldness. If there were miracles it was the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by signs following; Mark 16:20. So Heb. 1-4. Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ to them. It is needless to go through the whole history of the Acts, which, with abundant confirmatory signs, is the history of the preaching of Peter and Paul indeed,. while giving prayer the first place, it is to this Peter declares that, leaving the care of the poor, the apostles would give themselves. Peter to Cornelius calls the whole testimony of Christianity-" The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all): that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached " (Acts 10:36,37).

Salvation, then, is for every one that believes; faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. What, then, shall we say of' a system which depreciates preaching, calls faith an intellectual process, and puts a ceremony, be it a divinely instituted ceremony, performed on an unconscious person, in the place of living faith and the power of the Spirit and the word? I shall now show, as to the means of receiving life, the application of this grace of the gospel, that it is by the word through faith, faith as a means, not as a condition, but as a work wrought by. God in the soul. James declares: " Of His own will begat He us by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures " (i. 18). Peter tells us: " Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever " (1 Peter 1:22,23). And to show that it is by the testimony of the gospel, it is added (ver. 25): " But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." Thus the word of God, and the word preached, is that by which we are born of God.

But faith, which receives that word as of God (for he that receives this testimony has set to his seal that God is true), is that by which we are thus born. We are all, says the apostle, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal. 3:26. So 1 Thess. 2:13,16, " For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of. God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe ".... " Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved," etc. So 2 Thess. 10-14: " Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.... that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel." So the Lord: " Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth." John 17 I might multiply quotations to the same purpose showing that the saving, quickening work of God is by the word, and hence by faith, and by faith as a means not as a condition. That we are justified by faith (the doctrine wickedly called Lutheran, and so hateful to Anglicans) is affirmed so repeatedly by the apostle that is by the word of God, that it is hardly needful to cite passages.

It is the main subject of the whole epistle to the Romans and of that to the Galatians. The whole Christian system is designated by it in contrast with law. "After that faith came' (Gal. 3:25); but our present subject is eternal life and salvation rather than justification. Paul preached the faith, he tells us, which once he destroyed. But the Lord Himself tells us: He that believeth on me, though he were dead yet shall he live, "and again, after stating that the Son quickeneth whom He will, He adds, as to knowing that we have it: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (judgment), but is passed from death unto life." Thus, through hearing Christ's word and believing on Him that sent Him, a man has everlasting life. It is by the word, it is by faith. The other element of the new birth and the power by which it is wrought is, according to Scripture, the Holy Spirit. " That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, as that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." That new nature or life given to us, which is contrasted with the flesh, is attributed to the Spirit, divinely and essentially so. Every life has its nature from that of which it is born. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. You cannot thus speak of water, it is not the communication of a nature, but cleansing power. As far as it 'represents anything, it represents unequivocally death, not life, for we are baptized into Christ's death. That which is born of water is water would be nonsense. It is not presented as the communicator of a nature, the Spirit is. It is a divine, lifegiving Spirit. So of Christ, who acts as well as the Father, in it. He is a quickening Spirit. As the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, so the Son quickens whom He will. Christ becomes our life. I do not doubt that John 3 refers to what baptism refers to, as John 6 refers to what the Lord's supper refers to; but John 3 does not refer to baptism, nor John vi. to the Lord's supper. The passages speak of what baptism and the Lord's supper also figure. Christ incarnate was the true bread come down from heaven, and, having been crucified, His flesh and blood become the way of life and the food of the believer's soul. But as the bread was Christ incarnate, so the flesh and blood are Christ sacrificed on the cross. And hence the chapter speaks of His going up where He was before, showing that it speaks of Christ personally, not of the Lord's supper. The chapter speaks, that is, of Christ, not of the Lord's Supper, in the bread come down from heaven and the flesh and blood, and this is evident and certain upon the face of it, because the Lord's Supper is for the Church only; the bread He gives is His flesh, which He gives for the life of the world. If any man eats of it, he lives forever; but that is not true of the sacrament. Who ever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life. This is not true of the sacrament; and this partaking of eternal life is effectual and eternal, Christ " will raise him up at the last day." That cannot be said of every one that partakes of the sacrament. Every one of the passages proves the utter falseness of applying it to the sacrament. The truth is, there is no such Christ now as is figured in the sacrament in existence. It is Christ's body broken in death, and His blood shed, but there is no such Christ now any more than there is a self-humbled Christ come down from heaven. He is gone up glorified, and there is no dead Christ nor shed blood to be found. Those united to a living, glorified Christ, celebrate, till He comes, the blessed memorial of what is no longer, and which has given them a part in Him, now; and with Him and like Him hereafter.

And it is equally false of chap. 3 of John. The Lord speaks of the reality in the operation of divine power, the communication of a new life, of a spiritual life, by the Spirit-that which is analogous to the wind, which is seen in its effects not in itself. Baptism is seen in itself, on the contrary, not in its effects, as every one knows. What, then, does water refer to? Scripture teaches us fully. It typifies the word. Christ sanctifies and cleanses the Church for which He gave Himself, by the washing of water by the word-as James tells us we are begotten by the word. Again John 15, " Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." It is an allusion more particularly to Ezekiel, where Israel's blessings are promised to be restored to them:

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you," etc. Ezek. 36:25,26. It is real cleansing within by the word. With this comes, in. Ezekiel, the earthly promises to Israel. Hence the Lord says to Nicodemus, " Art thou a teacher of Israel and knowest not these things?" He ought to have known them, from His own prophets. "If I have told you of earthly things and ye belieVe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things." And the "ye " and the " every one" of John 3:7,8, refer, the first to Jews, the latter embracing the heathen.

The birth of the Spirit, or new life, the new man, is attributed to the Spirit. Cleansed in mind by the word, we are, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Baptism, we are expressly told, signifies our dying, our dying to sin, which is true inward cleansing, and in Colossians our resurrection is added, but communication of life never. The passage in Titus may be alleged, where the apostle uses the expression, the laver of regeneration; but regeneration is not used in Scripture for the communication of life but for a change of state and condition. It is only used once elsewhere in Scripture, for the new millennial world; where Christ shall sit on the throne of His glory. " In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory" (Matt. 19:28). Here it is evidently a change of state and condition, not communication of life. Hence, in Titus 3:5, we have the laver of regeneration. One, before a heathen or Jew, or at least born in sin, and outside the place of grace and God's dwelling, was admitted within it. His state was changed. He had been a heathen, a Jew, a sinner, away from promises and God and hope; He passed into that condition where all these were; translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Where being born of God is spoken of, it is another word, not παλιγγενεσια but γεννηθη ανωθεν, or αναγενναω, never παλνγγενναω and with the laver of παλνιγγενεσιας we have, "and the renewing of the Holy Ghost" as a distinct thing. New life is attributed to Him who can give it—the Spirit of God, the Father, and the Son. In result, quickening or communicating life is expressly attributed to the word, to faith, to the Spirit. It is never attributed to baptism. On the contrary, this signifies or figures death. It may be said resurrection, as coming up into a new state. For Christ being our life, this is in the power and status before God of His resurrection. Baptism signifies in fact the quitting an old state by death, that of the first Adam, and an entrance into a new, that of the second Adam; risen from the dead. It does signify washing or cleansing, but in no place giving life. We read of being born of water, but it is not said of baptism, and where the possession of a new nature is spoken of in this very passage, it is referred exclusively to the Spirit. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. We have too the expression the laver of regeneration, but regeneration is a change of state and condition, as Matt. 19 shows, not the communication of life. Baptism is of real importance and deep signification in its true place but it is not in pretending that water can give spiritual life. That the Spirit, direct divine agency, alone can do, and we know, when manifested in this world, it is by the word through faith. But as an entrance into a new state, as death to the old, and, figuratively, washing and cleansing from what belonged to the old by death to it, it has its full Scriptural signification. Hence we read: "Arise and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord," not: Arise and receive life. Communication of life it was not. For in the case of adult heathen and Jews, they believed and were baptized that is, they had life first, for he that believeth on the Son bath everlasting life. In a certain aspect, baptism signified more than giving life; that is, the deliverance and salvation of those who had life. The centurion Cornelius had life, was devout, and we see evidently he was renewed in heart. He was to send for Peter, and hear words whereby he would be saved.

The doctrine of a real deliverance and actual salvation has been so lost that many a true Christian, knowing he must be born again, looks for the fruit of it to ascertain his state. But there is an actual deliverance and translation into the kingdom of God's dear Son, which belongs to every renewed soul, but has been acquired by the death and resurrection of Jesus, of which baptism is the sign, death as we have seen to the old (Rom. 6), and rising into the new condition, all trespasses being forgiven (Col. 2). So in external things Israel brought to God in heart and will in Egypt, was delivered out of Egypt at the Red Sea, by the "salvation of Jehovah and baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Hence, Peter says, the antitype whereto now saves us, even baptism.... by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The disposition of Noah through grace gave him a part by faith in deliverance, but he had his deliverance through the flood into a new world. By faith Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his house. That baptism figures, Scripture declares; not the communication of life. We may be said, in a certain sense, to be figuratively born there, as coming out of the womb of death to the old Adam state into a new world (παλιγγενεσια), but not to have life communicated. I admit it is not a sign of what we have already, as is commonly taught; but of getting, through death, into a new position, where we have what entitles us to it. With union it has nothing to do, good or bad. It is not by receiving the Holy Ghost we are born again, nor do we receive the Holy Ghost in baptism. It is not in any way a sign of union. On this, Scripture is as clear as can be. Baptism is baptism into Christ's death, at the utmost rising in coming up from it, when having figuratively passed under death. Union is with a Christ exalted at God's right hand, and only so, and by the Holy Ghost the Comforter, who could not come till Christ was exalted. That is, baptism does not go beyond death, or, at the utmost, resurrection. Union is, with an exalted Christ by the Spirit, where He is on high. The first proposition, I have already shown from Rom. 6 and Col. 2. The reader has only to refer to these chapters. As many as have been baptized unto Christ have been baptized to his death. As a figure we are not baptized as a sign or seal that we are already dead and risen again; we are baptized to death, buried there, wash away our sins there; as a figure it saves us, because we therein pass, by death, out of the old scene and Adam state, and so into the new or risen Christ state. But secondly, in no sense has baptism anything to do with union. We have seen, and Scripture is express, that it is by one Spirit we are baptized into one body, and that is always distinguished from baptism; and the Lord's Supper, not baptism, is the symbol of the unity of the body, though it may figure what implies it as a consequence.

But it does not itself even figure, in any way, introduction into Christ's body. In this Baptists are as wrong as Anglicans. We have seen that baptism signifies death, but having a part in Christ's death, and, hence, death that delivered from an old state and all transgressions connected with it. As Noah was freed by the flood entirely from the old world, which was now gone and had perished in the flood, and emerged out of the ark into a new world; yet that flood was judgment through which he was saved in the ark, so we are delivered by Christ through death and judgment, which He underwent for us, for it would have been our everlasting ruin—out of the old state and brought into a new condition, into which He is risen, if indeed we have a part in Him. Of this, baptism is the figure. We are baptized to Christ's death, and we are to reckon ourselves dead, the judgment having been borne by Christ, it is death to sin, the world, and all that belongs to the old man. We have put off the old man and put on the new, and this is the profession by baptism of every Christian. Where it is said, "few that is eight souls were saved by water," it is not simply saved, not εσωθησαν, but διεσωθησαν, saved through danger or catastrophe, they were saved through the flood,—not by it, though it was salvation as deliverance from an old and introduction into a new world; but it is saved, through a destroying judgment, through what would have been, but for the ark, and was, for others, destruction. Baptism is the antitype (such is the word figure) to this; it passes us through death, not literally of course, as is evident. But in as much as Christ, into whose death we are baptized, is risen, it is deliverance from an old and introduction into a new, even Christ's risen state: really, if we take outward standing here, figuratively if we speak of the condition of the soul before God. But it is death, not communication of life, which it figures in itself. It is the flood of which it is the antitype, death into which we are brought by it. But even, were it the communication of life, this is not union. By the reception of life we become children of God. Christ is, in this aspect, the firstborn among many brethren, not head of the body, and the saints members of His body, that body of which He, exalted above every name, is the head. It is by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, and of that the Lord's Supper is the symbol, not baptism. Baptism is death, and leads to resurrection figuratively through grace, but does not go beyond the latter, does not point farther than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But in order to form the body, Christ must be exalted as the head. This is, in every way, evident from Scripture. The head, i.e. Christ exalted, must have been there to unite the body to.

But in detail,—in the first place as the body is formed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 12) it could not be till Pentecost, for that was, we are expressly told, that baptism (Acts 1:5); but that Comforter could not come till Christ went away, then He would send him, and we may add that Christ had not received the Holy Ghost to confer on his members as sent down from heaven until He went up (Acts 2). Further, there was no head to unite the body to, till He went up on high. We are members of His body, we are of His flesh and of His bones, but that it is of Christ exalted the end of Eph. 1 makes as plain as language can make it. To make the incarnation the ground of it is a gross and heretical blunder. Without the incarnation, of course it could not have been, for it is to Christ as the glorified man we are united. But there was no union with Christ incarnate. I will say more of this further on, for it is a very vital point and a capital and fatal false doctrine of Anglican Catholics and even Irvingites: For the present, I confine myself to the fact of union. Till redemption was accomplished, there could be none. A union of the Son of God with sinful, corrupt man is an utter and mischievous error. We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. It is not said He of ours. His real humanity, flesh and blood, is a fundamental doctrine, but that is not union. Union is by the Holy Ghost. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. But, further, as to the outward dispensation of unity, union before the cross was impossible, because it was by that the middle wall of partition was broken down, in order to make of twain (Jew and Gentile) one new man, making peace, and present both in one body to the Father (Eph. 2). Thus, whether we consider the position of Christ as head of the body, or the power that forms us into one body, or the, time and order of its administration on earth, it is clear that Christ's death and Christ's ascension, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, were all essential to union, to the existence of the church His body. With the last two, baptism has even figuratively nothing to do. Another very grievous error connected with this, is the notion that the giving of the Holy Ghost is the same as being born again, or necessary to it. This error is common to Evangelicals and Anglicans. In the first place, as to prescribed order, it was received after baptism (Acts 2). But as to doctrine, no person receives the Holy Ghost till after he has been born again, and has even yet further grace given to him. In John 7 we read, "This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him should receive." Now, if they believed, they were born again. " In whom after ye believed (Eph. 1) ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? (Acts 19). He that establisheth us together with you in Christ, and who hath anointed us, is God, who also bath sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Cor. 1). And Gal. 4. is very express: "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts." The disciples were believers and clean through the word when the Holy Ghost came upon them. I might add proofs if needed. But it is evident that God cannot seal an unbeliever. He quickens or gives life to the unbeliever through faith by the word. He seals the believer. That, as to prescribed order, it is after baptism, is evident. Repent and be baptized every one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2). So Paul, whereunto then were ye baptized? and then after they were baptized, Paul laid his hands on them, and they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. So in Samaria the Holy Ghost was fallen on none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The exceptional case of Cornelius is an additional proof of the distinction. The Jew demurred to receiving the Gentile. God showed He would, and the apostle could not forbid water. The outward reception here below, since God had put His seal upon him. This is the apostle's own account. But the seal of the Spirit even here was by itself, though first, and was not at or by baptism. The forming of the body, and its union with the head, even with a glorified Christ, is by the Holy Ghost, by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven consequent upon that exaltation. It is in no sense or case by baptism, nor is baptism even a figure of it. The bread in the Lord's Supper is used as a figure of the unity produced down here by it. (1 Cor. 10:17).

Next, as to ministry. Scripture does not own man's choice of ministers, any more than voluntary associations called churches. The Anglican Catholic holds it to be a constituted order derived successionally from the apostles by ordination. Christians in general have gone more or less decidedly into the same system modified after their own thoughts; only the Anglican holds it to be an exclusive channel of grace in the episcopate and priesthood. He says it must be directly from Christ. How a successional system is directly from Christ it would be hard to tell. I understand a person saying God endows a person appointed by man, or even by the Lord, or endows him indirectly through a man. Both are found in Scripture. Christ appointed apostles; they were endowed on the day of Pentecost. And the apostles conferred the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands, on, not the ministry, though the Holy Ghost, might operate by them in ministry, but on, the whole company of the faithful, as, at Samaria, Peter and John did. But ministry was free to all and special gift directly from the Holy Ghost, and under the authority, and I may add, gift of Christ. This I shall now show. This directness characterized the ministry of Paul, here, I admit, in its highest or apostolic character, " not of man," he says, " nor BY man." Those who called themselves Jews then, insisted on derivation of ministry from the apostles. Paul gloried in its not being so, but it was not confined to him. Let us see historically. All that were scattered abroad (on the occasion of Stephen's death, that is, all except the apostles) went everywhere preaching the word (Acts 8:4). I suppose the whole Church was not ordained, and in Acts 11:21 in Antioch, we read of them, "and the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed and turned to the Lord." Stephen, using the office of a deacon well, purchases to himself a good degree, and great boldness in Christ Jesus. So Philip. So in 2 and 3 John, Gains is commended for receiving those who went out, and a lady is directed to inquire, not for letters of orders, but what doctrine they brought. Diotrephes refused them. According to our modern Anglicans he did well. As to doctrine, the Lord in the parable of the talents makes the question of faithfulness in ministry turn on trading with a gift from small or great without other authorization than receiving it. That was faithfulness. Peter tells us: "as every one has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God " (1 Peter 4:10,11). That is, as those who speak on God's behalf, that God may be glorified, as in ministry (service), of the ability which God giveth. The apostle teaching how to discern what was of the Holy Ghost in 1 Cor. 12, tells us, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,... then goes through a long list, wisdom, knowledge, prophecy, etc., "all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." These are different members in the body which have need one of another, and these various gifts are not local or an office in a particular church—but God has set in the Church apostles, prophets, teachers. All have not these different gifts, but all who have are responsible for their exercise, for trading with their talent, and they are in the Church, not an office, I repeat, in a church. Hence Apollos, if he taught at Ephesus, taught at Corinth if he went there. They were gifts in the Church, members in the body. Hence the apostle, resisting the first beginning of sects, says, "all things are yours. Paul, Apollos Cephas," etc., all are yours; the gifts belong to the Church at large. So, we read, there were in the church which was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers. We have limits and order set to their exercise, surely. But these show and confirm the general principle. Not more than two, or at the most three, are allowed to speak in the assembly when come together, and women are to keep silence. A strange direction, if only an ordained priest or deacon, aye, or dissenting minister, could open his mouth, and they were the only channels of grace. Such a limit in that case could have no sense at all. But again, in more ordinary and regular ministrations, as may be thought, is their conferring less direct? Christ ascended (we read in Eph. 4) up on high, and gave gifts unto men, and He gave some apostles and prophets, and some pastors and teachers, and some evangelists (eis) for the perfecting of the saints (pros), for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till all are come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son. of God, to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We read: "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets," so that we may leave them aside, but pastors and teachers and evangelists are directly given as gifts (talents) by Christ ascended on high. This is direct giving according to Scripture, not of man, or by man. And it is added, " From whom;" the head, Christ, "the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body for the edifying of itself in love."Our essayist was wise not to seek to prove his thesis from Scripture. In 1 Cor. 14:29,31, we read "let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge" "for ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be comforted." James, indeed, warns the saints "not to be many masters (teachers) knowing that we shall receive greater condemnation." But why so if they could not unless regularly ordained to it? Such a warning could have no place according to the system which knows only an ordained clergy. I shall be told there were extraordinary gifts. Some of them were, not all. Pastors, teachers, evangelists are not, nor that which every joint supplieth; nor does James' direction apply to such, nor 1 Peter 4, nor 2 and 3 John. But in any case this is nothing to the purpose. The theory I combat is that God originally instituted a system of episcopate and priesthood, the only channels of blessing and grace, a direct ministry which man could not choose. I am told, indeed, Scripture is not to be referred to, to prove it, as it was established before the Scriptures were written, but that they allude to it often. But I find they speak very fully not by allusion, but historically and doctrinally of another system which God did institute and appoint, and which proves, as to the original constitution of God, the Anglican system to be false; false historically, false doctrinally. If he tells me that his system supplanted what God originally instituted, I admit it. That is the truth, it did supplant it. The system they teach is incompatible with that taught in Scripture, either for the world or the Church. Do they mean to allege that, for some wise reason, God set aside His original system and order and power—for it was God, we are told, who worked all in all; Christ who gave from on high pastors, teachers, evangelists, and every one who had received the gift was so to minister the same, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Did God and Christ withdraw all their gifts, ordinary and extra- ordinary from the Church, and substitute the clerical system insisted on by Anglicans? When did he do it? Not in times taught of in Scripture. Or was it man, who, as power died down so to speak, substituted his order for God's? But the external order will be alleged. Bishops and priests. Let us see that positive testimony the word furnishes. It does more than allude to these also. Nor does it recognize the Church's choice even of these church officers, save as regards money and table serving. Then it is insisted on—in Acts 6 the apostles withdraw from table-serving, establishing needed order in the Church—to give themselves not to baptizing or administering the Lord's Supper, one was generally entrusted to others, it is not said to whom—strange case of the exclusive character of grace—and the breaking of bread was daily from house to house, or at home in contrast with the temple. Where were the ordained ministers who communicated the grace? I know not—but the apostles withdrew from tables, to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word, a matter so deplorable in the eyes of our modern Catholics. And they have the table-carers, chosen by the people—and these they lay hands on, the only expressly ordained persons in Scripture, and we read, faithfulness in this is a way to higher service. So Paul would not take the money of the saints for Jerusalem unless the churches chose some to travel with him, providing things honest in the sight of men. The word used is (cheirotoneo). Election being made by stretching out the hand, but it has nothing to do with ordination. 2 Cor. 8:19 shows it beyond controversy, and so indeed does Acts 10:41. But there were elders chosen, and they were never chosen by the Church, but by Paul and Barnabas; or Titus was sent to establish them. There were overseers; that is, bishops, expressly so called, in Acts 20, nor is any one else so called. And there were several in each locality, they chose (not ordained, the translation is ecclesiastical but false), elders in every city, some labored in the word and doctrine, some, it appears from 1 Tim. 5:17, did not, but the same epistle shows us it was desirable, but the difference between their office and gift is evident. The gifts were set in the Church and exercised everywhere; the elders, though they might have gifts too, were local officers, city by city or in every church. Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23. And there were not gifts, but offices appointed. They were bishops, I repeat, the only bishops spoken of in the Scriptures, and Christ Himself directly and alone over them. These elders were to shepherd, not their flock, but the flock of God; and were responsible to the Chief Shepherd, who, when He should appear, would recompense them (1 Peter 5:1,4). As we have seen in Acts 20, they are expressly called bishops. Nor has the apostle an idea of any one over them here below, nor of a successor to himself He calls them solemnly together, declares the Holy Ghost had appointed them bishops, tells them he is going away, and they were to watch. Where is the room for the modern bishop here, now he forgot to remind them of Timothy, and their due subjection to his admonitions. He commends them to God, and the word of His grace which is able to build them up. They were to take heed to themselves and all the flock. Where was the bishop? But farther, the apostle was going away and expected never to see them again. Here indeed was the place to " allude" to the episcopate, and the successors of the apostles; but not a hint of such a thing escapes him. It has a strange and ominous silence about it, and, more than that, though he declares that things will go on badly as soon as he was gone, he has not an idea of appointing a vigilant successor to take his place; on the contrary, there will be none; grievous wolves would break in, and even among themselves perverse men would arise. Was there no bishop to consult, no successor in the see to watch? None. They, the elders, Paul's bishops, the only ones he knows, were to watch, and he commends them to God and the word of His grace. He treated his successor very slightingly if he had one. But I shall be told Timothy was the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians. Not Paul's successor then, for Paul was alive. And the apostles as such, and even Bellarmine admits it, had no successors properly, for their charge was universal, not local. The notion of their having successors is indeed absurd. Paul, we have seen, knew nothing of it in Acts 20, the very occasion to speak of it; and so Peter takes pains, that after his decease, all the Jewish Christians should have his teaching in remembrance—has no idea of a successor. Where is the "allusion " to this constitution of God? There is none. (I reserve the question of priesthood as a graver question.) But what then was Timothy? This alleged episcopate must have been either successors to the apostles, as if (which is false) the apostles had a local see, or persons whom the apostles appointed in places they had evangelized and established Christianity in.

But Timothy and Titus were not their successors, for the history we have of them relates to the apostles' lifetime, and the apostles had no local see as such. And we have the account of what they established in the places they had labored in successfully. They established elders in every city, that is, not a bishop, but several elders, or bishops. That is a certain fact, whether in the acts or the epistles to Titus and Timothy, confirmed as it is in that to the Philippians also. Titus and Timothy were especial delegates of the apostle, who were certainly not located in sees, but accompanied the apostle or were sent on special missions by him, his confidential agents. He left Timothy for a time at Ephesus specially about doctrine; but he, after that, desires him to come to him speedily. Titus did not stay in Crete either, in 2 Tim. 4:10, we read of his being gone to Dalmatia. The apostle, or his delegates by his direction, did establish bishops or elders in each city; that is, they did not establish an episcopate in the modern sense of the word, but something else which contradicts it: and if episcopacy is a necessary and exclusive channel of grace, the true primitive Church had no channels of grace at all, and those who followed had no grace to communicate. There were officers, but they were of another kind. Nor is there a hint of communicating grace in the matter. That the Church fell early into a system of episcopacy is perfectly true, and Jerome tells us how and why, as we have seen, namely, to prevent the jealous ambition and disputes of the elders. But the Church's decay was contemporaneous; all sought their own already, the apostle tells us, not the things of Jesus Christ they were in the last times already, John assures us, in his day, and Peter, that the time was come for judgment to begin at the house of God. Episcopacy accompanied this, a human arrangement to meet decaying spirituality. Then some began to say-my Lord delayeth His coming, and began to beat the men servants and maid servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, so that in some 140 years from the apostles' days, Cyprian assures us that one of the most terrible persecutions was only too light as a chastisement from God. The bishops, so called, were running about as commercial travelers, to make money. In a little more than another century the emperors had to make laws to prevent the avarice of priests around dying beds, which were not called for (as Jerome complains) with buffoons or actors, or any heathen priests. For ministry, there was no ordination by man. It was direct. The apostles laid their hands on those who served tables; laymen, so called, laid their hands on an apostle. But no one can show, in Scripture, ordination for ministry. Whoever had a gift, for the world, or for the Church, was bound to exercise it, order being maintained in the Church by scriptural rules. I defy any one to point out ordination for ministry in Scripture, or to sustain it by scriptural authority. Elders and deacons, or servants there were. I dare say hands were laid on them as it was the universal custom, but it is only said of the table servers in Acts 6. Timothy is told not to lay hands suddenly on any one, and I dare say he did on elders or bishops, but God has taken care it never should be stated in Scripture. As to conferring a gift, it was by the laying on of the apostles' hands exclusively.

The question of priesthood and another important one remain. The setting up of a distinct priesthood is the denial of Christianity. A distinct priesthood is a body who can go to God for me, because I cannot so approach God myself. To say there is such a body in Christianity is to deny it. The essence of Christianity is, that we can directly approach God, even the Father, ourselves. We are (1 Peter 2) a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices by Jesus Christ: He has made us kings and priests to God and His Father (Rev. 1). That is our Christian place; to say that others are priests to approach for us, is to deny our place. We cannot hold this too fast that whoever sets up a priesthood other than that of all saints, entering in spirit into heaven, denies (it may be ignorantly, no doubt,) Christianity itself. What does Scripture tell us of priesthood now? First: in the epistle to the Hebrews, we read that if Christ himself were on earth He could not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. Now this is exactly what is urged for Christian priesthood by the Ritualists. They say indeed that they are not merely (ἱιποδενγματα) copies, shadows, figures (p. 308) of the worship in heaven, but the priest is the " present vicarious representative of the one true, real, and ever-living priest,” (now for a time corporeally absent), acting "in His name." Or,-

" It is the one Mediator, acting in heaven directly, as we may say, and immediately by Himself; acting on earth indirectly and mediately by His minister as His visible instrument, who, forasmuch as in that most solemn of all His duties, He represents the priestly functions of His heavenly Master, is Himself, for that reason, and for that reason only, called a 'priest"' (p. 309).

And so "the Christian Eucharist.... is called 'a sacrifice,'" and ‘that whereon it is celebrated an altar.' " (p. 310).

Now it is clear, Christ on earth, at the time the Epistle to the Hebrews was written, could not have been a priest. There were priests who ministered to the example and shadows. But if Christ could not be a priest on earth, His ministers were. Is it not strange that this whole service is left out where the subject is treated of. Does any honest man (yes, I repeat, honest man,) believe that when this was written, and it was said Christ could not be a priest on earth, there was a Christian priesthood who served as the mediate and indirect instrument, offering sacrifices on earth, a vicarious representative of the great High Priest in heaven. The apostle tells us that such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens; that on earth he could not be a priest seeing there were those that served in the example and shadow of heavenly things. Yet at this very time, we are to believe, there was on earth what was expressly constituted of God to carry the priesthood on on earth riot as a copy, but as "gloriously real" (p. 308). Further, can an honest man believe what the epistle teaches; that repetition of sacrifices was a proof that sin was not taken away but remembered, but that Christ having, by one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified, there was no more sacrifice for sin nor remembrance of sins, and that the worshippers, once purged, should have no more conscience of sins, left it equally true that there was a sacrifice, a memorial sacrifice, gloriously real. And note, it is not merely intercession in virtue of the sacrifice as alleged; that would be scriptural enough, He ever liveth to make intercession for us. It is breaking His body, it is His blood shed. It is offering a sacrifice, which is not intercession. That is founded on a sacrifice, and appeals to its efficacy, but this is the memorial sacrifice itself. I shall enter more fully and directly into this in another paper, I now refer to it in connection with priesthood. The declaration that priesthood is in heaven, and Christ could not be a priest on earth, and that there was no more sacrifice for sin—means that there is a priesthood on earth, who are priests only because they offer a sacrifice. Strange that the New Testament writers should never say a word of this priesthood. But they do speak of priesthood, and in a way which excludes this ordained distinctive one. We are all a holy priesthood, all made a kingdom of priests, and to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Peter too, it seems, had forgotten or never heard of this "gloriously real" priesthood, and puts us altogether as priests. But it affects, as I have said, our place as Christians. Where there was a distinctive priesthood on earth, the vail was not rent, the people could not come beyond the altar, nor were the priests to go within the vail, the Holy Ghost this signifying (Heb. 9:8) that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. In contrast with this, the one offering which has perfected forever them that are sanctified having been offered, the vail is rent and we all have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, boldness to enter into the holiest by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, His flesh, and we are to draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith:—where is the place for a mediating priest here, when I draw near myself into the holiest in full assurance of heart? I am a priest and enter myself where the great High Priest is, over the house of God, the family of God upon earth. There is a great High Priest and a whole body of priests under Him. That is, the whole notion of any other priests between me and God, is thus sedulously excluded. I enter into the holiest where the great High Priest is, and this is founded on the sedulously elaborated declaration that there is, and can be, no more offering for sin, that a memorial offering is a memorial, or remembrance of sins, and there is a diligent application of this to the conscience, that once purged we have no more conscience of sins, that Christ has sat down, is not standing, because there is no more offering, neither by Him nor by any, and with the so urgent and so just reason given by the Spirit, that it must be real, and that if there was, Christ must have often suffered from the foundation of the world, that the reality of suffering was necessary to the reality of His sacrifice; without it there was none accomplished. Christ is not offering Himself now, and on this, that He is not doing so now, the apostle insists. Those high priests were standing," offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins." What a picture of ritualistic priests. But this man, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies were made His footstool, for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Offering for His friends, He has finished once for all, He is seated, and that expecting till His enemies are made His footstool: That Christ is offering Himself now is a heinous anti-Christian falsehood. He appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and as it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and to them that look for Him he shall appear the second time without sin (χωρις ἁμαρτιας) apart from sin to salvation. He is in the presence of God according to the efficacy of that sacrifice, and intercedes for us; but it was when He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. But, save to deceive souls, there is not as much value in any pretended sacrifice now, as in the letters I am forming here. As a lie of the enemy's, it may be a snare for those who have no knowledge of the efficacy of Christ's one sacrifice, and that, by one offering He bath perfected forever them that are sanctified—for those who have not received that word: who needeth not daily, as these high priests, to offer first for His own sins, and then for the people's, for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. Christianity, then, teaches us that in virtue of that one sacrifice we, all believers, enter in through the rent vail into the holiest of all, having a Great High Priest over the house of God, in full assurance of faith. We are the priests, and to set up a priesthood to do it, is to deny the efficacy of Christ's work, the believer's place, and the rending of the vail, that access of every believer to God which is the essential distinction of Christianity. A Christian priesthood, save as all saints are priests, is an anti-Christian lie. Christ offering Himself now, is unscriptural and false, a repetition of His sacrifice in any shape or form, or under any semblance, is a denial of the perfect efficacy of His one offering once for all, in which He offered up Himself. Both, the pretended priesthood and the pretended sacrifice, are a subversion of Christianity; one of the believer's place, the other of Christ's one offering. An offering of Himself implies the cross, implies suffering; He cannot suffer and die now.

Another point, calling for notice, as subversive of Christianity in ritualistic doctrine, is the Church being founded on incarnation, of which the sacraments are an extension. It is false upon the face of it, even on the ground they put themselves upon, that of the sacraments. Baptism and the Supper of the Lord both signify death, have no sense or meaning without it. If these form and nourish the Church, the Church begins by the death of Christ, not by His previous life, and feeds on Him also as having died. All of us that are baptized unto Christ are baptized to His death. Nothing can be more distinct than this. It is not to a living Christ that we are brought by baptism, which they allege forms the Church and unites to Christ; it is to His death we are baptized, the very profession of a Christian can have no place, no existence, till Christ is dead. And, indeed, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone, if it die it brings forth much fruit. A living Christ remained alone; lifted up, He drew all men to Him; He died to gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you." And Paul, who alone teaches the doctrine of the Church, declares, if he had known Christ after the flesh, he knew Him no more. One of these passages is only stronger than the other, and when the incarnate Savior is so blessedly spoken of as the bread that came down from heaven to give life unto the world, then He especially presses on them—" except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you;" and to this, as we are aware, the second sacrament refers. Of course for that He must be incarnate, nor is there for the accepted soul a more blessed subject than God manifest in the flesh, the divine person and path of Jesus; but it is not the less true, that in order to our having that life we must eat His flesh and drink His blood, that is, He must die, and we must so know Him, by living faith, to have life, to know Him really at all.

But in truth union with Christ has no place at all till He is ascended also; "God set him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.... and gave him to be head over all things to the church." Till He ascended as man on high, consequent on accomplished redemption, He could not send, had not to that effect received the Holy Ghost by which His members are united to Him. They are united to the Head in heaven by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The epistle to the Ephesians is clear as to this, as indeed is all Scripture. We are to be the Church, quickened together with Him, and raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Him. That He had not received the Holy Ghost for this purpose previously, is clear from Acts 2" He being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." Union before redemption is apostacy from the truth, and the denial of the need of redemption as the basis of the Church's place. It is an unredeemed man united to one who has not yet accomplished redemption, a sinner in his sins, and in flesh, with the holy Son of God. And what Christ shed forth after redemption was accomplished, was what formed the Church, nor did any church exist till then, for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, (1 Cor. 12) and that that was the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the Lord shows us, saying, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence" (Acts 1:5), for which consequently they were told to wait at Jerusalem. Hence too in the distinctive offices given to Christ in John 1, we have, first: " The Lamb of God who taketh away (not the sins, as our Ritualists, with so many, falsely quote it) the sin of the world." and then that the Holy Ghost could not come until Jesus was glorified is beyond all controversy. The Holy Ghost was not yet [given], we read, John 7, because Jesus was not yet glorified. "If I go not away," says Christ, "the Comforter will not come; but if I go away I will send him unto you." The whole distinctiveness of the Christian, the Church and Christianity itself, is the presence of that Comforter. It constitutes the living power by which the Christian is what he is, and the Church is what she is, unity, the ministry, individual consciousness of sonship. Everything that constitutes the Christian and the Church lies in the presence of the Holy Ghost. Christianity is, the apostle tells us, as he ministered it, the ministration of righteousness and the ministration of the Spirit, Christ's death was needed for both; and of this the Old Testament types and the New Testament history gives us a most interesting testimony. The high priest was anointed by Himself without blood; the priests after being, as well as the high priest washed with water, were sprinkled with blood and then anointed with oil. So, on the man Christ, perfect in Himself and perfectly acceptable to God, the Holy Ghost descended as a dove, no blood-shedding, we all know, was needed for Him. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. But for us the blood of sprinkling was needed. Christ's precious death came in, redemption, and cleansing, and then the Holy Ghost came down, sent from Him on high, and not till then. Our union is with a Christ whom God has raised from the dead, and given in that state and place to be head over all things to the Church, and that union is by the. Holy Ghost who never came till then. Christians ought not to need to have it proved that redemption is necessary in order to our having a part in Christ. Christ's person is the blessed object of our faith-surely—" The Son quickeneth whom He will," but sinners cannot have a part with Him but through redemption. Even the water of cleansing comes out of His pierced side, but He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. The notion of His being bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, as if that were union, is an Irvingite heresy. We are, as I said before, members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. The union of a sinner with the incarnate Lord before He has died, is a denial of the need of redemption in order to have a part with Him; it is a denial of the need of blood-shedding for cleansing (or else Christ and Belial can be in concord); it is a denial of the need of the Holy Ghost for the forming the unity of the body,—and He alone forms it,—for the Holy Ghost could not come till Jesus had died and was glorified. It is a denial of all upon which Christianity is based, as regards the position of sinners. I understand perfectly well what they allege as to communicating life by baptism from Christ incarnate; but this, besides being false—for it is the Spirit that quickens—is adding another error, for true baptism is baptism unto His. death. But the doctrine I combat here is the essence of the system, I mean extension of the incarnation by sacraments. And where we hear Christ speaking, He has no thought of forming the Church during his lifetime. It is upon the title of Son of the living God he founds it; and where was this demonstrated for sinful man in this world? He was declared (determined) Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead. He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and He was rejected by them; but resurrection publicly proved Him the Son of God with power. A man is not justified by incarnation, but by the death and resurrection of the Incarnate One, and being found in Him when risen. Sin is put away only by the sacrifice of Himself; without shedding of blood is no remission. If union is formed by the sacraments, as an extension of the incarnation, then it is formed without sin being put away, without remission, without that in which the blessed Lord glorified God, and redeemed sinners. It is formed without righteousness for He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It is formed without the Holy Ghost, without our having access to God, for we have access by one Spirit to the Father, and we are builded together for an habitation of God by the Spirit, and it is certain the Spirit could not be given till Christ was glorified. And it is in vain to say it was by sacraments afterward; for they are only an extension, or, as some have called them, a continuation of the incarnation, Christ's body having been a source of healing and life. But an extension of the incarnation cannot do more than the incarnation itself; a figurative instrument, exalt it as you please, cannot go beyond the personal living power of Christ;—but the incarnation did not and could not put away sin, the incarnation could not bring the gift of the Holy Ghost. Christ declares solemnly, the Comforter could not come unless He went away. Remission of sins could not be obtained by incarnation, nor redemption, for it is by His own blood (in the power of it) He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. Incarnation, or any continuation or extension of it, could not give an eternal inheritance, for it is by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that they which are called might have the promise of eternal inheritance. Incarnation cannot purge the conscience, for it is the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, which purges our conscience. The whole system,—I do not use these as hard words but in the full scriptural force of them,—is a lying fable subversive of Christianity. It may deceive one who does not know what sin is, (which Christ could not put away but by dying,) because the person of the incarnate Son is the blessed object of faith, the attractive object of our spiritual affections, the sufficing delight of the Father Himself, and given to us to be ours. But redemption and remission with all their consequences in the Church by the presence of the Holy Ghost, are the fruit of Christ's death. If there be anything which possesses the soul of the believer, it is the person of the Son of God. Hence what seems to exalt it will naturally affect the mind. But, used to set aside, or to dim the necessity of the cross, of redemption, it is Satan transforming himself into an angel of light. If Christ's incarnation and the communication of the benefits of it by sacraments are the whole substance of the truth, that on which the Church is founded, and by which man is saved, then the cross loses its value, the sinful state of man is denied, redemption is unnecessary, or an immaterial addition to the main truth. It loses its place in the economy of God. " Therefore doth my Father love me," says the blessed Lord, " because I lay down my life that I might take it again." It was because He was obedient unto death, the death of the cross, that God also has highly exalted Him. It was then He could say now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him, and if God be glorified in Him, God shall glorify Him in Himself and shall straightway glorify Him. There is no remission, no putting away sin but by shedding of blood; by Christ's sacrifice of Himself. The peace and security this gives to the conscience, leads us back to contemplate from within, from, if I may so speak, the divine side, the perfection of the living Son of God, and His perfectness in obedience unto death. The eye is opened on the divine beauty of that human walk, and the unutterable perfection of that death which was not that the Prince of this world had anything in Him, but that the world might know that He loved the Father, and as the Father had given Him commandment, so He did. But a sinner cannot gaze thus on this but through the efficacy of a redemption which has reconciled him to God and given him a part and a place in and with the now glorified Savior who is gone to His Father and our Father, His God and our God; words never used, and. which never could be used till He was risen from the dead, and could tell to His redeemed ones, calling them then first "brethren," what He had obtained for them, declare His Father's name to them, as One into the full light of whose countenance He was re-entered after drinking the cup of wrath for them, and thus, as He declares, and not before, in the midst of the Church sing praise to Him. Oh, what a difference between the position of those that, through redemption, have a part with Him gone up as a man into glory, and the vanity of empty ceremonies! for in such case they are so, though most precious when scripturally used, a pretended extension of incarnation, without any redemption at all.

But the very object proposed to us by Ritualists is false and unscriptural in this salvation by incarnation and its extension by sacraments. They say that the object proposed is reunion with God by incarnation. Reunion with God is simple nonsense. Save in the person of the blessed Lord there is no union of God and man, nor never was, still less a reunion. Adam was not united to God when innocent. He was His offspring, [the son] of God, living by a life breathed into his nostrils by his, divine Creator, but there was no union. The union of man and God is the sole prerogative of the Word made flesh. It is incarnation, and that is true of none but Him. And when the Word was made flesh it was in a divinely ordered and miraculous way, He was conceived by the. Holy Ghost so that that born of the virgin was a holy thing, true flesh and blood surely, but untainted by sin. And this is true now of no other humanity. All are born in sin, and there is no question of any union or reunion with dod, nor is the idea in any way scriptural nor is there union with the Lord in incarnation, He was among them " the holy thing;" but He was alone, God and man in one person, but not united to men, to sinful, corrupt man; but, having miraculously formed sinless manhood in His own person. The union with Godhead was now, for the first time, and only here. Reunion there was none; it was not reestablishing an incarnation which had place in the first Adam, for there was none. Incarnation, or union of man with God, was found in Christ alone. We are united to a glorified Christ by the Holy Ghost. It is the man whom God has raised from the dead, whom, as we have seen, God has given to be head over all things to the Church. The avowed foundation of Ritualism is deadly error and heresy.

Another point may require more development. The visible and invisible Church. We have already seen that Christ declared He would build His Church, and that both Peter and Paul speak of that progressive work, by which the building is carried on, to be completed only in glory. Set up, no doubt, perfect at first, but carried on by the Lord by the addition of living stones, and this without recognizing any human hand in it. Nay, speaking so as to exclude man's work, whatever wood, hay and stubble might be put by man into the manifested building on earth. But there was, also, as we have seen, an external, visible building, called withal "God's building," into the formation of which, day by day, the responsibility of man entered, built with gold and silver, and with wood and hay or stubble, yea defiled, corrupted by man. The great principle of Popery and (of its poor imitation) Anglicanism, is to appropriate all the intrinsic principles of the body formed by the Holy Ghost—such as being members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven—to those who have been admitted by man into the outward and visible manifestation of the body, or the building upon earth (for these they, with equal ignorance, confound together) and, in order to this, they have attributed to baptism (which is the ordinance by which men are received into the Christian company) what it is not even the figure of, namely, communication of life, and union with Christ. We have seen, and Scripture is express as to it, that baptism is a figure of death, and that the Spirit is the giver of life. Baptism receives a man outwardly, publicly, and actually amongst Christians, where the privileges conferred on these people in this world are found. But it is responsible man's building, not the Lord and His grace adding only living stones, forming members of His body. No doubt, at first, the ostensible body and the real members of Christ were identical, because the Lord added daily to the Church such as should be saved; but, as to the earthly building, the insertion of wood, hay and stubble are doctrinally contemplated, and false brethren, coming in unawares, historically recorded. The sacramental Church was not identical in principle with the body formed by the Holy Ghost, and, in fact, soon ceased to be so, as to its limits.

This the apostle intimates with warning, when he declares that all Israel were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink;.... but with many of them God was not well pleased. So a Christian may belong sacramentally to the Church, as Simon did, and have neither part nor lot in the matter, have nothing to do with life in salvation, be still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity. Not "have sinned away baptismal grace," as they say, but not have any part in grace at all; false brethren, spots in the feasts of charity, while they feast with Christians, yet baptized members of the ostensible, visible body. If I turn from the statement of actual circumstances to the prophetic statements of Scripture, I read that in the last days perilous times will come.... there will be a form of godliness denying the power,—from such, turn away; that is, the ostensible body is wholly corrupt, so that the obedient Christian is to turn away; and in Rom. 11 This responsibility of the professing body is definitely pressed on the conscience, comparison is made with the cutting off of the Jews, and it is added: Upon thee goodness, if thou continue in His goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. To say that the body of Christ will be cut off from Christ, would be simply monstrous; but the external system which supplanted Judaism will; that is, Scripture contemplates an external thing connected with the responsibility of man, as well as the true body of Christ, and the house which the Lord builds—and to appropriate the conferring the possession of the privileges of the one to the forms of the other is to falsify all the teaching of Scripture, as to the body of Christ, and the substance of these privileges, the true force of being born of God and partaking of the divine nature, and union with Christ the head, and to falsify the true character and import of the forms themselves. None are more ignorant of what the Church is than the Anglicans, who talk so much about it.

The body is always real; there can be no false members of it. It is formed by the Holy Ghost and not by sacraments at all, though the Lord's Supper symbolizes its unity. The house is building by Christ, and in this there is no bad building, but it is only growing into a temple. But there is a building in which man builds, in which wood and hay and stubble have been built in, and which will be cut off, where Apostacy sets in, which is become as a great house, in which are vessels to dishonor as well as to honor—vessels from which the obedient Christian has to purge himself. We must not confound what Christ builds and what man has built. Against the former the gates of hell shall not prevail: in the latter we may expect wood, hay and stubble. We may expect to find a great house in which are vessels to dishonor, from which we have to purge ourselves—a form of godliness in the last days, denying the power, from which we have to turn away—and, having found it, know that the Gentile branches have not continued in God's goodness, and that it will be cut off. Solemn testimony to Christians. Is there anything which we ought more to lay to heart; anything more deeply affecting, than the ruin of that which was planted in grace, in glory and in beauty?

I have done with the substance of these important questions. I add some remarks on the fallacies which prejudice or ignorance has introduced into the statement of the questions to be treated of. And the ignorance of these Essayists is very great. Now, only note what is assumed or slipped in without any proof. "The visible Church," it is said, "that is, a divinely instituted body, and an equally divinely instituted, appointed government of the visible body." Now we have seen that, in speaking of the body, Scripture is clear; but connection of a divinely appointed government of the body there is none. Gifts there are, members of the body, and manifested in the visible body; but it is to be remarked that the government of the Church, save as gifts in power—" helps, governments "—is never in any way connected with the body, visible or invisible. Elders were appointed, as we have seen, in each Church; but their office was local, not like the gifts set in the Church. I notice this, because it is the secret of the whole papal edifice, confounding gifts and offices. This made the clergy gradually come in, for open ministry continued a good while in some parts, but the confusion went on till office became the exclusive guarantee for gift. But a divinely appointed government had nothing to do with the body as such. Now, unity is made to depend on, yea, to consist in it.

Of priesthood I have spoken. Of mysteries, and means and channels of grace, we may speak elsewhere; but a divinely appointed priesthood, other than that of all Christians, is a mere lie of the enemy. If not, let it be shown. And here I beg to insert Tertullian's, and still better the Apostle John's, rule, that what was at the first is right. The Scriptures are the earliest historical testimony we have, and divinely given. They tell us what was divinely appointed at the beginning. It is in vain to talk of interpretation here. I believe every one taught of God can use them. It is wicked, Satanic fraud, to deprive the Church of the Scriptures. They were written, save three epistles, to the flock, not to ministers, but by them. But certainly, as a history, they are worth the corrupt and interpolated trash which is palmed on the unlearned as the Fathers’. But Luke, Peter, John, Jude, Paul, James, know no such priesthood. If they do, let it be shown. I say their history of the Church denies it. One taught of the Holy Ghost by the word abhors it, as of the enemy.

Again I find in one essay: "The body itself is a visible community, a kingdom." This is very mischievous confusion. The body of Christ is not His kingdom. It is very convenient to assume it, but there is no ground for it whatever. His body is Himself, His kingdom is what He rules over, apart from Himself, He being King over it. King of the Church is a thing unknown to Scripture. When He takes to Him His power and reigns, it will be over all the world. The field is the world now. The devil's work [the tares] is in the scene of His kingdom now. They are not members of His body. We are His body, His bride—of His flesh and of His bones. His kingdom is not that. He does not nourish and cherish His kingdom, He governs it, not His bride and His body. There is not a more mischievous error on these points than what is assumed here as a thing to be taken for granted. The kingdom may be realized within certain limits, and so far as to limits coincide as Christendom, with the professing church; but the field is the whole world, and the form that the kingdom takes, in fact, is the work of the enemy as much as of the Lord. That is not true of the body, and shows the profound evil of the false doctrine which makes baptism the means of communicating life and introduction by union into the body, for a large part of what is in the kingdom is introduced by Satan, namely, the tares, which are to be burned. Have they had life and union with Christ communicated to them by the sacrament of baptism? And let it not be said here: "Yes, but being the seed of the wicked one, they have lost it again." In the parable, they are introduced by Satan, and the theory of the Anglican Catholic is—that they are introduced by baptism, and union thereby. Can there be a greater or more deplorable confusion?

There are a few general remarks I would make in conclusion, to clear up the whole question. It is not the existence of a visible Church which is denied by the Evangelical world. Everyone knows there is such a thing. That there is a Christendom, which, as a religion in the world, can be contrasted with Heathens, Jews and Mohammedans. But Evangelicals do not see the responsibility of the visible Church, and that there ought to be, as there was, a maintenance of corporate unity as a testimony for the glory of Christ. They do not see that Christians were bound to maintain unity and godliness. They do, consequently, content themselves with individual salvation, the individuals being Members of the invisible body of Christ. But the Anglican Catholics do worse; they attribute all the privileges of the true body of Christ to the outward, baptized professors, and the truth of divine operation in the soul, all moral power, all reality in the religion of Christ, is lost. The soul has nothing to say to God in being saved. Christianity becomes a mummery of ordinances, making righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost—the true moral reconciliation with God in a new nature, by the Holy Ghost, in a conscience purged by the blood of Christ—immaterial to the possession of the privileges of Christianity. It is really gross Antinomiamism, with all its legality. Eternal life, and union with Christ, are acquired without any consciousness of real change in the person: this is simply of Satan. For the kingdom of God is in power, it is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The true Christian is really reconciled to God, there is a renewing of the Holy Ghost, which is shed on us abundantly. But further, as regards the visible Church itself; the Anglican Catholics, too, have lost the sense of the Church's responsibility. For the outward visible Church is divided; it is more; the parts most esteemed by the Anglican Catholic are grossly corrupted, full of superstition, idolatry, vice and error. Its history has been the history of the worst vices, the worst corruption in the world; not sought out by secret search, but in the open day. We have a Greek Church, a Nestorian Church, a Jacobite Church, a Latin Church, an Anglican Church, who have no communion one with another, and those of the most pretentious are the most corrupt. Has the Church, then, met its responsibility? Has it continued in God's goodness? Has it waited for its Lord from Heaven? Or has it beat the men-servants and maid-servants and eaten and drunk with the drunken? If it has done the latter, its portion is to be cut asunder and to have its portion with the unbelievers, to be cut off. And the attributing the privileges of the body of Christ to this corrupt, external system, slighting its responsibility and insensible to its failure, is the most fatal delusion, hurrying those seduced by it to their final destruction. It is the worst, proudest denial of the responsibility of the visible Church, a seared conscience, which can pretend to security in privileges, as the Jews of old, where God has announced judgment because of the state they are in. If the universal Church is in a normal state, why so much pains to make out its case, to re-unite it, to heal its open public divisions? If it be in a fallen state, are we not to think of its responsibility and see what is the result according to the word of God? What is the effect of a doctrine which leads the visible Church to claim the possession and power to communicate, by ordinances, its highest privileges, without the slightest reference to its fallen state, with a conscience perfectly dead to the evil, which, if God's word be true, is surely bringing on its judgment. Our Essayists, on this very ground of communication of life and union with Christ by ordinances, slight and blame individual earnestness about salvation, individual sorrow for sin, individual peace obtained by grace through faith, Christ having made peace. These are thus described: "A certain consciousness of personal interest in these truths, and a sense of general unworthiness, and further sense of the removal of that unworthiness in the belief and apprehension of these truths, the whole matter of salvation being a personal one.. "

Now this is a very feeble statement of personal conviction of sin and faith; but Scripture does deal with the individual and with conscience. It teaches the doctrine of the Church—we have spoken of it—and of a Church which ought to be visible, holy and one. I have no wish to avoid or enfeeble this part of truth; on the contrary, I desire to press it, as I have done, according to my ability, on Christians; but that withal they should have the deep sense of how we have failed and it is ruined; but it is ignorance, or worse, which would put this in opposition to personal, individual salvation; and the Anglican Catholic system is guilty of this. Save the exhortations of chap. 12, all the epistle to the Romans is individual. In all the epistles of John everything is individual. In Galatians the teaching is individual, and I might add a great deal more; but, besides this, the ruin of the visible Church itself is contemplated, the perilous times of the last days are spoken of, and the judgment of God on its departure, and its apostacy. Not only is salvation individual, but the individual Christian is called upon, at his peril, to judge the state of the Church, to purge himself from vessels to dishonor; to turn away from such and such, from forms of godliness without the power; to depart from all iniquity-where the foundation of God stands sure; but having this seal (not a recognized, visible Church, but) the Lord knoweth them that are His; and when the Lord judges the state of the Church, whoever has ears is called upon to hear what is said to them; the state is one to be judged, not trusted in; the individual's duty is to give heed to what the Lord pronounced upon it. Not only is salvation necessarily individual, but, when the responsible Church is judged, and the Lord, by His testimony, declares that state, the individual Christian is solemnly, and by divine authority, called upon individually to give heed to that testimony, and act according to it. It is at his peril if he neglects the warning injunction, and, if that be the call of God, what shall we say of a system which sets up the authority of that which is to be judged, and closes the ear of the pious against the warning and summons of God to look at the state the Church is in? And let not anyone speak of interpreting Scripture, and its being for the Church; that is, for the clergy to interpret. It was written by the inspired clergy, if people are pleased to call them so, to the Christian people, and for the Christian people. Only three short epistles can be pretended to be written for ministers, and these are now, even so, a part of the common heritage of the Church of God—and as regards the warning of Christ's judging in the midst of the Churches, whoever has ears to hear is called upon peremptorily to give heed to them. The voice of the Lord claims his attention, his individual heed, to His judgment of the state which surrounds the saint in the Church. It is disobedience to the voice of the Lord, addressed distinctively to the individual Christian, and attention to it marks one who has ears to hear, and the judgment of Christ on the state of the Church is that to which he is to give heed. What is judged cannot be a rule and a guide, when we are called to give heed to the judgment, and to guide ourselves by it in our position, in that which is judged. And to make (when thus judged) the judged Church a conclusive and binding rule, is open contempt of the authority of Christ. We are bound to hear Christ, and to act on what we hear, Christ singling out the individual and making him responsible for what is communicated to him, as to Christ's judgment of the Church. I repeat-not to give heed and obey is to slight Christ Himself. And what is substituted for this giving heed to the testimony of God, which claims our attention? What has, been justly called Ecclesiastical Millinery. But, if the Matter be looked at as beneath the surface, it is subjection to ordinances, the denial of being dead and risen with Christ; in which is the force and power of Christianity (Col. 2). A return to the religiousness of the flesh, as if we were alive before God as unredeemed children of Adam. A keeping of days and months and years which, though from Jewish influence, is, the apostle declares, a return to heathenism (Gal. 4:9,10), because as shadows they were instructive before Christ came, who was the substance, but, taken up now, are the rudiments of the world to which we are crucified with Christ; declaring that we have not died to it with Christ, that we are living in the world as children of Adam, subject to its rudiments, not holding the head, certainly not Jews with instructive shadows, but heathens in the flesh, following its religion and abrogated ceremonies. Such are the beggarly and condemned elements which are given to us instead of living union with the head, Christ, by the presence and power of the Spirit of God, and a conscience perfected towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Remarks on the Church and the World: Part 3

I admit the Lord's Supper to be the center of true worship. I admit, and I adore such ineffable goodness, that Christ leads the praises of gathered spiritual worshippers: "In the midst of the church," we read, "will I sing praise unto thee." But as these essayists, have used neglected truths in other cases to pervert the minds of the simple, of those not guarded by the Word, so they have done here.

But we are speaking of worship, and to know what worship is, one must be a true worshipper; and in this case they have, from the very outset of their pretentious teaching, made statements which prove them wholly ignorant of what true worship is; and I must add that throughout the article there is that ignorance of Scripture and Scriptural truth which characterizes the school. I am not disposed to deny the existence of piety in many of those brought under the influence of these views.

Where redemption is not known and imagination is strong, piety naturally runs into ordinances and what are called mysteries, for ordinances are the religion of the flesh, and where redemption is not known, man, as to the state of his mind, must religiously be in the flesh.

There is, and can be, no walking in the light as God is in the light, for redemption must be experimentally known for that; nor the happy, childlike yet adoring confidence and liberty which cries for itself "Abba, Father;" and as the soul cannot be in liberty with God (a liberty which is exercised in adoration, for the nearer we are to God the more we adore His greatness, and have done with ourselves), it brings God by imagination, not faith, in an awful way near to us in our actual state, and we adore the image formed by our own minds, and are subject to ordinances, have a morbid delight in mysteries, "tremendous mysteries," "transcendant mysteries." I do not say there, is no piety in the article we are occupied with, but there is great pretension to spirituality:

"We speak of truths profoundly spiritual, and needing to be spiritually discerned, though liable, alas! like other high spiritual truths, to be unbelievingly rejected by unspiritual minds, or, if unspiritually embraced, to be perverted" (p.316).

Our essayist of course discerns spiritually these profoundly spiritual truths, neither rejects them as having an unspiritual mind, nor perverts them by embracing them unspiritually. His is a spiritual mind, embracing spiritually high spiritual truths, truths profoundly spiritual. Christ's acts are "embraced in all simplicity of devout affection." This good opinion of self is accompanied by slight and sarcasm cast on the authorities who are over them, the Anglican prelates.

"These would-be iron rulers, whose lightest word would now be obeyed with alacrity, did they know how to show themselves true 'Fathers in God,' would then (i.e., if they cause a schism by 'a mere cold, unsympathetic repression ') (p. 319), have time to reflect in the dull peace of the solitude they had made and might haply come at last to the conviction that, after all, they had ‘fought against God,' and with the usual result—'their own confusion'" (p. 319).

So previously, " Little do some of our Fathers in God seem to reek of the anguish, not unmixed with indignation, caused to faithful souls by the shallow denials of unpopular truths into which they allow themselves to be drawn"? This incessant threatening of ecclesiastical authorities, if they do not acquiesce in and further the movement, is characteristic of the party. Mr. Newman used the same unholy means, and it is now the common weapon to overawe those whom these high-worded men profess to obey, and force them to silence, at least while they carry on their schemes. Do not resist us, they say, or we will make a split in the church.

The utterly unchristian character of such a course is too evident to need comment. But let us see what these, if we are to believe their own account of themselves, profoundly spiritual men, these discoverers of high spiritual truths, have to say for themselves and their doctrine when soberly weighed in the light of God's Word to which they themselves appeal.

Let us do them justice. They declare that there is no repetition or reiteration of the sacrifice of Christ, but that Christ is always offering on high His one sacrifice, and that the ordained priest on earth is doing the same thing on earth, presenting the one unrepeated sacrifice constantly on the altar to God.

"And what does Christ now offer as our Ever-living Priest in the Heavenly Temple? What but His own most precious Body and Blood, the one saving Victim to make reconciliation for our sins and unite Heaven and earth in one " (p. 306).

"The continued offering of a sacrifice, made once for all, does not necessarily imply any repetition " (p. 307). "And this continual offering and presentation of a sacrifice once made, is itself a sacrificial act, and constitutes him who does it a priest" (p. 307). " It is a Propitiatory Sacrifice, as pleading before God for all the successive generations," etc. (p. 307).

"Thus, what the Christian priest does at the altar, is, as it were the earthly form and visible expression of our LORD'S continual action as our High Priest in Heaven " (p. 308). "The earthly priest ... does on earth that which Jesus does in Heaven. Rather we should say, according to that great principle which is the true key to the whole theory of the Christian ministry, it is Jesus who is Himself the Priest, the offerer of His own great sacrifice, in both cases " (p. 309).

This is connected with perpetual intercession.

"But though He repeats not the Sacrifice, nor can again offer Himself as a Victim unto death, yet in His perpetual intercession for us He perpetually, as it were, appealeth to it " (p. 307).

"Christian Worship is really the earthly exhibition of Christ's perpetual Intercession as the sole High Priest of His Church " (p. 299).

Thus intercession is, according to our essayist, the highest act of worship, Christ Himself carrying it on in heaven. Now, to say nothing else, the statement that Christ is worshipping in heaven, is itself a strange proposition. He is worshipped there, of which more anon; but where shall we find the blessed Lord worshipping in heaven? Not in Scripture, and not in any divinely taught mind, I believe. When He is brought into the world again, all the angels are called on to worship Him, and when the Lamb takes the book to open it in the Revelation, all fall down before Him and declare His worthiness. But who ever heard of Christ's worshipping in heaven? This, while pretending to be profound spirituality and high spiritual truth, flows from what shows total ignorance of what worship is, mistaking intercession for worship.

Intercession is not worship at all. Christ surely intercedes for us, and His intercession is based on His perfect work, and carried on as the perfect one in heaven, whether we speak of a high priest with God, or an advocate with the Father; but intercession applies to infirmity or failure. We have a great high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted in all points like as we are; "and having suffered being tempted, is able to succor those that are tempted." "He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

I will touch upon the offering and sacrifice in which He is alleged to worship on high in a moment, but intercession never is worship. It is done for others, for their actual failures, or infirmities which make them liable to fail; its only connection with worship that can be alleged is the analogy of the golden plate on the high priest's forehead, and his bearing the iniquity of Israel's holy things; but this only confirms what I have said, that the priestly service of intercession applies to failure. It is the same as regards the analogous case of advocate with the Father. "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins."

The abiding efficacy of this propitiation, no divinely taught soul denies. We cannot be too thankful for it; but the abiding, unchangeable, efficacy of Christ's propitiation for us, is not His worshipping, nor is intercession worshipping, but pleading for others in respect of infirmities and failures.

Worship is altogether another thing. It is the heart rising up through the power and operation of the Spirit of God in praise, thanksgiving, and adoration, for what God has done and does, and for what He is, as we know Him in Christ. The returning up by the Spirit from our hearts in adoration and praise of what has been revealed and descended in grace through Christ to us, expressed in our present relationship to God, the going up of the heart in spirit and in truth to our God and Father in the full knowledge of Him.

Worship is the expression of what is in our own heart to God according to the holy claim He has upon us, and the full revelation He has made of Himself to us. Intercession is intervention with God for another. Christ may be present in Spirit to lead the praises of His saints, and offer also their praises on high that they may be accepted.

It may be in the eternal state that He may lead our praises in glory, but to present Him as carrying on real worship Himself in heaven, and us as entering into it or doing the like sacramentally on earth, is nearer blasphemy and heresy than profound spirituality, though I may acquit the writer of being intentionally guilty of it, and is the result of the egregious blunder of making intercession to be worship. 1 will now consider what is said of the continual offering of the sacrifice. I will not retort the charge of scandalous carelessness or scandalous dishonesty, bandied against the opponent of the writer for his manner of quoting Tertullian.

It certainly is a more serious thing to deal so with Scripture than with that honest and able but heady and unsubdued writer, who, after proving by necessarily legal prescription that it was a sin to leave the great professing body of the church, left it himself (because it was so worldly and corrupt), to throw himself under the power of the fanatical reveries of Montanus, and was as ardent in condemning as once in maintaining the authority of what was held to be Catholic unity.

Let us see rather how our Essayist quotes Scripture to prove his point. I recall to the reader that they say there is no repetition of the sacrifice, only He is ever offering it to God.

The passage quoted is, " For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer." After quoting the latter part of this, the writer adds, " And what does Christ now offer, as our Ever-living Priest in the Heavenly Temple? What but His own most precious Body and Blood, the one saving Victim to make reconciliation for our sins, and unite Heaven and earth in one?" I omit noticing the latter part of this, which, by its obscurity, defies analysis or answer.

Is Christ then a victim now? Is He now making reconciliation for our sins? If not, the sentence has

nothing to do with the matter, it is not applicable now. If it means that He is, it is a denial of the plain, positive, Christian doctrine that believers are reconciled.

"You hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death" (Col. 1:21,22, and 2 Cor. 5:18). "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself." Probably it is ignorance of the Gospel and

Scripture, and I leave it to pursue the question of sacrifice.

Why did the writer omit what goes a few verses before "Who needeth not daily as these high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once (εφαπαξ once for all), when he offered up himself." The passage speaks of the actual offering, as a sacrifice to God (αναφερει). He did, this (εφαπαξ) once for all. And on this the apostle insists as contrasted with the Jewish sacrifices, that the work was effectually, finally done by one single act of sacrifice, done only once and completely; once and once for all, excluding constant, subsequent, as well as repeated offering. Thus Heb. 10 By his own blood he entered in once (εφαπαξ) into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption. And again (and note here the passage refers to his entering into the holy place where it is pretended lie still offers his sacrifice): "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us." Now here is the very place to lead us to that truth of profound spirituality, the constant offering of His sacrifice to God. Alas! rather, thank God, it is just the contrary. "Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world he bath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." That is, when His appearing personally in heaven is the subject, not only has the Holy Ghost not a word to say of this profoundly spiritual truth, but He negatives any such thought. It was once, in the end of the world, the sacrifice of Himself was made, and as it was appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.

It is not, He does not suffer as once, but He offers Himself continually; but He does not offer Himself; for if He did, He must suffer.

The doctrine of a perpetual sacrifice in any and every shape, is a simple denial of Christian truth on the subject and of the efficacy of Christ's one sacrifice. The once, once for all, is the especial theme of the teaching of the Holy Ghost on the subject when it is elaborately treated of, excluding continuation, as well as repetition. The Epistle adds: "But this man, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down (εις το διηνεκες) on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool; for by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified." He was not standing offering often times, as the Jewish priests, but when He had offered one, forever sat down (εις το διηνεκες), i.e., He had not to get up and offer anything any more, and the reason was, by that one He had perfected forever the sanctified.

When He rises up it will be to deal with His enemies as His footstool. As to His friends, the sanctified ones, God remembers their sins no more, and "where remission of these is there is no more offering for sins." Is there, or is there not? It is unconscious infidelity in the efficacy of Christ's one sacrifice to think there is;—there is no such thing as a προσφορα περι ἀμαρτιας now; no bringing anything to God about sin. It has been done once (εφαπαξ), once for all.

I repeat, it is a simple denial of the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice which purges the conscience and has obtained eternal redemption, the proof given by the Holy Ghost that it had been offered once for all, that it was eternally efficacious, and that there could be no more.

No doubt His intercession is founded on the efficacy of His sacrifice, but that is not the question. The question is, does He in any sense offer it now? The words of my author are, "the continual offering of a sacrifice made once for all," and, "it is a propitiatory sacrifice." Now this, the Epistle, in every shape and form denies.

He is speaking of offering sacrifice when he says "this he did once (εφαπαξ, once for all)?" He is speaking of it when he says, "there is no more offering for sin," where he declares that it cannot be, because "by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." We have its being once for all, as προσφορα, i.e. the presenting to God to be a sacrifice before Him; and with the word ανενεγκε, the technical word for actually offering up. We are told by the Essayist, He might offer it without being a suffering victim; the word says, “He must often have suffered if it was not once for all." It is a vital point, and handled consequently in every shape in which the devices of the enemy could undermine its efficacy. It is the keystone of Christianity as to acceptance with God and eternal redemption.

We are referred to the Apocalypse as introducing us to these scenes. Well, and what does it show us? The Lamb presenting His sacrifice and worshipping? Far from it. The Lamb in the midst of the throne, and beasts and elders falling down before Him. You may find angelical figures of priesthood it may be; but Christ presenting His offering, or worshipping, never. Did the writer ever read what he is referring to? But all is blundering in these statements. We have, by way of accurate Greek, This is My Body which is being given, This is My Blood which is being shed. That from John 13, the Lord is contemplating His going away and speaking in view of His heavenly position, is perfectly true, but the pretending that it means "is now being given," "now being poured out" (p. 305), that is in the last supper, is, save in the general sense that it was not yet, but was going to be accomplished, or that it was "a sacrificial act," is all a delusion; the very passage (p. 305) in which it is stated, proves the absurdity of it. "The declaration of Himself as the Lamb of God, the very Paschal Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world.... then and there offered by Himself," etc. Now "that taketh away the sin of the world" was spoken by John the Baptist at the very commencement of the blessed Lord's ministerial life, yet it is the ὁ αιρων, the present time. The fact is, such present tenses are characteristic, and do not refer to time. It is a broken body and a shed blood we feed on, not a living Messiah simply.

Thus ὁ σπειρων is the sower, he that sows. He that enters in by the door is the shepherd. He that enteretly not in by the door, where it is evidently characteristic. So in John 6, "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood."

But it is useless to multiply examples. It is the commonest thing possible, and the rather that the case referred to by the Essayist proves the fallacy of it, because, "He that taketh away the sin of the world is, upon his own showing, not the sacrificial period, yet it is the present tense.

We are told that the Church triumphant and the Church on earth are all one, we are " the outer court;" both worship Christ presenting His offering in heaven actually, and on earth in the Eucharist; of this last we have spoken. But all is error. There is no Church triumphant. That all departed Christians, whose spirits are now with Christ, will finally make one body is quite true; and that when absent from the body they are present with the Lord, so that to depart and be with Christ is far better, this too it is most blessed to know. It has made death to be a gain. But there is no Church triumphant. For that we must wait till the resurrection. The saints in their complete state, that is, conformed to the image of Christ, bearing the image of the heavenly, are not yet ascended nor glorified. Their spirits happy with the Lord, await the day of glory, which Christ Himself, though glorified, is awaiting.

David is not yet ascended into heaven. And however confused and contradictory the ideas of the early doctors may have been, and on this point they were confusion itself, still early liturgies and all early teaching recognized this; for they prayed for the departed, what afterward, under Jewish traditions, became purgatory.

What subsequently was turned into the saints praying for us, was at first the Church on earth praying for the saints, and this was so distinctly the case, that Epiphanius makes it the proper difference of the person of Christ, that whereas even the Virgin Mary was prayed for, Christ was not. That all sorts of contradictions may be found in the Fathers as to it, I freely admit, but what I state is notoriously true, and known to every one who has a very slight knowledge of church history. You may find, even as a distinct privilege of saints, that they had at once the beatific vision, but a triumphant Church was contradicted by the early doctrine of prayers for the dead: that is certain. Nor is the notion of a triumphant Church scriptural, nor is Christ on His own throne now, but on the Father's throne, sitting at the right hand of God till His enemies are made His footstool. The distinction I have referred to of saints who do see God on high is wholly unscriptural. The whole Church is composed of saints, and none are glorified. The praying for them may be a superstition, but it proves that the early Church held what contradicts a triumphant one, worshipping in heaven while we do on earth. But not only is the especial teaching on the point of sacrifice contradictory to the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying that there is a continual sacrifice, the Epistle declaring that there is none; saying that the Lord need not go through what He once went through, the Epistle that He must suffer often if His sacrifice, once for all, was not complete and final; saying that there is a continual offering now, and even that it is propitiatory, the Epistle that it was done once for all—not only is the teaching of the article exactly the opposite of the especial point of the reasoning of the Epistle, but it betrays a total absence of the knowledge of what sin is, what redemption, what reconciliation; so that the whole form and substance of thought is false.

The notions as to Adam and angels, are unfounded. That the angels worship may be freely admitted; that Adam would have done so, we do not doubt; but to attribute surrender of self to them, as if that too was worship, has no ground whatever; there is nothing to surrender; their duty is to stay in the place where they are, such as they are, and just as they are. They delight to serve according to their nature, they have nothing to give up, no selfish will to surrender. Christ could give up His place as to manifested glory and take upon Himself the form of a servant as man, for He was God.

We have to yield ourselves to God as those alive from the dead (and it is a blessed privilege of the liberty wherewith Christ has, made us free), because we have had a selfish will. But in neither case has it anything to do with worship. It may be sovereign grace, it may be duty, through sovereign grace towards us, never worship. Holy and innocent creatures have nothing to do with it. There may be in us a common source of both self-sacrifice and worship. God recovering His rights in the heart; but, save that, one has nothing to do with the other. But the writer's notion of sacrifice betrays his total ignorance of divine truth on these points, that conscience is wholly dead, and that darkness reigns in the mind. Cain, he tells us, did right in offering the fruits of the ground, only something else should be also offered. " This was right." ... . "But this was not enough" (p. 304).

God says to Cain, " If thou doest well shalt not thou be accepted?" but he was not accepted here, so that he did not do well. It is really monstrous, when it is written, " to Cain and to his offering God had not respect," to say, "this was right." Offering, worship, drawing near to God, is supposed not only possible, but right, only insufficient without redemption. It is a denial of all Christian truth. There was no faith in it, as we know from Hebrews; no sense that they were excluded from Paradise for sin, and could not, without redemption, draw near to God, and it slighted the appointed and needed sacrifice, instituted, our writer tells us, by God Himself, which I in no way dispute. He was bringing, so blinded in heart and conscience was he; the marks of the curse as an offering to God, and pretending to approach God in the very state in which God had driven out the man because be was in that state. In a word, an offering which proved that there was no faith, no sense of sin, no conscience of God's judgment executed against man, an entire passing by God's instituted and only way of coming back to Him—a state so really hardened as to bring the sign of the curse to God as an offering "was right."

Nothing can betray more completely the state of mind of the writer, his incompetency to speak on such a subject, than his declaring to be right what God had no respect to; what, if we examine its true character, was the demonstration of a hardened conscience and an utterly blinded heart, breaking out in open rebellion thereupon, and ultimate exclusion from the presence of the Lord, and a mark set upon him of perpetual memorial. We may reverently say, If his path was right, what was God's? But this is the expression of the great general principle of Ritualism—incarnation, reuniting man to God, and sacraments an extension of that, leaving out the place redemption has in the truth of God according to the necessity of His nature and character. So sacrifice, we are told, means the act of offering or presenting an oblation before Almighty God.

Now this very vague statement leaves all the truth untold. We can offer ourselves, everything, to God: our bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God—not that this is worship; but must not Christ come first? That is the question. Can sinful man return to God without redemption? If not, if the nature and will and righteousness and holiness of God requires this, so that if the Son took up our cause He must suffer and die, what makes sacrifice thus vague, an act of offering without bringing in redemption is high treason against Christ, apostacy from the only truth. Besides, it is beguiling after all the English reader.

The word specifically rendered sacrifice Zebach, comes from "to slay," and is in contrast with meat offerings and burnt offerings. When the sacrifices are instituted representing Christ, the burnt offering comes first. Christ's offering Himself to death and the αναφερειν, or offering up to God, was on the altar; there was the sweet savor, an offering made by fire. The testing, consuming judgment of God brought out only what was the delight of God.

The προσφορα was the presenting an oblation before God, and this though a first preliminary was not the sacrifice in the true sense of the word, nor could any offering of a sacrifice come after the sacrifice was made. The altar and fire were needed, or there was no sweet savor, no offering made by fire, and this was true of the Mincha or unbloody sacrifice, it was burnt on the altar and so became a sacrifice. It was presented to be one, but it was not one before that. There was no sweet savor till then.

It was not an Ishah, an offering made by fire, a sweet savor to the Lord, and this is always kept up. The two leavened cakes of Pentecost were presented, but they could not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savor. And this Minchas or meal offerings, were offered with the other offerings, and as the burnt offering showed Christ's perfectness in death as an absolute offering to God, ever sinless, but now offered up, so the meal offering showed his perfectness unto death, the pure man, born of the Spirit, anointed with the Spirit, all the frankincense of His grace going up to the Lord, finally burnt on the altar to God, but the food withal of the priests. In its own way death, the altar, the fire was as much brought in here as for the burnt offering. No Christian doubts the perfectness, and perfect-obedience of Christ all the way along, but here it became a sweet savor perfected on the altar of God. And the peace offerings which witness communion, not simply the acting of Christ towards God, confirm this fully. The fat was burned to God, was the food of God, as expressed in the third of Leviticus, before the flesh became the food of the offerer and his guests, and if this feeding on the flesh was too far removed from God's part in it; from the burning of the fat on the altar, it was iniquity not communion, the sacrifice on the altar, the work of redemption. The fire of God consuming the sacrifice or its fat, must be, for any sweet savor or any communion. It is this that Ritualism is directed against. "The word ‘sacrifice’ means ‘a presenting an oblation before Almighty God,'" This is, whosever the sentence is, dishonesty or ignorance of divine things. There was no sweet savor but in offerings made by fire. Presenting it to God, was not the true sacrificial act, the sweet savor to God. There must for that be the hiktir as well as the hikriv, the αναφερειν, as well as the προσφερειν; and in the only case where there was not this because of leaven, it was not a sweet savor to God. Further, when application of sacrifice to man was made, it always began with the sin offering.

When it presents Christ abstractedly, the burnt offering is first, then the Mincha, then the peace offering, then the sin offering. Christ was made this, made sin for us, but having become a man, all that He was for God as sacrifice, began with blood-shedding, and in every case its being burnt on the altar made it to be a sweet savor as an offering made by fire; but where there is application, that is, where man profits by it, the. Sin offering comes first; till this is done there cannot be any other, no enjoyment of Christ as a perfect offering of sweet savor to God, for the sin offering was not an offering for a sweet savor, though as a general rule the fat was burnt on the altar, for Christ was thus Himself perfect for God in that wherein He was made sin. Still for the sinner there must be the perfect putting away of sin by the work of the cross before he can enter into God's presence in the sweet savor of Christ's work. Redemption in the work, redemption in application, must come first, before there can be any approach of a sinner to God, though God be love, yea because He is so.

To say therefore that a sacrifice is the act of offering or presenting an oblation before Almighty God, is

utterly false; for the presenting of the victim, the προσφορα, did not make it a sacrifice at all, nor the presenting of the fine flour or cakes even. It was when ανενεγκε, when it had been offered up on the altar, that it became a sweet savor to God, a true sacrifice. It was not always a living creature, for there was a meal offering added, Christ's perfect human nature and offering as born and anointed of the Spirit, but it was made by fire on the altar of God, or was no sacrifice. The whole paragraph (p. 302) ignores the true nature of sacrifice, though necessary for the system of the continual presenting of Christ on no altar at all. We are told Melchisedek offered bread and wine. This however often repeated is a mere fable. He brought forth (hoze) bread and wine. There is no hint of a sacrifice, no sacrificial word. People may have repeated it till they believed it, but there is not a hint of it in the passage, but the contrary, and so entirely excluded is redemption and the efficacious work of Christ by which it is wrought, in order to introduce this idle notion of Christ's sacrificial worship in heaven, so entirely is the value of His person as of the essence of true sacrifice ignored, that we are told that "the essence of sacrifice as such, that which has made it, and we can hardly doubt, by God's original primeval appointment, to be the chiefest and most important act of worship in every religion, whether Patriarchal, Jewish, Gentile, or Christian, is not the material thing offered, but the inward disposition of devout, adoring homage, and perfect surrender and dedication of ourselves, and our whole will and being, to God, of which the outward sacrifice of the most precious of our material possessions is but the visible symbol and embodiment " (p. 302). Now, could Christ made sin for us, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world the bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, be more completely ignored. That Christ through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, that He did blessedly give Himself up, surrender Himself and His will to God, is most true; but God made Him to be sin for us. The writer is speaking of devout and adoring homage, of an act of worship, so that Christ's sin-bearing sacrifice is wholly excluded, for however perfect His love to His Father and giving Himself up to His glory, sin-bearing is not an act of worship, nor is enduring wrath. And could we speak of the material thing offered being comparatively immaterial where Christ

offered Himself without spot to God? That His inward disposition was perfect no one doubts; but is it not evident that Christ was not in the thoughts of the writer when he wrote this passage? Yet he is treating of what is important in sacrifice and its true nature. Now Christ's sacrifice is the only true key to all sacrifice developed in the law in figures in all its parts and in its application, and here God's original, primeval appointment is referred to. This surely points to Christ. The certain difference of this was that it was the fat of lambs and not the fruit of the ground, on which, without redemption, the curse rested (compare too Gen. 8:21); and if the covering the nakedness of Adam with skins was the occasion on which the divine appointment of sacrifice took place, as is very naturally thought by many thoughtful and learned Christians, the nature of sacrifice is plain. One thing is sure, the meat-offering, or Mincha, was an adjunct to other sacrifices and in itself is never called a sacrifice. And on such a subject Scripture alone can be allowed to have any weight. If God appointed sacrifice, it is there it must be learned: But though the connection of all true worship with sacrifice is evident from what I have said, and that it is founded on it, yet sacrifice is not worship. It is as a gift that it approaches the nearest to it, as bringing such a gift is a homage done to the majesty of God; but as a sacrifice it is not worship. There death, as meeting the righteous claims of God, comes in, and the fire of His judgment which tests the worthiness, or judges the guilt laid upon the victim, and this, in which God has the principal and essential part, is not worship. The προσφορα or oblation for free-will offering, alone has at all this character. The moment it gets into the place of sacrifice, the altar of God, the testing fire of God is applied, His claims on that which is offered. And such an offering comes, so to speak, from without. It may be perfect. I need not say in Christ it was so, but as coming on the part of a rebellious race it must be tested by the majesty of God. "It became Him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering." Corning for man, in behalf of man, He must be dealt with as the majesty and truth of God claimed. The result was to prove His absolute perfectness, but He was tested and tried. And He presents Himself as so coming, and this was true of the meat-offering, the Mincha, though not called a sacrifice. Worship is the free adoration, and for us in the holiest, of those who have been brought High by sacrifice, who know God as love, who know Him as a Father who has sought in grace worshippers in spirit and in truth, and brought them in cleansed, to do so. The worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins. By one offering Christ had perfected them forever, such is Scripture truth (see Heb. 10), and then they worship, adore, praise in the sense of perfect, divine favor and a Father's love. They have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of

Jesus, by the new and living way He has consecrated for them through the vail. It is not that Christ is doing it in heaven actually in the triumphant church, and they on earth in the militant. They enter in spirit into the holiest, in heaven itself, to worship there; and hence a high priest made higher than the heavens was needed for them, because their worship is there, they do not offer the sacrifice in order to come in, they are within in virtue of the sacrifice. And this is the place the symbols of Christ's broken body and blood have in worship. The worshippers are in spirit in heavenly places, Christ in spirit in their midst as it is written. "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee," and they own and remember that blessed and perfect sacrifice by which they can so worship, by which they have entered in. Doubtless they feed on Christ in spirit, but that is not the point we are on now. The Christ that is represented in the Eucharist is a Christ with a broken body, and the cup is His shed blood, not a glorified Christ in heaven. It is His death, a broken body and the blood separated from it, life given up in this world, that is before us; we may in spirit eat also the old corn of the land, be occupied with a heavenly Christ, assuredly we may, and blessedly so, but that is not the Christ that is here. We eat His flesh and drink His blood, i.e. separate from His body—not only the manna which was for the desert and ceased in Canaan, the bread that came down from heaven, but the additional and necessary truth of His death. Hence His going up is only spoken of in John 6 as an additional, subsequent truth. We worship as belonging to heaven and own that by which we got there, that perfect, blessed work which He, who could speak what He knew there, and testify what He had seen, could tell was needed that we might have the heavenly things, and not only tell but in infinite love, accomplished. But no such Christ as the one whose symbols lie before us in the Lord's Supper exists now. It is specifically, solely, and emphatically as a dead Christ that He is remembered there. They were to do that, i.e., use the emphatic symbols of His death, in remembrance of Him. Hence it is the center of worship because hereby know I love, because He laid down His life for us. Here He glorified the Father for me, so that I can enter into the holiest, then the veil was rent and the way opened—but here was the perfect work accomplished, by which I, as risen together with Him, can say I am not in the flesh. In the heavenly Christ I say, by the Holy Ghost, I am in Him and He in me. It is being in Him, being united to Him, He in our midst in grace, a dead Christ I remember. I do not, in the joy and glory in which I have a part, through and with Him, forget that lonely work in which He bore the sorrow and drank the cup of wrath. I remember with touched affections the lowly rejected Christ, now that I am in

heavenly-places through His solitary humiliation. The offering Him up now is a presumptuous denial of Christianity. The remembering Him, that divine person, in His solitary suffering and perfect love to His Father is the most touching of Christian affections, the basis and center of all true worship, as the efficacy of the work wrought there alone admits us to worship at all. The drinking of the blood apart points it out as shed. We show forth the Lord's death, emphatically, not a glorified Christ, but we do so as associated with Him the glorified man, who Himself purged our sins, remembering with thankful hearts, how we got there, and, above all, Him who gave Himself up that we might.

It is a singular instance of Satan's power which Romish superstition has occasioned among those who have carried the Eucharistic sacrifice to its full extent. The cup is denied to the laity. To comfort them under this, they are assured that the body, blood, soul and divinity, a whole Christ, is contained under both species, i.e. in the bread and in the wine. But if the blood be still in the body, there is no redemption. It is a Christ as living on earth which is celebrated, when He had shed no blood to redeem us. It is a sacrament of non-redemption.

I understand these Ritualists being angry with Archdeacon Freeman for having presented this view, though he be as ritualist as they could wish; but it is as evident as truth can make it, to any one who respects the truth, that it is a Christ sacrificed, a Christ who has died, a body broken and blood shed, which is celebrated in the Eucharist, and false as the Essayist's Greek may be in it his testimony confirms it, for he makes it, My body now being given (or broken), My blood now being shed. If so it is not a living, glorified Christ, but a dying, and in real truth a dead Christ, for the blood is clearly presented as shed, and to be drunk apart. But they also see clearly that in this case it can be no carrying on an offering now, as Christ does in heaven for there is no dead Christ there, no body broken, or being broken, and they see clearly enough that this view of Archdeacon Freeman's upsets the real presence, for there is no such Christ to be present, nor can we think of a dead Christ present thus perpetually in the Eucharist.

Finally, the Christian's giving up what he has is not worship, nor is it what an intelligent Christian does. He yields himself to God as alive from the dead, and his members as instruments of righteousness. It is giving himself up to God for service, not worship. Nor is it giving up self, self-surrender. That is surely our part, but that is departing from the wickedness of self-will, from possessing ourselves in will, in spite of God. That is given up when conversion arrives. The Christian has the privilege, when freed by grace, of yielding himself to God, to be the instrument of His will. That is another thing; but though a just homage to God, neither is it worship. That is adoration and praise to God for what He has done, and what He is, as standing in His perfect favor in Christ, and in the consciousness of it, by the Holy Ghost owning Christ's work as that through the perfect efficacy of which we are brought there; and hence the place of the Eucharist in worship, as we have seen, the memorial of His death, of His having died for us, and the truth it refers to, whether actually celebrating it or not, awakening withal every affection which refers to His love and perfect work.

Our Essayist admits Christ to be the one only great High Priest, and all Christians to be priests. And the special priesthood which offers Christ as a sacrifice on the Eucharistic altar, we are told, belongs to that “view of Christian worship. And that without trenching in the least, when rightly understood, on either of those two cognate truths, the sole and unique Priesthood of the one true Priest, Jesus Christ, or the common priesthood of all Christian people" (p. 301). But I can find no explanation of why it does not, nor proof of this third kind of priesthood. Not one word is condescended on the subject. He enlarges with a strange jumble of truth and error on the two first kinds of priesthood, and then says (p. 302), " the special functions of the ordained priest, which distinguish him alike from the deacon and layman." But how we get this priesthood, or what is its authority, whence derived, by whom instituted, where found in Scripture, not a word is uttered. Every one knows that priest is a corruption of presbyter, or elder; but as to what made elder into a priest, in the modern sense, we are left wholly in the dark. There are three priesthoods—Christ's, all Christians, and ordained priests. Where is this found? These poor Christian priests, of whom Scripture speaks, are quite incompetent to perform the "functions of the ordained priest" (p. 302). But where are the three found? If Christ has given to all of us His own titles of kings and priests to God and His Father, how comes it that we cannot do what God's priests have to do? and that another kind of priest, never hinted at in Scripture, is to represent Christ in what is alleged to be the solemn act of priesthood, but that those whom God has made kings and priests, given Christ's titles, cannot? How comes it that He has named the sacrifices which His priests are to offer; that they are a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, but that He never mentions that as a sacrifice which the priests He never names are to offer. That He is perfectly silent as to both; yet we are to believe that God's priests are laymen, and those that he has not named are, after all, exclusively priests who have supplanted them. Is all this not very strange? Is it not very like an invention? Is it not an invention of man, or Satan? The result being an offering of Jesus Christ now, denying the value or His one offering of Himself once for all, and the solemn declaration founded on it, that there is no more offering for sin; yet there is, according to these men, and a sacrifice and a propitiatory sacrifice. If a propitiation is needed now, Christianity is not true. The allegation that it is said He is, not was, the propitiation for our sins, is but poor sophistry. That the value of the propitiation is constant and eternally so, is quite true; but for that very reason He is not offering a propitiatory sacrifice now, because He did it once on the cross. But sacrifice, we are told, is the central and important word; and it is alleged that 1 Cor. 10 is a proof that the Eucharist must be one, for it is compared to the idol sacrifices. But it is no such thing; the passages prove just the contrary. It is eating of the sacrifice which it is compared with, and the writer of the article is drawing our attention from that to its being itself a sacrifice. Every true Christian admits of course Christ to have been the true sacrifice, and the passage insists that the priests, who eat of the altar (ver. 18), were partakers with the altar; but it was their eating, not their sacrificing, which did this. It was the same with the Gentiles, they eat of the sacrifices; so of Christians, they eat at the Lord's table; but in no case was it the sacrifice itself which is spoken of, but of feeding on what had been sacrificed. In a word, the passage shows that the Spirit and Word of God look at it as a feeding on what had been sacrificed, and not as a sacrifice. It teaches the contrary of that which the writer insists on in a way than which nothing can be plainer.

It is not very material to our present subject, but the vulgar error of Christ's being the ladder on which angels descend, uniting heaven and earth, being repeated here, I notice it. Christ has Jacob's place, not the ladder's. Jacob was at the foot of the ladder, and these messengers were coming down and going up from God to him, and from him to God. Now the Son of man was to be the object. God's angels would have the Son of man for the object of their service from an open heaven. There is no ladder thought of. Christ, the Son of man, is the object. Nathaniel had recognized Him as Son of God, King of Israel, according to Psa. 2. Christ carries him on to His title in Psa. 8 (being rejected), and says he would see greater things than that, even heaven open, and the Son of man the object of the service of the angels, of God Himself.

I have pretty much examined the material points of this article, though I have passed over many objectionable passages; but the great principle is what is in question. The continuous offering of a propitiatory sacrifice, and that in heaven by Christ, and on earth by the priest in the Eucharist; and further, what is involved in it, the nature of worship. Sacrifice is that by which we approach to God as coming from without; worship, adoration, and praise when we have got within. The Jewish temple-service had the character of sacrifice in general, because they could not go within, the Holy Ghost signifying by the unrent vail that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. But we pass through the rent vail into the holiest, and worship there as in the holiest. Knowing withal God as our Father, we recognize—remember with adoring thankfulness—that sacrifice, that rending of the vail, that breaking of the body, that shedding of the blood, through which we can so enter, purged from all our sins and reconciled to God. Christ is in the midst of two or three gathered in his name, but it is a living Christ in spirit, not His body broken and shed blood. Having Him in our midst in spirit, we celebrate His precious death; we do this in remembrance of Him. We cannot have a dead Christ in our midst; and, above all, we cannot have both a dead and a living one.

Let it fully be remarked that expiatory sacrifice (p. 304) is only added to the precious, unbloody sacrifice and worship. Hence, we have seen, it is stated that Cain was right, only wrong in neglecting the other. "This was not enough." Christianity teaches that the sinner cannot come at all but by a true atoning sacrifice; this offering of Cain was the neglect, was the denial of that. It is said God accepted Abel's repentance and faith. Scripture does not say so. He accepted Abel, bore witness that he was righteous on the ground of his gift (Heb. 11), and whatever the homage paid, acceptance and the enjoyment of Divine favor is the fruit of sacrifice, not worship. And so we see in Leviticus, our High Priest must be one higher than the heavens. As Priest He is separated from us, acting for us, not amongst us. This is certain in all priesthood. The statement that all He did from the moment when He said, "This my body," to the moment when He said, "It is finished," was one long-continuous, sacrificial action (p. 305), is necessarily false. First, His surrender of all to God, so far as true was always perfect, the sacrifice was always " made in purpose and in intention"; so far as it was a special act, it was in Gethsemane. As the Lord's agonizing prayer demonstrates, and the discourses in John 14, 15, and 16 are in no sense sacrificial. The priest had, in ordinary sacrifices, nothing to do with the offering till the blood was shed; he received that, and sprinkled it on the altar. The προσφορα was not a priestly act at all, and this προσφορα (oblation) is what we have, even on the writer's own showing, before us here. In the great day of atonement the priest confessed the people's sins on the head of the scape-goat, as representing a guilty people, not as between them and God as priest, but as high priest standing in the place of them all to make their confession. He stood as the guilty person, inasmuch as he represented the people. So did Christ on the cross. He offered Himself, through the eternal Spirit, without spot to God, to be the victim. God made the spotless one to be sin for us. Except as thus representing the guilty people, the priest did not slay the victim, and the offering a victim or himself to God was quite another thing. In no case was the offering of a victim, or surrender of self to God, a priestly act. The statement (p. 307), that "the act of offering or presenting a victim is a sacrifice," is simply a blunder; this was done by the one who offered the victim, not by the priest. I notice these things to clear the ground by Scripture statements; the confusion of the author, by his ignorance of the whole subject, making the analysis of all his statements an unprofitable labor. I have already said a πποσφορα, after the victim had been offered (αναφερεφαι) on the altar, is a thing unknown in Sacrifice. We read again: "As the most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, the alone acceptable Victim to make our peace with God, are offered... ' (p. 308). Now He has made peace by the blood of His cross. All this subverts Christianity.

In result, the propositions of the author are that Christ is to be adored with the profoundest homage in

the Eucharist. Secondly: There is "the solemn pleading.... of that once-sacrificed Body and Blood for ourselves ... .. as our only hope of pardon, reconciliation, and grace" (p. 315) As to the last, I have spoken of it. We are pardoned, we are reconciled, we stand in grace, if Christianity be true. This theory is not Christianity, but denies it. The former proposition requires a little attention. That Christ is to be adored, every true Christian cordially accepts; but the sting is in the tail, "wherever He is." His body and blood, it is alleged, are in the Eucharist. He is where His body and blood are (p. 315), and, consequently, He is to be adored in the Eucharist. It is the common argument for idols, the divinity is present there. In death, though Godhead may hold its title over the body, nor suffer it to see corruption, yet the soul was separate from the body, or it was not death. The Eucharist, let them say what they will, is a symbol and sign of the dead Christ—a broken body and shed blood. Christ is personally in heaven. He is present in spirit in the congregation; as He expresses it, "In the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto thee." Do they mean to say that He, though in our midst, leads us to worship the signs of what He was when dead. That His body is now to come down from heaven to be broken, for that is what is done in the Eucharist; and that He returns into life before death to be broken and His blood shed, for that they avow is what was doing when He instituted the Eucharist. Christ's place, if we speak of "where" as to Him, is in heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, nowhere else. God has said, " Sit at my right hand till," and there accordingly He sits, nor will He leave it till the time appointed of the Father. Is He present alive in the bread before it is broken, and then does He go through death, there symbolized by the broken bread and the wine to be drunk? If so, then His soul is separated from His body. Or is He not present then, that is before breaking the bread, but only after His body is broken and His blood is shed. Then it is not He in any sense who is given and His blood shed. I can understand well that such inquiries offend them, as they talk of the devout and simple affections of faith: Reverence is our place, the right spirit to be in when one thinks of the Blessed One given for us. But if they invent false and erroneous views, which pervert the truth, which pretend to bring Christ down from heaven, when God has said to Him, as to His person and glorified

body, "Sit on my right hand," it is right to put questions which have no irreverence for Christ, but expose the fallacy of their views, which show that it is a false, pretended Christ of their own imagination—that there can be no such Christ, for He is glorified in heaven, and not now broken and shedding His blood on earth, nor ever will again. If death is symbolized, and partaking of Him in that character—and it certainly and evidently is so—there is no such Christ now. He is alive for evermore. In death His soul was separated from His body. It is not so separated now. It is of faith, the moment you use a circumscribed where, to say He is in heaven, and nowhere else, till He rises up from the throne of God—"whom the heavens must receive till the time of the restitution of all things of which the prophets have spoken."

David on His Throne a Type

Few; if any, will dispute the statement that David was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was raised up to be king over Israel, God had before Him, as it were, the life and acts of His own Son as King, and so ordered the events in the history of the type, that, whilst what took place seemed to outward eyes the lot appointed for David; when his life should be read centuries after his death, its typical character should be discerned, as the history of the one of whom he is a type should be gathered from the prophetic Scriptures.

For convenience in studying this period of his life we may arrange it under four heads-David at Hebron; David at Jerusalem; David in his priestly character; David in his kingly character.

Prophet, Priest, and King are titles of office which belong to the Lord Jesus. By one only besides him have these three offices been in any measure together filled. David and David's Son stand alone in this. But the difference between them when these offices are more carefully examined is immense. David was a prophet, but he was not the prophet. In common with the other ' prophets he probably knew not the value of all that he penned. The Lord as the prophet spake of what he knew, and testified of what he had seen. As Priest, David could not minister at the altar of the tabernacle, much less enter the holy of holies. The Lord will be a Priest on His throne after the order of Melchisedek, and He has now entered the holy of holies, a privilege restricted to the high priests after the order of Aaron. David was king over Israel, and his dominions reached from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, but be could not fill the throne forever. The Lord will have the throne of His father David, and reign over the house of Jacob forever.

From Bethlehem, the burial place of Rachel,, came David. Of all his descendants the only one whom we read was born there, was that ruler, " whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Years before David ascended the throne he had been anointed by Samuel as the king of God's choice. Who can say what time will elapse between the first announcement that God's King, the Messiah, was on the earth, and the reins of Government being placed in his hands? Persecution was David's lot before he reigned. Rejection and death were experienced by his Son.

1. to Turn to David at Hebron.

Saul was dead. David's words on the hill of Hachilah had come true. "The Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish " (1 Sam. 26:10). He had descended into battle, and perished, and with him three of his sons. The man given to the people at their request to be their king had passed away, conquered and slain by the inveterate opponents of his nation the Philistines. Israel had asked for One to fight their battles.. Their king had fought and was overcome. David, the man of God's choice, had been in conflict at the same time with the Amalekites, the persistent enemies of God's people. Saul in the north was fighting with the Philistines; David in the south was engaged with the Amalekites.

Israel under Saul fled. David with the 400 pursued their enemies. The Philistines stripped Saul and the slain, and came and dwelt in the cities of Israel. David entered the camp of the Amalekites, recovered all that belonged to himself and his men, and returned to Judah laden with spoil, to learn that Saul was dead, and the time for him to have the kingdom had come.

To outward eyes it might appear that the kingly power had merely changed hands. In God's eyes we learn it was a most important epoch in the history of Israel, and of the world; for, now was to be set up, that throne on which the Lord is to sit, and rule over all. Unasked by the people, God had selected the family and tribe. David succeeded Saul, not because he was the king's son-in-law, but because he was the Lord's anointed. He was chosen by God, and anointed by Samuel, before he had done anything to commend himself to the people, or had connected himself by marriage with the house of Saul. Before he was at Saul's court he had the anointing oil poured on him. His valor and his wisdom commended him to the people as a fitting successor to Saul; but, before he could show to them what he was, he had been designated by God for the throne. He succeeded Saul, but did not sit on Saul's throne. In point of time he was Saul's successor. As regards dynasty, he was—the head of his own family, and founder of the throne. Ever after it was David's throne on which the kings of Judah sat, however much their dominions might be curtailed, or the glory of the kingdom dimmed. Another point to be noticed is the extent of the kingdom. Saul reigned over all Israel, but was unable to preserve their territory from the inroads of the Philistines; David's kingdom was co-extensive with the grant given by God to Abraham (Gen. 15:18-21). As God did for David, so will He do for His Son. He will set up for Him a kingdom, posterior in time to the four great empires of Daniel's vision, but more extensive than any of them, and deriving its succession and power from none of them-after them, but not of them or from them.

Before Saul's death David had been a wanderer and an exile, not from choice but necessity. Driven from his house when Saul sent messengers to take him. (1 Sam. 19), he was never allowed to have a settled abode till he sat on his throne in Hebron. From his house he went to Naioth in Rarnah to Samuel. Flying from Naioth he is found with Jonathan in the field; thence lie escapes to Nob, and then takes refuge with Achish, king of Gath. Unable to remain there, he conveys his family to the king of Moab, with whom they remain; but himself, directed by God, goes into the land of Judah to the forest of Hareth. Thenceforth the forest, or the wilderness, or a cave sheltered the Lord's anointed, till, his faith failing, he betook himself to the Philistines, and had Ziklag appointed for his residence. Was this to be his home? Had his wanderings now ceased? Was he to be content with that city as his permanent abode?

Was the king of Gath to settle the dwelling-place of God's king? He returned from the camp of the Philistines to find Ziklag burnt with fire, and his wives and substance, and all that belonged to his men, carried away by the Amalekites. He rescued all, and reached Ziklag just in time to hear of Saul's death, and then asks God if he should go up to any of the cities of Judah.

How different were the circumstances of Saul. When made king, he had a home to which he repaired without a question (1 Sam. 10:26). David was a wanderer without any sure dwelling-place. He had many haunts (1 Sam. 30:31), but no home, a type in this of Him, who, when on earth, though king, had not where to lay His head, and, till He receives the kingdom, will never have had on earth, since He began His ministry a settled dwelling-place.

Saul went home to Gibead, i e., a hill, probably a position of some strength, suited to the leader of the hosts of Israel.

David did not betake himself to Bethlehem, and there, among his kindred, commence his reign. He asked counsel of God, and is directed to Hebron, a city of great antiquity, built seven years before loan, in Egypt. It stanch in the middle di a fertile valley, surrounded by hills, which afforded in ancient days good pasturage for flocks. As a shepherd he might have found Hebron a good center, but would it answer as well as the seat of government, and head quarters of a military power? During the days of his persecution, Hebron had been one of his haunts, now it was to be for seven years and six months his fixed dwelling-place. Why, it may be asked, was Hebron selected? Why would not Lachish or Eglon or Jarmuth, seats of Amorite power in common with Hebron, have done? What was there in Hebron more than in Bethlehem? Why was not Jerusalem selected?

With the histories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Hebron is closely connected: To the oaks of Mamre by Hebron, Abraham first repaired after Lot had chosen the plain of Jordan, and God had just given to the patriarch and to his seed, all the land he could see for an inalienable possession. " To thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever" (Gen. 13:15). There he sojourned for years, and in its neighborhood he was buried. There too, in Hebron, Isaac was living when Jacob saw him on his return from Padan Aram. There Jacob lived till he departed to go down into Egypt. In the Books of Numbers, Joshua, and Judges, Hebron is brought before us in connection with the people of Israel at eventful epochs of their history. Was this the reason that David was directed to go there? Was it because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had lived there? Was it not rather because they were buried there? For David was a type of Him whose reign was to commence in resurrection. Hence on that spot where lay the bones of the patriarchs, and those of Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, David's progenitors, and as it were over their very graves to shadow this forth, the kingdom was first set up. He, in whose family the promises to Abraham were to be made good, and whose Son in resurrection should exercise dominion over all the land given by God to Abraham, commences his reign in Hebron. Joseph was buried in Shechem, Rachel in Ephrath, i e., Bethlehem, for from neither of these did the kingdom proceed. Jacob's own property, which he bequeathed to Joseph, was not the place he selected for his own sepulcher. With Jacob, as far as we read, that burying place- in the cave of Machpelah was closed. Leah had to be buried there because Judah was her son. Jacob was laid there because his seed should be the king. So David was directed to Hebron, and there began his reign, where, upwards of eight hundred years before, the date of the birth of Abraham's had been first declared. How fitting then it was Hebron should have been selected rather than Bethlehem or any other of the cities of Judah. And though subsequently the seat of power was transferred to Jerusalem, no other spot, not even Jerusalem, could have answered the same purpose as Hebron. It matters little where Saul commenced his reign. It was all, important where David began his. Saul was not the type of Him that was to come. Perhaps David did not " understand the reason of his being directed to Hebron.

We see the reason of its selection in preference to any other city in the territory of Israel. Had David in his own wisdom gone at once to Jerusalem, he would clearly have acted contrary to God's mind. Had he stayed at Hebron all his days, he would equally have run counter to the divine intention. There was a time to be at Hebron, and a time to leave it; and when the seat of government was removed from it, it was never to be brought back. God's purpose regarding it was accomplished. David understood surely something of this when he removed to Jerusalem, and brought thither the ark, and desired to build God an house. He intimated by this that he understood Jerusalem, when once reached, was to be the abiding center of government, and the earthly dwelling-place of the Most High.

Comparing David with Absalom we at once see the difference. David understood about Jerusalem, Absalom did not. Imitating what had been done by his father, he too commenced his reign in Hebron. But the throne once established could not be established a second time. By this action it is clear that he would have set up a new throne. Instead of being David's successor he would commence anew in the place where David had begun his reign. When Solomon began his reign he did not seek out any other place than Jerusalem; neither Hebron nor Shechem did he visit for that purpose. He succeeded David, and so took the kingdom in the place in which it was established.

To Hebron David removed with his two wives as yet childless. His men too did David " bring up, every man with his household, and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron." Anointed by Samuel at Bethlehem, he is anointed by the men of Judah at Hebron. And here for the first time we meet with the men of Judah acting apart from the men of Israel. To all who witnessed this schism it must have seemed natural enough. It was natural that Judah should support one of their own tribe, in preference to going after the king Abner had set up. Natural as it was it was also according to His mind who had raised up David as a type of the Lord Jesus, that under his reign the men of Judah and the men of Israel should be re-united, after they had been separated, in anticipation of that day spoken of by Ezekiel, when the two sticks shall become one, and they shall become " one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be king to them all; and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all And David my servant shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd." (Ezek. 37:22-24). The differences between Judah and in now manifested, though outwardly covered over in the days of David and Solomon, were never permanently removed. We have an instance of this after the rebellion of Absalom, when the king was to be carried back to Jerusalem. Israel was jealous of Judah, and the contention, though no blows were struck, was the occasion of high words, for we read " the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel." At the end of David's reign Adonijah attempted to interest the men of Judah in his cause, but failed. During the reign of David and Solomon the people once united could not be divided. After Solomon's death the division was easily effected. The two kings types of the Lord, having passed away, the breach, again made apparent, became wider than ever, to be closed, and that finally, only when the David of prophecy shall come. For not only must He come to set the world in order, keep down evil, and establish and maintain to the end of His reign, what never has been maintained throughout the reign of any king, ari unvarying righteous rule, but His presence will also be needful to reconcile the long alienated hearts and tribes of the children of Israel and Judah.

When Saul began to reign, there was a division among the people, but not among the tribes. "The children of. Belial said: How shall this man save us? and they despised him, and brought him no presents." (1 Sam. 10;27). To reject an untried man does not seem strange. But when David took the kingdom, known of all as a successful warrior, whose name in Saul's reign had been much set by, anointed by Samuel as the man of God's choice, which Ishbosheth was not, it does seem strange, till the typical character of his reign is seen, that the greater part of the nation were determined to oppose him. For he must unite all Israel under his scepter, but to do that they must first be separated.

David, however, acts as king over all Israel by sending a message to the men of Jabesh Gilead. He takes cognizance of their kindness to their master Saul, who had rescued them from the king of the children of Ammon. They befriended him in death by decently interring his bones. As God's anointed, David waits his time for the submission of all the tribes, but, whilst waiting God's time, he does not give up for a moment the idea that he, and he only, is the rightful king over the house of Jacob. "I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing," is his promise to the men of Jabesh Gilead. Surely one might have supposed this would have been the duty and desire of Ishbosheth. We read not that he took notice of their action at all. But the anointed king, whose prerogative it is to reward and to punish, lets them know that he is acquainted with, and approves of, what they have done.

Those seven years and six months spent at Hebron were years of expectancy. David awaited the submission of the tribes. He did not strive with Israel willingly, for the battle between Joab and Abner seems to have been forced on by Abner, as Joab's reply (2 Sam. 2:27) intimates. As type of the Lord Jesus we understand how he is owned as king by the house of Judah, before the other tribes hail him as their sovereign. But here as elsewhere we are reminded that David in all this was only a type.. For in his case, Benjamin was with his opponents. When the remnant own the Lord, Benjamin will be associated with Judah, forming part of the ancient kingdom of Judah. Asahel, also, one of the worthies of David, was killed in the conflict by Abner, and never lived to see David king over all Israel; and David, though God's anointed, had to own, after Abner's death, that he was not rightly master in his own dominions. " Know ye not," he said to his servants, " that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? and I am this day weak though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, be too hard for me the Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness." (2 Sam. 3:38,39.) As the type, however, of the Lord Jesus Christ, God works that the kingdom should be his, and he does not owe it to any man. Abner thought to turn all Israel to him. He died before his plans could be carried into execution. David would have received it through the influence of Abner, but that could not be. He must be accepted as king over all Israel, but that consummation must be brought about by God. He was God's chosen one, not the candidate put forward by the people. Joab could not have turned all Israel to David. Abner alone had influence sufficient to attempt this. He was killed whilst busy about it. After his death the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and we read, " David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel." Abner's proposition was that the people should make a covenant with David. To do that they must have been able to treat with him. But man's thoughts are often wrong. David made a covenant with them, not they with him.. And this was fitting. Shall the nation in a future day make a covenant with Messiah regarding the terms on which he shall take the reins of government into His hands? A new covenant will be made, but made by God with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. So here they do not treat with David as an equal, but he treats with them as their superior in position.

We read of the patience of Christ. He waits the Father's time to take the kingdom according to the statement of Psa. 110 " Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Perfect is He in everything. If we compare David with his Lord, the imperfection of the former only comes out more and more. Personally there could be no comparison between them. Typically there can. And what we know is true at this very time of the Lord, we find exemplified in the history of His servant. Again and again he refused to be a party to violent measures for the obtaining of the kingdom. Twice was Saul within his power, and though urged to take his life he refused. When, too, the messenger announced to him the king's death, and professed to have killed Saul at his own request, David had him executed for having put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed. So also when Rechab and Baanah brought Ishbosheth's head to Hebron, he refused all participation in their guilt, though the great obstacle to the union of all Israel under his scepter was thereby removed. He had them killed as murderers. From God had he received the promise of the kingdom, and His time he would await.

2. David at Jerusalem.

The submission of all Israel to his authority having been effected, lie removed from Hebron to Jerusalem. War is the immediate consequence, and David is victorious. The Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land, left unsubdued since the days of Joshua, have now to be taught that resistance is impossible. Presuming on the strength of their citadel, they think that the blind and the lame can defend it against the king. The gates may be shut against him, but the enemy cannot keep him out. Joabnclimbs up by the gutter, and the stronghold of Zion is taken, and called the city of David. Jerusalem; the citadel excepted, had been taken at an earlier period of their history, but the capture of the hold was reserved for the reign of David. " So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. And David went on and grew great; and the Lord God of Hosts was with him" (2 Sam. 5:9,10). How completely he makes Zion his own. He fashions it as it pleases him, building what it suits him to build, and calling it his own city. He sojourned at Hebron, he dwells at Jerusalem. Reaching it he finds he has reached his permanent resting place on earth. He evidently regarded it as a great point gained. Friends and foes thought so too, as the history now points out.

A new feature in the history of Israel is now brought out. " Hiram, king of Tire, sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons, and they built David an house." Very briefly is this embassy described. It deserves, however, a few minutes attention. It was the first embassy that we read of that ever set out from Tire to Jerusalem. During Saul's reign, the princes of Tire took no heed about the king over Israel. When Joshua conquered the land, and mapped out the territories of the tribes, we never hear of any attempt of the Tyrians to obtain the goodwill of the conqueror. But, when David had taken the citadel of Zion, Hiram sent to build him an house. When Solomon reigned, we find Hiram again manifesting his good will to the king, for he " was ever a lover of David" (1 Kings 5:1). After Solomon, we never find the king of Tire concerning himself about any one who reigned at Jerusalem. Prophecy tells us of the fate of Tire, continental and insular, and of the future yet in store for her. Taken by Nebuchadnezzar, she will be found in the confederacy at the last days (Psa. 83:7); and subsequently " her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord, it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing" (Isa. 23:18). And when that takes place, Tire will be found, as Hiram was in the days of David, concerning herself with the king at Jerusalem. For we read The daughter of Tire shall be there with a gift" (Psa. 45:12). She exulted at the fall of Jerusalem (Ezek. 26:2.) She will present herself with a gift when Jerusalem is restored, and the Lord reigns, and her colonies also, for " the kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents" (Psa. 72:10). We can understand then this embassy from Hiram to David now at Jerusalem, and see how suited it was, the earnest of that coming day when the wealth of the Gentiles shall flow to Jerusalem, and the kings of the earth shall yield obeisance to Messiah.

Whilst Hiram manifested good will to David, the Philistines show their enmity by setting themselves in array against him. Whilst he dwelt at Hebron they were quiet. As soon as they heard he had taken Zion they were all astir, and came out to fight him. Does not this remind us of Ps: 2 " Why do the heathen rage,- and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed." Why all this tumult? Because God had set His king on His holy hill of Zion, and the submission of all to the Anointed One must follow. So when. David established himself at Zion the Philistines appear against him, and manifest how important in their eyes was his new position. Whilst in Hebron they could leave him in peace. Satan tried in different ways to prevent the establishment of the kingdom, first by fomenting discord between Israel and Judah, next by the apparently impregnable position of the Jebusites on Mount Zion; and now lastly, when all else failed, by stirring up the Philistines to dislodge him if possible from the stronghold. No stone was to be left unturned to prevent the consolidation of power in the hands of David at Mount Zion, the place of God's choice (Psa. 78:68). Outwardly the struggle was between the Philistines, who had vanquished Saul, and their old opponent David. In reality the war was between the god of this world and the Lord God of Hosts. David's move to Jerusalem excited the jealousy of the Philistines. God's choice of Zion for the seat of His Son's throne aroused the anger of the enemy. The uncircumcised and the conqueror of Goliath, could not exist in peace side by side. Hence they determine to subdue him. And as in the last days, before and after the millennium, the conflict will rage round Jerusalem, so it was the selected battle field, when David was anointed king by all Israel. "All the Philistines came up to seek David, and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. The Philistines also came, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim " (2 Sam. 5:17,18). They sought him, not he them. So will it be when the battle of Rev. 17:14 takes place. " They will make war with the Lamb." All the power of the beast will be collected to make war with the Lamb. But the Lamb shall overcome. All the Philistines were gathered together in the valley of Rephaim, but in vain.

From Jerusalem the wave of conquests spreads. Eight hundred years before Abraham had stood on the neigh- houring mountain Moriah, with his son, as in a figure, raised up from the dead. At that time and on that spot and then and there only, did God make promise to Abraham that his " seed should possess the gate of his enemies." Now from that place where the promise was made, for Mount Moriah formed part of Jerusalem, the fulfillment in its widest extent commenced. Under Joshua the nations of Canaan were conquered. Under David all the nations of the territory given by God to Abraham, were first reduced to submission. As soon as David dwelt on Mount Zion the sword was drawn, which was not to return to its scabbard, till, from the great river, the river Euphrates, to the river of Egypt, and from the wilderness to the sea, the authority of God's anointed should be owned as paramount. Does not this remind us of what Isaiah predicts? " Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And He shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people " (Isaiah 2:3, 4). It was needful then to go to Jerusalem as at first it had been to sojourn in Hebron.. Had the Philistines acquiesced in what God had done in Israel there would have been no war. They entered into conflict with David, and were signally defeated. Twice did they come up against Zion, for the valley of the Rephaim is at its base, and each time they were worsted. Did we not know what all this pointed to we Might wonder at the interest shown in this rock.

The worshippers of idols were at war with the servant of Jehovah. What issue could there be but one? They had slain Saul, for God had forsaken him. They could not conquer David, for God was with him. And most signal were the victories, for David asked counsel of God, and did as He directed. The first time he confronted, them; the second he circumvented them. Before or behind they could not resist him. On the first occasion they left their idols, and David and his men burnt them.

God's Ark had been in captivity amongst these: uncircumcised, but He delivered it in His own way. The idols were taken by the conquerors, and for them there was no deliverance. Was not this a foreshadowing of what Isaiah also predicts? " The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, and the idols He shall utterly abolish.

In that day shall a man cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for.-himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats" -(Isa. 2:17,18,20). When the kingdom is established in power the idols must give way. At the time of the Exodus, the redemption of God's people, on all the gods of Egypt judgment was executed. When the kingdom was first: set up a similar result was seen. And when redemption shall be completed, and the kingdom established in the hands of the Son of man in power, the idols will be demonstrated in the most signal manner to be no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone (Psa. 115).

On the second occasion that the Philistines come out and spread themselves in the same valley, David again inquires of the Lord. He would own each time his perfect dependance for guidance and for strength. This time God preceded the host of Israel. David had to follow where the Lord led: "And let it be, when thou nearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself; for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer" (2 Sam. 5:24,25). How vain was the attempt of the enemy to disturb the purpose of God! Zion had He chosen, Zion would He guard. How vain will be the attempt of the Assyrian in the latter days to frustrate the counsel of God! Zion is God's chosen dwelling-place forever, Jerusalem He will defend. He may, as He has, leave it for a season, but no power in heaven or earth can drive Him from it: "As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also He will deliver it; and passing over He will preserve it." And these battles of David we have warrant for regarding as typical of the contest yet to take place, "when the Lord of hosts shall come down to fight for Jerusalem, and the hill thereof;" just what He did in the days of David, for we read" The Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim," referring to these very battles (Isa. 31:4,5;28. 21).

3. We Have Now, Following the Order in 2 Samuel, to View David in Another Character-His Priestly, Character.

Established firmly in Zion, the next step was to bring up " the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubims," from Baale of Judah to Jerusalem.—This was an important matter and a memorable epoch, for it was the entry, for the first time, of the symbol of God's presence into the city which He loved. He took possession, as it were, on that day of Mount Zion as His dwelling-place, His rest forever which He has desired (Psa. 132).

From the days of Hophni and Phineas the Ark had been neglected. During the days of Saul the people had not inquired of it (1 Chron. 13:3); once only is it mentioned (1 Sam. 14:18) during his reign. Separated all the time from the death of Eli to the dedication of the Temple from the altars of burnt offering and incense, the service of the day of atonement could not have been carried out; for the high priest, though he might enter within the veil, could not sprinkle the blood on and before the mercy seat. Till the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon, and the great work of his reign completed, no day of atonement could be observed. How this resembles the present condition of things in Israel! Since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Jews have not been able to go through the form of keeping that day. Since the times of the Gentiles began to run, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple, and the Ark ceased to exist, the services of that day have not been rightly carried out. But, as in the time of Solomon, when the kingdom was set up in peace and in power, that day could be rightly observed, so when the Lord reigns in power as Prince of Peace, the day of atonement will again be properly kept. Then, as Ezekiel teaches (xlv. 18, 20), in a new way, and at a different season of the year, in the first month instead of the seventh, will the cleansing of the sanctuary be annually carried out.

The entrance, however, of the Ark to Zion, and the building of the Temple, are very different things; David brought thither the Ark, Solomon built the house. By the Messiah both will be effected in the same order. God's presence at Jerusalem, under the symbol of the Ark, suggested to David the building of the house. The Lord Jehovah's presence on Mount Zion, in the person of Christ, must precede the rebuilding of the Temple. As on the return from Babylon the Lord returned to His city before His house was built (Zech. 1:16), so, knowing of whom David, as king, was a type, we see the propriety of the Ark being brought to Jerusalem in his reign. As king the Lord will appear in Jerusalem, and as king He will build the house: " Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord; even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne" (Zech. 6:12,13).

David felt the importance of the step, as we gather from the psalms sung on that occasion. He regarded it as a remembrance of God's covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their seed should inherit the land, so they sang Psa. 105:1-15. He looked forward to supremacy over the nations as a, consequence, so they followed with Psa. 96; and he counted on the restoration of Israel to their land in a day future to him, and even to us, so they concluded with the first and the two last verses of Psa. 106 We know, too, that the step then taken was important, as foreshadowing the re-entry of the presence of God into Jerusalem, and the joyful consequences following it, when Messiah himself shall be there.

As the presence of God on Mount Zion, symbolized by the Ark, was something quite new, so we have David appearing in a new character, that of priest; girded with a linen ephod, lie danced before the Ark. With all the house of Israel he brought up the Ark " with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet." Will not there be a day when shouting and the sound of a trumpet shall again be heard in connection with the, presence of God in Jerusalem? Psa. 47:5 surely speaks of it, but it will be when the Lord God is acknowledged by Israel as their king, and the king over all the earth. At the close of that day's proceedings we find David not merely clothed in the priestly garment, worn by those who ministered before the Lord, but acting as a priest, for he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. Saul bad never blessed them; David and Solomon both blessed them, the one after the Ark had entered the city of David, the other after it was placed in the oracle on Mount Moriah. Never more do we read of such an action performed by any king at Jerusalem. Hezekiah and his princes blessed the Lord and the people (2 Chron. 31:8). But the character of the blessing David and Solomon imparted was surely different from this; they blessed the people alone, typifying that which none of the princes could share in. For, as types of the Lord Jesus, the priest on his throne, who could be associated with them? The high priest had been commanded to bless Israel; here, in the presence of Zadok and Abiathar, David exercises that privilege.

On that day none were forgotten; it was a time when all should rejoice. David blessed them, but he did more -he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and " dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine" (2 Sam. 6:19). Feasting had accompanied the recognition of David as king over all Israel, but then, some of Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali provided it. Feasting accompanied the work of this day, in Jerusalem, but here David provided it. On that day the king, who took the chief place, must do everything; he offered offerings; he blessed the people, and sent all away rejoicing with what he bestowed after that he blessed his house, something distinct from the nation of Israel.

On another occasion we find David acting in a priestly character. An occasion it was of deep sorrow.

The Lord had been angry with Israel. Satan had moved David to number them, and the plague of three days' duration was the punishment God inflicted. The angel told Gad that David should go and set up an altar in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. This he did, " and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering"(1 Chron. 21:26) and the sword of the angel was sheathed. Here ail depended on the anointed one; he must entreat, he must offer the offerings. The grace of God is manifested in arresting the arm of the destroying angel before David was told to offer the offerings; but the king, not the high priest, could alone act here. Do we not see how this, faintly indeed, yet truly, shadows out the king averting God's wrath from the people by a sacrifice he offered up? In the wilderness Aaron could alone stand between the dead and the living to stay the plague. That was the high priest's work. Now a similar service must be performed by the king. On that day the king was the prominent one. He interceded for the people, he paid the price for the threshing floor, and bought of Araunah the animals for the sacrifices.

When Joshua was appointed captain of the armies of Israel Moses set him before Eleazar the priest, and told him he was to stand before Eleazar, at whose word he and all the people should go out and come in (Num. 27:21). In the days of David a great alteration had taken place. He did not stand before the priest; Abiathar bore the Ark before him (1 Kings 2:26). Nor did he receive directions from the priest how to act. He inquired himself (1 Sam. 23:9;30:8). And he not only regulated the affairs of the kingdom, and the marching of the armies, but also what was connected with the worship of God. The priests received orders from him, and ministered where he located them, and he distributed them according to their offices in their service (1 Chron. 16:39;24. 3). The priests ministered at the altar, but the king instituted " the service of song." The courses of the priests he appointed, the service of the Levites he regulated. By the law of Moses the Levites entered the sanctuary at the age of twenty-five, and carried the burdens at thirty. By the ordinance of David, the tabernacle being no longer migratory, they were to begin their work at twenty. Before his day we never read that singing formed a part of the regular service of God. From the entrance of the Ark into Zion the worship of the congregation had this accompaniment. David appointed of the Levites which he thought to proceed was wrong. He could not build the house, but his son should after his decease. The Prince of Peace builds it. So David must die, but die in the fullest confidence about its erection; for his seed, which should proceed out of his bowels, God would set up after him, and establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Would David's name then be forgotten when the throne of his Son's kingdom should be established, and that forever? It will be the throne of his Son (2 Sam. 7:13), yet David's throne likewise. " Thy throne shall be established forever " (16). And, though he had to die that the promise might be fulfilled, God declared he should live forever; the glory of the kingdom he should behold, the faithfulness of God to His word he should witness, " Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee." To none before, and to none since, have such promises been made. David was the first of his line, his Son shall be the last, but the line will never end. Forever will be the duration of His kingdom. Forever before David his Son will reign. Well might he worship God after Nathan has set before him such a brilliant everlasting future.

4. This Leads on to Other Glories, Which We Must Glance at, Connected With David in His Kingly Character.

The attacks of the Philistines to prevent the establishment of his throne at Zion had been successfully resisted. Now he looked beyond the valley of the Rephaim, and even the confines of Canaan. He had acted on the defensive. He must take the initiative. Beginning with the Philistines he captured Metheg-Ammah. Going outside the land of Canaan he smote Moab, and measured them with a line. Hadadezer, king of Zobah, who went to recover his border at the Euphrates, experienced the irresistible might of the son of Jesse. The Syrians of Damascus, Edom Ammon, and Amalek, all have to succumb to him. He must be supreme between the Euphrates and the river of Egypt. In the days of the Judges both Moab and Ammon had been worsted in conflict with Israel, after they had first invaded the territory of the tribes. Now David, it would appear, acts not like Ehud or Jephthah, who delivered Israel from the presence and the yoke of strangers, but he invades their land, and is successful. A second time he is brought into conflict with the Syrians and the Ammonites, only to show them how invincible he is. The Syrians became his servants, and brought gifts; Rabbah of Ammon was taken, and the crown of Hanun transferred to the head of David. For the first time in the history of the world the king, who dwelt at Jerusalem, was obeyed on the banks of the Euphrates. The converse of this has also been seen. From the banks of the Euphrates has word gone out which was obeyed on Mount Sion. By and by it will be again discovered that the king, who shall reign at Zion, must be submitted to as supreme even in the province of Babylon. But besides conquests we have an account of Toi, king of Hamath, who submitted quietly to David. Thus he became the head of the heathen (Psa. 18:43). " The Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. And David reigned over all Israel, and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people" (2 Sam. 8:14,16). The chief officers of his government are enumerated, and his sons are installed as chief rulers. Compare for this Psa. 45:16.

A feature in the wars of David must be noticed. He warred for supremacy, not for extermination. Under Joshua it ought to have been a war of extermination, under David it was not. For, though the scene of Joshua's victories and some of David's battles was the same, their character was very different. Joshua's entrance to Canaan typified the saints of the heavenly places entering their proper place. David's battles in the land, and outside it, represent the establishment of the kingdom on earth under the Lord Jesus. From the heavenlies Satan and his angels must be driven out. On earth all who will submit to the righteous rule will be spared. " The strangers shall submit themselves " (margin" yield feigned obedience ").

Never were greater vicissitudes endured by any nation than by Israel. Entering Egypt at the invitation of the king, a little company of seventy souls to be preserved during the famine, they were detained there in slavery till, numbering 600,000 men besides children, they were brought' out by the strong hand of Jehovah.. A prey to various enemies from without during the time of the Judges, reduced to the most abject condition by the Philistines during the reign of Saul, they found their alliance desired by the surrounding nations under David and Solomon; and, owned by them as superior's, to whom gifts were to be brought, the Egyptians, the descendants of their former masters, came to regard them as equals, when Solomon contracted marriage with Pharaoh's daughter. Reduced to the lowest condition for their sins, an astonishment and byword to the nations of the earth, scattered abroad over the face of the globe, the only nation which is not at home in its own land, they will again be gathered to Canaan, the two tribes first to go through a tribulation unequaled by any yet seen on the earth, after which the ancient kingdom of David will be revived, tnd his family be reseated on his throne in the person)f the Messiah. Where has the like been ever seen, that the sovereignty should be continued in one family without change for such a length of time? Dynasties ise and fall, families die out, but the house of David bides forever. The scepter has indeed fallen from heir grasp. It is ages since one of that family wielded on earth. It has fallen to be taken up by Him who Till rule all nations with a rod of iron, " the scepter f whose kingdom will be a right scepter." The stem Of Jesse, though cut down, has sent up a rod, a Branch as grown out of its root, destined to reduce all nations rider its sway.

Besides the nations submitting to David we read the race of giants being extirpated (2 Sam. 21). here had been a race of giants on the earth whose origin is shrouded in mystery, but whose country formed part of the territory given by God to Abraham and his descendants. First mentioned in the days of Abraham, we read of their gradual extinction. Moabites and Ammonites had prevailed against them. Og, who was of the remnant of the giants, was smitten by Israel under Moses. Caleb slew the three sons of Anak, and now under David the race is finally extirpated. He had slain Goliath, and others killed the rest. The power of man, however great, must bow before the rule which God sets up. -Isaiah sings of a time " when the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." In the prospect of this the admonition is given, " Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?." (Isa. 2:11,22). When the giants are slain we see indeed " wherein is man to be accounted of."

All enemies overcome, God's salvation is celebrated in a song which clearly looks forward to the establishment of the kingdom of His Son. Delivered from the strivings of the people, made head of the heathen, David has reached the pinnacle of greatness. From the sheepfold he had risen to the throne, to wield a scepter which the nations around submitted to. But raised up so high he does not forget those who have accompanied him in his wars, and done acts of service for him. His warriors have each their place in the kingdom according to their deeds, and the special act of devotion of those three at the well of Bethlehem is placed on record never to be forgotten. Besides this, we learn from 1 Kings 2 That service done for him in the day of his flight was indelibly fixed on his heart. Man in the zenith of his power may forget those who have ministered to him in the day of his distress. It was not thus: David acted, for in this surely he is a type of -the Lord Jesus Christ. Barzillai's kindness to David must be remembered, and rewarded by Solomon. It was not enough that David should acknowledge it. It must not be forgotten whilst the Prince of Peace reigns. But here as elsewhere we see that the antitype goes beyond the type. " They came to me " David said, " when I fled because of Absalom thy brother" (1 Kings 2:7). He remembered service done to himself; the Lord will requite service done to others during His absence from the earth (Matt. 25:35-40; Mark 9:41). As David rewards, he also speaks of punishment to be meted out to those who have risen up against him. For all who resisted the authority of the king during any part of

But there is a feature about faith that we need to keep in mind, and it is just what we are reminded of in the last verses of the second chapter. "We beheld his glory, the glory as of an only begotten with the Father " is faith's testimony. We must not separate it from its object, nor from the glory of that object in its view. " Many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did." Was that faith? Clearly not, for it is added, " But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. It was " in man," then, to believe after that fashion. It was not the manifestation of Divine life at all.

But this is very solemn. It is startling. For if you turn back to the first chapter you will find the character of those who received Him, and to whom He gave title to the place of sons of God, to be expressed in the self-same words, " those that believed in his name." What then is the difference, here, or how shall we distinguish between true faith and false, if this be so? The difference lies in the words added about these at Jerusalem. They believed " when they saw the miracles that he did." Unspeakably solemn truth for Christendom, which yet grounds its faith on the same testimony! But it is certain that that which negatives as true faith this "believing in His name" is that it was one that rested simply upon the ground of His miracles.

But how should this negative it as true faith? Orthodox enough it was as to what they believed. " They believed in his name." Fair-seeming as that was, there was something in it, which to the eye of One who "judged not according to the appearance," rendered it unsound and untrustworthy. It was belief on outside evidence, not the true knowledge of the glory of the Son of God.

You may receive a miracle and say, "This man must be a teacher come from God, because no man can do these miracles which he doeth, except God be with him." All very true, indeed, but it is reasoning and not faith. You say "he must be," you do not say "he is.". When I have Christ's glory before my eyes, I do not say, " it must be there," I know it is. We understand this difference in common things: If I say, I must have left my book in such a place," does it not prove I am not there where it is? As soon as I get there, I do not say, " it must be there," I put my hand upon it, and say, " Here it is." So I may reason about God out of His presence. When I am there I do not reason, I adore.

" We beheld His glory." We did not believe it was there because something outside of it proved it. We beheld it ourselves, we did not need the proof. That is direct, personal acquaintance. " This is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Not to argue, but to know.

This is unspeakably solemn.. But some will ask, Do you not set aside the fact that "faith cometh by hearing" or " a report?" and if so, must I not judge if the report be true? I answer, thousands do so judge and believe upon that warrant, who yet remain totally unchanged by it. But when God by His own word searches the heart, it is different. The word, with one to whom it so comes, judges him. It comes in the " demonstration of the Spirit and of power." It is not something which he judges by his reason. He may be an idiot, still he knows that it is God. " The world by wisdom,"-with all its intellectual searching-" knows him not."

When that disciple wrote " we beheld his glory," he was not speaking of an intellectual process, but of faith. They of whom he spoke were none of the world's wise ones, but the wonder of that presence was upon their hearts. Eyes that had watched Him, had not seen it; ears heard nothing of it, that had listened to His words; it had not come of man's heart.' God had revealed it. God was there.

And nothing short of this is life. To know God and His Christ,-that only,-is to live.

Nevertheless in Nicodemus we see how reasoning may be mixed up with faith in the soul of one who really has life. A faith founded on reasoning is a different thing. But just as we know in the same person flesh and spirit lust against each other, so in the same person may intellectualism be at war with faith. So with Nicodemus. He comes professedly upon the same ground as those before spoken of, and the Lord, taking him upon that ground, meets him with, "Except a man be born again." But he comes to Jesus. His heart is attracted, and although his coming " by night" shows his feebleness, it shows too the spiritual instinct of a soul wherein God has wrought. The world will be against him and he comes trembling; but he comes, and to Him whom the world will be against,-he, the Pharisee in the need of his soul; he the wise man, for wisdom.

And thus is brought before us another characteristic of true faith. In the least measure of it there is confidence. The heart is drawn to the person of Christ; for saving faith is, as we have before seen, the knowledge of a person, not of a creed, however true. "He that hath the Son bath life." It is quite true we have to listen to the word of Him to whom we are brought, and to know His work, for peace. And thus fear may contend with love, where His word and work are not rightly known. But there is, in spite of all, a sense of goodness which attracts, wherever there is faith. " He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him." That seek Rim, not life merely or a reward: of that men are capable. But naturally, " there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." All that the world understands by religion is something very different from this, nay, the reverse of it. Natural conscience seeks to hide from God; and how many systems of divinity are molded upon this pattern. Elaborate processes to turn away His anger-preparations to meet Him who must be met at last,-futile as the fig-leaves of Eden when God is really there; but salvation thus, with multitudes-God unknown-merely to be saved from Him.

Doubtless, the renewed soul may, in its first bewilderment, be entangled in such devices, but even so, there is a truer instinct at bottom and that before He be known as a Savior and a Justifier. Its sighing is still after Himself; " Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" Life and salvation too, surely, if not known, but withal Him." Gleams of His glory are breaking through the clouds, however lowering, and the soul, while not satisfied, is yet won.

And such an one is Nicodemus. Yet, though not in nature merely, he takes that ground, and therefore must learn what nature is. Indeed, so it is with us all. Only as quickened do we learn what death is. And it is absolutely necessary we should learn it, for therein lies the whole mystery of strength and blessing for us. God's way of saving is the unveiling of Himself. But to be saved I must be a sinner. I must be " ungodly," and " without strength." I must be in my rags before Him. Do you think, when I have Him upon my neck, I would, for anything that you could name, have rather had my rags off before I had Him there?

" Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to thee, Ye must be born again."

The connection with the line of truth which we have in this gospel is here apparent. " Water " has come before us already in the 2nd chapter as a symbol. We have it again in the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 13th, and 19th chapters. In some of these, indeed, it is " living water " that is spoken of, and in the 7th this is interpreted to mean the Spirit: " this spake he of the Spirit." But that helps all the more clearly in the understanding of the rest. The use of water is in cleansing and in refreshing. Both are by the Spirit, and both are by the word. Beautifully, if the Word be water, the Spirit is " living water." " Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you." " The washing of water, by the word."

The commencement of this water washing is manifestly in new birth. After that there is still the daily practical cleansing of our walk and ways. The Lord speaks of both when He says, " He that is washed (or has been bathed) needeth not save to wash his feet."

There is another thing, also, in close connection with cleansing, which water signifies. It is the figure of judgment, as it was actually the judgment of the old world. And to this Peter refers when he writes, " the like figure whereunto, even baptism doth also now save us." For we are saved by judgment. Like Noah, we pass on to our new world through the ruins of the old. " Our old man crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

" That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Out of flesh you can get nothing else. There is no change, therefore, as to it: " the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." It is judged, not saved-destroyed, not changed.

And withal there is the impartation of a new life, as distinct and real, at least, as was the old. Scripture speaks of it as " eternal life abiding in" us (1 John 3), and of the exhibition of it in its perfectness in Christ's life down here, so that having spoken of Him as the " Word of life," the Apostle goes on to say: " For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." So distinct, so perfect, so separate from mixture with the old, that it can be said of everyone born of God, " whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." The flesh cannot do ought else, for it is not of God, but it is for faith " crucified with Christ," and I look at it and say, "it is not I, but sin that dwelleth in me." As born of God-in the new life which comes from Him-we cannot sin.

Were it otherwise, a gradual change of the old man into the new, it could not be said that God "bath made us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light," where that expression " in light " speaks of everything made manifest. Instead of that we should, only be meet when that process was completed. Nor would new birth be a bathing, a washing of the old person, never needing to be renewed. But Scripture, with perfect consistency, speaks of it as that, as we have seen.

But people naturally object, How about sanctification, then? Is there no growth in grace? Surely there is. We do not start at once into full-grown men in Christ. Spiritually, as in nature, there are babes, young men and fathers; and these very terms may tell us how the two things consist. A child's nature is as perfect as a man's. It wants development, that is all. It gets that as it grows up among men, and has before it the full maturity of what it is. Let a child grow up in a desert apart from men, and it will scarcely be a man at all. Yet not from its not possessing a nature perfect as any other's. Even so, with Christ before us, we grow up, unto Christ, no more perfect in nature at the last than at the first, but perfected in development-the full-grown man.

But how we do marvel when we learn, as we must do practically, this mystery of new birth I When in the sincere desire of our souls we come to Christ as the teacher of righteousness, only to learn that it cannot come of us! How we cavil at it, and question it, and try to falsify it too, seeking the help of His grace to work out a character for ourselves, to substitute our righteousness for His righteousness, and so be at peace! And how, in His mercy, when all such efforts fail-as it is of His mercy they should fail-and we find, indeed, our place in death, ungodly, and without strength-" bap-wed into his death," we find our new birth unto a " living hope," unto "life and peace," in and with Him who lay in death for us, our death, and has risen out of it, the first-begotten from the dead, and brought us up, out of it, quickened together with Him!

Of new birth, law, strictly as law, knew nothing, just as it knew nothing of salvation. " What shall I do to be saved?" is the question of man's ignorance simply. It never said, " the man that doeth these things shall be saved," for if he did them, he needed no salvation. Yet there is a form in which (when, along with law, God's long-suffering goodness was proclaimed, as when the tables came out of the mount the second time) God did connect these things: " When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he bath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive." It is not even here " he shall be saved," but " he shall save himself" That is a wide enough difference. In reality it is only the opening up of man's need more distinctly. Already once lost, could he now conform to God's conditions, and save a life already in strictness forfeited? God never so couples doing with His salvation, but if man could even now "save himself," there were the terms.

Just in the same way you find the need of new birth coming out, but it is put upon man himself to effect. As hopeless a task as in Nicodemus' question, " Can a man enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" So God says in Ezekiel, " Make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

With reference to repentance on the part of God, on the other hand, the word is used thirty-six times. For what the law proposed to man was to change (if he could) God's mind about him. "Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return," had been God's word to Adam, but "the man that doeth these things shall live in them," was the proposition of the law. And in a somewhat modified form, this is announced (Jer. 18) as the principle of God's dealings with the nations. Yet, while this was proposed, practically, if God repented, it was "because of the multitude of his mercies," or else to cut man off in judgment (eq., Gen. 6) as a sinner.

Looking at Israel from "the top of the rocks," one that " heard the words of God and saw the vision of the Almighty," could say, " God is not a man that he should lie; nor the son of man, that he should repent." And an apostle of the New Testament could echo with him that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." This is the only passage in the New Testament in which even the thought of it on God's part suggests itself. It is now to man that repentance is proclaimed.)

Prophetically, however,- Ezekiel tells us, under the new covenant, of God's doing this, and here is what a "master in Israel" ought to have known. "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you an heart of flesh," is certainly complete moral renovation or "new birth." And such a change was necessary in order to the introduction even of the earthly kingdom. If these "earthly things" stumbled him, how would he be prepared to believe One who spoke of things outside the range of the old prophets altogether? " If I have told- you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"

And this bringing out of new truth yet further tests the state of the soul to which it is presented. Do I know the Shepherd's voice? Can I distinguish it from the voice of strangers? Or do I receive only what is accredited by the concurrent testimony of the piety or wisdom of past generations? That may seem very humble. It is practical infidelity. I do not believe God until man assures me He has spoken! Which is it then I really trust? It is one of the saddest things in a day of confusion to hear people say, "But so many good men differ." Yes, I reply, but are you listening to the distracting voices of men, then? Does not the Lord Jesus say, "My sheep hear my voice"? And is it not written, " There must also be heresies, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you"? The argument that because we are not infallible, God cannot communicate to us His mind infallibly, is as unreasonable even as it is dangerous. It is denying a distinctive characteristic of the Lord's teaching, " He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes." But if I cannot recognize His voice from that of the scribes themselves, what becomes of that authority? It is as much gone as if He had never spoken, and I cannot certainly say if I be walking in the path of His will or not. Though I " will do his will," I cannot " know of the doctrine." Though my "eye be single," my." whole body " cannot be " full of light."

Nicodemus might have said, " The whole mass of rabbinical commentators say nothing of new birth." Would that excuse him? The question was, did he know the voice of God? And with heavenly things now to be revealed, could he receive them, without the sanction of antiquity, upon the simple word of Him whom he had just acknowledged "a teacher come from God "?

And now, in our day, when there are no new revelations, but only the old truth, amid the perplexity of critics and the -folly of wise men, unperplexed and unchanged, the question still remains for each one of us, with all its interest, and with all its solemnity, Do I know the voice of God?

Then comes the testimony of the glory of His person who is there. " And no man bath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." Then the wonder of His work, still more revealing Him, " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." And then, as soon as you know Him, you know another. In another way than simply by the value of His work, He brings to God. " For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."

He would not leave you short of that blessed revelation, for that would be still to leave you short of perfect rest. " Lord, spew us the Father, and it sufficeth us," is, though the request of ignorance, for in Christ they had seen the Father, yet a true judgment of what it does need to " suffice" the heart. Were there aught, back of Christ, still to be revealed, we should not yet be fully blest. Christ in His love, paying my debt to God would not content me without the knowledge of God in His love, so declared by that debt paid. If my conscience needs the one, my heart needs the other. " God in Christ,"-that satisfies. " And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation."

For it is a reality that we are " without God in the world " naturally, and that is another and a sadder truth even than being outcasts from God. Both go together, no doubt, but while to be an outcast from God is to be outside all I know of light and goodness, to be without Him is to be without the knowledge of light or goodness.

And it needs- that- surely to make-up the perfect agony of woe.

What a difference it is to say I know that I am safe, and " to know God"! And in one way, although it needs the knowledge of security, perfectly to know Him, this is the first thing proposed, and it is that which we go on in continually. In it comes the knowledge of peace, because to "acquaint thyself with him" is to be at peace." But this is only one of the varied fruits of that tree of life and blessing.

We know Him. We have a God. It is joy to put our mouths in the dust before Him, and to own Him as infinitely beyond us in goodness as in power and majesty He is. This is what the Cross reveals. This is what faith receives. And this is where I begin to live and walk with Him, whom daily I know better, and daily seek yet more to know.

What follows in verses 18-21 is man's responsibility in view of "light," thus " come into the world." John's Gospel gives us no pleading with man, no trial of him. The light exposes him, that is all. What can be looked for from one dead in trespasses and sins? Yet even so, that does not excuse him, his responsibility is unaffected by it. For if he be " dead," it is " in sins." If he be in darkness, he " loves darkness rather than light, because his deeds are evil." " This is his condemnation." This is why he does not come to the light, why he does not believe. It is his will that is in fault-his heart. The converse of " they believed not the truth," is simply " but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

-Yet " death " it is, surely. A state out of which none but God can bring. And we must know it, each one for himself, so that it shall be, save in the grace of it, no mystery, that the " Firstborn" of this "new creation" is also " the first begotten from the dead." Even so we, born unto God, are new-born out of death. He for us risen out of it we " quickened together with Him," " that He be-the Firstborn am on g many brethren."

And thus, it is solemn to see the, Lord of life and glory taking up John's work. " After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there He tarried with them, and baptized. John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized." It is the last time you meet with baptism in this gospel, for with this chapter we pass out of the region of death into the life beyond. It was fit to have this solemn witness first. It comes as the seal of the previous teaching, and because " the testimony of two men is true," the master authenticates the testimony of the disciple. All this will be left behind when He takes up His own peculiar " witness " of " heavenly things." But while passing on to this, He must confirm the " earthly," for grace does not " make void," but " establish law." The new revelation (if it go behind it) puts emphatically its seal upon the old.

John has accompanied us then so far. But the wilderness voice is now to give its last utterance, and joyful if solemn utterance it is. O how more than calmly we can look on at our own burial when Christ the Life is there! "He must increase, I must decrease" now. Think you there ought to be sorrow about that? Surely in another sense than old Simeon; but with relief of heart like his, we say " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

Beautiful is this last utterance of one, than whom none greater had risen among them that are born of woman. He is still only "a voice," "a witness to the light," "not the light," and he pretends not to it. "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from heaven is above all."

Precious, simple, ungrudging witness! His glory was to be nothing. Cheaply attained as that is, who among us desires it?

But again and again this solemn testimony to man's utter ruin comes. Let heaven pour out its treasures, he does not value them. "What he hath seen and heard he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony." To receive that is to set to one's seal that God is true.

Truth is here again everything. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him,"

There the voice ceases. What is beyond is not for John (blessed servant as he is) to utter. He that comes from heaven is to speak now the things " which he hath seen and heard." F. W. G.

The Effect on England and Progress of Democratic Power

I need hardly assure your readers that I have no desire that they should meddle in politics; I do not do so myself, nor do I think that a Christian ought. He believes that God governs, and governs with a view to the glory of Christ, and that He will infallibly bring about His purposes. But it seems to me to be well that Christians should apprehend what they have to look for, and be prepared for it, if the Lord tarry. Did it not concern them religiously you would have no word from me on such subjects.

What I purpose doing is to review briefly the course of events, and state what seems to me their results. Parties are all alike to me; they are all alike guilty, and have all alike had their part in what is going on. Lord Derby it was who banished the Scriptures from Irish schools and set up the Irish national (really, Popish) school system. He stated that there was no proselytism, but that " the use of Scripture " was a fatal objection, because it was displeasing to the Priests. We must remember that politicians have no idea of principles, but only of existing influences to which they must be subject.

The next step was that of that most short-sighted man, however great a general he might have been, the Duke of Wellington. I take no side with any party,-I distrust hem all, but he was a Tory as they call it, aristocratic in principle. He, with Sir R. Peel, passed the Catholic Emancipation bill, so called, which admitted some sixty or seventy violent democrats into the house, and by that party (as it is well known), the reform bill of 1832 was passed; the majority of English members were against it. Now, for a state with a political machinery like that of England to work smoothly, a large portion of influential Masses must not be outside its institutions. The Duke of Wellington declared the system perfect which did shut them out, after introducing elements which made it impossible to hold that ground.. He thought to stem it by the House of Lords, and nearly brought on an open revolution; and Lord Harrowby and the waverers (as they were then called), gave a majority to the reform bill in the House of Lords. That bill was a revolution. That is, it was not an admission of excluded influences into existing institutions, but a total change in the institutions themselves. Democracy became ascendant, and possessed the power. The Lords' house became insignificant, and populous boroughs acquired the power once wielded by the land. Old habits modified the effect, but every one knows that this is what took place. The ancient institutions of the country were in principle overturned. With this, railroads and the commercial movement, and the refusal of landlords to increase the population on their lands, concurred to throw the population into the towns. Vaunted education ministered immensely to general infidelity, Satan in that being let loose in that respect, and by the growth of this and of dissent, which predominates in the great towns, the clergy were, on the one hand, thrown into ritualism and popish principles, or, on the other, adopted infidel or semi-infidel principles; and (the bands of the establishment and its general hold on the population of the country loosened), infidel notions acquired a powerful influence over the mental activity of the country, and exercised a very great power in the governing body, the House of Commons. Morally speaking, the Protestant Church was gone, and rationalism and popery, in principle, divided the country. Evangelicalism became practically null in the Establishment:

In this state of things the democratic influence has acquired an immense accession of power by the new reform bill. It is an immense stride in legally revolutionizing the country; checks, and balances, and reckoning on the English character and history is all nonsense. Power is put into hands which will use it. The forms are immaterial; they will probably be changed immediately or ere long.

But my object is to notice the effect on the state of society. God cares for the poor. But the poor have ceased to he so in the Scriptural sense of the word. They are masters. The effect on the masses and on the active minds of the country will be infidelity, exalting man. Even popular religious preaching will take this character. It will keep up the name of Christian, but will exalt man in its statements, not Christ:-despise government, says the apostle, presumptuous, self-willed, not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Human reason, not God, will be the arbiter of good and evil. What already prevails so largely, will be open to a vast party in the country. The will of the people, confidence in man, his rights, his general perfectability, will be the banner of all this class. The aristocracy, on the contrary, having lost power will seek to compensate themselves (vexed and dissatisfied in heart), by luxury and pleasure. To maintain quiet (principle having gone in both classes), and some influence-some barrier, against the strong will of the people, they will rapidly seek to increase the influence of the clergy-the only remaining one over those that constitute the bulk of those around. In the country it will be the body of the poor subject to priestcraft, and in the towns a very large increase of popery, so as to have an integral place in the population; the bulk of those who are not so, or who do not side with them, being infidel.

It may be thought that I have not sufficiently allowed for the influence of religious dissenters. It is, really, next to nothing, and will be always becoming less. Already exalting man is the system that most widely prevails, going on with the age. But there is another thing, they will join with the Roman Catholic in putting down the Establishment, which has little or no political

hold' on the country. The Episcopalian must then, as against dissenters, base itself on its distinctive character, in alliance with (if not in the form of) popery, successional grace and sacraments, and the clergy the only channels of it. I do not expect Protestantism nominally to cease, but it will be really infidel. You may find individual ministers, Independent or Episcopalian, preaching Christ, but the disruption that is taking place is a disruption into infidel radicalism or popular will, and popery in the aristocracy and in all that they can bring under its influence, as a check upon that will. I have no doubt that God will keep every faithful soul, and maintain every needed testimony, but it is well that Christians should know what is before them, as time goes on more rapidly, perhaps, than we are aware.

I do not look for violence, because I believe there is no courage anywhere to resist the course of events. I do not pretend to say how long it may take to bring these things about. God knows, and God holds the reins or looses them; but I have no doubt as to what is coming on. The Christian may walk in peace through it all, waiting for God's Son from heaven, and keeping the word of His patience: yea, having a specially blessed place of testimony in the midst of it all, but a lowly one, content to be nothing in a world which has rejected Christ, and is ripening for His judgment. Their part is to keep His word and not deny his name.

The result as to the western world will be, as known to students of prophecy, that the Babylonish or idolatrous power, with which the kings of the earth had committed fornication, will be utterly destroyed, and the popular will in the same sphere will give itself to the beast destroyed, with the false prophet, by the Lord Himself coming from Heaven.

The present result of what is now enacting will be: the aristocratic part of the community giving itself up to luxury and pleasure, and, with the dependent part of the population, to Popery; the independent and mentally active part to infidelity. The opposition to Popery will be infidel not Protestant. The general public effect will be a great and rapid increase of centralization or despotic

Doctrinal Evil

.... hast not denied my name (Rev. 3:8).

The following extract is from the letter of a brother in the Lord: we have but one Lord, and I trust we shall love one the other (according to the one faith and one baptism), even as He has loved us. Our Lord's love has not hindered the brother from condemning (contemptuously enough, as it seems to me) what he mistakes for error in myself and others, and he will not, I trust, love me the less for presenting in love the effects upon my mind of his remarks. For, so far as our love is as Christ loved us, it is love in the truth. These are His words:-

"I fail to find in the word any authority for dealing with doctrinal evil. Moral evil we have direct Scripture for judging."

The thoughts which rose in my mind after reading this were-

I. How strange that a good man should not, on committing such a sentence to a letter, be struck with the fact that in so saying he condemns all of that which is called the Reformation (that is, all Protestantism in its setting up), and the whole of Nonconformity too;-for Luther and Calvin, etc., left Romanisrn on account of doctrinal evil. And has not the writer himself left the so-called Church of England, and other things too, upon the same ground of judging doctrinal evil?

Then came this text to my mind: "If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?" (Psa. 11:3).

Then came another thought: " It is the discovery that the, so-called, Church of England cannot put out from itself the infidel teaching of Colenso, cannot deal with the writers of the Essays, with the writer of Ecce Homo,' with the Ritualist teachers, which is now driving so many godly people in England out of the Establishment, as out of a city betrayed into the hand of the adversary. Would you say they are wrong?

Then I read the sentence again: " I fail to find in the word any authority for dealing with doctrinal evil," and I said to myself (as if speaking to the writer): " But must, not this be only blindness in yourself? Might another God than Jehovah be preached to Israel, and Israel be passive under it? Ought you not to be sure that there must be, though you cannot see it, some sanction of a shelter from doctrinal error about God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost? Doctrinal error about the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby alone you can be saved? Doth not nature teach you that there must be that which you cannot find?"

But who can divide between doctrinal evil and moral evil, without bringing down the moral good and evil with which he occupies himself, to the mere level of human morality; so leaving out God's ways and thoughts, and so denying that we are to have the same mind which was in Christ Jesus.

I write this foolishly, as a man, just giving the thoughts as they arose in my own mind after reading the extract.

Then I turned to " God and the word of His grace ": and I read such words as these:

" Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Gal. 1:8,9). Did Christ give these words by His Spirit, through. Paul, to the. Churches? And can I say. that " I fail to find in the word any authority for dealing with doctrinal evil." A heretic preaches another gospel; I try to deliver him from his error but do not succeed. Try every means in my reach-uselessly. Believe that the man is one of those that the verse refers to-that he is accursed-and can I say " I fail to find in the word any authority for dealing with doctrinal evil."

Again there is some one among my associates who teaches (would that it were less common) not openly, but really, that love in the disciple to the Lord is not needful. I find he does not himself love the Lord. Am I to say " I fail to find in the word any authority for dealing with doctrinal evil " while this text stares me in the face. " If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha " (a curse for eternity) (1 Cor. 16:22).

Again, it is written, " the house of God, which is the church of the living God,the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). What the house and assembly of the living God is to be is the pillar and stay of the truth. Babylon in the Revelation, the city and mother of Harlots, was Satan's strong hold and had nothing save corrupted truth, truth turned to wrong purposes; but of her it is written, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (chap. 18:4). Surely my brother must admit that his statement is, to say the least, too loose. The character of the house and assembly of the living God is, that it is the pillar and stay of the truth. Doctrinal evil comes in,-will he say that the character of the house and assembly contain no authority for dealing in any wise with the doctrinal evil?

To an intelligent mind 1 Cor. 5:5,1. Tim. i. 20, Titus 3:10, would contain authority; but I pass on to texts more immediately limited to doctrine. In the addresses to the seven churches, we have words fully bearing upon the question of doctrinal evil.

" I know.... how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars " (chap. h.. 2). " I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan" (ver. 9, and comp. iii. 19). " I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate " (ver. 15).

To have among us those that hold false doctrine and those that preach false doctrine is in either case as strongly rebukeable as to have those that do the evil things which result from false doctrine. And the allowing any such among us is here rebuked of the Lord.

" I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication: and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds..And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you 1 Say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; 1 will put upon you none other burden" (2:20-24).

[This is according to 1 Cor. 11:17-34, where we are taught that we are as individuals bound to judge ourselves; if we do not, then the Lord surely will judge us, UNLESS the assembly does its duty and steps in to clear herself from the evil in us in her midst whatever it may be.]

These texts taken out of the word may suffice to prove that the word does lay responsibility upon us, and so does give authority to deal with doctrinal evil. It warns us against the consequences to ourselves, if we do not deal with the evil.

There are a few important matters which I would add. As 1St. The connection with individual salvation itself of that which is questioned. My eternal salvation requires me to separate-pre-supposes my separating-doctrinal evil from myself and myself from it. Am I saved? Yes. And how? By faith in Him who having died for my sins and risen again for my justification now sits at the right hand of the Father. He is the truth. If the truth has made me free, I know that my salvation and safety are in my holding the truth and walking according to it: to remain under, or in association with, any doctrinal evil is rebellion against my Lord and sin against my own soul. If I resist the devil he will flee from me. Being, through faith, a member of Christ's body and a child of God, I have the Spirit of God and of Christ in me and with me for power. No doctrinal evil, no doctrine of devils, may I knowingly sanction. My walk is to express the mind which was in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). In him certainly there was no covering of a lie anywhere soever. Nor need there be in us, as Paul goes on to describe (ver. 14, 15, 16). "Po all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world: holding forth the word of life."

2ndly. But if I have eternal life, I am a member in particular of a body of which Christ is the Head, and also, a child of God. There are others such around me and the relationships which are for eternity have a present existence to us all and we are a company. Through our profession we are also parts of. a habitation of God through the Spirit who was sent down here on the day of Pentecost, in proof of Christ's exaltation on high. This habitation of God down here will not abide forever: it may corrupt itself; it has corrupted itself; it will be judged (see Rom. 11:18-25). As I do not cease from my true profession of Christ because others profess what they do not possess, I cannot separate myself from the house. From the evil of it I must. If asked for my scripture warrant to do so-these texts would suffice me. 2 Tim. 2:20 and 2], and 3:5, from such withdraw thyself,-if a man purge himself these,- from such turn away.

" Shun profane and vain babblings; for they will increase unto more ungodliness: And their word will eat as loth a canker: of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus:; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor and some to dishonor If a man therefore purge himself from these [vessels to dishonor, that is men that concerning the truth. err (doctrinal evil?)] he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Tim. 2:16-21). The Spirit dwelling in the house down here is the same one as formed in each of us an incorruptible seed through the word of the Gospel; who also unites us to Christ as members of His body, in eternal life. He is the witness down here of and to the truth and against all error. If in a day like the present I have to withdraw myself from those who profess incompetency to deal " with doctrinal evil," I excommunicate no one,—I excommunicate no assembly, no company of assemblies in withdrawing myself from doctrinal evil. Nor do I excommunicate any by refusing to be in companionship with those who avowedly cannot deal with doctrinal evil. The life I have (which is Christ), my conscience enlightened by God and the word of His grace, bid me save myself, if I cannot also save others. The individuals whom I leave, who compromise the truth, stand upon their own individual responsibility. And if they do not repent, sore will be their judgment. Nor is there want of love in thus leaving them, for my continuing in their evil would have been a sanction on my part to it, after they have refused to judge themselves as to it. If they like not the voice which calls to repentance, I can yet pray for them now I am outside of the evil, as I could not while I was inside of it.

3rdly. But the Assembly is responsible for the discipline of the House of God upon earth: The assembly as such, not an apostle or any man, but the assembly.. Take the case of extreme discipline (that is the act of the assembly which. finding a wicked person (1 Cor. 5:13) inside who will not purge himself from evil, puts him outside), this is the act of the assembly as such. Paul knew the power which he had as an apostle-yet he would not go to Corinth until they had as an assembly cleared themselves and their consciences by judging wickedness which was among them (compare 1 Cor. 5 and 2 Cor. 2). To make a sin of immorality to be a•subject Tor-the assembly to judge, and a sin of doctrine a subject for an apostle to judge is sheer ignorance. In either case it is the word of God's grace alone which can skew us what is immoral for a Christian and what is the truth which has to be kept. But in neither case is it other than the Spirit in the assembly which is power with us to act and to put away, if there is to be blessing; for if an apostle had acted without the assembly its conscience would not have been cleared, and if Paul, as he feared, had had to act at Corinth in spite of the assembly, then it would have been to destruction (2 Cor. 10:8),and not for edification. The Spirit of God, to a pure conscience, is quite enough of power to enable an assembly to put away evil. His presence too is our warrant for doing it. False doctrine is leaven of the worst kind. Read 1 Cor. 5:6,7,8 and you will see the call to purge out all leaven, that we may be an unleavened lump.

Observe authority and power are two distinct things.

For those who have professed to separate themselves from the so-called churches unto God, and the word of His grace, to vindicate the toleration of leaven of any kind (in word, or practice, in doctrine, morality, or practice) is to build again the things which they have destroyed, and to male themselves transgressors (Gal. 2:18). They are self-condemned, too, and are to be rejected. When the question is about doctrine, no doubt can remain. See Titus 3:10,11; and 1 Cor. ii. 19, Gal. 5:20, 2 Peter 2:1.

Finally, to use the name of the Church as a cover for evil or error of any kind is, I believe, a great sin, and is to dishonor the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For God's Church is the habitation of God through the Spirit, and contains the children of the Father and the Bride of Christ. That there is a spirit abroad who is counterworking, in every way he can, the Spirit of God in His gracious efforts in these days to gather together in one the children of God who have been scattered abroad, I know. The adversary will be judged, and so will all those who work under him for this wicked end. That some are ignorantly going out in this current " in their simplicity, and they know not whither they go" (2 Sam. 15:11), I also believe. Such I would, if possible, pull out of the fire (Jude 23).

M. R.

Thoughts on Faith

" It is the gift of God."-Eph. 2:8.

" Without faith it is impossible to please Him."-Heb. 11:6.

IT is generally admitted that at the present time, reasoning and credulity are making rapid strides, and are dividing between them the great masses in Christendom.

It is not then out of season, to consider what is the nature of that faith which God gives, by which the sinner is justified, and without which it is impossible for the saint to please Him.

It is a solemn fact, and the world cannot get rid of it, and of the consequent responsibility, that the word of God has been given, and that it is before the eyes, and even in the hands of men. In Christendom God's word is acknowledged, more or less, as the basis of every form of' religious belief; but as man by nature and in -the flesh cannot be subject to God, and to His word, he: does with it (as with everything else with which God has entrusted him) that which seemeth good in his own eyes, and wrests the expressions and words of Scripture to his own meaning. Thus, for instance, such words as " Faith," '' Religion," " Church," '' Regeneration," "Eternal Life or Death," etc., are taken up and interpreted according to the peculiar views of schools or of individuals, and are made to mean just what each one pleases.

It is written that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," but experience shows us that the natural man is exceedingly ready to take up the letter of God's word, and this is very markedly the case in our time.

Men will not let God and His revelation alone. Religion is the order of the day. There is a sort of itching after religiousness. Men do not and dare not believe nothing. They must have what they call " a faith" of some sort. Natural conscience appears to be aroused, and men of every degree, and character of mind, the most worldly, and the most intellectual, make time and opportunity for religious profession, and many even seek to flavor their very worldliness by their religiousness.

And Satan is busy in the midst of this scene presenting this and that error to men's minds for them to rest on. Every shade of superstition and infidelity may be traced within a very limited sphere in Christendom, and the assent given to each of these is called by men their " faith.' Thus that which man calls faith, is his assent to, and belief in such doctrine, creed, or system as he has received either on the evidence of his own reason or senses, or on such external authority as he may please to submit his mind to:-and under these two heads may be ranged every form of rationalism wherein man by searching thinks to find out God; and of superstition, in which he rests his soul for its eternal salvation on the traditions and doctrines of men.

Now in such a world, such a scene of unbounded con' fusion, how important for the soul to examine itself, whether it be in the faith, and prove the reality and virtue of that which it possesses; and it need not go astray, for the faith which is of God has its own characteristics, in which it differs from all that reason, sense, or flesh in its best and fairest forms can show.

Divine faith is, in a special sense, " the gift of God." It is imparted by Him, the work of His own Spirit. It is something in addition to nature, and it is not one of what men call " nature's gifts." Its possession is evidenced in crediting God rather than man. The natural mind credits natural facts, but by divine faith the mind of man credits God. Whenever the word of man, or the judgment of sight and sense come into collision with the word and revelation of God, divine faith sides with God, and says, " Let GOD be true " (Rom. 3:4).

" All men have not faith." Faith is not the mere natural belief of the mind of man, though faith acts through the mind. It is not the same thing to believe man or the evidence of my senses, as to believe God.

It is sometimes said by teachers of the gospel and others that God and His word are to be believed just as men believe one another, or the facts of nature and of history. But this is, not so. The action of the natural mind is, no doubt, the same; but the power is totally different: in one case it is a natural, in the other it is a spiritual power, and this is proved not only by the word of God (1 Cor. 2:14), but in the experience of all true believers. For instance, they know that no mere effort of their minds could have enabled them to receive the simple statements of the gospel as to the value of the work of Christ, until "faith came." Though the facts were not disputed; the value of His atoning work, though equally set forth in the Scriptures, was not apprehended, and never can be except " by faith."

But the question arises, how is the action of the natural mind to be distinguished from divine faith, as up to a certain point both acknowledge and agree to the same truths? This may be explained if it be remembered that the letter of the Scriptures of God being historically true, and better attested than any other facts, the natural mind receives and assents to that which is thus presented to it on unquestionable evidence, altogether apart from divine faith.

Men do not and cannot deny the leading facts and doctrines of Scripture, but giving to them a mental assent, form upon them systems of religious belief.

Faith, however, acts differently, and on another principle. It is indeed the " gift of God." It is a power of which nature knows nothing. When "faith is come" a new and living link is formed between the soul and God, by which God is apprehended as the "living God," and as the One from whom everything is to be expected (Heb. 11:6; Psa. 62).

God becomes the object of the soul by faith; and His word has the first and highest authority over it. Faith neither staggers at the word of God, nor seeks to qualify it. We read " Abraham believed God," and this is the action -of faith. It is not only that he believed God's word, but firstly, he believed God Himself, and thus His word of course.

I may believe the word of one, because the word itself is worthy of credit, and either meets my need, or commends itself to my mind as true, and this without a due apprehension of, or respect for, the one who speaks. It is the apprehension of the person, however, which is the essential point, and then His word derives its authority, not merely from my sense of its truth, or its suitability to my own or others' needs, but from Himself, and this is especially the character of Divine faith. It apprehends and believes God.

Faith in every age and dispensation has thus acted. God being its object, His word or revelation has always by it been received. What Be has spoken, faith has bowed to and believed, and the justification which is by faith has followed. God's mind too has -been apprehended and His will done by those to whom this gift has been vouchsafed, in a way which nothing but faith could accomplish. The eleventh of Hebrews tells us somewhat of this in its wonderful summary of the saints of old.

That men naturally know and believe both in God and His revelation up to a certain point is unquestionable, and even." the devils believe and tremble." That it was so from the beginning we learn from God's own Word, as also that ignorance of God has followed because men, " did not like to retain God in their knowledge " (Rom. 1)

In Israel, as a people, we know that God and His Word were acknowledged and believed apart from divine faith. Their character, indeed, is recorded as that of " children in whom is no faith " (Deut. 32:20), and a people who sought not righteousness by faith (Rom. 9:32). God revealed Himself to them in such a way as to leave no possibility of question as to His being or His will, but apart from faith He was neither known, trusted, or enjoyed, and at last, as we know, He was rejected by them. But all through God was owned and believed in by a remnant on the ground of faith. Before law, and under law, we find the record of their faith, and if we trace their histories shall see that it is evidenced by actions and works very contrary in their character to what nature or sense would dictate. Again, in this dispensation, men have mentally assented to the up.- questionable facts connected with the manifestation of God in the flesh.." The thing was not done in a corner." Christ most surely came, lived in the flesh, is died and rose again, and men know it, cannot deny it. They own it, presented to them as it is on evidence which cannot be disputed, and then, by their natural assent to the leading facts and doctrines of Christianity, they form the outward mass of profession, called " Christendom."

Here again, however, nature is at fault, and while adopting the letter, fails to apprehend the very life and essence of Christianity. It is by faith alone that the Christ of God is known and apprehended, and His finished work for sinners valued in the soul. By natural assent to facts and doctrines Christendom is formed as we have said, but by divine faith God and in revelation in Christ, the sinner is justified,:peace is obtained, the heart of man is satisfied, and the believer is separated forever from the world and from the power of him who rules it. Nature can apprehend facts and doctrines and form upon them a variety of religious systems and beliefs according to the character of the mind that deals with them. It is reserved for faith " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," to enter into And appropriate the mind and purpose of God in Christ, and find its rest in Faith, then, is not " religion" so called, It is a divine gift, a new and living power to lay hold on God, -His Word, His mind, His purpose, and His will. " Pure religion and undefiled " must follow faith, for " faith without works is dead, being alone," but, according to God, religion is not a system of belief or practice by which the soul is saved, but the fruits of His own grace in a soul saved and satisfied by the knowledge of His love through faith—" faith which worketh by love."

There is one point in connection with the reception of God's word which is important in our day. Faith needs no testimony from man as to the truth of God and of His word. There are those who will assert that the very existence of the Word, as well as the evidence of its divinity, depends on human instrumentality, as for instance on what they call " the Church," on whose authority they say it has been defined, and is accepted as of God. Now, this is true no doubt as to man, apart from faith. Man requires testimony to that which he is asked to believe, and will take it from his fellow man, even in the things of God. But divine faith needs no such evidence. It believes God, and bows to His word, because it is His word. The soul which possesses faith believes the message of God's grace and finds its peace and joy, not because man says it is God's message, but because it is God's message to it. " My sheep," says the Lord Jesus, " know my voice." " He that knoweth God heareth us," says John. This does not touch the fact that God, as a rule, uses man in testimony for Himself, as in the preaching of the Gospel, for " faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," but the word of God it is that faith receives and not man's testimony of it (1 Thess. 2:13).

Now, we have before alluded to the fact that it is by faith that God justifies the sinner (not holding the doctrine of " justification by faith," but having the thing itself), and every true believer in the Lord Jesus is thus justified. What is needed, however, in our souls is continuance in the exercise of the faith by which, as sinners, we first found peace with God. It is here that so many of God's children fail. Having been justified by faith they cease to exercise the power on which their every blessing hangs, and yet of them it is said as looked at in grace that they " walk by faith and not by sight."

The failure of God's people now-a-days in this respect may be more clearly seen if we compare the present with the past dispensation.

Under the law faith was not called for, but obedience. Man was under probation in the nation of Israel. The question was, could man obey and live Israel's failure, rejection, and judgment, is the answer. Man as man could not obey or keep the holy law of a holy God, and even under law, faith alone could apprehend its claims, or the inability of the flesh to meet them, as we read, " the just shall live by his faith " (Hab. 2:4). As we have said before, faith in every age apprehended God, and before or under law, in individuals it owned man's sin and failure, and " trusted in God," not on the ground of obedience, but of faith. Such for instance as Abel, Job, Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel, etc. Before Christ the character of God's dispensational dealings was however distinctly on the ground of a carnal obedience and faith so entirely exceptional that the very word occurs but twice in the Old Testament, yet on the other hand obedience was so unattainable by man in the flesh that Israel's very failure is attributed to their seeking righteousness on the around of law, and not of faith. (Rom. 9:31,32.)

But now all is changed. Man is no longer under trial; he has been proved, and proved to be unequal to the claims and requirements of God. Of Israel, with the light of the law of God in their midst, it is written " Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Christ, the light has come, and " his own received him not"; and, as to the world, " he was in the world, and the world knew him not " (John 1:10,11). The mission of the Son of God manifested in the fullest manner the character of man, and man's rejection of Him brought to a close the period of his probation.

With the " judgment of this world," however and its conviction of sin by the testimony of the Holy Ghost, to the death and resurrection of Christ, another state of things has been introduced. Whereas God did call for obedience; He now calls for faith. Man having been proved to be incapable of obedience, he is now in the Gospel called upon for faith-i.e. belief in God, and in God's ability (upon the ground of a perfect atonement for sin, made upon that cross, at which the sin of man and grace of God met, and the lesser was swallowed up in the greater) to be " just, and' the justifier of him that believeth in' Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). Men, sinners, are besought to be reconciled to God, not on the ground of any work, religious system, or creed, of their own, but on the ground' of. God's own actings towards them in having sent his Son into the world to save the world;- on the ground that Christ has been " made sin," that sin has been laid on Him, that He has "once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust." In all this God will have it to be seen that He is the actor, and He alone. Man having been proved a sinner every mouth is stopped, and all the world has become guilty before God. Faith then is that by which alone man can now respond to the grace of God, or to the' call of God' upon him. It is a dispensation of faith; not as it once was when faith here and there in individuals trusted a God who yet dwelt in " thick darkness," but still trusted Him, though only able perhaps to say " though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him"; but a dispensation in which faith it called for towards a God who has come out to sinners in all the fullness of His grace; in which " the darkness has passed and the true light now shineth."

If one may say it, What could God do more than He has done, and declares in His gospel, to display the riches of His grace and of. His glory, and to speak to the necessities of men. He has indeed spoken by His Son -the Word, the incarnate Word, "the daysman," who can lay His hand upon God and man, and bring them both together.

This then is Christianity according to God: How different from that which the world presents to us. The world has indeed adopted Christianity, but has made of it a religion for the flesh. That which God jealously guarded, leaving really no place for flesh to act in, man has nevertheless wrested from the Spirit, and calling Christ the " Divine Founder of our religion," has sought to follow His teaching and instructions apart from faith. And God's own people, " children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," are carried with the stream:

Now we before have said that God, looking at His people in grace, can say of them that they " walk by faith not by sight"; and this is indeed what they are called to. That faith by which they once looked to Christ as their Savior, and learned that God had justified them, should never cease its operation in their souls. If God has been trusted for salvation, is He not worthy to be trusted for the smallest matter. If, however, we are honest we must admit that this is not so with us, and that so far from the walk of faith characterizing the people of God, their walk is often as much like men as the rest of the world. The saints of God do not stand out now as of old, as those of whom it was said the " world was not worthy," but mingled in the mass of profession they cannot be distinguished (except in rare instances) from that world which with all its outward form of godliness yet " lieth in wickedness."

Faith is the last thing which Christians often think of exercising, except in the one act by which they seek to get peace to their souls, and to escape from hell; and thus blessing to the soul and power against sin and the world are forfeited, and the name of Christ is dishonored. The portion of the saint of God now is only to be known and enjoyed by faith. Faith is God's gift to him for the present season, for the " little while," during which he is neither of the world, nor in the glory. God has given him nothing here below to rest in or to wait for. His every blessing, joy, and hope are linked with One who was rejected in the world and is now at the right hand of God, because rejected here. The assertion of a place or authority in the world, either by the saint or the Church, is therefore completely contrary to the mind of God as revealed in His word. Christ is the measure and pattern of His people, what His portion was here, theirs is here; what He is above they are even now in spirit, and are destined to be in body also. When He comes to the world again to judge, and to reign, they will be with Him sharers of His throne.

May the Lord awaken our hearts more to the exercise of faith, and having the "mind of Christ," to know more of practical fellowship with Him—to be able in our measure to say as one of old, " The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). God has indeed given to us His Son wholly, and without reserve, not to be looked at once for life, and that attained, the eyes then turned to the world for present enjoyment. No, it is to be Christ all the way along, the heavenly manna: the " bread of God," as He said, "he that ' eateth me shall live by me." God has redeemed His people from an evil world to give them to another, and to give to them another object for their hearts, even the Son of His love; and true faith finds in the Son of God a better and a dearer object than all that this poor world can offer. " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God " (1 John 5:5). Who indeed? And what can give the victory over a world which presents such attractions to the heart of man, but faith which makes so present and so real the love stronger than death, and the abundance and power of that life out of death, which is in Jesus, the crucified and risen, and in Him alone.

Nothing can take the place of faith, knowledge in the things of God will not alone carry us along. Many of God's children now-a-days start on their course with knowledge, but whatever nature may say, in the things of God knowledge is not power apart from the exercise of faith. They thus fail to follow in the thoughts and ways of God, and make shipwreck of their testimony. Solemn is the word to such, "If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him:""

"There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen." Nature's highest flight, and keenest vision, discerns not the way of faith. God has a path for every one of His people, and faith rests in the certainty that that which He has laid out must be the surest and most blessed way to walk in. The end of it is the same for all; His presence for evermore, -and faith waits on Him to make plain every step, and even in the darkest passages can say " when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then THOU knewest my path."

The Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles

"Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God" was the announcement made to Israel at Sinai. How far they entered into the spirit of these solemn feasts, how long they continued, without any intermission, to go up year by year to appear before the Lord, is not revealed. That there were breaks in the period between their entrance into the land under Joshua, and their leaving it as captives for Babylon, during which they neglected this command we must suppose. At times we have indications that these feasts were not forgotten. David appointed the Levites " to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even; and to offer (rather at the offering of) all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord, in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts" (1 Chron. 23:30, 31). Solomon wrote to Huram that he desired to build a house to the name of the Lord his God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord his God (2 Chron. 2:4). Hezekiah restored the worship of God, appointed the courses of the priests and of the Levites to minister, and appointed also "the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the Lord." (2 Chron. 31:2,3). The returned remnant set up again the altar, on which they offered the burnt offerings on all the set feasts of the Lord (Ezra 3:5). At these epochs of their history, and doubtless at other periods also, they did observe the feasts in their regular order, though, from other Scriptures we learn, that the manner in which they kept them was not uniformly the same. Between the days of Solomon and Hezekiah there was no such Passover as the one mentioned in the reign of the latter. Between the days of Samuel and Josiah there was no such Passover as the one the king kept. Between the days of Joshua and Nehemiah the people had not kept the feast of Tabernacles aright by dwelling in booths. At times neglected, and again at times kept with different degrees of spirituality and gladness of heart, how is it, it may be asked, that we have mention made of the Passover and Tabernacles only at certain eventful epochs in their history?

Of the observance of the feast of Weeks we have no mention in the Bible, till the accomplishment of that which it foreshadowed commenced. Then it first comes before us as a feast which had been kept, but to the celebration of which, during all the period of Israel's history whilst owned of God as His earthly people, no allusion had been made. The reason of this is apparent. Though appointed to be kept in its order along with the other feasts of the year, because in common with them it looked forward to what God would accomplish on earth, it had respect to what was properly speaking outside Israel, regarded as the accepted earthly people. It looked on to that day when the Lord would begin a work outside them, yet not exclusive of any of them who would acknowledge it; but a work which, whilst carried on, would not treat them as a people favored beyond others, and to whom all must be gathered if they desired favor from God. This of course explains at once why, when the ecclesiastical years of Israel shall again run their course, no feast of Weeks is set down for observance. The barley and wheat harvests will be reaped as heretofore, but the first fruits of God's creatures (James 1:18) will before that time have been gathered into His barn. The seasons will come round as surely and as regularly as they did in the days of Solomon, but the great event, to which that feast of Weeks pointed, having taken place, its name is left out of the revised calendar.

With the feasts of the Passover and of Tabernacles it is different. They have special reference to the times when Israel are owned as God's earthly people, so in the calendar of Ezekiel (45:18-25) they appear. Every blessing for fallen man being based on redemption, the Passover, which speaks of this, concerns us equally with Israel; but the special portion of Israel being on the earth, whilst the feast of Weeks has a peculiar interest for us, Tabernacles has a peculiar interest for them; and so, as in the coming time of blessedness for them they will celebrate the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles in remembrance of redemption, and as enjoying final rest after all their toil, these are also the two feasts ordained of God, the observance of which is mentioned from time to time in their history. Our inquiry now is the special reason for the mention of these feasts at these times.

As the Lord's redeemed people, having first kept the Passover in Egypt, and learned the value of the blood, they went up out of it, passed through the Red. Sea, traversed the wilderness, and encamped at Sinai till the 20th day of the second month of the second year after they came up out of that land. On that day, for the first time since the erection of the tabernacle, the cloud was taken up from off it. Brought to Horeb, where Moses had previously been, they had now to traverse a country to which from his request to Hobab (Num. 10:31), was evidently a stranger. But, just before they started on this journey, all kept the Passover. On the 14th day of the first month the congregation kept it according to God's institution. But there were some ceremonially unclean, defiled by the dead body of a man, who could not then keep it. For them and for others who might hereafter be lawfully hindered, the 14th day of the second month was appointed by God. Till all had kept the Passover, and commemorated redemption out of Egypt, the cloud abode on the tabernacle. After that it was taken up, and they journeyed forth afresh with the remembrance alive in their hearts that they were the redeemed of the Lord. How suitable was this. What could have so strengthened their hearts for a journey through an unknown country, and that a desert? What encampments, suited for their herds and flocks, they might come to none of them could know. What difficulties, what enemies, what trials they might have to encounter, of these they were ignorant. There were people in the desert, but people they had not before seen. There were tracks in parts of it, but none among them had ever traced them out. The road, to their leader and to themselves, was new. But they were the redeemed of the Lord. He had charged Himself specially with all their necessities. This should have quieted every apprehension, and checked each rising murmur. We know it did not; but we must agree that the best preparation for that journey was to celebrate the Passover.

Thirty-nine years pass ere we again hear of the Passover. All have died of the congregation who kept it in the wilderness of the age of 20 and upwards, except Caleb and Joshua. The territories of Sihon and Og have been actually portioned out between the two tribes and a half, Jordan has been crossed, and Canaan entered. All the males hitherto uncircumcised having submitted to that rite, the feast of Passover is kept just before they go forth to war with the nations of the land. Could they not have entered the land at a different season of the year? No season was more difficult, for Jordan overflowed its banks all the time of harvest; but no other season would have been so suited, considering what they had to engage in. To fight; to be bold against the Anakims, the Amorites, and the Canaanites; to stand up against the chariots of iron; to defeat and subdue the seven nations greater and mightier than themselves, what could have so well nerved them for the task, what could have so effectually braced up their energies as the remembrance of redemption fresh in their mind. They kept the Passover, and then went forward against Jericho.

Changes take place in Israel; the priesthood no longer holds the first place in the nation; the people, once united, have been for centuries divided; the glory of the kingdom fades away, and the captivity of the ten tribes draws near, ere we read again of the Passover. The pious Hezekiah succeeded his idolatrous father Ahaz, the Temple doors were re-opened, the sanctuary cleansed, the lamps re-lighted, and the worship of God restored. Then he summoned all Israel to keep the Passover. Divers out of Asher, Zebulun, and Manasseh humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem at his invitation. Many of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, presented themselves at the feast, though they were not ceremonially sanctified (2 Chron. 30:11, l8). On the fourteenth day of the second month the king and all those assembled together kept that festival. Much had Hezekiah done previous to this in the work of cleansing the land from idols, but much remained to be done; so we read that, after the Passover had been kept, they proceeded forth on their work. All Israel that were present at the Passover went out to the cities of Judah, and brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, till they had destroyed them all. How suited was this action of theirs in connection with the Passover. If the Lord Jehovah was their Redeemer, what had they to do with false gods? If the one true God was the God they owned, what business had they with idols and shrines? His altar was at Jerusalem, His house was on Mount Moriah. He owned no other altar; He had sanctified no other house by His presence. Owning themselves to be His people, the descendants of those redeemed out of Egypt, they finish the work in Judah and Benjamin which Hezekiah had commenced in Jerusalem; but it is after they have been reminded of redemption, and as a direct consequence of it.

Eighty years or more roll by, and this feast is again kept in Jerusalem, this time under the presidency of Josiah. Like his great grandfather Hezekiah, he has been engaged in the work of reformation, but he does it alone. It is his work, more than that of the people. In Jerusalem, in Judah, in Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon and even to Naphtali, he acts with vigor. The altars and the groves are broken down, the graven images are beaten to powder, and all the idols throughout all the land of Israel cut down (2 Chron. 34:6, 7), after which he returns to Jerusalem. His heart thus manifested to be right with God, the word of the Lord is recovered. He hears it, and causes all to hear it. He makes a covenant himself before the Lord, to walk after Him, and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, and makes all present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. His work of restoration already accomplished, God's mind about himself made known, his desire for the people's welfare plainly shown, if anything could persuade the people to be faithful to their God, it would surely be the remembrance of His faithfulness to their forefathers in Egypt; so he summoned all to keep the Passover with him at Jerusalem.

On one other occasion only in the Old Testament do we read of this feast being kept. After the people had returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel, when the house of God had at last been finished and dedicated, God having in the meantime shown them how, if troubles arose from their refusing the assistance of the mingled people in the land in building that house, He could turn the heart of the king, and incline him to favor the work, they keep "the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel" (Ezra 6:22). He was their God, and had proved it; they were His redeemed people, and they owned it. They kept the Passover. Was not this a fine testimony to all around them? Weak, outwardly, as a people, as they surely were, dependent on the favor of a Gentile sovereign for the completion of the Temple, they here stand forth, and publicly own that they are God's people. What a proof they have had of the rightness of their position in keeping aloof from an alliance with the mingled people. If redeemed by God as a nation He would surely help them. Jehovah of hosts had taken their forefathers to be His people, He avouched Himself to be their God, and now had afresh shown that He would care for those whom He regarded as His own. But though the house was finished, all was not done of which Daniel had prophesied. The wall had to be rebuilt. Besides this, a real separation from those among them who favored the Samaritans had to be effected. In this, as for everything, the secret of their strength lay in complete separation to God, because they were God's. Full of joy, then, because of what had been done, they must have been conscious of much that was still undone. And, knowing wherein their great strength lay, the Passover would remind them of that separation from evil, as God's people, which was absolutely essential to future success. Looking backward, they had just proved the reality of redemption; looking forward, success could attend them on no other ground. They remember the deliverance from Egypt, and rejoice in the celebration of it.

When anything fresh had to be undertaken, the unknown wilderness to be traversed, conflict in Canaan to be commenced, a reformation to be completed, or the hearts of God's professing people to be stirred up, redemption in God's appointed way was first commemorated. Of redemption by blood, saints are reminded in the New Testament. Is it the wilderness, in which we are to be but sojourners, that is before the mind? Peter reminds us that we should pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, because we know we have been redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversation received by tradition from the fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. Are the Corinthians exhorted to keep themselves pure from the vices of the heathen? The reason is given, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body " (1 Cor. 6). Were the Galatians slipping away from the right ground, to be justified by works of law? The apostle tells them he is crucified with Christ, and the life he now lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave Himself for him. And, to show believers in Crete what they ought to be, he writes to Titus of Him "who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

After the Passover mentioned in Ezra, we hear no more of the feast in the Old Testament, except the intimation in Ezekiel of its re-observance when there shall be a prince again in Israel, and the people be gathered to their own land in peace. Then, throughout the millennium it will be annually kept; for the remembrance of redemption accomplished can never be out of place on earth, as it will not, we know, be in heaven (Rev. 5).

Coming to New Testament times we meet with the feast again, but now styled "a feast of the Jews," a term as has been pointed out of deep significance, and, what adds force to the deductions drawn from this change of term, that what was originally called by divine authority "a feast of the Lord," is now, by the same authority, called "a feast of the Jews," is this, that the only feast of confessedly human appointment mentioned in the New Testament-the feast of dedication (John 10) has no such appellation given it. Here, where we might have expected it to mark its human origin, we do not find it. But it is applied to those originally instituted by God, to mark how completely the Jews had shut Him out whose feasts they had originally been. The Jews kept the Passover, they gloried in keeping this and other feasts most scrupulously. The courts of God's house at these seasons were thronged with the multitudes who came up. The Pharisees and chief priests thought highly of the Passover, and would not enter the judgment hall of Pilate, but made him come out to them, lest from being thereby defiled they should be prevented keeping the feast. Nevertheless the Evangelist, who wrote from the height of God's thoughts about everything, calls it a feast of the Jews, and well he might, for the one of all others who at such times was a stranger there, and unwelcomed, was the Arm of the Lord Himself. He was there, but unknown. He was in their midst as they outwardly commemorated redemption, but they did not discern who He was. His words at the first Passover they heard with incredulity, and misunderstood. Afterward His life was not safe in Jewry, for the Jews sought to kill Him; and, finally, at another Passover, they crucified the very One who had interposed on behalf of their fathers, and brought them out of Egypt with a high hand. In the Old Testament these special seasons were suited to reanimate God's people; in the New Testament they afforded opportunities for showing, how far a people could go in an outward Profession of piety without one spark of spiritual life, how far they could be occupied with observances, and yet reject Him, when He came, whose intervention of old was the cause of their institution. In the Old Testament they were seasons for stirring up the hearts of the children of Israel. In the New Testament they were the occasions for showing up the hearts of the Jews.

Pentecost, or feast of Weeks, being wholly passed over, as was observed, in the Old Testament, we come next to the feast of Tabernacles, the last in order of the three great festivals, during which all the males were to appear before the Lord. It took place at the end of the harvest, when the corn and the wine had been gathered in, the fruits of the earth garnered, the toil of the year ended. Connected with the harvest, like Pentecost, it could not be observed while in the desert. There the Passover was in place, but these feasts were to be kept only after they had entered the land (Lev. 23:10). Throughout Joshua and Judges we find no mention of Tabernacles. Samuel and David pass away before we read of its observance, not surely that they had never observed it, but that during all those years it did not find a place in history. The ark of God must no longer dwell in curtains, the tabernacle must be superseded by a fixed abode, the temple must be reared up before this feast comes before us. When that is accomplished, when the glory of the kingdom is displayed under Solomon, and the house that was to be very magnifical has been dedicated, then, typical of the millennial rest that will yet dawn on this earth, we have mention for the first time of the keeping of this feast. Was it a mere accident, or was it designed by God, that the feast of dedication should take place in the seventh month, so close to the feast of Tabernacles? "They kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days" (2 Chron. 7:9). Would this have been in keeping with the character of David's reign? Who does not at once see that this arrangement was in perfect keeping with what this feast prefigures? Yet it was only an earnest of the future, for the feast passed away; the people returned to their homes, but the rest had not commenced. Hezekiah and Josiah each keep the Passover, Daniel goes into captivity, and the remnant under Zerubbabel return to Jerusalem before again we read of the feast of Tabernacles. In Ezra 3 it comes in just where we might expect to find it. Prospective in its character, looking forward to a rest that remaineth, it comes in when the feeble few first re-enter their land, an earnest of that full and final restoration which we know will surely come. Under Joshua they had entered the land in the month Abib, under Zerubbabel they re-entered it just before the month Tisri. Could this be called a mere accident, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, which none can account for? It was surely designed that, when the seventh month was come, the children of Israel should be in their cities (Ezra 3). Their first work was to set up the altar, and restore the daily sacrifice. On the first day of the seventh month the day of the blowing of trumpets, they effected this; and afterward, on the fifteenth day of the same month, " they kept the feast of Tabernacles, as it is written." God's word about their restoration by Jeremiah (29:10) had been fulfilled. God's word about the rest and glory of the millennium cannot fail. They kept that feast which points onward to all that, while the city was still laid low, and the house unbuilt, for the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the historian is careful to add, was not yet laid. Sad was the view as they looked around at the desolation that encircled them; bright surely must the prospect have been, as by faith any among them penetrated the vista of ages.

Again, but under brighter auspices, we have mention of this feast. The wall of Jerusalem had been finished on the 25th of the month Elul which immediately precedes Tisri. The gates and bars set up, they could dwell in some degree of security. Nehemiah's great work had been accomplished, and God's word by Daniel fulfilled (9:25), the street had been "built again, and the wall, even in troublous times"; and all Israel, we again read, were in their cities in the seventh month. Of the temple beautified, and finished, we have word in Ezra. Now Jerusalem is again encircled with a wall to the discomfiture of their enemies (Neh. 6:15), and the first of the three feasts, which they have to keep after this, is the feast of Tabernacles. They kept it with great gladness, dwelling in booths. There too, we can see the guiding hand of God. The wall was finished not in Adar but in Elul. Their enemies saw in the finishing of it a proof that God was with them. Had the wall been finished at any time they might have thought this. But for the remnant there was something peculiar in the, season of its completion, for they kept the feast in security, an earnest of that day when in greater security they shall be in perfect rest, for the Lord shall be a wall of fire round about Jerusalem and the glory in the midst of her (Zech. 2:5.)

It is when speaking of this time that the feast is next mentioned in the Old Testament. When the Lord shall come again, sit on His own throne, Israel be restored, and the whole earth be quiet, not as in Zech. 1 2, sitting still and unconcerned about the ruin and degradation of Jerusalem, but quiet, in peace, because the Prince of Peace has come, then Jerusalem being the center to which the nations converge, they shall keep the feast of Tabernacles yearly within her walls. Israel will keep both the Passover and Tabernacles. Of those left of the nations who came up against Jerusalem, it is said, all shall observe the feast of Tabernacles, and worship the king, the Lord of Hosts, in Jerusalem. Failing to do this, judgment will fall on them. Israel will celebrate redemption. These nations are not said to do this, but to own by their presence yearly at Jerusalem, the characteristic of the' dispensation. The king is there, so peace reigns. Such are the occasions on which this feast is brought before us in the Old Testament. Perfect is the order of all God's works. It is nevertheless instructive to trace that order out. The Passover took back their thoughts to the past to nerve them for the work they had to do; the feast of Ingathering carried forward their thoughts far into the future, to tell them of the hope they should cherish, and to encourage them under circumstances calculated to depress.

Once only in the New Testament do we meet with the feast of Tabernacles. Then we read (John 7) of the Jews keeping it without Jesus, and of His brethren being satisfied to go up to it knowing He was still in Galilee. They think they can do without Him. But in the midst of the feast He is found in the temple teaching, in words such as never man spake. Ready to do without Him at first, unable to understand Him when he taught, they seek for reasons to satisfy their consciences in rejecting Him. He knew what man wanted, and stood forth before them all on the last day of the feast to offer it. All the joy of that great feast was nearly over, the morn would see all returning to their place, to await the month of Abib or Nisan, which would again assemble them together. The joys of earth they had, the blessings of a rich harvest they might know; and the rejoicing attending that feast they might have fully entered into. But were they satisfied? To all who were unsatisfied He addressed Himself. " If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink." Nor was this all. Not only would He refresh the soul, which came to Him, with a portion it could find nowhere else; but He added, " He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Satisfied himself, he should be a channel whereby others should be satisfied too. The epoch to which this feast refers had not, nor has it yet, arrived. Creation still groans, and will groan till the manifestation of the children of God. Millennial rest cannot be entered upon till the kingdom is established in power. Creation, bowed down as it is under the consequences of man's sin, knows no rest as yet; but any one, every one, who comes to Him and drinks may get refreshed now. We enter now by faith into the results of redemption, which creation cannot yet do: we can enjoy now in some degree what the feast of Tabernacles will bring to it; for in the kingdom now through grace, and joined to the risen Head, blessings connected with the kingdom are ours already before the king has appeared, and before the earth has welcomed the commencement of His reign.

Fragments

Sometimes I look at the Bible in one way and sometimes in another. Looking at it, as it were from outside, I would ask your attention to the remarkable division of time which it gives.

1. The first period is of man, a living soul, in Eden.

Whether he dwelt there a whole week, so as to see a sabbath there, or only a morning or so, we are not told He sinned and soon found himself on the outside of Eden.

2. Ere he was turned out, however, the Lord God spoke to the serpent about " One that was to come," the seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent's head. " One that is to come" was God's mark for a period of 4,000 years, though He might vary the descriptions of Him to the end of that period.

3. He came—who was born of the woman and she a virgin. His life here below was spent, thirty years in retirement, and three and-a-half years in service. This period—the hinge of all that went before on the one side and of all that follows after on the other, lasted but thirty-three and-a-half years and closed with his death on the cross; which on Satan's, the world's, and man's side was his rejection; on God's side was the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying that it might not abide alone.

With Himself in heaven and about to come back commenced the present period which has lasted now 1834 years.

Prophecy tells us that He in heaven will reign over the earth 1,000 years, and that

There shall be new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. These are God's marks as to the past, the present, and the future.

Rev. 22:6-21, presents us with lessons to three classes of persons.

First. Ver. 6-9 is a word to servants of God: a, their attention challenged; and b, the importance of one duty pressed-

a. "Behold I come quickly;"

b." blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book."

Secondly. Ver. 10-15 is a word about the mixture of good and bad, as is now seen all round about us a, Attention is called to the evil; and b, what should guide people to get out of it is presented.

a. the unjust and the filthy; the righteous and the holy, upon earth mixed up;-but each man having his own character:

b. "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me;" man to be dealt with as he has lived here.

Then ver. 16 Jesus is introduced-the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star-two personal glories in which He announced Himself to the churches.

Thirdly. Ver. 17-21

a. The Spirit and the Bride invite Him to come; and any one that hears, to join in the invitation; and any one that thirsts, or wills, to come to Him,-to come and take the water of life freely.

b. To this He replies-guarding the book-but replying to the invitation; " Surely I come quickly." To which John and the believer answer:

c." Amen. Surely come Thou, Lord Jesus."

3.-the World.-What Is It?

I AM as to religion as other people down here," is a common but very alarming statement.

For what is the " down here"-this world?

First. This world got its present character in the family- of Cain the murderer. He would come to God in his own way and not through blood. Was angry with God; slew Abel; was driven out of Gods presence upon earth, and set up a system for himself outside of God's presence; and the system was, after his own name, one of present possession. The first founder of a city,, polygamy, tents, harp, organ, works in brass and iron,: etc., were found in his family;-everything to make man happy out of God's presence.

Secondly. God tried what the world was. He had a kingdom and a temple down here in Israel. But they refused His Son the throne; and the temple bought His blood for thirty pieces of silver. God tried; too; another part of the world, viz.

Thirdly. The Gentiles,—as the great statue of Daniel shows us. When Israel rebelled against God, the sword of power was taken out of their hands and put into the hands of

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon; then of

Darius, the Median; then of

Alexander, the Greek; and lastly of

Caesar, the Roman; under whose

reign, and with consent of whose government, Jesus was put to death, and we live.

God's thought about this part of the world is plain. Christ the stone will come and destroy the whole image and it will become as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor.

The great image is now existing, and England is thought to be one of the toes.

Fourthly. See what Paul; the apostle of the uncircumcision, the one who had to preach where the image stood, says of this world. All that he would glory in of it were the crossed bits of wood on which Jesus Christ was put to death!

Such was this world's conduct; an act which crucified the world to him and him to the world (Gal. 6:14).

Fifthly. Everything down here is reserved to be burnt with fire to make way for new heavens and a new earth.

Sixthly. Read now John 17 Jesus, just before He went, let out (His disciples being present as He spake to His Father) how He considered Himself and the Father in heaven and His disciples down here to be in direct contrast and in the most positive separation in nature, motives, objects, ways with this world. That is what the chapter teaches.

And what if the first and then the second great acts on His return should show that the very thoughts which He had when He went, are the very thoughts which He will have when He comes back; as 1 Thess. 4 (the catching up of His own), and 2 Thess. 2 (the destruction of the wicked one) prove! Such is this world!

The Son of man did everything (not only which man ought to have done, but) which God under the circumstances felt that He ought to do.

'Tis a new revelation of God altogether; above creation, providence, or government,-" God manifest in

flesh," with all its attendant consequences, and He, now gone on high, in the glory which He had with the Father before the world was.

Job 28:20. " Whence cometh wisdom? And where is the place, of understanding?"

Ver. 22, 23. " Destruction and death say, We have sent down heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof."

Ver 28. " And unto man he saith, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil is understanding."

The life and the fate of Judas is an awful illustration of these verses, as the life and fate of the thief repentant upon his death-cross, is a blessed one too. The contrast of the two is also most instructive.

First,-See this in summary estimates of each of the two, made by another and for another purpose, and so, surely; not dressed by myself to serve my purposes.

1. " Jesus pointed out Judas by the sop, which would have checked any other, but which to him was only the seal of his ruin. It is indeed thus, in degree, with every favor of God that falls upon a heart that rejects it. After the sop Satan enters into Judas. Wicked already through covetousness, and yielding habitually to ordinary temptations; although he was with Jesus, hardening his heart against the effect of that grace which was ever before his eyes and at his side, and which, in a certain way, was exercised towards him; he had yielded to the suggestion of the enemy, and made himself the tool of the high priest to betray the Lord. He knew what they desired, and goes and offers himself. And when by his long familiarity with the grace and presence of Jesus while addicting himself to sin, that grace and the thought of the person of Christ had entirely lost their influence, he was in a state to feel nothing at betraying Him. The knowledge he had of the Lord's power helped him to give himself up to the evil, and strengthened the temptation of Satan, for evidently he made sure that Jesus would always succeed in delivering Himself from his enemies; and, as far as power was concerned, Judas was right in thinking that the Lord could have done so. But what knew he of the thoughts of God? All was darkness, morally, in his soul. And now, after this last testimony, which was a token of grace and a witness to the true state of his heart that was insensible to it, (as expressed in the Psalm here fulfilled,) Satan enters into him, takes possession of him so as to harden him against all that might have made him feel, even as a man, the horrid nature of what he was doing, and thus enfeeble him in accomplishing the evil; so that neither his conscience nor his heart should be awakened in committing it. Dreadful condition! Satan possesses him, until forced to leave him to the judgment from which he cannot shelter him, and which will be his own at' the time appointed of God. Judgment that manifests itself to the conscience of Judas when the evil was done, when too late; and the sense of which is shown by a despair that his links with Satan did but augment; but which is forced to bear testimony to Jesus before those who had profited by his sin and who mocked at his distress.

For despair speaks the truth, the veil is torn away, there is no longer sel&deception, the conscience is laid bare before God, but it is before His judgment. Satan does not deceive there-and not the grace but the perfection of Christ is known. Judas bore witness to the innocence of Jesus, as did the thief on the cross. It is thus that death and destruction heard the fame of His' wisdom: only God knows it (Job 28:22,23).

Jesus knew his condition. It was but the accomplishing that which He was going to do, by means of one,' for whom there was no longer any hope. 4 That which thou doest,' said Jesus, do quickly.' But what words; when we hear them from the lips of Him who was love itself!"

2. " It was the king of the Jews who hung there. Abased; indeed,-for a thief, being by His side, could rail on. Him, but in the place to which love had brought Him, for the everlasting and present salvation of souls. This was manifested at the very moment. The insults that reproached Him for not saving Himself from the cross, had His answer in the- fate..of the converted thief; who rejoined Him the same day in Paradise.

This history is a striking demonstration of the change to which His Gospel leads us. The King of the Jews; by their own confession, is not delivered-He is crucified. What an end: to the hopes of this people but at the same time, a gross sinner, converted by grace on the very gibbet; goes straight to Paradise. ' A soul is eternally saved. It is not the kingdom, but a soul-out of the body-in happiness with Christ.

I would say a few words on the condition of this soul, and on the reply of Christ. We see every mark of conversion, and of the most remarkable faith. Conscience upright and vigorous, knowledge of the perfect sinless righteousness of Christ, whom this poor sinner acknowledges to be the Lord, when His own disciples had forsaken and denied Him, and when there was no sign of His glory or of the dignity of His person. He was accounted by man as one like himself. His kingdom was but a subject of scorn to all. But the poor thief is taught of God, and all is plain. He is a comfort to. Jesus upon the cross; and makes Him think (in answering his faith) of the Paradise that awaited Him when He should have finished the work that. His Father had given.. Him to do. Observe the state of sanctification this poor man was in by faith. In all the agonies of the cross, and while believing Jesus to be the Lord, he seeks no relief at His hands, but asks that He will remember him in His kingdom. He is filled with one thought-to have his portion with Jesus. He believes that the Lord, will return; he believes in the resurrection; he believes in the kingdom, while, the -King is rejected and crucified, and when, as to man, there isno longer any hope.. Now: the reply of Jesus adds that: which brings in, not the kingdom, but everlasting life, the happiness of the soul. The thief had asked. Jesus to remember him when He returned in His kingdom. The Lord replies that he shall not wait for that day of manifested glory which would be visible to the world, but that that very day he should be with Him in Paradise. Precious testimony; and perfect grace! Jesus crucified was more than king: -He was Savior. *The poor malefactor was a testimony to it, and the joy and' the consolation of the. Lord's heart,: the first fruits of the love which had placed them side by side, the Lord of glory and the malefactor in the same condemnation, and*the sins of the latter forever put away, they' no longer existed, their remembrance was only that of the grace which had taken them away and which had forever cleansed his soul from them, making him that moment as fit to enter Paradise as Christ Himself!"

Secondly,-I would make a few remarks on the Scriptures quoted. 1St. God knows the way of wisdom and the place thereof. And to man He says: "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil is understanding." Here we have presented to us an inside feeling-" fear;" and an outside action-" departure from evil," as the way of wisdom for man.

There was no fear of the Lord in Judas through his professed discipleship: there was fear of the Lord, in the thief, in the close of his life upon the Cross. Had Judas feared the Lord, he never would have been a thief, and, carrying the bag, taken that which was put therein; he would have departed from evil and have avoided all occasions in which his propensities could have found their opportunity; the fear of the Lord who was as near to him as He could be, would have laid all I within bare, and led to his judging the contrast between himself and that Lord. Himself so lustful and avariciously covetous that even his Master's person he could set to a price. The word of the Lord in John (Chapter 8) may be quoted here, and Judas had heard it, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed: and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (ver. 31, 32). Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not forever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (34-36). That Master so obedient in all things to His Father who was in heaven, that He never sanctioned anything that He had not sanctioned, never would seek to save Himself, except when to do so was direct obedience. The wretched man, if too, had a wisdom which was foolish madness,-he thoughtlessly trifled with Divine things and even with the person of Jehovah Himself. Scripture was not his chart, nor was the light of God's eye and presence his guide. Subjection to God there was none in principle, theory, or practice. And of all awful phases of evil, what phase so awful as-that which he exhibited? The chosen body-attendant of the Lord; adopted for a mission which he knew not, nor cared to consider; partaker of all the privileges of light and love, grace and kindness which his position of nearness to Christ, gave him,-a user of the supernatural power put into his hand in common with others, the messenger of his master's message,-partaker of every privilege which it was possible for a mere man, while the Lord was upon earth, to partake of,-used by the Lord for God and Himself,-gifted with power from the Spirit,-used against the world, the flesh and Satan-and he, all the while, without the fear of the Lord and never departing from evil. The picture is of all pictures most solemn: If a man fear the Lord, the question of what he himself is, purposes, thinks, loves, desires, does-and how far it all tallies with the Lord whom we fear, must arise and arise as a practical question. Not one step outwardly will the Lord-fearer take in seen, known evil. Christ had no selfish "I" within Him and He was holy, harmless, separate from sin. Judas had a selfish " I" within him which was never through grace supplanted by Christ, and all his service was but the ripening of the poisonous weed for the burning. A thick black mist, with, perhaps, a light from beneath (like that which rises from decomposing matter) dancing before him, characterized him of whom we speak.

Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame of wisdom with our ears. Surely this was awfully true in Judas's case as to what he purposed and did in connection with wisdom's ways. Lying and destruction are the two marks of Satan. He was a liar from the beginning, and to destroy is the very meaning of the names Apollyon and Abaddon. But who can turn aside God, in His ways of wisdom. John shows us, and so does Luke in the Acts, how, in the wisdom of God, death lay before the Lord Jesus, and how man, unwittingly, in spite against Him, made good the counsels of God: " Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them. Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should' die for the people and that the whole nation perish not. And this he spake not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied' that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children' of God, that were scattered abroad." The counsel of wisdom was the Lord's-the accomplishment of it was out of man's spite. (John 11:47-53); "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved' of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by' wicked hands have crucified and slain " (Acts 2:22-24). And Judas had his full part in the delivering up and death of Messiah. The setting aside of Israel's hopes and the betrayal of thee Prince of Life rested at Judas's door.

His conduct too, in another way, savored of destruction and death. Wrung in conscience, he " when he saw that he' was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." (Matt. 27:3,5). He went to his own place.

It is solemn to think that Judas's nature is the same as what one's own was as a man. And that if God has led one to see one's own nature and, character in the light of Christ—fear' leads, to self judgment and to putting away of all evil and till the adoption of all good. But with every external privilege which Judas had, the fear of the Lord had not wrought that change of life inwardly and outwardly which would have kept, him as Christ's servant to the end.

What a contrast in all this is the thief! Every way of wickedness had been his-and his soul within and life without, were utterly reprobate. He cast in Christ's teeth (Matthew- tells us) the same reproaches as did the other. He thought of outward things. But when the light of God dawned in upon his soul he took another position and rebuked his companion. (Luke 23:39-49). " Dost not thou fear God?" He owned the justice' of the sentence now already under execution. We are in the same condemnation " we indeed justly." He confessed to his bad deeds: " for we receive the due reward of our deeds." He saw the contrast between Christ and Himself, yea all men: " but this man hath done nothing amiss." The fear of the Lord broke the hardness of a life of sin;-it led, so far as in him lay, to separate from evil. It did more; his soul became, through faith, the receptacle of the attractive beauty and the glory, kingly and divine, of the Lord. Poor sinner as he confessedly was, he saw enough in the Lord to attract his confidence and to lead him to heave his soul upon Him, when, possessed' of a kingdom, His word would have all power: " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." None but one who has tasted for himself that attractive power of Christ, can understand this; none but he that has faith himself can accredit the thief's discovery of a king in one that hung upon the cross beside him, -or the glory of that kingdom which the thief saw lay beyond the cross. And what grace in the reply; " Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." What an answer of blessedness did those two words contain for the thief, "with me." He had found in his awn circumstances, one' more despised and contemned than himself: he had found attractiveness in Him, Lordship, a kingdom, glory-companionship as he never knew of. And now this wondrous one was going to take him away with Himself into Paradise. Destruction and death had for the poor thief been quenched' and changed to salvation and life by Christ. But what a tale it -all tells of what sin is and of what man, too, is.

Destruction and death Judas's case reigned triumphant. His heart barred to Christ, no inward change had taken place: destruction and death were in the end. Destruction and death in the thief's case had yielded within when the light of who. Christ was shined into his soul, and his ways told it, for the light shined out; and salvation and life and departure to be with Christ was his portion.

Ver. 20. Christ the Wisdom of God. Whence cometh He? and where is the place of Him, understanding (ver. 22, 23). The fame of Him has reached the ears of Destruction and Death,-both of them children of disobedience; and, as among men, offspring of the Destroyer, Satan. But God alone knows and can trace Wisdom's way; He only knows its place. Christ received into a man brings thither the fear of the Lord and departure from evil. Scripture tells us there was a counsel in the death of Christ, as well as the death accomplished by man's means, through Satan's instigation. Judas took not Christ into his soul; but, occupied with his own views of circumstances, took a lead in the death of Christ, in putting Wisdom out of the world.—Judas judged not himself, ceased not from himself; and he perished The thief saw the counsel, judged himself, and ceased from himself; and he found a Savior and Life-giver in Him who is the Wisdom and Intelligence of God.

" Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,' and made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen " (Rev. 1:5,6).

It was the sight of the Person, Jesus Christ Himself which here set the heart of the beloved disciple thus in movement. Himself, even though presented in a somewhat peculiar and less known aspect (viz. the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth)-Himself seen ever moves the renewed heart where He is known!

Faithful Witness, first begotten out from among the dead, prince of the kings of the earth-yes He is all that and a thousand other things too: but " He has loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood."

This points to His present use, for us, of the blood which (having shed on the cross at His first coming) He afterward used as that by means of which the throne of God on high became the mercy seat, and the way from it to us a way of mercy as marked by the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost: seal of God's thoughts and estimate of the Lamb that had been slain, but was alive again for evermore. Having taken us up as the gift of His Father to Himself, (" thine they were and Thou gavest them me "), He loved us; saw in and on us that which He (familiar with God and His Father) knew must forever have shut us out from His presence; He had given His blood, that God might be able to be just while justifying the chief of sinners who believed in Jesus; He now brought that blood to bear on us-His own life-blood-and our sins were gone. The conscience was clean. Blood upon the mercy seat, blood before the mercy-seat-had in the types and have in the antitypes, a voice from God outward. Blood to cleanse the conscience, and blood to cleanse the robes are not exactly the same applications: here it is us who were washed:-in conscience we are personally clean every whit from our sins through His blood; and therefore we are now able to use the new and living way which He bath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say His flesh and we can boldly enter into the holiest. Why did He do this? He loved us-is the only answer can give.

But having, with divine perception, met that in us which He saw would have hindered peace with God -His love ceased not. His Father had given to Him to be Ruler in a kingdom and Conductor of worship for God,-king and priest. What love (to show His consciousness of His Father's oneness with Himself).-He shares to us what He has received,-makes us parts of the Royal Priesthood. The title He gives us now; we are such already in title. When He comes a second time, we shall be displayed as such. The wrath of a Nero could not take away the consciousness of the reality of this truth.

4. " To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Himself,- whose presence stirs our hearts with thoughts of what He has done, is doing, and will do for us,-is the One to whom we give back the tribute of the love shed abroad in our hearts.

And what wondrous power His, to usward who believe. " Glory and dominion forever and ever be to Him":,the expression at once and equally of the renewed affections of a loving heart in a poor exile in Patmos,-and of God the Holy Ghost's estimate of the eternal counsel about this same Jesus!

Gr: V. W.

7-a Wounded Conscience and Its Remedy.

CONSCIENCE.

(Prov. 18:14.)

Go gather the down which floats on the wind,

And the leaves from ev'ry tree;

Can ye find a couch for a troubled mind?

Can ye find a rest for me?

Go gather the honey-dew from the leaf,

And the labor sweet of the bee;

-Can ye ‘suage the bitter tongue of grief?

Give a drop of sweet to me?

Let the cold wind blow through the midnight rain.,

And the breeze flutter over the sea;

Can it breathe one chill on a burning brain?

Can it cool my brain for me?

Let the gale which springs in the morning cloud,

Give life to all that be;

Can it quicken again my murdered mind?

Give back my mind to me?

Let the spring-time shine, with its sunny hours,

And the merry birds all in glee;

Can ye gather amidst ten thousand flowers,

One bud that blooms for me?

ATONEMENT.

AH! there is a bed that was hewn in stone,

Where He lay that was nail'd to the tree!

Twas there my Lord lay all alone,

And there's the rest for me.

And there was a dew all silvery bright,

It fell on plain and lee;

They gathered it fresh at the morning light;

And sweet its taste to me

And there was a rushing mighty wind,

It blew o'er a bloody sea,

It breathes a calm for my troubled mind,

A Comforter for me.

And there was a gale when the day-star rose;

Its Shining clear I see;

My mind, in His beams, revives and glows,

And all is life with me.

And there was a flower, which sprung from the tomb,

When the days had number'd three.;

Upon my heart that flower shall bloom,

Eternal joy for me.

(BULL.)

8-From the Greek Liturgy.

" By-all Thy sufferings known and unknown,

Good Lord, deliver us."

"I consider that prayer to be one of the most touching ever uttered-the UNKNOWN sufferings of Christ.- Rowland Hill.

9-the Sea of Glass.

" And before the throne there was a sea of glasslike unto crystal." Rev. 4:6.

THE laver in the tabernacle was a large vase or vessel of brass,-filled with water, wherewith the priests used to wash their hands and feet on entering the sanctuary (Ex. 30:17-21). This, afterward, when Solomon's temple was built, was exchanged for the molten sea (1 Kings 7:23), or, as it is otherwise termed, "the brasen sea, that was in-the house of the Lord." (2 Kings 25:13). Now observe, this vessel, without water in it, could not be termed a sea; and again, the water of course needed a vessel to hold it: these two, the vessel and the water, were indispensable one to the other; and when taken together they constituted what we read of as the MOLTEN or BRASEN SEA. Now this helps us to understand the symbol of " THE SEA OF GLASS LIKE UNTO CRYSTAL" before the throne of God in the heavenly vision in Rev. 4 This was not, we believe, as is commonly thought, a solid surface of crystal or glass, but, just as the BRASEN SEA was simply a vessel of brass filled with water, so by analogy this SEA OF GLASS was a reservoir or vessel of glass, with water therein, which we are to conceive as outspread like a lake before the throne of God in the heavens. Observe, if this sea be thought of as solid, then the idea of the HOLY GHOST,

THE SPIRIT OF GOD, which living water so expressively shows, is entirely lost (see John 7:37-39). The "pure river of water of life" in the New Jerusalem, we are to conceive as a river in its natural state; not petrified water, but as liquid, living, and flowing. There it is the symbol of the HOLY GHOST IN THE CHURCH, which the golden city expresses; here it shows forth the same blessed Spirit in connection with THE MARTYRED REMNANT OF ISRAEL, after they have been translated to heaven; as it is written, " I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb," etc. (Rev. 15:2,3). What a symbol, what a picture this is! here, like the priests of old in the temple, having passed through the water, having washed their hands and feet in this heavenly laver; having done with sin and defilement forever; these blessed ones stand on this sea, whether on its edge or its surface, with their harps and their songs, unblemished and perfect, in the presence of Him whom they love, or rather who loves them with a love which He Himself, and He only, can fathom. The water, and at the same time the fire mingled therewith, have both done their work. The water has cleansed them; the fire (another symbol of the Spirit) has consumed all that was of the old nature within them. These are they, as we have seen, who have gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name; and hence, like the host of Israel by the Red Sea after having been delivered from Pharaoh, they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and with it they mingle the song of the Lamb; one showing that they are among the elect seed of Abraham; the other, that they are such as through faith in the Lamb, who previous to this, in Chapter vi., had opened the seven-sealed book, have stood in the trial, have laid down their lives for the faith; thereby gaining a nobler victory by far than if they had been rescued from martyrdom.

And here let me add another thought on this subject. It is this-that while a LAVER OF BRASS may have suited the sanctuary on earth, it would be out of place altogether in a heavenly scene such as this vision presents. Hence, the laver here shown is of " GLASS LIKE UNTO CRYSTAL," of a material so exquisitely clear and pellucid that the eye cannot distinguish the vessel from the pure lymph within it. Transparent they both of them are; and equally so-they seem but as one. So it is with the blessed Lord, whom we believe the crystal-like laver shows forth; and the Holy Ghost, which the living water expresses, seeing that the Spirit is given to Him for the use of His people-He being the receptacle and depository thereof.

In a word, what we here see, as we take it, is Christ and the Spirit of God; who, though personally and individually distinct from each other, at the same time are ONE, one both in nature and in the blessed Godhead; one also in wisdom, in counsel, in action, in the ministration of blessing to those to whom, as we here see, it has been given to celebrate with their harps and their songs the victory which has been gained for them over the enemy.

And here let me add that it is, I believe, a mistake to suppose that there is any resemblance between the sea of glass and the Red Sea, which opened at the bidding of Moses to let Israel through. The triumphant songs of these harpers, like those of their fathers of old after their deliverance from Egypt, as well as the allusion to Moses, has, it is likely, suggested this thought: but if what I t' have said at the outset, as to the analogy between the, sea of glass in this vision and the brasen sea in the house of the Lord, be correct, there is no foundation for such an idea.

Again, I would say in conclusion that the idea of fire here referring to affliction seems equally groundless. The word of the Psalmist: " We went through fire and through water, but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place' (Psa. 66:12), has perhaps led to this thought. But if the sea is to be viewed as a laver, it is surely more consistent to regard the fire, equally with the water mingled therewith, as expressing the Spirit of God; and those who stand on the sea as saints who have been finally cleansed, who have been " baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire." E. D.

10-a Lot's Thanksgiving to God for Disappointments.

GOD of my life, how good, how wise,

Thy judgments to my soul have been!

They were but mercies in disguise-

The painful remedies of sin:

How diff'rent now thy ways appear-

Most merciful when most severe!

Since first the maze of life I trod,

Hast Thou not hedged about my way-

My worldly vain designs withstood,

And robb'd my passions of their prey-

Withheld the fuel from the fire,

And cross’d my every fond desire?

Trouble and loss, and grief, and pain,

Have crowded all my forty years;

I never could my wish obtain,

And own at last, with joyful tears,

The man whom God delights to bless;

He never curses with success.

How oft didst Thou my soul withhold,

And baffle my pursuit of fame,

And mortify my lust of gold,

And blast me in my surest aim-

Withdraw my animal delight,

And starve my groveling appetite?

Thy goodness, obstinate to save,

Hath all my airy schemes o'erthrown-_.

My will Thou would'st not let me have:

With blushing thankfulness I own

I envied oft the swine their meat,

But could not gain the husks to eat.

Thou would'st not let Thy captive go,

Or leave me to my carnal will;

Thy love forbade my rest below-

Thy patient love pursued me still,

And forced me from my sin to part,

And tore the idol from my heart.

Joy of mine eyes, and more beloved

(Forgive me, gracious God!) than Thee;

Thy sudden stroke far off removed,

And stopt my vile idolatry,

And drove me from the idol's shrine,

And cast me at the feet Divine.

But can I now the loss lament,

Or murmur at Thy friendly blow?

Thy friendly blow my soul bath rent,

From every seeming good below:

Thrice happy loss! which makes me see

My happiness is all in Thee.

How shall I bless Thy thwarting love,

So near in my temptation's hour!

It flew my ruin to remove-

It snatch'd me from my nature's power-

Broke off my grasp of creature-good,

And plunged me in th' atoning blood.

See then at last I all resign-

I yield me up Thy lawful prey:

Take this poor, long-sought soul of mine,

And bear me in Thine arms away,

Whence I may never more remove-

Secure in Thine eternal love.

Wesley.

11-1. Whom Will Ye Serve?

" If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth "*

John 19:12,13.

" Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

John 15:14.

Caesar's friends? or friends of Jesus?

Solemn question for to-day!

Friends of Caesar! Friends of Jesus!

Take your sides, without delay.

If ye pause for man's forbidding,

Caesar's friendship ye secure;

If ye do the Father's bidding,

Scorn, reproach ye shall endure.

Friends of Caesar! Friends of Jesus!

Stand revealed! your choice declare!

Who in truth two masters pleases?

Who may rival banners bear?

Jesus' friends account Him precious,

Lose for Him all other gain;

Dearer far the smile of Jesus

Than the praise of sinful men.

Caesar's friends! Ye foes of Jesus!

Mingling in a motley throw,

Shall your sheepskin garb deceive us?

Wolves to Christ's fair flock belong?

Mighty is Jehovah's fellow,

Though on earth in weakness seen;

Righteous is our Royal Shepherd!

He will sweep you from the scene!

Free from Caesar, friends of Jesus!

Stand in phalanx! never fear!

Love, severely tried, increases,

Courage yet! the Lord is near!

Onward still, His Name confessing,

Weaving crowns to grace His brow;

Lo! His hands are full of blessing,

Lifted for your succor now.

Caesar's friends were we, but Jesus

Owns us for His friends to-day!

What! shall rival friendship please us,

While the Bridegroom is away?

No! through grace would we surrender

Caesar's things to Caesar's care,

Whilst to God, our God, we render,

Filial homage, praise and prayer.

2. After " the November Meteors," 1866.

Thus, blessed Lord, at intervals of time,

Thy distant handiwork gleams forth to sight;

Thy hidden glories o'er our pathway shine,

Diffusing luster through the wintry night.

Too soon, we deem, the blissful vision dies,

Like torches fading ere the marriage feast;

But faith keeps vigil with unwearied eyes,

Until the dawn spreads upward from the east.

Thy cloudless morning! fairer and more sweet

Than starry splendor seen amid the night;

Thy promised day! when all Thy watchers meet,

To chorus forth the praises of the light.

Creation tells not half her Lord hath done;

Thou art the morning star: the rising sun!

3. -"His Name, Jesus"

Yes, Jesus only, none beside

Can do the sinner good.

Far off was I, but Jesus died

And I have peace with God.

His name is dearer to me now,

Than every name beside

All glories beam around the brow

Of Jesus crucified.

The Holy One who knew no sin,

God made Him sin for me:

The Savior died, my soul to win,

He lives, and I am free!

His precious blood alone availed

To wash my sins away;

Through weakness He o'er hell prevailed,

Through death He won the day!

His beauty shineth far above

A seraph's power of praise;

And I shall live and learn His love

Through everlasting days.

The knowing that He loveth me

Hath made my cup run o'er,

Yes, JESUS all my song shall be,

To-day and evermore I

4." Far Better."

" Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we maybe accepted of Him." 2 Cor. 5:6-9.

To be with Thee, Lord Jesus

At home with Thee, on high,

That were a joy more precious

Than aught beneath the sky;

Oh were I with Thee yonder,

‘Tweer well indeed with me;

Yet never need I wander,

Whilst looking off, to Thee.

In service never tiring

Thy word would I obey,

More fervently desiring

Thy summons, every day.

I only wait Thy pleasure,

A stranger here below;

Thou art Thyself my treasure,

The All I have to know.

'Tis good to wear the fetter

That holds, me here awhile;

But better, Lord, far better,

Thy blissful presence-smile;

As Thou didst serve the Father,

Thy bondslave I would be,

In chains, but willing rather,

That Thou shouldst set me free.

We see Thee now, Lord Jesus!.

With glory, honor, crowned.

Thy work, completed, frees us

To stand on holy ground.

And as we thus adore Thee,

Thy footsteps would we trace

Till called to share Thy glory,

Through Thy surpassing grace.

5. We Will Be Glad and Rejoice in Thee.

Ach mein Herr Jesu, dein Nahesein, Bringt grossen Frieden ins Herz hinein.

Ah, Jesus, Lord, Thou art near to me,

Great peace flows into my heart from Thee,

And Thy smile of love Tells me so with gladness,

This weary body forgets its sadness,

For thankful joy.

We see Thy countenance, beaming bright,

Thy grace, Thy beauty, by faith, not sight;

But Thou art Thyself to our souls revealing,

We love Thee, Thy presence and favor feeling,

Although unseen.

Oh, who would only, by night and day,

Be set on joying in Thee alway,

He could but tell of delight abounding,

Through body and soul one song resounding,

" Who is like Thee?"

To be compassionate, patient, kind,

Thy pardon leaving our sins behind-

To heal us, calm us, our faint hearts cheering,

Thyself to us as a Friend endearing,

Is Thy delight.

Ah, give us to find our all of joy

In Thee, Thy service our sweet employ.

And let our souls with a constant yearning

In need and love, to Thyself be turning,

Without a pause.

And when we are weeping, console us soon,

Thy grace and power for Thy peace make room;

Thy mirror'd likeness Thy praises telling,

Thine own true life, in our bosoms dwelling,

In love be seen.

Truthful in childlike simplicity,

Guileless, arrayed in humility,

Be the holy wounds of Thy tribulation,

The fount of our peace and our consolation

In joy and woe.

Thus happy in Thee till we enter heaven,

The children's gladness to us be given;

And if, peradventure, our eyes are weeping,

Our hearts on Thy bosom shall hush their beating

In full repose.

Thou reachest us, Jesus, Thy pierced hand,

Thy faithfulness, gazing, we understand;

And shamed into tears by Thy love so tender, Our eyes flow over, our hearts surrender

And give Thee praise!

CHRISTIAN GREGOR,

1742-1801.

"The Asaph of the Moravians."

God, Who Is Rich in Mercy

" But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great Jove wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Such are the words of the Spirit of God by the pen of Paul the apostle.

The contrasts which led him to use the little word "but" are remarkable. I will notice them shortly. At present, let me call attention to the words themselves. But God being rich in mercy is a more literal rendering; and it is, I think, a happier one too, as tending to throw the mind upon the character of God-of whom mercy is so distinctly a mark,-rather than upon His resources,- the resources by which mercy told out its own tale; it acted toward us in a truly astonishing way, according to an almighty love which found us even when we were dead in sins. We were parts of the first creation, as descended from Adam, the man who was made a living soul but who fell away from God his Maker ' we were, as to nature in our original state, without life as to any understanding of, or power to understand, thee things which pertain to Him who is the One that creates anew; and as to our own actual state when He found us, sins and not obedience characterized it. But God made us parts of that new creation which is yet to be fully displayed in the future new heavens and new earth wherein is to dwell righteousness. The Father works hitherto and the Son works, in redemption for the bringing out from amid the rubbish of the fall, whatsoever divine wisdom sees it good to bring and to make fit to be displayed in redemption-glory. And not only so; for the place in which the mercy here spoken of sets us, is a most peculiar one. It is peculiar in being in the leavens where Christ Himself is; and it is still more peculiar in that it is such a portion in the heavens as, unlike some other portions, cannot be separated either from the Lord Himself; or from Him in His life and the honor wherewith He has been honored in heaven. Quickened together with Christ; raised up together with Him, and made sit together with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! The words " quickened together with Christ" show that we have the same life as He has; yea, He Himself is our life; our life is hid with Christ in God: He died and His body was laid in the grave,-He suffered in our stead; but He left the grave and afterward left the earth-(the one, the place opened for the sinner; the other, the place prepared at first for Adam, and) He ascended up on high; and we that believe are one spirit with the Lord Jesus, and are looked upon by God, and by the faith that is in us (which always sees things as God sees them) as one with Him. To faith and to the Spirit the grave and the earth are passed; we are gone up in Him. And not only so but we have a stable and abiding resting place in Him in heaven; in spirit in Him who sits there in His own peculiar place,-firstborn among many brethren,-Head of His body the Church. Who can separate between the only begotten Son of the Father and the children by adoption, whom the Father has entrusted Him to bring to Himself at His own proper cost and as His own proper workmanship? Who can separate Him from the members as to whom God says that this Christ Jesus at His own right hand is now the glorified Head?

When we were dead and in sins, there was nothing in us to commend us to God as Creator; nor can any right or title be found in Saul, or in the Ephesians, or in ourselves, as ground why God should have taken us up as individuals and left so many other pharisees, so many other heathens, so many others who like us had the form of godliness without the power of it behind. All that we can say is: "But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us ": this was, is, and ever will be, to faith, the starting point of the blessing:-

"How shall I: meet His eyes?

Mine on Himself I „cast,,—

And own myself the Savior's prize;

Mercy from first to, last."

But mercy! What is mercy? And where is mercy? Mercy clearly is not the same thing as grace Grace is free gift, and does not necessarily raise the question of the agreement or disagreement of the characters of the giver and of the party given to: Free gift, gift without any-remuneration paid for it to the giver, seems to me to be the meaning of the word grace. But there is more in mercy than that; the term itself marks de-merit in the receiver, consciousness too in the giver or shower of mercy that the party to whom he shows it deserves a contrary kind of treatment: as -to merit harsh treatment was due, not kindly. Thus the two words are carefully distinguished in the use of them in Scripture.." Grace and peace to you," etc., are constantly (as has oft been noticed) wished to the Church by the apostolic writers: mercy is never so introduced. "Grace, mercy and peace" are- the expressed desires of the apostles when writing to individual believers, who in their individual conflicts and walk down here, are looked at as men in the body; while the assembly once taken up is looked at as being in the Spirit. Again the Son of God as Son of man was never the object of divine mercy. That could not be. He was the channel of it; and a perfect, competent and worthy channel too. But love divine does delight to trace out all the rich free gifts of God which cluster around Him who led captivity captive and took His seat on high. Poor sinners and feeble saints need mercy, and so does he who through faith would over-come and share with Him, THE Overcomer, all that He has. And this brings not with it to faith, any question. For He who in love has claimed me for Himself and given Himself, His own self, to me, will with Himself make, one way or another, all that He has mine: If I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, surely His sheep, His vineyard, His kingdom, His all is mine; and mine- forever all that is His: and He too will provide me with mercy and grace to help in every time of need till I come to see Himself.

But whence is mercy? Whence could it be but from God? He giveth liberally and does not upbraid. He is good and doeth good, and loves to construct and form scenes of enjoyment for His creatures;-these very scenes are witnesses of and for Himself. " The Lord is merciful and gracious." Mercy is part of His character. "His mercy is from everlasting (eternity without beginning, before time) to everlasting (past time)": it is the blessed cord which hangs from eternity, across the dark vale we are now in, right across to eternity beyond. So His word, who cannot lie, declares. He Who was the enemy of God and became the enemy of man, loves to destroy and pull to pieces all that he can, and he is a liar from the beginning. But God had and has in Himself a character which enables Him to look upon that which is out of the way, which has a character of its own which is diametrically opposed to the character of that One man whom God delights to honor (the Lord Jesus Christ) and to look, in mercy and to propose to His Son to bring the self-willed rebel from under Satan and from out of this world and its judgment and to make of him a vessel of mercy.

If we turn now to Paul's epistle to the Romans, we shall find some profitable and some soul-humbling, but rest-giving instruction about this subject of mercy. In the course of the epistle he takes up the argument in three ways. First, as to the whole race of man in its present state: there is no possible ground for there to be blessing to any single individual of that, race other than the pure mercy of God.

Secondly, that for a person saved by mercy, mercies are reserved in store by God for his portion.

Thirdly, dispensationally, nor Jew nor Gentile-the two classes into which God's ways, while governing the earth, and while waiting in mercy on sinful man, had divided the race-had any ground of blessing save mercy.

These are the first three parts of the epistle. After the introduction, Chapter 1:1-15, we have, first, Chapter 1:16 to 3:20, man's utterly lost and ruined condition shown-a state so far as he himself, with all his resources of power, is concerned, utterly hopeless; then, secondly, Chapter 3:21 to 7, the provision which God, who is rich in mercy, had made for this state of things, and Chapter 8 the portion provided for those who should own this mercy as their only ground; thirdly, Chapter 9, 10, 11, nor Jew nor Gentile had any ground to rest upon save mercy; and, fourthly, the character of walk consistent with the profession of having found mercy, been found in mercy.

The introduction, Chapter 1:1-15, naturally enough also contains the whole outline of the truth which, at the moment of his writing, was pressing upon the mind of the writer whom mercy had found-as he writes of himself (1 Tim. 1:11-17), " according to the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief: Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen."

Such an one was made a servant of Jesus Christ, an apostle by calling, and set apart for the proclamation of God's good news: subject which told out what was the ground of that peace which is God's own peace, spite of all that Satan, or the world, or man can do to counter-work Him; subject on which He loved to occupy Himself and His prophets of old-His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And this Jesus was seed of David according to the flesh, but marked off from every other as the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.

A man, and He the Son of God-set off with this distinctive peculiarity, He is the Raiser from death, the Raiser out from among the dead;-death being the wages of sin, and the end of man's natural course here-is plainly enough God's mercy. It is His putting forth-out of His own resources and to counterwork Satan, whom man has put in the place of power as to everything that man could dispose of-the Son of God. In result to man it is mercy or judgment to every individual according to his own conduct and state now with regard to this blessed announcement. And a worthy subject this to be that which was entrusted to Paul for the obedience of faith among all nations.

When Paul begins his letter itself, as in Chapter i. 16, he presents man as needing salvation and righteousness (ver. 17), and deliverance from the wrath of God revealed from heaven (ver. 18). And all this was contained in the glad tidings of Christ. That man's state and condition needed such a deliverance, he then proves in various ways. Firstly, creation has a voice and proclaims that there is power which has a spring in itself and that power is God's. But man kept not in his place, remained not subject to that eternal power and God. Every part of creation around us still has this voice, a voice in direct contrast with that which man's ways and walk proclaims; for man's ways and walk do not declare man's owning that God is the source and end of his life and being (19-21); secondly, idolatry followed and man degraded himself, as to God and his fellows, below the brutes of the earth (22-32); thirdly, men on whom God forced the light of right and wrong, used this knowledge not for self-humiliation and correction, but for self-exaltation above their fellows. " We know and are able to condemn you " is a fearful word from one who is a hearer but not also a doer of God's righteous will, while on his way up to the judgment of the great white throne. To teach another and set at naught one's own teaching; to prohibit theft and be a thief; for the adulterer to prohibit adultery; the sacrilegious man, idolatry, etc., etc is what, but hypocrisy. And how distinctly, does the apostle's resume of the state inward and outward of man, prove that he knew of no foundation in man for acceptance before God, as he—writes. Chapter 3:9, " We have before -proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no,, not one; there is none that un derstandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is: none that doeth good, no, not one.. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongue they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood.; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes,. Now we know that what things -soever the law saith„ it saith to them who are under the -law that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.".

If by the law is the knowledge of sin, what remains for man in himself to trust to? Creation, in its, origin and the order it observes, points to One: whom man honors not, and it condemns him.. History, the expression of Man's conduct toward God in His patience and pro- violence and government of man, of man on the earth, condemns him, Can man bring out of himself an obedience if God give him a standard of right and wrong? No-the great thing which such standard can do for him, is to give him: the knowledge of sin..; knowledge of his need, as a ruined creature, of something clean out- side and above that which is found in the fields of creation, Providence and government of God around him, and of what is within himself too.

Secondly, the only remedy for- man under these circumstances is in God, God's righteousness without, man's works,: even that which is by faith of Jesus. Christ, which is towards all„ and is upon all them that believe: Note how these words "all have sinned" (ver. 123); "justified freely by His grace, through redemption which is in Christ-Jesus" (ver. 24):; " for the' remission of sins that are, past through the forbearance of. God " (yen: 25); " to declare his righteousness that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth ". (ver. 2G), each and all of them proclaim mercy on God's- part. Just so (Chapter iv., 3) " Abraham believed God,, and it was counted unto him for righteousness„" followed by that fine statement of Paul, " Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness " (ver. 4 and 5). And not only so, but David after his failure rejoiced " in the blessedness of the man unto whom, God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." And this way was according to God as a promise-maker, through faith (ver. 13), by grace that it might be sure (ver. 16): of God who quickens the dead, and speaks of things which are not as though they were (ver. 17). " Now, what he has promised, He is able also to perform " (ver. 21). And faith knows this and stays upon it. Now, if any man say " Amen " to God's promises, God will say " Amen " to the establishment of that man in them. For " these things were written about not for Abraham's sake only, but for us also, to whom it shall be reckoned, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from, the dead."

The fifth chapter shows how we have peace with God consequent upon justification by-faith, and rejoice in hope of sharing God's glory; how all of this life's troubles too are made to pay tribute to us; how the Spirit,, which is given to us, fills our hearts with. God's love. We were without strength, ungodly, sinners, enemies—when. Christ died for us; but now, reconciled by His death, we count upon being saved by His life, and we rejoice in God through Jesus Christ; and gladly do we own the contrast between the first Adam, who lost everything through disobedience, and the last Adam who won everything through obedience: " Grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus. Christ."

The sixth, chapter gives us thee divine, way by which.

God welds into one the fortunes of the sinner that believes and of the Savior that died and rose again from the dead; and how, if God reckons that the Savior died in my stead and that thus I am clear of guilt and dead to sin, I am to reckon it so too and am to cease from sinning and to live unto God. Dead to the penalty, I am to be dead to the power,—-of sin.

The seventh chapter takes up afresh the question of law and shows how Paul judged that the only thing it could do for a man who was under it, was to convince him of his own utter helplessness. In the case which he portrays as under it, what was reaped from it? Great gleanings, (ver. 5) the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death: that was one lesson. A second was, " That I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet (or lust)" (ver. 7). Then came a third benefit, the discovery that "sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (or lust). For without the law sin was dead" (ver. 8). Another discovery was, that " when the commandment came, sin revived and I died" (ver. 9). Then again (ver. 10), "the commandment which was to life, I found to be unto death." This taught him the deceivableness of his sinful self: " For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me." And poor comfort was it to find that, all the while, " the law was holy and the commandment holy and just and good." But the application of this good thing to him made the sin that was in him to be exceeding sinful; and laid home upon him the truth that he was carnal, sold under sin. And what a picture of man's powerlessness is then given! Doing what I allow not. What I would that do I not. What I hate that do I. The law thus proved that sin was in the man that it was over. Sin; though there might be a good will, yet no power to perform. " For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not that I do." Sin my tyrant, despising all my wishes and all my dreads, and leading me captive! What a picture of the medicinal effects of the law when placed upon a man! Well might He cry out: " O wretched man that I am I who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" Now note it, here the law takes notice of what a man should be before God. Quite right that: but if applied to a sinner, it brings out sin and self to light in every varied way. The I, a mountainous I (of the party under the law in that seventh chapter of Romans), is upwards of forty times heard to groan and cry out. But not till brought to the sense of wretchedness, and to cry out in despair, Who can save me from myself!-can it say, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Yes; and there is balm in that Jesus Christ our Lord, to answer and set aside forever all the wretched experience of self-writhing under law and its requirements.

The eighth chapter gives us the charter of privileges provided for those who own God's mercy as their only wellspring of blessing. Beginning with " no condemnation," it ends with " no separation." No condemnation in Christ, though we be still in the body down here; for He who loves us, died for us; no feeling of condemnation, if our obedience is after the spirit and not after the flesh, for we have the Spirit of God and of Christ: our life is there, and we know it, and that all about us is death. Obedience to our God and Father we render, knowing that we are His sons and heirs, co-heirs together with Christ,-therefore, we suffer now and look to be glorified hereafter. Our blessing is now by faith and in the Spirit. But our external bodies too will be glorified. Now, till then, the Spirit helps our infirmities, our ignorance-is a Spirit of intercession in us; One, as to whom we know that He who on high searches our hearts, thoroughly understands them. And we know too that all things work together for good to us. Called of God according to His purpose, His foreknowledge of us and predestination to be conformed to the image of His Son (that. He might be the firstborn among many brethren), is our comfort. "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" (ver. 30). So we can say, "God for us, who against us?" The free gift of His own Son for us secures His giving us all things. Who shall lay charge against the choice ones of God? God is the justifier. Who the condemner? Christ died.-; yea, risen, is at God's right -hand in heaven, interceding for us. If Christ who is above loves us, shall any circumstance down here-whether arising from a physical world out of order or from men that hate Christ separate us from the love which He has to us? No: we voluntarily have taken up all that He had to bear. If sheep for the slaughter on the one hand, on the other we are in all such things more than conquerors through Him that loved -us. And this the rather because we know, the world of eternity being opened to us (a larger sphere than what this earth presents to us) (ver. 37 and 38), no creature is able to separate us from God's love to us which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.. There is no separation.

Thirdly, chaps 9, 10, 11 give us the instruction that the mercy presented as the only portion for any individual in the earlier chapters is the root of all God's past, present, or future dealings in blessing with man, when dealt with and blessed in The mass upon the earth.—Gathered now as individuals upon the earth, our massing in company is by faith, to the person of Christ in heaven. Christ, the head of the new creation, is now in heaven; we, as parts of it now, will all shortly be there too. Inspirit we are there, now already. But Israel was as a nation blessed upon earth, and will be blessed upon earth hereafter; and, besides our individual heavenly calling and faith in an' ascended, glorified Lord, Gentiles now hear of mercy and are of the house of God down here upon earth; and when the nation Israel is finally blessed, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. We find these massed companies, blessed on earth, to be looked at in these three chapters.

Why was Israel made the channel of God's testimony here upon earth?

Why were the oracles of God committed unto them? (Chapter 3:2)

Why were they Israelites; why-had-they the adoption and the glory and the covenant and the giving of the law and the service an d the promises? How came they to be connected with the family of which as concerning the flesh Christ came? They were not all the children of Abraham because they were his descendants? All had the promises in their hands, though all Were not the children of the promise.." God was so pleased to bless them," is the only answer which I can give. And " mercy-His only plea." But mercy for' time is not always among men mercy for eternity, and so He who would have a seed for eternity had to act, in His own right and title, and to secure an eternally blessed people in Isaac and in Jacob. " For- He saith to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I- will have compassion" (Chapter 9:15). Yes, that is it: there is a God who has a right to do as He wills, and will do as He likes, -Satan and a wicked world and sinful man, notwithstanding. Or is God the only Being that may not act? Is He the only one that has no right to please Himself,-to do His own pleasure, to act according to His own thoughts? Let man now approve, or let man now disapprove, He chose to create this world and to make and set man on it. And He has chosen through nigh six thousand years to bear, with a patience altogether divine, man's incessant, -unmendably bad manners; and He chose Himself to come as Son of man into the world, and He means in the end to reckon with man and to judge him for all his high thoughts—and his ungodliness.. The verse I have cited sets His dealings with the nation Israel of old in a peculiarly striking light. " He saith to Moses, I will have Mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion." Israel had just cast God off- and made a calf (with Aaron's help) out of the trumpery and finery of the women, their ear-rings, etc.;—a calf of gold; had declared " These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord ' (Ex. 32:4,5). This was the occasion, when on Moses's intercession with the Lord, the Lord says, " I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy " (Ex. 33:19).

Why did the. Lord not act upon what He had said to Moses (Chapter xxxii., 9) " Let me alone, that my Wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation?" -why this change? Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? " I will," if He says it, who can say unto Him, What doest Thou? "I will to whom I will,- and I will on whom I will." ‘Tis blessed to know there is One that can and will and does say " I will,." and His " I will " stands firm and sure. He knew what His own grace and mercy and compassion prompted Him to do, and He here chose to let it flow out. But mark how Israel, about whom He chose in His absolutism and uncontrollable will so to speak, had lost itself everything, made shipwreck of all that had been entrusted to them, were a wreck themselves;-they had made other gods and danced and feasted before them. Jehovah had a right to act as He pleased, notwithstanding their sin, and He chose to act according to His own nature and to take care of His own character; so He said, " I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion"; consequently, Israel was not cut off, and He did not make a nation out of Moses.

Satan is not almighty; he cannot say, " I will," and his word stand fast. Otherwise universal destruction and universal delusion would be our portion. But God is almighty, and mercy and compassion are in His character, and He says " I will," and mercy and compassion are ours; and if made ours in Christ Jesus, then ours for eternity; for in Him is no variableness, nor the shadow of a turn. I do see and feel that all my blessing hinges upon this absolutism of God and His having a character of His own on which He, naturally enough, chooses to act and in which He has been pleased to act to me-ward, and upon which He has made me to trust and think and hope that He is acting as to myself. And mark it, too, if His mercy and His compassion are the ground of the soul's peace, the soul owns to demerit in itself.

And Paul stops not with the broad statement of the principle, "I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion "; but makes the wholesome deduction an application to individuals: " So then' it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Chapter 9:16). What fountain in itself can a creature finite and ruined have? Is not God the only spring of every good gift? Did He not do the work of Christ according to His own plan and wisdom and in spite of man? Has not Christ been sitting eighteen hundred years in heaven before I was born? Was there not mercy in Him when I thought only of what I could do to please (not God but) myself? Was He not determined to break down all my thoughts of my power and of my might, and make me a debtor to mercy? And did He not do this, ere ever I was willing or running at all. It is not that willing and running are bad things they are Christ's gifts to all his people but the question is Do they come out of the old Adam nature or from Christ Himself? An absolute God, full of mercy is the refuge of a poor sinner. He that has fled to Him will never find fault with His absolute " I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion." If on the contrary men stand upon their rights and their own power, let them tremble. God is not mocked. Paul shows us that the absolutism of God, when resisted by proud man, is irresistible in judgment. If men will not have God and mercy,-they may find like Pharaoh that they have absolute judgment (read Rom. 9:17-22). It is what man's " I will" when it comes into collision with a despised God's "I will" leads too. Better, surely, for a rebel creature that God should be occupied and guided by His own goodness, and not be guided with the badness of the creature, than that the rebellion of the creature should be the turning point, as the sinner wishes of the conduct of the Creator.

But if Paul accounts for Israel's having been spared of God, through His mercy, the nation stood down here upon earth, as all does that is on earth, on trial; and when it had failed down here, mercy took a larger sphere.

" And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he bath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles" (ver. 23, 24). " That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith" (ver. 30).

In chapter 10 He shows how all is of mercy,-the door open to "whosoever believeth " (ver. 11),-to "whosoever shall call upon the name, of the Lord" (ver. 13); there is no difference when all turns upon this, " The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him " (ver. 12). Yet, thus, the Gentile comes in, upon this no difference ground; but comes in not so as to exclude the Jew on the one hand, for there is no difference, nor on the other hand necessarily into a company whose blessing will be more permanent than was the blessing of Israel as a nation; for there is, in this also, no difference. God takes up a position of showing mercy, of delighting in mercy in both cases; and His taking that position toward men on earth forms a company. But then in both cases He, at least, is truthful and means what He says; in this too there is no difference. He will have mercy. And this means not only that He will be upon the ground of mercy, but that He will have man also to be upon the ground of mercy. If He will give, man must receive; if He take mercy as the ground of His action towards man, man that comes to rejoice in the door opened to him of association with God, must know himself also to be upon the ground of mercy. God's position of being upon the ground of mercy towards Israel, was taken; and they were a people who had the oracles of God and the privileges of being His nation. When they would not be upon the ground of mercy themselves, and would not have the God of mercy (whom they crucified in Christ Jesus) among them upon earth, nor own Him afterward in heaven, when on Pentecost He proclaimed mercy "beginning at Jerusalem," they were set aside; and Himself in heaven (made Lord and Christ, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven) became a new position taken by God for showing mercy to "whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord." But with this new position a new company was formed, and to it the oracles of God were committed, a house of God upon earth. What lay at the bottom of all this was mercy on God's part. But as before this, if the blessing is to be permanent it supposes that he that is blessed takes the ground of being upon and living upon mercy. If God is showing from heaven mercy now, I, to be really blessed must also, my own self, stand upon and act upon mercy. For God here too is real. He means not only to make a show of mercy but to give it; and if He gives there must be (His name be praised-His own glory needs it and He will secure it and make it good) a receiver too of mercy.To see that God has taken a new position, that it is one open to the sinner, to every sinner that believes, for there is no difference whatsoever, is good news indeed; to be able to say " And I stand connected with that God and with that salvation " is blessed. But we must receive into our own souls and for our own selves that mercy, stand upon it, live under it and from it, if there is to be lasting blessing. Reader, can you say, " God, thou knowest that Thy mercy by. Christ Jesus dwells in my mind and that I love it and glory in it and try to live as one that has found it. Mercy is behind me as to my past; mercy is with me and in me as to my present; mercy is my hope as to all that is before me.' These are solemn truths: for Chapter 11 shows us why the nation Israel was cut off. They walked not in mercy's path. " Elias had to make intercession to God against Israel (for whom Moses had interceded!) saying, Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life" (ver. 3). The restraining power of God's hand had however, unknown to the prophet, been acting. " But what said the answer of God to him?" " I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal." What a blessed thing it is that the same One who said to Moses, "I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion," (at a time when Moses stood all alone for God) should have reserved, at a time when Elias thought he was left alone, seven thousand men. And why? It was the proof at once of His power and of His love of mercy. But the self-confident mass who gave the character and stamp of things even to the eye and mind of an Elias,-they stood for themselves and for their competency and their ability to obtain righteousness by their own works. And where, I pray you, is the conscience and mind and heart of a ruined sinner who is occupied with what " / can, and I will, and I mean to do "? Is such an one set in mercy, a receiver of it, glorying in it and living in and from it? "I and my works among men and my difference from other men "-is it the same thing as " God's mercy to me the chiefest of sinners." And what if God really does delight in mercy-has set Himself for a display of mercy, and that a stream of mercy flows forth and they who profess to be connected with God and His throne and possessors of the privileges of being associated with Him,-what I say, if such lie and do not the truth; will not stand for mercy in and from God to man a ruined sinner, but claim and wait for the righteous judgment of God upon human works"? This was the case with Israel of old, in Elias's, in David's, in the Lord's, in Paul's days. Must God give up His mercy, or take a new position for Himself, and while carrying to it all that would have mercy, leave behind to providential judgments all that despised His mercy? That is: Is God, or is sinful man to take the lead, to have the upper hand, to rule? Blessed be God I though man tried, instigated by Satan, to put God out of the way, and killed the Son lest the Romans " should come and take us away," they in their blindness and dark sightedness were but putting forward God's mercy. They were giving the proof that mercy had no place in them, when they killed the Prince of life; and so they were justifying God's departure from themselves, yea, provoking Him to judge them according to their boasted measure of self-righteousness; and, so far as in them lay, too, they were thrusting Him whom they murdered into the new place, the new position which God would take; for Christ on earth was Messiah to Israel. Christ earth, rejected, heaven-welcomed, is Lord and Christ for " whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord." The sphere of Israel a nation on earth had rejected, renounced and denounced mercy: Alas! for it, then and there. But, blessed be God, mercy was as dear to Him as ever. -He felt that Israel's sphere was not large enough -for. Him for the display of—His mercy. Little was the mountain from which and small the sphere to which, through Moses' intercession, He had proclaimed mercy. Great the height of His throne in heaven and wide the range of the sphere to every human being under heaven, to whom mercy was now to be proclaimed, beginning at Jerusalem. And, not only so, but in the outsounding of mercy in this larger sphere, He thought to provoke Israel, that cared not for mercy, to emulation. What a love of mercy is His! " Have they stumbled that they should fall? God- forbid: but through their fall salvation is come unto the' Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness (ver. 11, 12)?" " For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead (ver. 13)?" Their fall was not of God that the nation should be lost; but that, they removed for a time, salvation might be proclaimed to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. If their removal from the place of honor for a time be for the enriching of a larger circle, what blessing will pertain to that larger circle when all the fullness of Israel's blessing is set forth? God's delight in mercy led Him to take a new position with such thoughts in His mind. How everything as to the revelation of mercy and the making of it good to any and in any, in every position which the God of mercy has taken, all depends upon Himself, His absolute power' and His delight in mercy! And this as surely for eternity as for time!

But what as to this new position taken by God, and what as -to the position of those that gather down here under the preaching of it? are either of them permanent? God's mercy is permanent: that is clear. The position of God bidding His Son sit in heaven until He makes His foes to be His footstool, is not to those who count the long suffering of God to be salvation His permanent' one; it is until. Until what? Until He make His foes to be His footstool. Until the Father bids the Son to rise up and fetch the adopted children to His house on high (John 14), to fetch the Church which is to be the Bride, the Lamb's wife, in' heaven,-to claim the land of Israel that it may be Beulah, married to Jehovah, and that from the City Jehovah-Shammah, the knowledge' of the'glory of the Lord may flow out to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And Paul puts before us the other side of this truth, viz., Gentiles grafted into the channel of testimony and fruit-bearing down here on earth for a time (see -Rom. 12:17-25)

The Gentiles had been of a wild olive tree, but were made to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree (ver. 17). What brought them there? God's delight in mercy. In mercy they might boast then, but not against the branches, when upon a root which was not theirs by nature. Fear, surely, becomes one who is brought into a place of responsibility out of which, for failure, another has been removed; and not high-mindedness. It is a place of responsibility and in time, and God is a righteous judge. If He spared not the natural branches, will He spare those who were made, because of the failure of these to be their supplanters? No: He is good, for He stands for mercy. But He does stand for mercy, and therefore He is determined and cuts off whatever receives not, abides not in, mercy. If He cut them off and grafted us in, why should He not cut us off and graff them in again if we stand not for mercy? They have the birthright in their favor, and the root is called by their name. If the Church, as the house of God down here, had received and stood, and walked and hoped in mercy. it would never be removed, shaken, cut off; but mercy, righteous judgment would find another way of fulfilling His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Israel. But Roman and Greek churches, and all Protestant churches too, have failed, utterly failed in responsibility as to holding and living in and hoping in mercy, and nothing but mercy. is this my hard-hearted thought—or God's? God's it is most surely, who also gave it to Paul that he and all other true servants of God, might not be overwhelmed in seeing that as man had failed upon earth from Eden down to Pentecost, in every responsibility' put into his own hands to keep,—so would it be again from Pentecost onward. God has no faith in man's competency, or wisdom, or energy or faithfulness. " For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." Then shall Israel, as a whole nation, be saved: " as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (ver. 26). For there is a covenant with them to this effect, when He shall take away their sins. Enemies they were to the gospel in its present form- and allowed to be so, that mercy's voice might sound out in the wider circuit of " whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord." But the promises to the fathers remain unfulfilled as yet, and God is true and knows not the shadow of a turn. Israel was chosen to be the earth's center of blessing, and endowed and called thereto. And though generations of them have refused to have this place upon the ground of mercy, this will not hinder the nation as a nation having it hereafter, "for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (ver. 29). God is absolute, and He stands for mercy to the nation Israel. The Gentiles once did not know God so as to be able to believe in Him; when Israel disbelieved in mercy, the Gentiles obtained mercy; Israel disbelieved and rebelled against mercy to the Gentiles; God left them to their unbelief and to the judgments consequent thereon, that they might learn that they could not do without mercy (ver. 30, 31). For God has shut them up in their unbelief, left them to their own way, that so when He comes to bless them it may be clear to all that the blessing flows upon the ground, is received too upon the ground of mercy-pure, free, unmixed mercy.

The present house of God upon earth has been the birth-place of many a soul for heaven, part of the family of God the Father, part of that body of which Christ is the head: they shall all be removed to heaven. But the house on earth committed to man's building and care, man has defiled and it will come into judgment. And the eternal lover of mercy will return to Israel and mercy's streams shall flow forth thence to the uttermost parts of the earth, even to the extern nations-those beyond the four Gentile dynasties, and be among them in power too. The language of Paul, when he wrote on these things, well becomes us. " O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable his judgments, and his ways past finding out" (ver, 33). And then he goes on with thoughts expressive of his own sense of the littleness of man; thoughts well calculated to make us see our own littleness. What searching questions these: " For who hath known the mind of the Lord?

" Or who hath been His counselor?

" Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?" Not I, surely each one must say,-

" For OF Him, and THROUGH Him, and TO Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen" (ver. 33-36).

Into the fourth division of the Epistle to the Romans, it is not my intention at present to enter: I merely give the opening of it as confirming what I have said about the place that mercy holds in God's dealings, as set forth now, and as presented in this epistle.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service " (Chapter 12:1). But the whole of this portion (from Chapter 12:1, to the end of the epistle) is but the deduction of the fruits natural to the reception of the mercy and mercies referred to in the preceding parts -of the epistle. And, surely, the close of this part ought ever to be remembered by us:

" Now to him that is of power to stablish you," let us mark it well, " Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel and the Preaching, of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but is manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets [or by prophetic-scripture], according to the commandment of the ever—lasting God, made known to all nations FOR THE, OBEDIENCE of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen" (xvi. 25-27).

And can any man who has rejoiced in mercy himself and known its suitability to man's ruined and lost condition, for a moment think that the practical life of persons professing' Christianity now-a-days, is the fruit of their having tasted mercy? Can he whose heart has had to challenge itself in the fear of the Lord, not know what the result of all the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye,, and the pride of life which now characterize Christianity (so called) must be? Or could any one that counts mercy to be a priceless treasure wish the present state of things to continue, or mercy to be limited to its present bounds and not to be, even through judgment, presented in a more boundlessly extensive way, and that too in man's day?.

To return now to my thesis, "But God who is rich in mercy," I would call attention to the contrasts in the context which led to the introduction of the little word,." But."

In the middle of the first chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians (ver. 15), Paul turns to the blessings which grace had provided for the saints in Christ Jesus, and, as it were, draws aside the curtain and shows us the Son of man, the faithful servant of God, seated in heaven in all His present glory. Raised from the dead and set at God's right hand in heavenly places,-exalted above every power and name named in this age or that which is to come,-everything put under His feet and Himself made head of a body, for which He not only uses His power over all things, but which He himself fills in every part! What glory like that, all the excellency of God's ways set forth by Him. All the beauty of. God seen in Him. In contrast to this come the place and the state in which those; now the members of His all glorious body, were found, dead in trespasses and sins; their movement then, according to the routine of a place set up for sinners to be happy in without God,, out of His presence, the energy then working in them, that of the prince of the power of the air, spirit that energizes in the children of disobedience. Such had been these Ephesians to whom he wrote. Had he been better? no: lusts of the flesh, lusts of the flesh and of the mind, had characterized the Jews-children of wrath even as others (Chapter 2:13); what a contrast! Well might he introduce here the word " But." " But God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins.-"And mark well here, the height of blessedness and glory to which we were raised and in which set, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised up together, and made sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." If anything could add to this blessing so freely given, bestowed in so divine a way, in Christ Jesus,-it would be the explanation which follows of an object which was accomplished, to say the least, by God in so doing. For I like not to speak of it as His motive; that I suppose was higher still. But one object which was given was, "That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus " (ver. 7).

" For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God bath before ordained (or prepared, -works worthy of our being, each one, members of that body, or which Christ is the glorified head) that we should walk in them " (ver. 10).

Thus our creature working, to get into the place of acceptance and blessing, is excluded:-" We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus," that on the one hand; and on the other, the abuse of mercy and grace is guarded against, for our creation in Christ Jesus, is " unto good works," of a kind prepared by God that we should walk in them.

G. V. W.

The Introductory Portion of the Gospel of John

OH 1:1-2:22

The main feature of this most precious book that lies before us is the exhibition of the Lord Jesus as the Word made flesh, the glory of the only Begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, and who reveals the Father as one with Him. The book is made up of these glories, which pass successively before our eyes in its successive chapters. Hence there is so much of " testimony" and "witness" in it: God calling our attention, as it were, all through to Him in whom all Heaven's glories meet, and meet for the supply of man's need, discovered in its deepest in the light of this glory; for "whatsoever doth make manifest is light."

Man's need in its deepest is that he is "dead in trespasses and sins." At the end of long ages of trial the full manifestation of this was made in the person of Jesus come in grace among men. Man's trial was not limited to that. It was only the close of a long course of it which God in His patience had given him: the "ages," of which the apostle Paul speaks in Heb. 9:26, at the " completion" of which Christ " appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

The cross thus stands as the dividing line between two periods of entirely different character; the former of which was characterized, as I may say, by its being the time of man's being manifested and God hidden; while the latter shows us, on the contrary, man set aside and God revealed.

It is most important to see this, to which the whole of Scripture gives the most unequivocal testimony. So in 1 Cor. 10:13, it is said, " Upon whom the ends of the world (literally αιωνων, ages) are come." As to the character of these ages (of which several other passages make mention) Rom. 5:6 speaks-" When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." The " due time" was when man had been thus manifested, "ungodly" and "without strength." These ages had run on from the fall itself; and their probationary character, as to the most important of them, is strongly marked in Scripture. Take the law. " God is come to prove you," says Moses, before it was given. And the apostle Paul, answering that question, which still perplexes multitudes, " Wherefore serveth the law?" replies, " It was added "-not as our translators have it, " because of trangressions," but-" for the sake of transgressions;" that is, to produce them, to bring out the sin of man's heart in open shape, as transgression of the plain command of God. Take it as elsewhere, where there needs no emendation of the text-" The law entered that the offense might abound " (Rom. 5:20), the necessary result of " proving " one, of whom " every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually."

But this verdict upon man's state had been pronounced long before. It was spoken at the close of his first trial, which the judgment of the flood ended. For the full result God had waited. He had let men have the earth to themselves, and given them ample time to show what they would do in it; and at the end of nearly two thousand years " God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." then God said, " The end of all flesh is come before me."

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord;" and in his person, brought through the judgment, wherein " the world that then was, perished," human government was set up of God, and man was made his brother's keeper. " Whoso shed man's blood, by man his blood was to be shed." Such was the divine principle. But instead of that, the form it takes is that of tyranny in the hands of Nimrod, and that course of ambition and thirst for power begins which has filled men's chronicles ever since. All fails once more, and God calls Abram from his kindred and his father's house to walk with Him, a pilgrim and a stranger upon earth.

The character of the law, which followed after that, we have already seen. In it God took up man again in his own way, to see what he could do. The people undertook it,-" all that the Lord bath spoken;" but the covenant is broken before ever the tables of testimony are come to them from the Mount. Under pure law they do not stand a moment. The law finds them under its curse; but God retreats into Himself, and falling back on His divine prerogative of mercy, takes them up anew. "I will have mercy," says He, " upon whom I will have mercy." And though the law is given a second time, there is now along with it a proclamation of the "Name of the Lord." Christianity is not that, it is a declaration of the Father's name. This to Moses was not properly a revelation of God Himself, but of His "back parts"-the skirts of His glory. " And He said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live;" but "it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen."

I would call attention to these words, because they give us so perfectly the contrast between those long dark ages, and the blessed light of Christianity, into which we are brought. Take the brightest display of God's goodness to the most favored of His people then, still it was -" No man can see me and live.".The veil of the holiest afterward, according to Paul's testimony in the Heb. 9, declared the same thing—" The way into the holiest was not yet made manifest." No one could come into God's presence, to see Him face to face. The high-priest on the Day of Atonement, if a seeming, was no real exception: he was to " put incense on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat, that is upon the testimony, that he die not;" for the presence of the Lord was there.

The difference between "proclaiming the name of Jehovah," and " declaring the Father's name" was in short, all the difference between God hidden and " God manifest." The first was Judaism; the last Christianity.

It was an important announcement, no doubt, and served, in some measure, to temper the severity of an outraged law. Yet it did not change it, nor man's nature. It gave no life and therefore no righteousness. It left man space for repentance, but wrought no repentance in him. It left him under responsibility to meet God still and answer for himself.

" And the Lord descended in the cloud, and proclaimed the name of the Lord (Jehovah): and Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious; long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third, and to the fourth generation."

Christian reader, with all the grace of this announcement, is it the revelation of God, such as we know Him? Could you or I go into His holy presence on the footing of what is here declared? Alas, the veil of the holiest and the high-priest's incense tell the same truth about it, and our consciences bear witness we could not. For law is still law here, whatever be the mercy, and a God who "can by no means clear the guilty," is not one before whom we can stand. The grace here may, like the angel's hand, trouble the waters of -the law and make them " Bethesda,"-a pool of healing; but what are we to do with our poor, palsied limbs?

Yet though it were but the " back parts," not the face of God that was seen here (as to which the passage itself is conclusive), yet God having declared Himself " gracious," He could still go on with those who had already manifested themselves " a perverse, rebellious people.' He could patiently show out His goodness, and manifest His power in their behalf. All this protracted, indeed, the trial without altering the result. But it was of God that it should be protracted, that man should have full time and space to show himself in. And so he does, alas, to the end. Law broken, mercy despised, God's messengers persecuted whom 1-le sent in His love, "rising up early and sending them"; such is his course throughout. And at length the trial is once more over, and with the sentence of " Lo-Ammi" upon them (not God's people), they are led away captive to Babylon. " The mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, nor can be."

Still the " due time" for the display of God, the full revelation of Himself, was not come even yet. One last resource remained, one last way of trial: it is thus represented by the Lord Himself in the parable of the vineyard-" And he said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence my son, when they see him."

And " God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." In the lowliest form, in the " form of a servant," self- emptied, yet full of power and grace for man's deliverance from all that sin had brought upon him, the earth was hallowed by the footsteps of One " who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him."

Such a sight it had never seen before; such a sight it shall never see again. He could touch the leper, and his leprosy was gone. He could heal the sick. He could raise the dead. Devils would give up their victims at His word. He could speak as never man spake. He could say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," and work a miracle to assure that it was done. He was the Friend of sinners, and blushed not to own it. From whomsoever needed Him He could not be hid. And in all this, it was His constant declaration that He came but in His Father's name, to declare Him, whom knowing they knew not; that God, whom behind the veil and "in thick darkness" they had worshipped, now made known.

Alas, " He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not."

They said, " This is the heir; come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours." " So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him."

That was the end of the trial, and therein was " the judgment of the world" (John 12:31).

The mind of the flesh, when under law, "not subject. to the law," was now manifest, outspoken " enmity against God."

But if sin had now reached its height, it was time for God's grace to abound over it. Man, "dead in sins," could be set aside, and God could unveil Himself. Christ died, and the veil was removed. The way into the holiest was made manifest. Man could see God and live.

Instead of One who " could by no means clear the guilty," there shone out the glory of Him who " justifieth the ungodly."

It will require little thought to understand my object in dwelling upon this so much at length. It is most needful to the right apprehension of the whole scope and character of John's gospel. For this gospel is lust the shining forth of this divine glory which in Judaism had dwelt within the circling flames of Sinai, or behind the veil of the temple. God is no longer here "in the thick darkness"; the testimony is that He "is light, and in Him is no darkness at all"; and we " walk," therefore, " in the light, as He is in the light."

Not indeed that the full time of manifesting God, in one sense, had come, while Jesus walked on earth, though He were indeed Himself " God manifest." A verse in this first chapter of the gospel explains the seeming contradiction. For though "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men," yet it is added, " and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." Nor was this true only of dead men upon whom the light might shine, but not remove their darkness. Even the eyes of disciples,-of those who could say afterward, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,"-were scarcely opened to it They saw what was " the glory of the Only Begotten," but not at that time did they apprehend its wondrous significance. Only after Christ's death had fully rent the veil, and the Spirit of God had come to lead them into all truth, did they apprehend it. Only then could they say, " the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." Even at the very close of that marvelous course Philip could say, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," and the Lord answer, " Have I been so long time with you, and past thou not known me, Philip?" What a flashing out of glory it must have been, when the true light did indeed shine unto their souls! " In that day," says the Lord again, "ye shall know that I am in the Father;"-yea, and beside that,—" and ye in me, and I in you."

But the Gospel of John, nevertheless, puts us in the full light of this already. For it is not man's history simply, true history though it be, but God's revelation. It is the Spirit of God, now come, taking of the things of Jesus, and showing them to our souls. Hence, though historically and for man, the veil of the holiest was not rent, there is no veil here. And though men were not yet introduced into the blessing, the blessing itself is already here. -his ",God manifest in flesh," manifest in love and grace for men " grace and truth come by Jesus Christ." It is divine fullness for men's need, and when that need is fully exposed. " Life" for him as dead; "light" for him as in darkness; "grace" for him-as a mere sinner, and only grace, nay, as it is expressed here, "grace upon grace."

In a word, man is set aside, as fully convicted and exposed, and God is manifested. The cross is, as it were, over; (not of course that it historically was;) "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." That is, as it were, the moral of Luke's Gospel. " He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." That is pre-eminently Matthew's. And now " to as many as received. Him, to them gave He power" (privilege or authority, rather) " to be the- sons of God, even to those that believe on His name." And- what of these? " Who were born, not of blood (or natural generation), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Thus at the outset we are met by this great truth of regeneration. And after the introductory portion of the gospel is over, it is that with which (in Chapter 3) we start again. None of the other gospels speak of it at all. They give us the grace of God in its appeal to man: its solemn warnings, its exhortations, its tender and blessed invitations.- But it is not these we have- in John: There is not so much as " Come to me, and I will give you rest." There is, surely, the solemn, truth stated, " Ye will not come," but no invitation, though " him that cometh, He will in no wise cast out." But it is not man's coming that we are occupied with, nevertheless. It is " God's coming," rather. He quickens. He " quickens whom He will." Men are " born of God ": a thing into which one's own will enters as little as when we are born into the world.

And then it is upon this being born of God, that all blessing, is founded. Being born of Him, we are owned His children; and thus are given to lay hold of and enjoy that revelation of the Father, which. Christ, the only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, Makes of Him.

And I add another thing. In the light which manifests everything in its true form and character, a dead Jew is no more than a dead Gentile. Judaism is therefore already gone, (not historically, as I said in another case: that was at the cross, but practically;) and " the true light,"-true to the nature of light, falls on all alike. " That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." In contrast to the law, as one outside it, (and so He says, " What is written in your law?")-it is said, " The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

It will be seen that these are the principal features of Chapter 1:1-18, which is evidently the doctrinal introduction to the whole gospel, and gives its distinctive character. The whole, however, of the first chapter, and down to the end of ver. 22 of the second, is introductory, and beyond that the main subject matter of the book begins in the distinct enunciation of man's real need, and its only true remedy. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," so that " ye must be born again."

And thence out of the fullness of the "'Word made flesh," is developed in varied and orderly succession, the blessedness which is his. Man put in his true place as a recipient merely, the fullness of divine bounty is poured into his bosom,-" grace upon grace" indeed,-commencing with the supply of first wants, but pouring on and on, till the full cup overflows in deep, adoring worship, in the unveiled presence of Him to whom we are brought: " presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."

Before going on to consider this, however, I would spend a short time upon the introductory portion of the book. This seems evidently to divide into three parts. The first, simply doctrinal (as we say), and which I have now briefly noticed (John 1:1-18). The second, the witness of John (John 1:19-34). The third, the dispensational view of the grace here witnessed of, first, with regard to the saints of the present time (John 1:35-42), and then to the remnant of Israel in the last day (43-51); the whole closing with the millennial features of glory and of blessing (John 2:1-11), of a holiness.; which is to be maintained in power, by Him, who is " declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead' (verses 12-22). And surely of great importance it is to have these distinctive characters of blessing set before us in the first place, before we go on to consider the portion of the heavenly saint, as it is detailed in the following chapters of the book.

As for the first section of this introductory part, what I have already written may suffice. I would now notice how beautifully characteristic is the Baptist's testimony in this book, and how the glory of the Son of God completely fills the eye and heart of him whom the other gospels give us as the preacher of repentance. Here he whose place was in the wilderness, who came in the way of righteousness" to others, apart from them as judging them unclean, himself falls into the dust before those blessed feet, "whose shoe latchet he is unworthy to unloose." Here we see it was no thought of self-righteousness that set him in that place apart. The eye that now drinks in " the light of this world " was once closed to it as much as others. Nothing but infinite grace had made the difference. " I knew him not" is, twice over, his lowly acknowledgment. It was the registry of the condemnation of the world.

But how the eye, divinely opened, is taken up with the object now revealed to it. And the Spirit of God Himself, how He presents to us this picture, as delighting in it, of a man absorbed with Christ. They come out to him from Jerusalem, attracted by his fame, to find one whose heart is an utter stranger to it all. He is "not the Christ," he says. What need they care who he was, when he was not Christ? He was " a voice " only: a voice that spoke not of itself but of another; a voice to imprint the imperishable " Word" upon the hearts of men; and then to be forgotten. " He confessed and denied not, but confessed," says the recording Spirit with emphasis.. A little thing, it might seem, and only not presumption; but among such as we are, how great a thing! " He must increase, but I must decrease:" words how true for us all! but only grace can add to it such words as elsewhere the Baptist,." This my joy therefore is fulfilled." And this is he of whom our Lord said, " Among those that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." If this is true greatness, then, how is " the first last, and the last first!" how human thoughts are reversed! But is not he really greatest, who in lowliness is likest to his Master?

And what then must be the blessedness of heaven, where these principles have their only full and uninterrupted sway. You get a blessed picture of that in Mark 10, and which in many parts of it we cannot wonder to find repeated elsewhere. It is where the Lord is enforcing this principle of true glory, and showing Himself in opposition to all the narrowness of man's heart, even in disciples, where all sought their own. Peter had been reminding Him of the "sacrifices," as we speak, that they had made to follow Him. And the Lord assures him, that He knew it all, in a love which could not forget the very smallest particular, and would not be left a debtor, but overpay it a hundredfold.

But he adds the significant reproof,—for it was needed, -that the judgment of God would yet be the very opposite of man's own. And many that are first shall be last, and the last first." He whose heart vaunted the largeness of its offering was not of necessity the one who had offered largest. Giving to receive was not a gift. Love would forget nothing indeed that was the fruit of love.

But he who thought he had done most only showed the poverty of his love in it. For love reckons not what it does, and where truest, has its blessedness, after the pattern of Him in whom it is perfect, in giving rather than receiving.

How sweetly is the unutterable grace of God maintained, and yet the heart searched in its inmost workings, in this word of Jesus.

But it does not end here; for then we find the Lord laying open His own heart. His way was even then to the Cross.—" Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and,unto the Scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they shall mock Him and shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again."

It falls as the " shadow of death " indeed upon them.

There is no response to it. But the solemn lesson of the cross unheeded, they return to that which occupies them. Two of those most honored, one of them the disciple whom Jesus loved," ask Him for the best seats, right and left beside Him in the kingdom. The Lord proposes to them the Cross. Are they able to drink His cup, and be baptized with His baptism? The, moment it is set before them as the way to their own blessing, they " are able." Jesus says, that though they shall have His cup and baptism, as " seeking their own in it, it would be folly: the places in the kingdom should, be given to them " for whom it was prepared of the Father."

But this arouses the jealousy of the rest, and "they began to be much displeased with James and John. And now comes the full answer to it all. "Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles; exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them." A few simple words, but how, again, they search the heart! Is it not the key to the-whole history of human " greatness"? " Seeking honor one of another": place, and power, authority and patronage; how much of this, or what would satisfy man's pride in this sort, do we suppose we should find in the possession of those seats in glory? Nothing; absolutely nothing. There will be such seats; but all that on earth men covet in them, what of that? " So shall it not be among you, but who will be great among you shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all." That is " the first last, and the last first " again. Not only fitness to rule is required in the servant's place, (though so it surely is;) but heaven's order -is the reverse of man's order, and heaven's " greatness" the reverse of all his thoughts. The greatest is the lowliest, and where all shall be, delivered from the " reproach of Egypt," circumscribed the second time, and delivered from that badge of misery, " seeking one's own," in the glory of the kingdom, rule" shall be " service" still; the blessedness of giving higher than of receiving; the pattern of all greatness, of all blessedness, He who is the same Jesus, impossible to change, who, as " Son of man " down here, " came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."

And recurring to what our Lord says of John the Baptist, have we not the real key to it here, and to what He adds to it, which has been not a little cause of perplexity to many. " Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." I cannot turn to these opening chapters of John's Gospel without feeling this "greatness" to be that of a man (whose like in it Scripture indeed scarcely spews us again) to whom Christ is all, and to whom therefore, self is nothing; and the words " notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he," open to me not a vista of thrones and titles, but a glorious scene when (in the coming kingdom) Christ shall be the one blessed and satisfying object filling perfectly all hearts. John shall be greater than himself there, and the least in it shall be more perfect in it than this precious picture which we have of him.

He was no stoic steeled to human sympathies, though he walked so alone, apart from all. He was no practicer of a long penance, done to propitiate a God he knew not, like many, his would-be imitators since. He was simply a man occupied with Jesus; too happy in it to turn aside to other things. His sanctity (notwithstanding his garb and food, in which he stood a witness to others simply) was no creature of his own making, no fruit of ordinances and self-mortification. No, it was the abstractedness (if you please) of one who was simply filled with the glory of another, whose whole heart said, with his lips, '44 Behold the Lamb of God." We shall do well to ponder it.

With the 35th verse of the first chapter begins the third division of this introductory portion of the Gospel.

It begins with this witness to Jesus as " the Lamb of God," the fulfillment of and contrast to; all Jewish shadows, a witness which, given from the fullness of a believing heart, gathers disciples to the Lord. That which follows is a beautiful picture of believers in the present time. The question as to where Jesus dwells,- the place itself unnamed as if earth knew it not,-their stay with Him through the night that follows,-are all significant. They are things indeed which spiritually interpreted characterize the Christian now, while He who declared, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world," is absent from us. In this way we learn to say, while looking for the morning of His return, " The night is far spent, the day is at hand." Yet even so we are not children of the night, but of the day,- though the night be about us; we know where He dwells, and in heart and spirit dwell with Him whence the night is banished.

And no less significant is the adding to the number of these first disciples, of one who was afterward, though " apostle of the circumcision," chosen of God to teach others the lesson he had himself first to learn, to " call no man common or unclean," and to open the door of the kingdom to the Gentile: one to whom as taken out of natural relationships, a new name in grace is given, speaking of the spiritual ones into which he should be brought, as a living " stone" in that building of God, which was to be His own peculiar " habitation."

And similarly significant are all these "interpretations." Grace is speaking another language from that of Judaism. Even the Hebrew title " Messias" is changed into the Gentile "Christ" And in all this who cannot see intimated the great change that was at hand, as well as its character? The temple was already empty, the people already were " Lo-Ammi," and now people and temple were to be but one in the new Christianity which was to replace this worn-out system, and this temple should never be deserted: the Spirit given to abide with us forever, should dwell in it and consecrate it to God forever.

Not that it should abide here or belong ever to " the world." Like the tabernacle, which "grew into " the temple, and which was in germ the temple, it should have the wayfaring character and be a pilgrim. Indwelt of, and dwelling with the Lord we yet mourn His absence and look for Him, and are (as I said before) in heart and spirit with Him where He is, "not of the world" just as and because He is not.

And this I say again is Christianity. It is marvelous, yet how thoroughly lost sight of in men's systems. It could never without changing its very nature, gain the throne of the world. Nor will it change the world. Its mission is to gather out of it " a people for His name": a people who will be to the end, and even in the most fair-seeming times, " a little flock," poor, despised, persecuted, struggling against all the power of him who is the " god of this world," and against the " course of this world," ruled by him.

If the world were to receive the Gospel, we should have in large measure to lay aside our Bibles as quite unsuited to times so changed. The whole web and woof of Scripture, so far as it affects our Christian walk and character, would be distorted and displaced. We could no longer say "the whole world lieth in wickedness." He " that would live godly in Christ Jesus" would no longer "suffer persecution." That which makes up " the world" for God would no longer be " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." Such things would be the mere records of a state of things which had passed out of being.

And yet the word of God shall surely be fulfilled, and " the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." Yes, when " He shall appear in His glory." But at that time,-it is the express assurance of the Word,-" when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." And when " this King shall reign in righteousness," we " shall reign with him " who has " made us," in all the value of His work, " kings and priests to God." Is it now this reign of righteousness? Are Christ's foes now made His footstool?, Are all things now, put under Him? Nay, says the apostle, "we see not yet all things put under him."

That will be in what he calls "the world to come" (Heb. 2), not heaven, but earth blessed and purified, a dominion extending to,-according to the apostle's quotation of Psa. 8-even " all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air and the fish of the seas, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas."

But if those who now look and wait for Christ are in the day of His power to sit down with Him on His throne and share His dominion, who are to be the subjects of this blessed rule? Chief among these is to be restored Israel: " Ye which have followed Me," says the Lord to His disciples, " in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit -upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Than this nothing can be more precise. It distinguishes the two parts, the heavenly and earthly glories of the kingdom which is to be set up. Other passages speak of " Jerusalem " being " the throne of the Lord," in those days, and " the law going forth out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Then shall " Israel blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit": " the Gentiles shall come to the light" of that glory of the Lord, now risen upon her, " and kings to the brightness of its rising."

I do not enter upon these things more at length. But the same passage which I have just quoted forewarns that the darkest of the night will precede the dawning of this millennial day. It is when " darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people," that "the Lord," it is said to Israel, " shall arise upon thee; and his glory shall be seen, upon thee."

Thus darkness as gross as that which for ages has covered Israel is yet to fall upon all the vaunted enlightenment of Gentile Christendom.. They would not " walk in the light " while they had the light, and it shall be taken from them. The saints caught up to meet the Lord in the air, the." light of the world" gives place to darkness. Out of this darkness, according to the testimony of this passage in Isaiah,. Israel is to be the first to emerge.

She is to be new-born to God with all the throes and anguish of childbirth. She is to be " chosen," once more, "in the furnace of affliction." It is impossible to go into detail. All I can say here is that a little remnant of Judah will first be brought to the Lord amid the cruel persecution of their unbelieving brethren. And in the judgments of those days " it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." (Zech. 13:8,9.)

This is not a needless digression from the subject of the chapter before us. In ver. 43 we are carried in spirit beyond the Christian and (in principle) Gentile confession of the Lamb of God, to a new acting of grace which gives rise to a new testimony, and Nathanael becomes the representative of the gathering of a future day, as Peter has already been seen the representative of the present. " We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write," is Philip's testimony; and Nathanael questioning at first, is drawn nevertheless to Jesus to find in Him one who had already known him in grace (as it ever is) and all the exercises of his heart, while yet unconscious of the love that even then was yearning over him. " Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." The fig tree is the constant figure of the Jewish nation, and the book of Psalms is the precious witness to this remnant in their " time of trouble " among the mass of the unbelieving people, of a true and tender heart in sympathy with them. When they " look upon Him whom they have pierced" what a witness it will be of His love who has all through " borne their griefs and carried their sorrows." Nathanael like, their hearts shall burst forth in the adoring exclamation, " Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel."

This is the complete reversal of former unbelief. The two charges that they brought against the Lord, and in the order in which they were brought, are here recalled. That He made Himself the Son of God was the charge before the Jewish court. That He made Himself king was that before Caesar's. They shall yet acknowledge Him as both and then the Lord's words to Nathanael shall find their complete fulfillment, " Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the figtree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, from henceforth (αρ’ αρτι) ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Even thus Israel's eternal day shall begin in the glory of an open heaven, and the angels, the ministrants of their past economy, shall wait upon Him whom they have rightly owned as Son of God, and who Himself delights to -call Himself by that touching name of sympathy and tenderness, "the Son of man."

To use the figure of Revelation (Chapter 12.) Israel clad with the glories of the risen sun, shall issue forth from her " night of weeping," all her past reflected glory, but as the dim moon eclipsed by day-dawn, beneath her feet.

The second chapter carrying on the type, gives us restored Israel's union with the Lord. The figure of a marriage is no uncommon one in the prophets, and with express reference to Israel. Thus their past relationship with the Lord is styled, and their departure from Him is judged as adultery. So Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak, and so their return to the Lord in the latter days is given as under the figure of the renewal of marriage-vows: " Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married to you: and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and bring you to Zion" (Jer. 3). And in Hosea, after the sentence of divorce for unfaithfulness is pronounced: " Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am 1 her husband," and the judgment against her is fully executed, then in judgment mercy is remembered: "'Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the- wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Athol' for a door of hope; and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt; and it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shall call me Ishi, (my husband) and I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment, and in loving-kindness and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord" (Chapter 2:14-16, 19, 20.)

The scene at the marriage at Cana in Galilee is a divine picture of what the prophet thus foretells. The very mention of " the third day " marks it as a period of resurrection-gladness. The question put to Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones will be answered then. With noise and shaking bone will have -come to bone, and the sinews and flesh covered them, and the breath from the four winds- come unto them. Israel's hope, which they have clung to through so many long and weary years, will at length have reached fruition; and men will realize in their case that " the gifts and calling of God are " indeed "without repentance."

Israel's Bridegroom, too, will be the risen Lord. In the type of it here, He takes as it were that place towards the close, providing the wine of the feast, which it was the bridegroom's part to do. Thus it is told forth what He will be when the day comes for accomplishing these shadows. Yet very sweetly, notwithstanding, is the higher blessing of His heavenly " disciples " kept in view. " Both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage." So inseparable from Him are they, that if one were called so must be the other. And so it will be when the day of Jerusalem's bridal comes. " When Christ shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory." Then, when those hitherto empty waterpots being filled with the purifying water,- they shall draw out of them with gladness the best wine kept till now.

What a striking figure of hollow formalism were those empty waterpots! And even such was the nation when the Lord first came among them. Like the mother of Jesus they asked Him for the wine then, but His "hour was not yet come." He must shed His blood for that: noway else could they have it. The " wine that cheereth. God and man" comes from the side of the Crucified One. This is the Samaritan's balm for our deadly wounds. This is the " strong drink " for those " ready to perish," the cordial for those " of heavy hearts:" " that they may drink, and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no

more."

And when the set time to favor Zion shall have come, when " they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced," they " shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." Then the antitype of their day of atonement will have come, " a sabbath of rest," when "they shall afflict their souls," and through the offering made for them, " be clean from all their sins before the Lord." Then the water pots shall be filled even to the brim, but the water of repentance shall be, by a mightier miracle than that of Cana, changed unto the wine of joy and gladness forever. Those resurrection words of blessing shall be again spoken: " Peace be unto you," and He shall say again as He said once to Thomas: " Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing." And with Thomas they shall answer and say to Him:, " Our Lord and our God." But the higher' blessing still shall be theirs, who having not seen, have yet believed. We, too, shall be Nazarites no longer. We shall drink of this new wine also. In a higher sense still to us, that shall be fulfilled: " I will drink the wine new with you in my Father's kingdom."

In the 13th verse of this chapter, another feature of this time of blessing is presented. Cleansing the judgment is what is before us there. The Lord is as one whom zeal for His Father's house devours. His title to cleanse is resurrection: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." " He spake of the temple of His body."

And very blessed it is to see, that just as Jesus is represented to us all through His blessed life of lowliness down here,-One who comes not in His own name, nor seeking His own glory, but His who sent Him,-, so is He the selfsame Jesus, "yesterday, to-day and forever," when in glory He takes the kingdom. When on earth the prayer He put into the mouth of His disciples was not for His own, but for the Father's glory: " Our Father,... Thy kingdom come," passing over His own throne as Son of man,-passing over the blessedness of the millennial day,-on to the time when in the " new heaven and new earth," (for there only " righteousness " shall "dwell,") " His will shall be done on earth even as it is in heaven." In like manner when He takes His throne on earth, He reigns until " all things are subdued unto Him," and when that is accomplished, " He delivers up the kingdom "-none taking it from Him-" to God even the Father." And " then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him who put all things under Him, that God may " be all in all."

Of course this touches not the truth of His absolute divinity. As God He gives up no place: as man He is subject. How wondrous the union of these two, in one adorable Person! " The image of the Invisible God,"- " the first-born of every creature." The blessed unperishable link between God and all that He has made. The eternal display of divine glory in its fullness before the eyes of all. God who loveth,-who is Love,-and who has brought us unto Himself that in the knowledge of Him our hearts might be filled with joy,-might over* flow in worship. For that it is WORSHIP that is so to occupy us in heaven, is just the testimony of how full, even to overflowing, every heart shall be. G.

Heaven or Canaan the Hope of Abraham?

Faith, that divinely given principle by which the testimony of God is livingly received into the soul, is one and the same principle in every individual believer, in every age; and life, through faith, is one and the same divine life, no matter in whom, or in what dispensation it is found. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abram, Moses, Paul, and ourselves, are on common ground as to this; but the unity of faith, and the unity of life, do not, by any means, involve identity in the blessings presented to faith, nor, what is' the same thing, identity in the hopes unto which believers of different dispensations have been quickened. The blessing presented to the faith of Noah, for example, was not the same as that presented to the faith of Abram. Noah's blessing was in connection with the whole earth, as the sphere, and the whole family of man as the subject of his rule. Universal government was committed to him, and responsibilities pit upon him in connection therewith, for the suppression of violence, and for the maintenance of the principles on which the due relation of man. (on earth) to God depended..

The failure of mankind under the Noahic calling, the sad progress of which failure resulted in universal idolatry, led to the calling out of Abram whose promised blessing was connected with a given land, and with his own seed in particular as part only of the human family.

This earth was from the beginning, so far as revelation teaches, the destined sphere of man's existence and blessing. Neither the sin of our first parents, nor of man in any subsequent age, has led God to abandon His purpose as to this, though He has from time to time in the riches of His grace materially changed His ways, and brought to light more and more of the wisdom and perfection of His goodness. The calling of Abram was accordingly no abandonment of the larger purpose of God as set forth in the calling of Noah; on the contrary, it was a " witty invention " of God, to secure to Himself a channel through which He would fulfill all His purposes of goodness and of glory in connection with man on the earth in spite of man's sin.

The promise made to Abram was that he should possess the land of Canaan (Gen. 13:15,17); " the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever Arise, walk through the land in the

length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give—unto thee." Also Chapter xv. 7, " 1 am the Lord that brought thee out of the land of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it;" and again, xvii. 7, 8, "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."

Nothing I apprehend could be plainer than the difference thus pointed out between the specific objects presented to the faith of these patriarchs, and nothing surely could be more plainly defined than the earthly character and sphere of their respective callings.

The mission of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, viewed in connection with the position and responsibilities of Israel, was for the ostensible purpose of fulfilling to them the promises made to the fathers. The history of His life and ministry furnished in the gospels—is not the history of the abrupt and formal setting aside of Judaism, and the equally abrupt and formal introduction of what we understand by the Christian dispensation, but the history of the last trial of Israel, whether having failed from age to age and forfeited their blessing, they would then judge themselves by the light of Him who was the light, and accept their blessing at His gracious hands. They hated and crucified their Deliverer and King; and after He had been raised from the dead, and received back into the heavens, taking manhood in His own blessed person thither, they rejected the offer of His return made by the Holy Ghost through Peter (Acts 3:19-21), and finally, by the stoning of Stephen, they sealed their own doom for a season.

At this juncture a mighty change in the relation of Christ and of His people to this present world took place. It became no longer an earthly people awaiting the return of the Lord to establish the kingdom and the glory here; this He will do when the proper time arrives in spite of everything; but a people called out from the world, from its hopes and interests alike, as well as from its judgment, to be associated with Christ in heaven, not to be reigned over by Him as Israel will be, but to reign with Him-the Church, which is His body-the bride, the Lamb's wife. This is our present calling, and of this the Old Testament Scriptures taught nothing. It is the mystery of Eph. 3:3 that was made known to Paul, not by the Scriptures, but by special revelation. It had, as the Apostle says, " been hid in God from the beginning of the world to the intent that now [in this time of the Lord's rejection and the consequent postponement of Israel's blessing] unto principalities and powers in the heavenly places, might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God." This is the blessing presented to faith now, as distinct from that which pertained to any previous age.

The atonement wrought by the death of -Christ on Calvary is the one common basis of ALL blessing to man, whether in heaven or on earth; but the blessing of man on earth under the reign of Christ, and the blessing of the Church in association with Himself in heaven, are essentially different things, and cannot be confounded without serious damage to the present testimony; both must have their fulfillment. To have a portion in the heavens, where all will admit he now is „awaiting- the resurrection, will be to Abraham far better than the fulfillment of the promises respecting Canaan, but it will not

be in itself THEIR Fulfillment, nor is it what was revealed and promised to him, and if through the want of a better understanding of the testimonies of God we attribute to Abram as the object of his faith, a calling and a hope identical with that of the Church of God in the present dispensation, we falsify the Scriptures, and the effect must be to lower the tone of our own walk. The relationship of God with Abram was marked by special outward providences, and the possession of worldly riches, posterity, etc., were marks of the favor of God, but it is not so now, and if we overlook or forget this difference, we shall be quickly betrayed into the pursuit of earthly things, and shall measure God's love to us by the providential bounties of His hand instead of by the gift of His Son, and the revelation He has given to us In His word of the counsels and interests of His heart concerning us. It has an attractive appearance of humility to refuse to accept a higher order of blessing than the worthies of old were called to know as theirs; kit what we have to do with is the testimonies of God.

It is impossible to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, unless we know of a surety what that vocation is, and if the enemy of God and of His Christ can betray us by a " voluntary humility " from the sense of our high and holy calling to a common level in this respect with the calling of any in by-gone dispensations, the power of a true and effective testimony is gone. Let us see to this with all fear in the presence of God. Before entering briefly into the consideration of Heb. 11:8, which is the stronghold of those who assume Abram to have been actuated by a spiritual and not a literal understanding of the promises, I would remark upon two passages in particular which are also Used as if they taught that these the blessing of believers of every age was one and the same thing, and that all were-merged into one great family. First, in Gal. 3, Abram is- called the father of the faithful, and it is said that we that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram.

" Blessed with"- does not here signify identity of blessing, but identity of the principle, faith, upon which we are blessed in opposition to works. The other passage is Eph. 3 where the expression every family is rendered the whole family, as if, as we have just said, all distinctions between the heavenly and the earthly people of God were merged. That -Abram will have a place and a portion in the heavens in the day of glory, cannot, I think, be denied; several scriptures seem to indicate this; but that that place and portion will be in the church of God as now called out, and that this was the object presented to his faith when upon earth,' and what he looked for as that which was signified by the promises’ made to him concerning Canaan are what the Scriptures nowhere teach, as we have already intimated. In Matt. 8:10-12, the Lord said, in connection with the faith of the Gentile centurion, which contrasted so strikingly and so sadly with the unbelief of the Jews,' " Verily I say unto you I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel; and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west (i e., Gentiles] and shall sit down with Abraham, and. Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom [i e., Jews] shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This passage directly connects Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the kingdom of heaven, which is certainly not heaven, much less is it "the Church which' is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:23).

We will now turn to Heb. 11:8-16, etc.

Ver. 8. " By faith, Abram, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went."

None have -a doubt I suppose but that the place Abraham was called to go out into, and which he should after receive for an inheritance, is the land of Canaan.

. Ver. 9, 10. " By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in TABERNACLES with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked' for a city which bath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." That which is to be particularly noticed here, is, that Abraham's faith did not suffer him to go before God, in taking possession of any part of the land of promise. In patience he possessed his soul; and until God should be pleased to give as well as to promise him an inheritance therein, he was content to be a stranger though in it. He did not build himself a city, nor anything of the nature of a settled habitation; but dwelt in tabernacles. Nor was this a passing effort of faith, much less was it a mere excitement of the energy of the flesh which passed away with the novelty of his position: it was an enduring confidence in the word of Him that had promised; and therefore it is said, not only that he dwelt in tabernacles, but that he did so with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promises. A hundred years did he thus wait upon God,. WAITING indeed for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. " A city which hath foundations" is here in contrast with tabernacles which have none, being movable; and its builder and maker being God, is in contrast with anything he might have built for himself. There is not a syllable in these verses to make it necessary to assume that the city the patriarch waited for was to be in heaven, or anywhere in fact but in Canaan. It was moreover to be Abraham's habitation, whereas the Holy City, the new Jerusalem to which this passage is said to refer, is not the habitation of the risen saints, but the risen saints themselves the habitation of God.

Verses 11 and 12 may be looked upon in connection with the present subject as parenthetical.

Verse 13. " These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." It seems to me that to attribute to these worthies a hope IN heaven as distinct from a heavenly order and condition of earthly things in Canaan with God for their God, nullifies entirely the special and peculiar excellence of their faith, as set forth in these verses, and robs the passage of its proper force and beauty as an illustration and example to us.

Had heaven been the object of their hopes, there would have been nothing so particularly remarkable in their DYING in faith; death would have been to them, in that case, a step in the direction of their hopes, as it is with us; it would have brought them so much nearer the consummation of their desires: but if, instead of this, death were according to the nature of things the cutting of them off from the very place which God had promised to give them for an inheritance; if it were the natural severance of them from the place of the fulfillment of the promises, it was marvelous faith that could enable them thus to die out of the scene and yet to believe that God would give it to them. This is, I take it, what gives its especial value to their faith; it was faith in the living God that raiseth the dead. The expression " on the earth," at the close of this verse, very naturally suggests the idea of a contrast between earth and heaven; it is, however, the same word in the original as that rendered in verse 9, "the land of promise." It was in " the land" that they confessed themselves to be strangers and pilgrims.

Verses 14, 15. " For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned: but now they desire a better, that is a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He bath prepared for them a city."

These verses show conclusively that in God's view the question that might possibly have exercised the minds of these worthies (Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah), would not have been between the relative attractiveness of heaven and earth, but of CANAAN and MESOPOTAMIA. Had heaven been the place of their hopes as contrasted with the earth, the land from whence they came out would have had no more attractions for them than Canaan, and the Holy Ghost's argument would have been of little force. The better country which they desired Was not heaven as better than earth; but Canaan as better than Mesopotamia. A heavenly country indeed, that chosen land will be, that is, ordered and arranged in a heavenly and divine way, and in it there shall be nothing contrary to God; the heavens ruling and the days of heaven realized upon earth. One thing is certain, viz., that a heavenly country is not heaven.

Furthermore, the declaration that God was not ashamed to be called their God, is, I take it, another proof of the earthly character-of the hope that actuated these worthies: for on reference to Gen. 17:8,- it will—be seen that it was in direct connection with the promise to give Abram and his seed this very land, Canaan, wherein he was-then a stranger, that God said He would be their God. By faith they looked forward to the possession of that land, and God owned their faith by calling Himself' their God. The words of Gen. 17:8, are, "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein—thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."

If anything further be needed to satisfy any one of the essential difference between the blessing promised to the saints in the past dispensations from Abram downwards, and the proper hope and calling of the Church in this, it is found, I think, in the last verse-of the chapter before us (Heb. 11), where it is declared that they have not yet received the fulfillment of their hopes, because it is the good pleasure of God to have provided some BETTER. THING for us; and that they should not enter upon the fulfillment of theirs until we, believers in this dispensation, shall enter upon the consummation of OURS. " And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Compare Rom. 8:19-23, where the whole creation is said to groan, waiting for the same thing, viz., our perfection in redeemed risen bodies, before

it can be delivered into the glorious liberty that awaits it. The fulfillment of earthly blessing in connection with even church blessing is seen in the fact that the t: twelve apostles are to possess earthly glory as well as heavenly, for they are to it upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

G. O.

Home

OH! bright and blessed scenes,

Where sin shall never come,

Whose sight my longing spirit weans

From earth, where yet I roam!

And can I call my home

My Father's house on high;

The rest of God my rest, to come,

My place of liberty?

Yes, in that light unstained,

My stainless soul, shall live;

My heart's deep longings more than gained,

When God His rest shall give.

His presence-there my soul,

Its rest, its joy untold,

Shall find, when endless ages roll,

And time shall ne'er grow old.

My God the center is,

His presence fills that land;

And countless myriads own'd as His,

Round Him adoring stand.

My God, whom I have known,

Well known in Jesus' love;

Rests in the blessing of His own,

Before Himself above.

Glory supreme is there,

Glory that shines through all,

More precious still that love to share,

As those that love did call.

Like Jesus in that place

Of light and love supreme,

Once man of sorrows full of grace,

Heaven's blest and endless theme.

Like Him, O grace supreme!

Like Him, before Thy face,

Like Him, to know that glory beam,

Unhindered face to face.

Oh! love supreme and bright,

Good to the fullest heart,

That gives me now as heavenly light

What soon shall be my part.

Be not to me, my God,

As one that turned aside

To tarry for a night, and trod

His onward way. Abide

With me as light divine,

That brings into my breast

Those glad'ning scenes e'en now as mine,-

Soon my eternal rest.

The above lines on "Home " are borrowed, with permission of the Editor, from "A Voice to the Faithful," No. 5. May, 1867.

24, Warwick-lane, E C., London.

How to Get Peace*

How can I get peace with God?

He has " made peace by the blood of the cross."

I do not deny that; I believe it; but I have not peace; and how can I have that peace myself?

"Being justified by faith, "we have peace with God."

Well, I know it is so written, but I have not peace; that I know: I wish I had, and I sometimes think I do not believe at all. I see you happy; and how is that happiness of soul to be had?

You do not, then, think it presumptuous to be at peace with God in the assurance of His favor, and thus of our own salvation?

I think it would be in me; but I see it in Scripture, and therefore it must be right; and I see a few who enjoy the Divine favor, in whom one sees it is real. But I do not know how to get this. It leaves me distressed if I think of it, though I get on from day to day as other Christians do; but when this question is raised, I know I am not at peace, nor assured of. Divine favor resting upon me, as I see you and others enjoying it. And it is a serious thing, because if " being justified by faith, we have peace- with God," as you say, and as I know Scripture says, I have not peace with God; and how, then, can I be justified?

You have not the true knowledge of justification by faith. I do not say you are not justified in God's sight, but your conscience has not possession of it. The Reformers, all of them, went further than I do. They all held that if a man had not the assurance of his own salvation he was not justified at all. Now, whoever believes in the Son of God is, in God's sight, justified from all things. But till he sees this as taught of God, till he apprehends the value of Christ's work, he has no consciousness of it in his own soul, and, of course, if in earnest, as you are, has not peace; nor is his peace solidly established till he knows he is in Christ, as well as that Christ died for him, and the Christian's getting on, as you say, day by day, is a false and hollow thing, which must some time or other be broken up. It is that Which often causes distress on death-beds. And the character of Christian activity is sadly deteriorated and made a business of, a kind of means of getting happy, not work in the power of the Spirit; by a soul at peace. If a person is really serious, walks before God, he cannot rest in spirit till he be at peace with Him, and the deeper all these exercises are the better. But He has made peace by the blood of the cross. All these exercises are merely bringing up the weeds to the surface' as plowing and harrowing a field. They are useful in this way, and necessary; but they are not the crop which faith in the finished work of Christ produces. His work is finished. He " appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself;" and He finished the work which His Father gave Him to do." That work, which puts away our sin, is complete and accepted of God. If you come to God by Him if your sins are not all put away by it, completely and forever, they never can be, for He cannot die again; and all by the "one sacrifice," or else, as the Apostle reasons in Heb. 9, " He must often have suffered."

I see that more clearly, and that it is a perfect finished work,' done once for all.. What do you want, then, still, in: order: to have peace?

Well, that is what I want to see clearly.

I am anxious, before we speak of your state and hindrances to have the work itself clearly before our minds. Who did this work?

Why, Christ, of course.

What part had you in completing it?

None.

None, surely, unless we say your sins. And to what state of your soul does it apply,-a godly or an ungodly state?

Well, must not I be holy?

Surely, " without holiness no man shall see the Lord." But do you see how quickly, and with the instinct of self-righteousness, you turn from Christ's work to your own holiness-to what you are? It is curious -the quicksightedness of man to what makes nothing of him and his self-approbation. Your desire of holiness, however, is the desire of the new man. Were you indifferent to it, one's work would be to seek to awaken your conscience, not to talk of peace; rather, perhaps, to break up false peace. But we are now inquiring how an anxious soul can find peace.

Quite so. I am sadly indifferent sometimes, and that is one thing that troubles me; but I have not peace, and I would give anything for it.

I do not doubt such indifference retards, in a certain sense, your finding it, but we have humbly to learn what we are; the gain of a few dollars would give more earnestness to many a soul. But I repeat my question, -does this work of Christ apply simply to your ungodliness or godliness, or to an improved state, at least?

Why; simply, of course, to my ungodliness.

Undoubtedly. Consequently not to your holiness, if there were any, nor to an improved state. Yet, what are you looking for to get peace? Is it not an improved state of soul?

Why, yes.

Then you are on the wrong road, for that by which Christ " has made peace " applies to your ungodliness.

Your desire is right, but you are putting the cart before the horse,-as men speak,-you are looking for holiness to get Christ, instead of looking to have Christ to get holiness.

But I do hope for His help in order to get it.

That I can believe, but you are looking for His help, not to His work, or blood-shedding for peace. You want righteousness, not help. We need His help every moment when we are justified. He is the Author of every good thought in us before. But that is not peace, nor His blood-shedding, nor righteousness. Yet this search is not without its fruit, for all that, because it leads you to see that you cannot thus find what you seek for. You will neither find holiness thus, nor peace by it. But, Ending that you cannot, and that when " to will is present," you do not find " how to perform that which is good," will lead you, through grace, knowing that there is no good in you, to that which does give peace, -Christ' s work,-and not your state and the work of grace in you. That work God works; but it is not to lead us to look at it as the way of peace, but through it and out of ourselves, simply and wholly, to Christ's work and His acceptance before God. But come now, where are you before God?

I do not know. That is just what troubles me. Are you lost?

I hope not. Of course, we are all lost by nature; but I hope there is a work of grace in me, though I sometimes doubt it.

Suppose you stood before God now, and your case had to be decided, where would you, be, had it, as it must in judgment, to be decided by your works?, Have you confidence?

I hope it would be right; I cannot help thinking there is a work of grace in me; but I cannot think of judgment without fear.

I trust there is a work of grace in you,-do not doubt it; but here is the turning-point of our inquiry:-What you want is, to be in God's presence, and know, there, that you are, if God enters into judgment with you (as it must then be in righteousness and in respect of your state and works), simply lost! Now you are a sinner, and a sinner cannot subsist before God in judgment at—all. It is not help you want here; that is, if actually in God's presence, but righteousness, and that you have not got; I mean as to your own faith and conscience, through and in which we possess it. Righteousness can alone suffice before God; and now the righteousness of God, for we have none, and only this is to be found. Nor does the work of grace in us produce this. It is by faith, through the work of Christ, and in Him we possess it; through Him God justifies the ungodly. The case of the Prodigal Son will illustrate this. There was a work of God in him; he came to himself, found himself perishing, and set out towards his father. When setting out he acknowledges his sins, adding " make me as one of thy hired servants." There was uprightness, a sense of Divine goodness, and a sense of sin, and he was drawing conclusions as to what he might hope for when he met his father; and so are you. He had what the world of Christians call humility and a humble hope; was drawing conclusions just as you are, which proved what?-that he had never met his father. He could not reason as to how he would be received when he did meet him, if he had met him. It is the position of one who had never met God, though God had wrought in him. When he did meet his father not a word of making him like " the hired servants" is to be found. There was the confession of sin fully, and his previous experience had brought him in his rags to his father, in his sins (not loving them, but in them and confessing them). The effect of the previous process was that he then met God, as to his conscience, in his sins; and that was all; and had his father on his neck-grace reigned-and had the best robe, Christ, the righteousness of God, which no progress had given him, of which he had nothing before. It was a new thing conferred on him. When in God's presence we need Christ, not progress; righteousness and justification through Him, not help or improvement. God has helped us, or we should not have been there. There has been progress, but the progress has been to bring us into God's presence, not to judge of the progress and hope because of it; but to judge of sin in His sight and know He can have none of it, and to find Christ our perfect acceptance in His sight instead of ourselves-Christ; who has borne our sins,-Christ, who is our righteousness, perfect, absolute, and eternal. It is not in looking at our progress that we find peace. Were it so, we should have to say: " therefore being justified by experience., we have peace with God;" but that the word of God never says. True progress as to this is our being brought as mere and wholly lost sinners, confessing our sins, and that "in us, that is, in our flesh, there is no good thing," into God's presence; and thus the consciousness that we are lost as a present thing. It is not a question what we shall be, or how we shall be judged to be in the day of judgment, but the discovery of what we are,-our actual sins and our sinful nature-which is the real plague of an upright soul, and getting Christ instead of these—-" the best robe," instead of our "rags," when in God's presence in them. We have found Christ and believed in Him. He has been the propitiation for our sins, bearing them in His own body on the tree; and, having Christ, He is our righteousness; God has condemned sin in the flesh, when He was an offering for it {Rom. 8:3), and we are not " in the flesh," but "in Christ." Instead of Adam and his sins, that is, ourselves, we have Christ and the value of His work. This is true of every one that believes in Him, comes to God by Him: Were we as simple as Scripture it would be seen in a moment. But we are not, and we have to be cured of the self-righteousness of our hearts, and, as mere sinners before God, find that God in love has taken up the question of our sins and our evil nature, has anticipated the day of judgment, and settled the question for every one that comes to God by Him, '" once for all," and forever, on the cross, has dealt with the sins which. I should have had to answer for in the day of judgment; and dealt with them in putting them away according to His own righteousness, and that there our fullest form of sin in flesh against God, that is, enmity against God, met with God dealing with sin, in grace to us, but in judgment against it. Sin and God met on the cross, when Christ was made sin for us, and by His death we have died to it, and are the fruit of the travail of his soul before God. He bore the sins of many, and appeared to put away sin, has glorified God about it in righteousness in that momentous hour. He took what I had earned; I get the fruit of what He has done. Practically speaking, I come to God like Abel, with that sacrifice in my hand;_ God must own its value; I have the testimony that I am righteous; the witness is borne to my gifts; my acceptance is according to the value of Christ's sacrifice in God's sight; coming with that is confession of righteous exclusion in myself, not of improvement in state; I come with Christ in my hand, so to speak, my slain Lamb, and the testimony is to my gift. God looks at that when I thus come by it, not at my state, which, so coming, is confessedly that of a sinner, and only a sinner, as to his own title, shut out from God.

But must not I accept Christ?

Ah, how "I" gets through the blessedest testimonies of God's ways towards us in grace. I say here is Christ on God's part for you—God's Lamb your answer,- "but must not I?" I am not surprised. It is no reproach I make; it is human nature, my nature in the flesh; but know that in " I" there is no good thing.

But tell me, would you not be glad to have Him?

Surely I should.

Then your real question is not about accepting Him, but whether God has really presented Him to you, and eternal life in Him. A simple soul would say, " Accept I I am only too thankful to have Him!" but, as all are not simple, one word on this also. If you have offended some one grievously, and a friend seeks to offer him satisfaction, who is to accept it?

Why, the offended person, of course.

Surely. And who was offended by your sins?

Why, God, of course.

And who must accept the satisfaction?

Why, God must:

That is it. Do you believe He has accepted it?

Undoubtedly I do., -

And is -

Satisfied.

And are not you?

Oh! I see it now. Christ has done the whole work, and God has accepted it, and there can be no more question as to my guilt or righteousness. He is the latter for me before God. It is wonderful I and yet so simple! But why did I not see it? how very stupid!

That is faith in Christ's work, not our accepting it, gladly as we do, but believing God has. You have no need to inquire now whether you believe. The object is before your soul, seen by it: what God has revealed is known in seeing it thus by faith. You are assured of that, not of your own state. As you see the lamp before you and know it; not by knowing the state of your eye, you know the state of your eye by seeing it. But you say how stupid I was. It is ever so. But allow me to ask you what you were looking for?-Christ, or holiness in yourself and a better state of soul?

Well, holiness and a better state of soul.

No wonder you did not see Christ then. Now this is what God calls submitting to God's righteousness, finding a righteousness which is neither of nor in ourselves but finding Christ before God, and the proud will, through grace, submitting to be saved by that which is not of nor in ourselves. It is Christ instead of self, instead of our place in the flesh. Had you obtained peace in the way you sought it you would have been satisfied with whom?

Myself.

Just so. And what would that have been? Nothing real indeed, and shutting out Christ if it were, save as a help, shutting Him out as righteousness and peace. And as an upright soul taught really of God cannot be satisfied with itself, it remains, though confidingly in love if walking with God, yet without peace for years perhaps, till it does submit to God's righteousness.-And now note another point: for the soul at peace with God can now contemplate Christ to learn. He has not only borne our sins, and died to sin, and closed the whole history of the old man in death for those who believe, they having been crucified with him:-but He has glorified God in this work, (John 12:31-33: 17:4, 5) and so obtained a place for man in the glory of God: and a place of present positive acceptance, according to the nature and favor of God whom He has glorified; and that is our place before God. It is not only that the old man and his sins are all put out of God's sight, but we are in Christ before God; and this we have the consciousness of by the Holy Ghost given to us. (John 14:20.) Accepted in the Beloved; Divine favor resting on us as on Him. And thus too He dwells in us; and this leads unto true practical holiness. We are sanctified, set apart to God by His blood; but we are so in possessing His life, or Him as our life, and the Holy Ghost, and these, or, if you please, He Himself becomes the measure of our walk and relationship with God. We are not our own but bought with a price, and nothing inconsistent with His blood, and the price of it and its power in our hearts becomes a Christian. This was beautifully expressed in the Old Testament in figures. When a leper was cleansed, besides the sacrifice the blood was put on the tips of his ear, his thumb, his great toe. Every thought, every act, all in our walk which cannot pass the test of that blood, is excluded from the Christian's thoughts and walk. And how glad he is to be freed from this world and the body of sin, practically, and have that precious blood as the motive, measure, and security for it; that what- ever grieves Le Holy Spirit of God, by which we are sealed when thus sprinkled, is unsuited to a Christian, seeing He dwells in him. And that precious blood and the love Christ showed in shedding it become the motive, and the Holy Ghost the power of devotedness and love, in walking as Christ walked. If we are in Christ, Christ is in us; and we know it by the Comforter given (John 14); and we are the epistle of Christ in this world: the life of Jesus is to be manifested in our mortal body.

But your standard is very high.

It is simply what Scripture gives. " He that saith he abideth in him ought to walk even as he walked."

God Himself is set before us as the model, Christ being the expression of what is divine in a man. "Be ye followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor." Nor is there any limit. " Hereby know we love because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." " Now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light." But you may remark here that there is nothing legal, nothing by which we are seeking to make our case good with God. Many would say that complete grace and assurance leaves liberty to do as we like; that if we are completely saved, what are the motives or need of any works. It is a dreadful principle. As if we have no motive but "getting saved" to work, by, none but legal bondage and obligations; and if we are saved all motive is gone. Have the angels no motive? It is an utter blundering mistake, such as we could not make in human things. What should we think of the sense of one who told us, that a man's children were exempt from obligation, because they were certainly and always his children?-I should say that they were always and certainly under obligation because they were always and certainly his children, and if they were not the obligation ceased.

That is clear enough though I never thought of it. But you do not mean to say, that we were under no obligation before we were children of God.

I do not, but we were not under that obligation; you cannot be under the obligation of living as a Christian till you are one. We were under the obligation of living as men ought to live, as men in the flesh before God; and of that the law was the perfect measure. But upon that ground we were wholly lost, as we have seen.-Now we are completely saved who through grace believe, and are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And our duties are the duties of God's, children. Duties always flow and right affections too, from the relationships we are in, and the consciousness of the relationship is the spring and character of the duty;-though our forgetting it does not alter the obligation..And so Scripture always speaks,-" Be ye followers of God as dear children." " Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy."-Right affections and duties flow from the place we are already in, and are never the means of getting into it. We enjoy it when we walk in it, rather we enjoy the light and favor of God, communion with Him in it.-But failure, note, in faithfulness, does not lead to doubt the relationship; but because we are in it, to blame ourselves for inconsistency with it. Here the advocacy of Christ comes in and other truths, which I cannot enter into now though most precious in -their place. Only remark that that advocacy is not the means of our obtaining righteousness, but is founded on it, and Christ's having made the propitiation for our sins. Nor do we go to Him that He may advocate, but He goes for us because we have sinned. Christ had prayed for Peter before he had even committed the sin, and just for what was needed; not that he might not be sifted; he wanted that; but that his faith might not fail when he was sifted. Ali, if we knew how to trust Him! See how, in the midst of His enemies, He looked to Peter at the very right moment to break his heart!

How simple things are when we take the word; and how it changes all your thoughts of God. One is altogether in a new state!

True indeed, and this leads to " two other points I wished to advert to. We have looked at Christ's work as satisfying, yea, glorifying God, because we had to see how righteousness was, to be had. But we must remember it was God's sovereign love which gave Christ, and the same love in which He offered Himself for us. It is not for us righteousness reigns; that will indeed be true hereafter, when judgment returns to righteousness, when God will come and judge the earth. But for us grace reigns, sovereign goodness, God Himself, through righteousness, a divine righteousness, as we have seen, which gives us a place in glory in God's presence according to the acceptance of Christ, and like Him it is wise than as forgiven, and accepted in the Beloved, and knowing it, as one who has " not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

But if I receive this there is a passage which I don't understand. We are told to " examine ourselves whether we are in the faith," and what you have said sets, it seems to me, this aside.

We are told no such thing. Many a sincere soul is honestly doing it, and we all pass naturally through it. But it is there in Scripture.

The words are part of a sentence in 2 Cor. 13:3,5. But the beginning of the sentence is this: " Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me" then a parenthesis. " Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith." It is a taunt. The Corinthians had called in question Christ's speaking in Paul, and the reality of his apostleship, as you may see all through both epistles. And he says, as a final argument, " You had better examine yourselves; how came you to be Christians?"- for he had been the means of their conversion.-Hence he adds, " Know ye not your own selves that Christ dwells in you except ye be reprobates." How came He there? He appeals to their certainty to prove his apostleship to their shame: but this is no direction to examine whether one is in the faith. It is all well to examine whether we are walking up to it; but that is a very different thing. A child does right to do that as to his conduct as such; it would be sad work for it to do the other and examine if he was a child. The consciousness, and the never-failing consciousness of a relationship, is a different thing from consistency with it; and we must not confound the two. The loss of the consciousness of the relationship, (which, however, I do not think takes place, when once really possessed, unless in cases of divine discipline for sins,) destroys the grounds of duty and the possibility of affections according to it. Look at the passage.

I see it plain enough. There is nothing to complete the passage, " Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me," if we do not connect this with it. And, in any case, the force of the Apostle's reasoning is clear, and he appeals to their certainty-" Know ye not." This last would have no sense if they were to examine, as a duty, if it were so. But where had we got to with Scripture?

Rather where had we got to without it! You don't read and search as you ought. Do so, and the truth will be clear to you; only, surely, we need God's grace and looking to Him, that we may receive the " sincere milk of the word as new born babes."

I have yet one point I wish very briefly to notice to clear up our minds on the subject we are inquiring into. In receiving Christ we receive life. " This is the record," says, John, " that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that bath the Son bath life." Between this life and the flesh there is no common thought. If we do not realize redemption, our being quickened (not taking us from under law and the sense of our own responsibility) puts us in misery of heart at finding sin in us; as in the seventh of Romans. If we do know redemption, and have been sealed by the Spirit, still " the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; they are contrary as ever one to the other." But if led of the Spirit we are not under the law. Now you have been trying to draw hopeful conclusions from finding signs of life in yourself; having only a general apprehension, which always accompanies true conversion, of the goodness of God, strengthened by the knowledge that Christ died. But all this reasoning about yourself was in no way faith in redemption. It left you still, though, with better hope, in view of judgment; or, at least, if when looking at the cross you Saw that there was there what you needed as a sinner, you still looked for something better in yourself, you could not say you possessed what you needed in the cross: yea, were the fruit of it, as to your state before God, and when you turned to the judgment, your state would stand you in no good stead there. Life is not redemption. Both belong to the believer, but they are different things. You were looking for proofs of life, concluding that if they were there you could pass in the judgment; and then, perhaps in a vague way you brought in Christ to boot!

I think you have described my case pretty nearly.

Now when a person lives close with God in simplicity of heart, the sense of goodness in God predominates, and there is the savor of piety; but when they do not there is uneasiness and restlessness; the accusing conscience predominates, and we are unhappy, if not dismally afraid. But in neither case is redemption really known; -it is not known that Christ has taken our place in judgment, and given us His in glory; only we must wait for the adoption itself; the redemption of the body. The way in which Scripture unites these two truths is in the resurrection of Christ. This is the power of life; and the seal of the acceptance of His work-His corning fully up out of the consequences of our sin into another state. So we in. Him. We were dead in sin, exposed to judgment, and under death; Christ comes down from heaven, accomplishing, in dying, the work of putting our sins away; and we are dead with Him; and then He, and we with Him are raised, consequent on the completed work, and God's acceptance of it. He has quickened us together with Him having forgiven us all trespasses. It is life whose full divine power is shown in resurrection; it is not only eternal life communicated, but deliverance out of the state we were in, and our entrance into another; not outwardly, of course; yet, but really by the possession of this life. Redemption means, though, by price, a deliverance out of the state I was in, and bringing me into another and a free one. Hence we talk of the redemption of the body, which we have not yet. Life does not, by itself, give this: through it we feel the burden of the old state we are in; but when we find that we are redeemed also, we know that we have been brought, at the cost of Christ's death, out of the old Adam state we were in, into Christ. Hence we have " boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is so are we in this world."

I cannot follow quite the course of scripture thoughts you give. I must learn these things; but I see the difference between redemption and life; though we have both in Christ now; He has died and is risen. I suppose I had life before; but I have, in a measure, now understood redemption too.

Yes, you were, of course, redeemed. And surely God had wrought in you in grace, as you said; but, as already said, you were looking at this in view of a God of judgment, with glimpses of divine love, but had not faith in accomplished redemption. See how the reasoning of the Apostle applies to this in Rom. 5:19: " By one man's obedience many shall be made (constituted) righteous." -" Then," says the flesh, " I may live in sin." What is the answer? No, you ought not! This would be to put you back under the claims of law, and so destroy again what is taught of Christ's obedience. In no wise; " How can we that are dead to sin live in it?" You have been baptized to Christ's death, and are a Christian, by having part in death. How, if you have died with Him to sin, can you live in it? We are now free to give ourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead.

Well, while the old foundations remain, it makes a new thing of the whole matter. It is not the same way of putting Christianity at all. I have to realize it, though I am quite different as to my ground of peace already; or, rather, I have one, and had not before. But I see it is in Scripture and I must search that out.

The truth is, the great body of true sincere Christians are as those without, hoping it will be all right when they get in; instead of being within and showing what is there to the world, as the epistle of Christ.

But you would make us all out and out Christians, dead, as you say, to the world and everything.

Surely; " a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." It is the single eye which causes the whole body to be full of light. We are not our own. The new man cannot have his objects here; his service he has; so had Christ; in nothing did He have his objects. We are crucified to the world, and the world to us; and so we have crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts. Only remember, that the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and that it needs vigilance, " working out," as to the passage of the wilderness, " your salvation with fear and trembling": not because your place is uncertain, but because God does " work in you to will and to do:" and it is a serious thing to maintain God's cause when the flesh is in us, and Satan disposes of the world to hinder and deceive us. But do not be discouraged, for God works in you; greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. You cannot be in wilderness difficulties unless you have been redeemed out of Egypt. My grace is sufficient for thee, says Christ. My strength is made perfect in weakness. If God be for us who can be against us. The secret is lowliness of heart and the' sense of dependence and looking to Christ with confidence who has, saved us and called us with a holy calling. You cannot mistrust yourself, nor trust God, too—much. By redemption you are brought to God, and are in the place of His people, and now we can say of His children and church, as such, set to make good His glory there. The true knowledge of redemption brings one in perfect peace, into true and constant dependence on the Redeemer. But if you have not the first you cannot have the second; nor can you walk with God if you are not reconciled to Him.

It is true. Do not suppose I want to make difficulties, but there is still a question I have to ask; I wish to get clear on these points. We have been taught to rely on God's promises and trust them for our salvation.; it is the language we constantly hear, and I do not see, if your view be right, how exactly to connect it with trusting in the promises for salvation; and surely we should do that.

The answer is very simple, and I am glad you put the question. It is just these points we have to inquire into. Trusting God's promises is clearly right, that is certain, and there are most precious promises, too. But tell me, is it a promise that Christ shall come and die and rise again?

No: He is come, and has died, and is risen, and is at God's right hand.

This, then, cannot be a promise, because it is an accomplished fact. For Abraham it was a promise; and he did right to believe it as such. To us it is an accomplished fact, and we must believe it as such. And so, Scripture speaks. He believed that that which God had promised He was able also to perform. But we believe that what by its efficacy saves us, He has performed. It would be unbelief to treat it yet as a promise; and so it is written-" You to whom it shall be imputed, believing on Him who bath raised up Jesus Christ from the dead." You will find both passages together, speaking of this very point, at the end of Rom. 4 As to help on our journey onwards, there are many and ; cherished promises. " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." " God will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to bear." " No man shall pluck His sheep out of His hand." " Who will also confirm you to the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.' I might cite many others of the greatest comfort and value to us in our difficulties on the way. But the work in which I have to believe as justifying me and reconciling me to God, as alone and perfectly putting away my sins and redeeming me to God, is not a promise: nor can be looked at as such. It is an accomplished fact, a work already accepted of God.

I see it clearly; indeed, nothing can be simpler and plainer the moment it is before you. What justifies before God is not a promise at all but an accomplished fact. I had never noticed that passage in Rom. 4 It is very plain. How carelessly one reads Scripture! But indeed, the truth of what you say is evident on the face of it.

Allow me as we have touched this point to draw your 1 attention to another thing in the form in which the work and testimony of grace is put. You may remark that in the passage in Rom. 4 it is said, not “believe on Christ, however true that remains, but '" on him that- raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." So Peter, " who by him do believe in God who raised him up from the dead and gave him glory." So the Lord Himself as to His coming into the world, " He that heareth [ my words and believeth on him that sent me." We know God Himself only really, by knowing Him through Christ. If I know Him thus, I know Him as God our Savior; as one who has not spared His Son for me; as one who, when Christ was dead as having taken our sins, raised Him from the dead. In a word, I not only believe in Christ but in Him who has given Christ and owned His work.; who has given glory to man in Him; as a God who has come to save, not as one who is waiting to judge me. I believe in Him by Christ. When Israel had passed the Red Sea they believed in a God who had delivered them and brought them to Himself; and so do I. I know no other God but that. If I believe in Him by Christ I do wait for a promise, for the redemption of the body, for the full results of His work. Thus Christianity gives us present affections, in peace, in a known relationship, and the energizing power of hope; the two things that give blessing and energy to man as to his position; for love is the spring of all. Love, because He first loved us; and finding our joy in Him, love to others, as partaking of His nature, and Christ's dwelling in our hearts, so that love constrains us.

You make a Christian 'a wonderful person in the world; but we are very weak for such a place.

I could never make him in my words what God has made him in His. As to weakness the more we feel it the better. Christ's strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Immanuel's Rule and Service

sa 1:1-64:12

STANDING on the top of Pisgah, in the field of Zophim, -Balaam, gifted with the -spirit of prophecy, peered through the long vista of ages not yet ended, and announced to Balak, awaiting the prophet's curse on Israel, that God had blessed them and he could not reverse it. Hopeless was it to expect he could prevail by any incantation against this people; for " the Lord was called from the threshing-floor to subdue the Midianites, " so that they lifted up their heads no more" (Judg. 8:28). Jephthah, the outcast and exile from his family, was recalled from the land of Tob to confront the armies of the Ammonites, whom he smote, " from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards with a very great slaughter.—Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel" (Judg. 11:33). David was taken from the sheepfold to do battle with Goliath of Gath. So He by whom God's people shall be finally set free was once in this world in -lowliness the reputed son of a carpenter. But how great is the difference in this between Gideon, Jephthah, David, and the Lord! They were of low estate, and God exalted them. He had to humble Himself; for He is God over all. Accordingly we have in this prophet the Lord presented as God and as man, filling various offices, and appearing in different characters. He is the mighty God, yet a helpless infant; King, yet servant; over- comer, yet overcome; intercessor and avenger; the Holy One of Israel, yet the bearer of His people's iniquities.

Beginning with the moral condition of the people, with which both heaven and earth are made acquainted, the prophet speedily passes on to the day of the Lord, the commencement of the millennium, when the nation of Israel should enter on the enjoyment of permanent blessing on earth. Much, however, had to take place before that era could dawn on the people of God. Unfitted by their moral condition for God's presence, judgment must do its work. So the vision of Chapter 6 is recorded. Its date is significant, the close of Uzziah's life. During his reign prosperity attended Judah; for he warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod; and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-Baal, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt for he was marvelously helped till he was strong" (2 Chron. 26:6-15). This prosperity continued under his son Jotham, who "fought with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them " (2 Chron. 27:5-6). But though outwardly prosperous- Judah was not obedient to God, and no more morally fit for the presence of God in their midst than Israel, whose condition at this time was one of anarchy; confusion, and lawlessness; for during the fifty-two years of Uzziah's reign he had seen six different monarchs in Israel, three of whom were murdered. At this juncture it was then that Isaiah received his commission from Jehovah, seated on a throne, to announce

judgment on the whole nation. Yet a remnant should be preserved. He saw Jehovah of hosts, but John 12 tells us it was the Lord Jesus Christ who then gave judgment against His people, a judgment the- righteousness of which none-could question after the glory of the only begotten of the Father had been displayed, and His own had refused to receive Him. (John 12:37-41; Acts 28:25-27). But this judgment is not final. It carries on " until," etc. (see ver.- 11-13).

Since Israel became a nation, God has raised up, instruments- to deliver His people, or lead them to victory. Moses, Joshua, the Judges, David, are instances of this. In the days-yet to dawn on that afflicted nation we learn. He' will act in a similar manner. But, " by whom," one may ask in the: words of Amos, " shall Jacob arise? for he is small." (Amos 7:2). We get the answer in our prophet, Chapter 7-12, accompanied I with an account of the inroad and success of the Assyrian of the prophet's day, typical of the king of the north in a future day. The virgin's son, Immanuel, is the man of God's choice, and the time: selected for the prophetic announcement of the manner of His birth was during the reign of Ahaz, when Judah had been brought low, and Ahaz was dispirited, threatened with a confederacy, organized against him and his kingdom, of Israel and Syria. "Behold a virgin shall conceive-and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” To Him the land shall belong. The Assyrian might invade Judah, and overspread the country, as he did subsequently in the reign of Hezekiah he might reach to the' neck, but should never overwhelm: it. The stretching out wings might fill the breadth of the land, but there he must stop; for the land belongs to Immanuel, which is 'God with us.' The waters may burst their banks, but they cannot rise beyond the permitted level, for no counsel, no might can, withstand God. This prophecy, partially fulfilled in the reign of Hezekiah, awaits its complete accomplishment in the latter day (see 10:12, 24, 25). The land being Immanuel's (8:8), the people need not fear the threatened attack, nor need the faithful join with the others in desiring a confederacy to ward off the impending calamity; for Immanuel (as we learn from Heb. ii. 13) speaks words of encouragement; " I will Wait upon the Lord that hideth His face from the house of Israel, and I will look for Him;" and the remnant, who obey God's voice, He owns as children given Him for signs and wonders in Israel from the " Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion." Nor can the faithful be disappointed. For He, who owns them as the children given Him, owns the land, and will sit on David's throne. The great ones of the earth have titles and dignities suited to their high positions. He likewise has His. Immanuel speaks of God's presence with His people. His names in 9:6 show bow fitted is this child to get the victory, and to fill that throne vacant for ages, but just previous to all this seized on by the usurper Antichrist. " His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace." A new era must then dawn on this world, for the stability and duration of His rule is next declared. " Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

In chapter 11 we get something more about the kingdom, viz., that which characterizes His rule. His title is indisputable, for He is the rod out of the, stern of Jesse, a branch that grows out of his roots. His perfect fitness: for the duties which, as King,. He must perform is secured, for " the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick under standing in the fear of the Lord." Faithfulness and righteousness will characterize Him, for " he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth." He will be armed with almighty power, or "will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips will he slay the wicked, righteousness being the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." The enmity between Judah and Ephraim removed, their land shall again receive them, and the adversaries of Judah and Israel be .'.

cut off'. From Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, and the isles of the sea shall His people be brought back to God's land. Borne " on the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west, spoiling them of the east together, they shall lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them." To Him, the hope and head of Israel, shall the Gentiles seek. Once were the Jews the object of scorn, when Pilate said, Shall I crucify your King? Now, to that f King, first crucified, shall the Gentiles come. Nor will the beneficial effect of His reign end there. The enmity between Judah and Ephraim removed, the scorn of the Gentile for the Jew made to cease, there will cease like- i.-

wise the enmity between man and beast. For He who then shall reign is Prince of peace, as well as the mighty God. As the latter He has power over creation; as the former all parts of the universe shall share in the blessing of peace, " for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Seated on the throne as Jehovah in Chapter vi., decreeing judicial blindness on the nation, till a certain epoch, should arrive-now that epoch has Come, He is seen seated on David's throne as man and conqueror (9); rightly there because He is David's heir (11), and the only one who can wield supreme power in righteousness over Israel and the earth, because He is the Holy One of Israel (12:6); and the descendants of those Who heard and read Isaiah's prophecies in the land before the Babylonish captivity, will, when enjoying peace under His righteous rule, see how literally all has come to pass..Ruling in righteousness (32); all enemies cut off, Babylon (21), Antichrist (30:33), the nations who besiege Jerusalem (29:7), the Assyrian (10), the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth (24), Leviathan, the piercing crooked serpent, punished (xxvii.); fear which kept the remnant in their stronghold will be dispelled, and they, beholding the land that is very far off, shall also see the King in His beauty. Such is the manner in which the Lord Jesus is brought before us in the first thirty-nine chapters of this prophecy.

A cursory glance at the book discloses a marked difference between these chapters and those that follow. These tell us of the circumstances in which the people then were, and will be in the latter days; whereas chapters 40-46. treat more especially of their moral condition; so the prophecies of the Lord in the latter part of the book present Him, not so much in His official character as King, but in His servant character, not effecting the deliverance of an oppressed people so much as calling out a faithful remnant from the midst of an apostate nation, a preparation for that time when the widowed condition of Jerusalem should cease forever. And this is in perfect harmony with God's ways in times of old; He sent deliverers to His people to rescue them out of the hand of their enemies, as Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, Jephthah, David. He also sent prophets to recall them to their allegiance, and to awake in their hearts a sense of contrition for their grievous declension from the right way; so 'He by whom the final deliverance of Israel shall be effected first appeared as a prophet or teacher. For what duty is there which any of the sons of men have been fitted by God to discharge towards His rebellious people, which He in His goodness and condescension will not Himself stoop to perform?

Turning to the prophet we find chap. 40 opening with a proclamation of comfort to God's people and to God's city. " Her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Jeremiah predicted that God would recompense their iniquity and their sin double (16:18). Isaiah speaks of it as accomplished, and so the time of Jerusalem's consolation approaches. Closely following this announcement we have the commencement of these events stated which will end in that happy consummation. The voice of John the Baptist is heard crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Jehovah, the God of Israel, is coming to His people.. And as the Lord appeared on the throne as Jehovah before the announcement of His incarnation and descent from David after the flesh was made known, so here, before the character of His service is set forth, His divinity is proclaimed. Isaiah was charged with a message from God of governmental dealing for a time; John is found' in the wilderness of Judea speaking to his countrymen of grace as he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Ages have passed away since John's voice was heard in the wilderness of Judea, but the word must surely be made good; for, though " all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field," the grass may wither and the flower thereof may fade, " but the word of our God shall stand forever"-so " the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him;" and to the cities of Judah it shall yet be said, "Behold your God." Now, then, there begins to be unfolded the character of the service He must perform ere Jerusalem can rejoice.

He takes the place of Jehovah's servant. " Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" (42:1). God's servant, God's chosen one, He takes the place of man, of Israel, on earth; endures the contradiction of I! sinners against Himself without taking vengeance on them (42:3-4;. Matt. 12:14-21):; is dependent on God for everything, though by Himself the worlds were made, and He upholds all things by the word of His power; and all this that He might " open the blind eyes, bring out the prisoners from the prison), and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house; " for Jew and Gentile shall receive blessing through His humiliation. Surely such grace, it might have been supposed, would have won all hearts. Chapter 49 tells us how the Jews as a nation were affected by it. Fitted for His work by God. Himself, He here calls (49) to the isles and peoples afar off to hear, but what? the submission of Israel to their God incarnate? something very different,-the present failure of His mission to Israel. Yet blessed be God we stop not here. Because of that failure grace now flows out to Gentiles (49:8, compared with 2 Cor. 6:1, 2), and by-and-bye a faithful remnant shall be gathered to Zion. What a place has He consented to fill, what treatment has He stooped to receive! Labored in vain, His strength spent for naught and in vain, despised of men, abhorred of the nation,-a servant of rulers, such was His condition when on earth, by whom alone Israel, the Gentiles, the world can be fully blessed.

To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel" is nevertheless, great as such a work will be and important as regards Israel, too small a sphere for Him to be restricted to. " I will also," says the word of God, " give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth." As far then as the confines of earth may reach, so far will the benefits of His work extend. Israel's king " shall be great to the ends of the earth " (Mic. 5:4). Thus prepared beforehand for the coming of their Messiah, if that substratum of good really exists in man, which so many fondly imagine, His advent would have been gladly hailed, and His rule cordially welcomed. Such however we know was not the case. His appearance in the midst of the people gave occasion for the display of what man really is, and how utterly corrupt and alienated is his heart from God. Nothing which under ordinary circumstances would have acted as a determent stopped the Jews in their headlong course of bitter enmity against the Lord. Men are wont sometimes to be lenient in their judgment of the one who can be of use to them, or has added glory to their nation. But though apprised of His future greatness, and reaping benefits from His presence among them when on earth, witnessing " the powers of the world to come," they yet openly rejected Him, and heaped indignities upon Him. This too was predicted. Chapter 1 speaks of it. Able to deliver, acting with divine power in creation, able to dry up the sea by His rebuke, to make rivers a wilderness, to clothe the heavens with blackness, and to make sackcloth their covering, He yet learned how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. What service was this I He suffered, too, from His creatures because obedient to God. " I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." With full power as God to crush His enemies, He yet kept the place of dependance, and waited for God to justify Him. And wherefore this? That others should know how to act, and learn how to trust; that when walking indark- ness and having no light they might trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon their God. Then follow three appeals to the faithful remnant to hearken to Him (51:1-8). They need not be discouraged if few in number; they need not fear if men are against them. He who addressed them shall judge nations, the isles shall wait on Him, and on His arm shall they trust. How beautiful the alternation of complete dependence and supreme power! For He is the arm of the Lord, and so the remnant now call on Him to awake and act as of old (51:9).

Further on we get something more about the arm of the Lord. He is the One by whom God's purposes on earth shall yet be carried out (li. 16). Next we get what the great ones will think of Him when they see Him delivering Israel. His last appearance to the world was on the cross, and when taken down from it to be laid in the grave; now they behold Him in glory arrayed with strength (52:13-15). Chapter 53 is wholly occupied with the arm of the Lord, but as filling a different position to that spoken of at the end of the previous chapter, and occupied with a very different work. It speaks of what He was, and what he suffered for Israel, for men, the foundation of all blessing, the source of all hope,—His death on the cross and His portion in resurrection. Jehovah of hosts, the Son of God, the arm of the Lord, He was also the sinner's substitute. He died, cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of God's people. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and on Him our sins were laid. And now, atonement effected, "he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." What a passage from the throne to the cross, from the manifested glory of Jehovah to the insults and rejection of sinners! And as 52 states what effect His future appearance will have on the kings when they see Him, this chapter tells us what was thought of Him by the remnant when on earth before. " He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he bath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." He died: but death, to man the extinction of all hopes for this world, death, which separates him from all that concerns the things of earth, was the appointed path for Him to tread that He should take His kingdom and reign; for us having died and risen He will sit on David's throne, see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, when surrounded by the countless myriads of the heavenly saints, and make secure to Israel then on earth the sure mercies of David (55:3 compared with Acts 13:34).

A sketch of His life on earth as the servant of God would be incomplete without a summary of what He taught. This we get in 61, in a passage He quoted, applying it to Himself as the fulfiller of it, when He sat down with the eyes of all on Him in the synagogue at Nazareth. But then He stopped in the middle of the second verse. He preached the acceptable year of the Lord, but not then the day of vengeance of our God. Yet that He was to speak of. The prophets have predicted it; the Revelation is full of it; and this last, be it remembered, is the " Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John." There we get described the day of vengeance which will come, and the signs which shall precede it, with the judgments to be poured out previously, and the messengers to be sent (Rev. 11:3;14. 6). Then shall be comforted all that mourn, the signs of sorrow be removed, and Israel take her place as head of the nations, and everlasting joy be her portion (61:2—4). His birth, His lowliness, the treatment He received, His devoted service, the good news He declared, His rejection and death having been brought forward, and His resurrection intimated (3. 11, 12), what remains, it might be thought, but to take vengeance on His enemies. He will surely in God's own time; but first He has another work to perform, which He is now carrying on, He intercedes for Jerusalem. Absent from earth where He was crucified, He does not forget the place where God dwelt, and where He will dwell forever. He intercedes for Zion. " For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof shall go forth as- brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth " (62:1). Nor does He rest with this. He raises up intercessors on earth to pray for this (ver. 6, 7). How He intercedes above is not revealed, but what they say is (see 63:7; 64:12). He is asked to -return from heaven (64:1). He will. And in 63:1-6, we have a description of Him having returned and having executed judgment on Edom. From the throne to the manger, from the manger to the cross, from the cross to heaven, from heaven to earth as conqueror and vindicator of God, and deliverer of His people, such is the path of the Lord as set before us in Isaiah. " What hath God wrought," we may well exclaim. Many have been the instruments God has used to carry out His purposes on earth, feeble oftentimes have they been, that the power of God should be more fully displayed in them. But here we see something else. We see an instrument, a mighty instrument in the Lord's hand accomplishing His purposes, filling every position His servants could fill, and some they never could-Jehovah's throne and the cross on Calvary; and that instrument is Jehovah Himself. God has often wrought by others. Here He works by His Son. He has accomplished redemption from everlasting death for all who will accept it; He will effect the final deliverance of His people Israel on earth. He stooped to death, and Satan appeared to have gained the victory. He rose from the dead, and went to heaven, where He intercedes for Jerusalem. Satan's conqueror, the sinner's Savior, the faithful witness, the suffering servant, these are the characters which He appears in, these are the works he performs. He does them all Himself, for by Him and Him alone can all these be effectually accomplished.

C. E. S.

The Immortality of the Soul

There is nothing new under the sun. The Jewish Mystics and Cabbalists, and the Gnostics of the second and third centuries (against which last Paul warns us, and who, though beginning earlier, were in those centuries fully developed) held the doctrine of the non-immortality of the soul and its end, just as heretics on these points do now. They were divided even into the same two classes as now, i.e., some held the soul died with the body, others that it would be cast into the fire afterward, on being judged, and then consumed. Not only so, but they founded their teaching on the same reasonings as to nephesh, psuche, chaia, and ruach, etc. It may be well, therefore, after showing the facts to be so, to examine the various words and ascertain their use in Scripture, as well as that of some others sought to be employed to the same end. The doctrine of Jewish Rabbis was not, as is evident, that of Jesus Christ being eternal life, or they would not have been Jewish Rabbis. But, wherever they found it, basing it on the merit of works and keeping the law, as we may suppose, they taught that the higher spiritual life was a distinct thing from the animal life, and received at a distinct time. Their system is not uniform; more scriptural, but in many parts the same as our modern doctors, and the Gnostics completely so. The records of Jewish mysticism are comparatively of late date, but they record early opinions, many of which are found in early Christian fathers, such as Origen, Jerome, and others, and in Philo, and even Josephus. The Gnostics formed their systems in the same countries, Syria, and particularly Alexandria, the great seat of all these opinions. My impression is that all these views came from the East. But I have not used research enough to verify this, nor is it necessary for the reader. My object is to meet from Scripture the assertions of ancient and modern error. In the present case by inquiry into the use of words.

The Jewish doctors distinguished three souls: the nephesh, the ruach, and the neshama. The nephesh they held, as our moderns also tell us, to be the animal soul, the soul by which the body lives; ruach is the spirit suited to the middle world; neshama that suited to the upper, and in which was the image of and union with God. Thus in the book Sohar we have: " Let a man sanctify himself and they shall sanctify him more, and when a man is sanctified with the holiness of his Lord, he is then clothed with a holy mind, which is the inheritance of the holy one, and then he becomes heir of all things, and such are called the sons of the holy blessed God, as is written in Deut. 14 Ye are the sons of Jehovah your God.'" This doctrine of the three souls or parts of man pervades the Sohar. " Nephesh, the animal soul, is annexed to the body; the spirit to the soul (ruach to nephesh); and mind, the neshama or superior spirit, to the ruach. Some of them held that, if the child at least behaved well, having only the nephesh; he got the ruach at thirteen and a day old, and the neshama at twenty or twenty-one. Otherwise not. Some held there are those who never had any soul but the nephesh; others, that and the ricach; and others, again, the neshama also,-and they would be with God. If they had only the nephesh it remained in the grave with the body,-ended with it.

There was another system, which Origen applied even

to Christ, that the higher soul could not come into this world without taking a secondary soul, and so, consequently, the body Indeed, according to him, they are born here according to their conduct in a previous existence. Josephus says the Pharisees held the metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls. It would seem that this trinity of the soul was some way connected with their speculations about the Godhead, the Memra, Shechinah, and a tissue of irreverent absurdities, which I need not enter into here.

In all ancient mythology and tradition, heathen and Jewish, will be found the craving of the human mind after truths which revelation gives us in their perfection. Infidels have, consequently, alleged these truths were borrowed from the traditions; than which nothing can be more false. They were the source of Arianism, and Gnosticism, Universalism, and Annihilationism. Thus Rationalists tell us that the doctrine of the Logos, or Word, was derived from the Alexandrian, or even Palestinian, Jews. These had their Memra, those their Logos, and Philo speaks largely of it, and makes the visible world itself an expression, so to speak, of the Logos, a living expression of it. But mark the real bearing of this. The reason was, that the supreme God could not by any possibility be in connection with matter. The mystic Rabbis held God for a kind of nonexistence, because there was no such connection with what we hold to exist. Hence there was a secondary God, the Logos, or Word, which partook of his nature but was not the Supreme, and he then revealed himself and was in communication with the creature. Yet in general, matter (Hule) was a thing evil in itself, a bond to the soul, and eternal, too.

Now Christianity teaches the exact contrary of this doctrine of the Logos. The Logos is God,-created everything,-and the very essence of Christianity is the immediate personal connection, in incarnation, between God and the creature-God and man in one person. All the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily. " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," that Word which, in the beginning, was, when all began. In eternity He was God, and personally, too, with God. By Him was everything made, and the Father dwelt in Him, and He was in the Father. " We know Him that is true, and are in Him that is true, even in His Son. He is the true God and eternal life." One of the striking facts of the 1St Epistle of John is that it is impossible to separate Christ and God. It is one Person, one Being. Thus: " And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (ii. 28). Whose coming? Clearly, Christ's. Continue: " If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him." Of whom? Of God: and so it follows: "Behold what manner of love the Father bath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God Beloved, now are we the sons of God." Here, clearly, the Person or Being of whom he speaks is God. But continue: " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it bath not yet appeared what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." Here it is, again, Christ; for it is: " Christ our life shall appear." And " He was -manifested to take away our sins, ' continues John him—self. That is, the apostle, the Spirit of God, does take up, and, in a great measure, anticipatingly, the question -of the Logos, and gives us the exact opposite to the Platonic and Alexandrian doctrines,—the full divine -truth in answer to all the wanderings and speculations which the cravings of need and the glimmerings of tradition had led men's hearts to suggest to themselves and to systematize.

The other form these speculations took was wilder, if not worse. There was a fullness, a pleroma, of Godhead, which, in spiritual abstractions, of which depth—man, church, wisdom, and other scriptural subjects formed part in male and female characters; an idea which entered into all Brahminical, Rabbinical, Egyptian, and Gnostic theology, the Egyptian being nearest to the Rabbinical. This plerōma was limited by horos (boundary). The plerōma was within; outside was hule, or matter. The male and female of each pair were called suzugies, or yoked pairs. Sophia (wisdom), one of the lower members of the plerōma, wanted to unite herself with, penetrate into by research, bathos, or depth, the first origin of the whole plerōma. She got outside the limit (horos), and hence this world, a mixture of matter and spirit. Christ, a new member of the plerōma, came out to disengage what was spiritual from what was material, and bring it back within the limit, or horos. This branched out into a thousand forms and speculations, useless to follow here. It connected itself with Manicheeism in Persia, and reached on to the Bulgarians and Albigenses in France and Italy. But for a long time it was the great plague of the church. They forbade to marry; commanded to abstain from meats; Christ had no real body; (there was no atonement, could not be if He was not a man;) abstinence, and disengaging spirit from matter, that was really -saving. This error, also, the Spirit anticipated. The apostle John carefully tells us that confessing Jesus Christ come in flesh was essential to Christianity; that the Word was made flesh; that they had touched Him with their hands and Paul, that all the fullness (plerōma) was pleased to dwell in Him; that He was not an aeon, as they were called, but that all the fullness (plerōma) of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily; that every, creature of God is good and to be used with thanksgiving; marriage honorable in all.

It may be asked why I refer to all this. First, the divine perfection of Scripture is interesting. It anticipated and met all the wandering speculations of the human mind. But there is another reason. The doctrines of the soul's mortality and of annihilation have their origin in these speculations; they were the doctrines of the Rabbis and Gnostics also, of whom we have been speaking, and are met by the Scriptures. Some of the Rabbis, holding a little more to Scripture, were not so far gone in their speculations as their fellow doctors and modern Annihilationists. They held that it was by the communication of the neshama, the highest kind of life, that man became a living soul; but that if he was not faithful, denied this life, he lost it.

I shall now give the passages from Rabbis and Gnostics which confirm what I have just said. First, the general idea from the Rabbis. Rabbi Abr. Seba says: " God has created three parts (souls) of men, the nephesh, the ruach, the neshama. ' In another mystic book; " Three forms of souls are in men: the first the neshama, the intelligent soul; the second the ruach, the speaking soul; the third the nephesh, the animal soul, which always lusts." There are other passages to which I have already alluded, but these will suffice to give the idea. The doctrine was, as I have already remarked, largely developed in the mystic Jewish writers. There were rewards suited to each. The Gnostics added their notions as to ' the evil of matter. The fleshly (sarkikos) connected itself with the soul life (psuchikos); translated " natural man," in Scripture, and "flesh." For Scripture, as I have said, meets all these questions, and gives the divine answer to them. Truth is one, but it meets, consequently, all error,-all that is not truth. The simple soul has only need of the truth itself,-thank God. But there is in it what meets gainsayers. So we read in Jude—" sensual (psuchikoi),.not having the spirit." The Gnostics treated the question according to their views of matter, using. Scripture, of course;—man was hulikos, material (hulic, from hule, matter), choaos, from choos (1 Cor. 15:47); " the first man," translated " earthy," [ literally, " of dust," from Gen. 2:7;3. 19; then psuchikos,! "having a soul," and pneumatikos, " spiritual." But all this with them was man as man; for they held, as Origen and Grecian philosophers, that the spirit, or neshama, being from the upper world, could not be connected with matter without taking the cover, or embodiment of a soul,-a ruach, to speak with the Rabbis. This took, then, a nephesh, or animal soul and body. If this last soul-here was their religion-was not spiritually married to that above, it, it remained a mere beast's or animal life, and died. The mystic Rabbis and Gnostics were exactly on the same ground here as modern deniers of immortality.

My reader will now see why I have referred to all these views. We are now exactly on the ground of modern Annihilationists, and, as will be seen, of both classes of them; for they differed then as now. The mystic Rabbis say men who have only nephesh die, simply. The nephesh goes down and remains in the grave. If it got united to the ruach, then it did not. " There is a garment," they said, " which subsists and which does not subsist, is seen and is not seen; with this the psuche (animal soul, or nephesh) is clothed." But the nephesh was not for thorn immortal, and where this only was, there the life of the soul was in the blood, and as an infidel would draw from Ecclesiastes:-" That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them. As the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they all have one breath. So that a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast; for all is vanity. All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." That is, indeed, all that is seen "under the sun," as to " the life of our vanity." The Positivists, as one class of infidels are called, go no further. They have not the sense to add, with the Preacher,-" Who knows the spirit of man? it goes up on high; and the spirit of the beast? it goes downward to the earth." So one modern class believe death is simple death-ceasing to exist. If a man has not received the divine life, the neshama, his nephesh dies with his body, like a beast. They have answered the "Who knows? " of the Preacher, -have taken, as the Positivists, the ignorance they are in as a proof that there is nothing beyond it. The beast ceases to exist, and so does the man: nephesh is all the one has, nephesh is all the other has; both go to dust alike. They lie in the hell like sheep, death gnaws upon them. The mystic Rabbis are found again, and the ancient Gnostics. The nephesh has not put on the enduma aphtharsias, the garment of incorruptibility and immortality. It has gone down under death, and there it lies. So in the Cleinentinae, 20 (early Gnostic writings pretending to be Clement's), on Gen. 2:7, he attributes to the breath of God, Theou pnoee, as an indescribable clothing of the psuche, its being able to be immortal.

But I shall be told that all do not hold this. They believe in resurrection, judgment, punishment, and then destruction, or, if preferred, as one of their teachers once put it, " the soul will lose its personality and individuality and pass off into its elements; for nothing is ever annihilated." It is true there are the two classes, and so there were then. Hear the Clementinae, 3:6: " Those who have not repented will come to an end (to telos exousi) by the punishment (kolaseos, the word in Matt. 25) of fire. They will be put out (extinguished), becoming extinct by eternal fire: puri aionio sbesthentes aposbesthesontai." Here is exactly the other class of modern Annihilationists, the intellectual and theological children of the mystic Rabbis, and the Gnostics of the early ages, the object of special warning on the part of the Spirit of God in the apostles Paul and John, as the special power of evil in these days.

If we examine Scripture, we shall see it furnish the simple truth, and, at the same time, by its statement of it, meet all these human wanderings. It speaks of nephesh, and ruach, and neshama, but it speaks in a way which, in a few sentences, sets aside all the speculations of men. In the leading text on the subject,-the revelation of God on the subject, we read God formed man (as a potter, vayizar) dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils a breath of life, (a nishmath chaia), and man became a living soul (a nephesh chaia). Here we find that it was by God's breathing this highest power of life from Himself that man became a living soul. He had formed his body before, as He saw good, and it was by the communication of life from Himself that He animated the form He had made. The animals had issued, by His will, from the earth. He had said, " Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind (a nephesh chaia come forth) (yozu), and it was so." Not so with man. God consults solemnly as to his creation, and resolves to make man in His image, after His likeness. So God created man in His image, and gave him dominion, and God blessed him, and God spake to him, and gave him to know his place, his food, the beasts' food. He was the vessel of divine communications, as of the divine breath of life, and the object of divine counsels. He was to have a helpmeet for him, as an intelligent and affectionate and devout creature. God made a paradise, a dwelling for him, and for none else, gave him his easy and pleasant service, putting him into the garden.

But more than this, He put him into conscious relationship with Himself, as son of God, and put him under responsibility, giving him a law not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That would bring death in. The sea monsters were made to multiply themselves, beasts created after their kind, and we know they multiply, and it is enough. But not only God formed the human form, and animated it from Himself,—of which there is no hint as to beasts, but He formed, builded, the woman, too, by a mysterious process, which gave her a simple, and the closest, tie to the man; builded her, as the word is, Himself,—and when He had, presented her Himself to Adam.

Man is said to be of the race—the offspring—of God (Acts 17:28); and Adam is called son of God, (Luke 3:38). "In him we live, and move, and have our being," and, though fallen, are still recognized as made after the image of God James 3:9). So God, though He found him lost, could come down and walk in Paradise and have intercourse with Adam. And it is the more important to recognize that he was fallen, because it gives the distinct and definite witness, that, though death had come in, man was still the responsible being he was before, having to say to God in a double way,—the exercise of present government in the earth, and exclusion from God's place of blessing and His presence. The case of Cain shows us the same thing, the responsibility and its results being distinctly stated. " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? if ill, sin (or a sin-offering; which I doubt not is the sense) lieth at the door." Man's relationship, and responsible relationship, with God is thus clearly placed before us. The whole history of Scripture up to his rejection of Christ is the development of it. Sin, from the entrance of lust up to hatred of God, is as fully, as sadly, brought out. He had a soul capable of affections towards God; for it was found that the mind of the flesh was enmity against God. This, mark, was the unregenerate man, the man with only a psuche, a nephesh chaia, if they will have it so. He, God's offspring, had a soul capable of feelings towards God in this relationship. Alas! enmity was his state.

But I am told that Hebrew will tell us wonders, and I have only to make some square Chaldaic letters and immortality disappears. Let us follow the Scripture use of these Hebrew words. Now I think it will be found that neshama is the act of respiration, or breathing. If from God in the power of the life in Him, but breathing. Ruach, spirit (but used for the Spirit of God, a wind, or other spirit, the spirit of man, or even of beast, in Ecclesiastes), is that by which man or beast breathes—the life which expresses itself in breathing. Hence, in the flood, all wherein was the nishmath mach chaiim, the breath of the spirit of life, died, man or beast, all whose present life was sustained by breathing. Nephesh chaia is the actual result, in a living individual. The man or beast doing this is a nephesh chaia, a living soul, any living animal, man or beast. And nephesh so fully gives the idea of what is individual, seen and known, moving about, represented to us by bodily presence, that it is used for a dead body, because the same once-living form is there. An Israelite was not to profane himself by a dead body (nephesh), rightly so translated, but there is no neshama nor roach. So we should call dead relatives by their names and show their corpses as themselves, though we well know there is no life in them. It is called nephesh meeth, a dead body, or simply nephesh. Priests were not to profane themselves by it, unless for their nearest of kin.

But the Scripture rejects the thought of the soul's not living distinct from the body, where it uses nephesh properly for the soul of a man, as it does, see 1 Kings 17:21,22, where Elijah prays that the child's soul may return to him again, and the Lord heard him and it returned. On the contrary, but proving the same point, Saul says of Eutychus, "his soul is in him" Acts 20:10. What the creation, therefore, affords us is he most careful elaborate distinction between man and other animals. they, by God's will, springing up out of the earth, to live by breathing, and being nephesh chaia, a living individual being with a body, having breath, neshama, and a roach, a life which lived by breathing,—man having all this, too, as every one on the face of the earth knows, without knowing. Hebrew at all.. But it teaches us that man got to be such on the earth in a totally different way from other living animals, namely, by God's breathing from Himself into him, when He had formed his body of the dust, a breath of life, and that thus he became a living soul. Hence he was the offspring (genos, offspring, race, kind, generation, is the only true meaning of this word, and it is so used in Acts 17) of God, lived and moved and had his being in Him, and was in responsible relationship with, Him, intelligently subject to a law, and, alas! not only disobedient but capable of hating God, capable of such an apprehension of Him as ought to have drawn out love, but from his moral state brought out hatred; capable of receiving communications from God as in nature and place in relationship with Him. It teaches that he has, in fact, received these communications, and that God has dealt with him—as acceptable, if good, or, if sinful, as the object of a provided sin-offering when in that natural state, no question of the gift of eternal life having been raised. The whole of Scripture proceeds on this ground, exactly where the gift of eternal life is not spoken of. That is a new thing given, but man is dealt with all through as a responsible being, where it is not given, and this, whether, to use the first grand statement of it, you say sin, or, as I should, a sin-offering, lies at the door. The death of Christ, though, surely, a means, and, in fact, a needed means of it—applies not to the gift of eternal life in the first instance, but to a responsible sinner, a child of Adam.

The Old Testament saints, however obscurely, did gather the truth of the subsistence of the soul after death, and the resurrection, too, I admit obscurely, but they gathered it. Abraham looked for the City which bath foundations. The Preacher speaks of the spirit's returning to God who gave it. The Psalms told of the King's soul not being left in Hades, nor His body seeing corruption; and in God's presence fullness of joy (Psa. 16); and being satisfied when one awoke after God's likeness (Psa. 17). Many suffered, looking for a better resurrection; to say nothing of Job's hope shining through his wasting disease. And the Lord's judgment is pronounced on the Sadducees that they greatly erred, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God; and we read in Luke not only there was a resurrection, but " all live unto God." They are dead for man, they are not so for God. But eternal life, we are told, is " God's gift in Christ," and so only. Admitted, fully. But first, then, let it be admitted that eternal emphatically means eternal; for otherwise, after the reception of eternal life, a man may as little have immortality as before; and after its reception even, in the Scripture use of immortality, that is true, for mortal applies to his body, and it is only in resurrection that the saint ever puts on immortality. But that (the gift of eternal life in Christ alone) has nothing to do with the question of the immortality of the soul. It neither proves it nor disproves it,-save only that, in a very vague way, it suggests immortality, because the gift of eternal life to a beast would make him a wholly new kind of being. Eternal life, though above and out of the reach of man's responsibility, yet is connected with it. It is grace to a being capable of it, while remaining the same being, and dealt with on the footing of his previous responsibility. Were it given to a beast, it would have no connection at all with it as a being, or have anything to say to its previous existence. It would be itself a simply new being. But while eternal life is a new gift to man, in Christ, and comes in Christ become man, yet it is fully connected with, and refers to, man as previously existing, is, by the word acting on his mind, heart, conscience, and, while a new thing, in itself, wholly, acts in and connects itself with him to whom it is given, so that he remains the same person, and by it recognizes and takes notice of all that he was before, as a responsible and the same person. The " I " remains the same. The nature is acted on, and by it judged and condemned, and the " I " for so acting in it.

The gift of eternal life proves, as far as it goes, an immortal soul that has relationship to God, not a beast's estate,-" made to be taken and destroyed,"-" the beasts that perish." Indeed, why should such language as here quote be used if man was just the same? But Scripture does not so speak. It does express the darkness of man, who sees his present life disappearing and knows nothing beyond, but even then, it carries him onward, in thought and hope,-cravings, not knowledge that the spirit returns to God who gave it. It does not know, but asks " who knows the spirit of man? It goes up above." There is not knowledge here; there is the heaving desire of what was breathed from God-not the answer to it. Man had plunged himself in darkness. Death was there,-what beyond? Hope, saintly confidence in God, a deliverer and a deliverance to come which would not leave believers without hope. But life and incorruptibility were brought to light by the gospel. They were not brought to light before; mind, he does not say, did not exist. The poor and shallow sophistry that would use this to say, they began to be then, must deny that saints had life, from God too, were born of God; or that Enoch and Elijah were other than fables, or exceptions to the truth as to others, even in their souls; and Abraham's faith vain, and that God was the God of the dead, not of the living. They were brought to light, then, in the Gospel revelation, because they were there to be brought to light, though the incorruption had only been wondrously exhibited, the life dimly apprehended, though certainly there, and not the subject of the immediate government and revelation of God. In Christ life has become the light of men, and we have the light of life, we do not walk in darkness.

But I am told, God only has immortality. Undoubtedly. But if this use be made of it, the saint has not it.. The angels are mortal, too. But both statements are clearly unscriptural,-see Luke 20:36, not to cite other passages..It is not, therefore, what the passage means it is a false use of it. God only has, possesses, immortality in Himself, independently. But we, all men, live, move, and have their being in Him who is so. None of us have it, independently, in ourselves. All things subsist by Him. But whether a being is perishable or not by his creation, is a question of fact. The angels do not die. God only possesses in Himself immortality. On the other hand, thneetos (mortal) is never applied to the soul, always to the body, as Rom. 6:12; 8:11; 2 Cor. 4:11;5. 4; 1 Cor. 15. 53, 54; and, which is the important point here, man is mortal when he certainly has eternal life and his soul will never die. Mortality applies to his body. He is only called mortal in the New Testament, when, by the confession of all, he has a life which can never die. That is, mortality does not apply to his soul at all, as used in the New Testament, where the truth is brought to light. So as to death. In the Old Testament, it is applied to the fact of dying, and,—generally, darkness lies beyond. It is sought to use " The soul that sinneth it shall die" as meaning that the soul shall die after death, or, as the out-and-out Annihilationists would say, in death itself. These last fly in the face of Scripture, because, to say no more of it, after death comes judgment. But if it is not in death, then death does not mean ceasing to exist,-as, in fact, it never, does,-but ceasing to exist in the way and relation ship men were living in. Of the second death we will speak further on. Man ceases by death to be a nephesh chaia,-a living soul and body in this world,-and becomes, as to this world, a nephesh meeth,-a dead body, or body of death. But, if we turn to the passage in Ezekiel where the expression is found, and whence it is taken, we, shall see that it has nothing to do with the death of the soul as apart from the body, but a man's death as living in this world. Such a use of soul, for person, is common now. I say it is a town of fifteen thousand souls. Who misunderstands me? Israel complained that they were in trouble and cut off for their fathers' sins; that the fathers had eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge (Ezek. 18:2), and, such was the law, the son bore the iniquity of the father-the iniquity of the father was brought upon the children. This should no longer be done. As the soul of the father, so the soul of the son, was Jehovah's. The soul that sinned, it should die. A devout father had a wicked son: "should he live? (verse 13) he shall not live; he bath done all these things; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him." So when the righteous turned away from his righteousness and committed sins, he should die in them. As the Lord said: " If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." " Our father," say the daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27), " died in the wilderness; he died in his own sin." But with a wicked father, if the son bath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and bath done them, he shall surely live: the soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. " Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord, and not that he should turn from his ways and live?" So if the righteous turn from righteousness, in his sins that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. What light may be thrown on the, final result by the New Testament, is another question. But in Ezekiel what is spoken of is a man belonging to this world dying in his sins. Death never means ceasing to exist. It is used for other things than physical death, The woman that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. The believer has passed from death unto life. He who loves the brethren has passed from death unto life. That is, when applied to the soul, it has nothing to do with ceasing to exist, but means separation of the soul from God, as a state of a soul which was alive, as to existence, not possessing divine life, but as much alive, as a being, as when he had. So Rom. 7:10, and verse 24, teaches us the same truth. Paul found the commandment to be to death;' but he was just as much alive, as to existence as ever. The sin unto death is physical death. In a word, death means either simple physical death as we see it; or separation from God,-not having divine life,-when a' man is alive.

We have now to see if physical death is the extinction, or even the sleep of the soul. And, farther, we must search the New Testament, where these things are brought to light. First, it is stated that all live to God. This is given as a general principle, when the living state of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is declared to the Sadducees, who held annihilation doctrine. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Thus far it may be reasoned that it only applies to the saints whose God God is. The Lord therefore adds: "For all live unto Him." It is a general truth not merely applicable to Abraham and those that had his faith. It is true of all: pantes gar auto zosin. And this is the more important because the Lord is speaking of saints. For though they were born of God, He does not rest the truth of even their being alive on that, but says: "God is not the God of nekron, but of zonton,—not of dead men, or bodies, but of living persons. What is the great principle on which it is founded?—" For all live unto him." No one is really dead as regards God. Accordingly, the Lord charges His disciples not to fear them that can kill the body and have no more that they can do, but Him who, after He has killed, can cast into hell. That is, death is positively declared not to be the end or cessation of existence. Death means men killing the body, and no more. Killing (apokteino;—thanatoō is more to have a person put to death, as in a persecution, or judicially) and death are fully correlative, as may be seen in Rom. 7. Further, the parable of Dives and Lazarus plainly pictures the same truth. Death is no ending of existence for wicked more than for just. Hades was known to the Jews, and Hades was owned of the Lord as true.

And this leads me to the question: Is the state after death, for just or unjust, a state of unconsciousness? Is the soul asleep? The reader has the answer from Luke 16 already. But a word more. It is never said nor hinted that the soul sleeps after death. That is all a fable. Death is called sleep or falling asleep, as to the just. But there is not the most distant suggestion that the soul sleeps. When Christ told His disciples, " Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," He explained the word. Lazarus, apethane, has died. " He spake" we are told, "of his death," not of his state after death. Falling asleep is a man living in this world's dying, not his state after dying. Stephen fell asleep, not Stephen's spirit, which surely was received up by Christ, as Christ's had been by the Father. Did He cease to exist, or was He unconscious? Again, the Lord said to the thief, replying exactly to the point in question: " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Did that mean, he should go to sleep and know nothing? Paul thought it far better to depart and be with Christ. Did that mean, go fast asleep and know nothing? To be absent from the body and present with the Lord,—which meant, that he should be fast asleep, and not know whether the Lord was there or not I have said the thief's case applies directly to the point. The thief, in his bright faith owning Christ to be King when all had forsaken Him, asked, thinking only of that, that the Lord would remember him when He came in (not into) His kingdom. The Lord's answer is, " You shall not wait for that happiness. I have a heavenly place for my people's souls meanwhile; to-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." Which means, I promise you, you shall be fast asleep and know nothing till the kingdom comes! Are we to be mocked with such interpretations? Finally, the rich man in Hades, and the poor in. Abraham's bosom were very far from being asleep. We are told it is only a picture on Jewish principles. No doubt. But it is the Lord's picture, who meant to teach us by it, and certainly not that the dead are fast asleep, but just the contrary.

But we are told it is in the second death they are extinct. But this destroys itself, for then death does not mean ceasing to exist; for if death meant ceasing to exist, there could be no second death, for the being would have ceased to exist in the first. It is all a fable, so using death. Christ has died. The saints have died, just as truly as the wicked. They may have a life which the wicked have not, but they have as truly died, and they have not become extinct nor ceased to exist. And if the wicked undergo a second death, death does not mean ceasing to exist; for they died the first death, and did not cease to exist, for they have to undergo the second. But then, we are told, the second will be-not because it is death we have seen,-and we must look to Scripture to see if that is meant by the second death, i.e., if ceasing to exist is what is meant. Scripture teaches the contrary. Men at the final judgment are cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. The second death is the punishment of the lake of fire,—;—not that punishment's teasing by the punished ones' ceasing to exist. The punishment destroys them, we are told, as the Clementine Gnostics had told us before. But then, the lake of fire, the punishment, is the second death, not their ceasing to exist so that the punishment ceases. " They have their part in the lake of fire, which is the second death," existing there in it, having their part in it, is the time they are in the second death. Their part is not said to be punishment, ending by death, but the actual punishment of the lake of fire. So the Devil, that deceived the nations, was cast into the lake of fire, and shall be tor- mented day and night forever and ever... There is no word of the close of their existence and of torment being the second death. It is the punishment itself, of the lake of fire, which is so called, the outer darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This naturally leads me to the word eternal (aionios). We are told it does not mean eternal. If I go out of Scripture I find the fullest proof that it means eternal. Aristotle defines it, aien on, always existing. I have found several others, but I quote only one passage from Philo, because it is so directly to the point, and is the Greek used at the time of our Lord: en aioni de oute pareleluthen ouden oute mellei alla monon huphesteke,- in eternity nothing is either past or to come, but only subsists-it is proper eternity. What we have then to look to is how aionios, the adjective, is used in Scripture. Now. I say that the word regularly means, in Scripture, " eternal,' in the sense of contrast with any period of time. " If our earthly house of thiS tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens!' (2 Cor. 5:1). " To whom be honor and power everlasting". (1 Tim. 6:16). " The God of all grace, who has called us to His eternal glory" (1 Peter 5:10). "And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him" (Heb. 5:9). "Having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:12)." They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance " (Heb. 9:15). " Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God " (Heb. 9:14). " For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal " (2 Cor. 4:18, and Rom. 16:26), which is conclusive. Now these suffice to show that the regular meaning of aionios, in its own plain and absolute sense, is eternal. Where it is used of punishment, in Matt. 25, it is in purposed and express contrast used of life; the one have eternal life, the others eternal punishment. The duration of the punishment of the wicked, and of the life of the just, are expressed by the same identical term,—4 may add, that of the existence of God Himself. And this term is put in contrast elsewhere with all that has a temporary duration, so that I do not see how it could be stated more plainly.

But we do not escape these efforts to elude what is plain, even by this. Punishment, we are told, does not mean punishment. It means pruning, or I know not what, cutting off a branch-lcolasis is the word. It is used in one other place in Scripture: " Fear hath torment." Its scriptural sense is torment. So in a passage I have quoted from the Clementinae, it is used as torment. And that is its meaning-punishment, or torment. This, according to this verse, is eternal, not temporal. But the verb kolazo (punish) is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Acts 4:21: " Finding: nothing how they might punish them." So 2 Peter 2:9: " Reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished." This is the plain sense of the word.

But the word destroy, also, is referred to, to show that though the punishment is everlasting, the punished are not. A thing hard for a simple mind to understand. For if there remain none to be punished, it is hard to conceive how punishment remains. Hard to suppose that where the Lord uses the figure, " their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched," they die, or cease to exist, though the worm and the fire remain, though it be their worm that does not die. Still we will see if destroy means what is said. It is very hard to understand " everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord " to mean, that nothing exists. What is out of the presence of the Lord? What is everlasting destruction? If a thing ceases to exist, and destruction means that, it cannot be everlasting. But the truth is, on their own showing, the passage has not this sense at all. For this happens at Christ's appearing, at the beginning of the Millennium, when there is no destruction, in their sense of it, at all. They are punished with destruction, but in that destruction, they still subsist, as is admitted. It is the time of weeping and gnashing of teeth in outer darkness (Matt. 13). That destruction is everlasting in which the punished ones subsist.

But the word does not mean this ceasing to exist. The angel of the bottomless pit is called Apollyon, or Abaddon, the destroyer, in Greek and Hebrew words. But he can destroy nothing. It is written, " O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help." " I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." " Destroy not thy brother with thy meat, for whom Christ died." " And through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish." " If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." " Zacharias perished between the temple and the altar." " Carest thou not that we perish?" " The scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him." " Not willing that any should perish, but ' that all should come to repentance." "Art thou come to destroy us?" (Mark 1:24.) In Matt. is an analogous case. They say, " Art thou come to torment us before the time?" This was in the bottomless pit. But Satan, we read, is tormented in the lake of fire " forever and ever "-the term used for the existence of God. Matt. 10:39, "He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." " For when they shall say Peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them,"-confessedly here not ceasing to exist. 1 Tim. 6:9, " Foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." "They perish in the gainsaying of Core." " So the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished."

The word, then, is used for ruin, moral or physical. It is false to say it means simply a ceasing to exist. It may mean a ruin of the state in which a thing existed; hence the driving a human being from the Lord's presence, or his present state of alienation from it; and it is so used. I doubt a single passage could be found which proves it means causing to cease to exist. I have known Annihilationists object to the name, because nothing can be annihilated. But if so, their whole theory falls to the ground. It is merely making a physical thing of the soul, dispersed, then, into its elements, instead of moral ruin for which, as to the soul, the word is certainly used, as we have seen. I have cited passages where apollumi, apoleia, and olethron are used. The root is all the same. The statements made on these subjects set aside one another. If death be ceasing to exist, there can be no judgment after. It is in vain to say they are raised; for if they have ceased to exist there is no one to raise. Nor can punishing, or destruction, in the sense of ceas- ina to exist, come afterward.

My object has been, to go through the words by which, or as to which, Annihilationists seek to puzzle simple minded Christians,-not to reason out the subject. I add only two or three words to show why their fair words and smooth speeches do not attract me, where they seem fairest. We have seen that the morally dead and the lost may be alive, and that Scripture so speaks. But if the soul be simply mortal, with the body, and there is no life, out of Christ, beyond this, where do sinners get the life they are punished in till burned out? It must be from Christ, for creation has not given it to them. That is, they get, not their wicked life, in which they are fallen, and enemies to God, but a new life of Christ, in which to be punished in another world. I do not see the moral sense or attractiveness of this doctrine. Further; I understand an immortal soul that is at enmity with God and excluded from Him, though once formed to own Him, being forever miserable. But why God, out of pure pleasure, should keep alive a soul to torment it for a time, only to burn it out at the end, for no possible effect, I cannot conceive., It does not alarm men now. For tell them that they will simply perish in the end, and it is, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The infidel finds it a very comfortable and reasonable doctrine. It is in vain to say, it is not honest to say, that men fear total destruction and perishing more than anything, for its advocates resist eternal punishment because it is dreadful to think of. They know, it is not the same thing. No doubt man does not like dying or perishing, in itself, as to this world, where he is alive,-but to come to an end in a future one, where there is only torment, he likes very well.

My horror of this doctrine is, its weakening our sense of the nature of sin, of our responsibility, and of the atonement. If sin means eternal exclusion from God's presence, it is dreadful enmity against God now, exclusion from God then. If death is the only wages of sin, Christ had no more to suffer for me. Nay, if I am a Christian, He had nothing to suffer, if I die before the Lord comes. I have paid the wages myself. If it be only some temporary punishment I had incurred, He had only that to bear. "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me" has lost its force. It is in vain to say, He gives us life. He can, in itself, quicken without dying. If He died, He died for my sins, and bore them. If death be the wages, millions of saints have paid them. And if a partial punishment be all I had to bear, it is all Christ had to bear. The sense I have of sin and its desert is not, being forsaken of God, shut out from Him when I can know what it is, but a temporary punishment, a quantum of offense,-which is all I have to think of, and all Christ had to bear, if anything.

It is alleged, I have been told since I wrote this, that there is another view held, namely,-that the soul, having its life in Christ is in Christ when a man dies, and is, so to speak, lost in Him, and then at the resurrection becomes a conscious person again. This is a mere notion, and a foolish one too. It destroys not consciousness nor has anything to do with sleeping, but personality. It applies only to saints, and as to them is in direct violation of the testimony of Scripture, which attributes personality to the saints when gone hence. "To-day shalt thou be with me." There are the distinct persons. Again, " present with the Lord." There must be a distinct person to be present with the Lord. And so with other texts. That our life is hid with Christ in God, the only allusion to an idea approaching it in Scripture, proves, as far as it goes, the contrary; because it is spoken of saints living on the earth, where their personality is unquestionable. But the best answer to it is, it is a mere human invention. In the hiding in God we are associated with Christ. He also now is hid in God,-I suppose a conscious person,-and it is in contrast with our appearing to others when He appears, not to any living personality in which we enjoy His presence. It is, we have seen, spoken of our present state, when living personality is unquestionable.

There is another word I have omitted to notice, basanizo, and basanismos, torment. This, we are told, comes from a Lydian stone used to test gold. Very likely, but the conclusion that, therefore, the words, when passed into common use, meant " to prove," and not " to torment," is simply false. Thus, Matt. 8:6: " My servant lieth sick, grievously tormented." What has that to do with the lapis Lydius? 2 Pet. 2:8, " He [Lot] vexed his righteous soul." In Rev. 9:5, the verb and the noun are used for the torment of a scorpion's sting. Matt. 14:24: " tormented by the waves." So of the men, Mark 6:49,-showing how the etymological meaning was wholly forgotten for the fact of torment.

Rev. 14:11: those who worship the beast are tormented forever,-have no rest. Rev. 18:15, we read of Babylon's torment; xx. 10, the devil is tormented day and night. Is he put to the proof as gold by the lapis Lydius? Matt. 18:24, the unforgiving servant delivered to the tormentors. The attempt to deny that basanismos, because that in its etymology it is borrowed from the lapis Lydius, means torment, in the ordinary sense of the word, is a mere fraudulent effort to pervert the plain fact.

There are a number of Hebrew words out of which something has been attempted to be made, in one tract I have seen, as acharith, tikvah, opher, etzem and otzem, tzelem, and others; but what is said of them does not really deserve any notice. It astounds somewhat a person who has the smallest acquaintance with Hebrew, or can use a dictionary and concordance. But I recall the reader's attention to the fact, that " this mortal" is said distinctly of the body, not of the soul. " This mortal shall put on immortality," " our mortal bodies" and the like. That consequently we read of killing the body, and having no more that they can do. We read of God, as the "Father of spirits"; "the- God of the spirits of all flesh"; and " that formeth the spirit of man within him." The fact that the angels do not die and are not mortal is the plain proof that it is a false use of God only having immortality, using it to prove men have not immortal souls; for the same argument would prove angels were also mortal,-which is false. But of this I have spoken. It is immortality in and of Himself.

It has been attempted to say, there is no appeasement of wrath with God. The words ilaskesthaz, ilasmos, ilasterion all have exactly this sense. They meet the qualities or attributes, in God, which are necessary and must be maintained or He is not God as He is, or not God at all, to maintain what He is, His holiness and righteousness. But He is supreme in love.

I press, too, on my reader that when a man receives eternal life, he takes notice of all his past evil and sin as that for which he is responsible. If a beast received eternal life,-and the theory makes animal life the same in all,-could a beast hold himself- responsible for all his previous conduct as a guilty, responsible soul? Are they to be judged as in their nature capable of guiltily rejecting Christ? If not, the whole theory is a disgraceful fraud on our minds. If athanasia was literally, as to the fact, to be applied only to God when Paul wrote it, then the saints who had got eternal life had no immortality even then, or else mortality applied only to their bodies, which is the fact in Scripture, for, as I have said, the saints are spoken of as mortal, like the rest. Thus it is evident that mortal, corruptible, death applies to the state in which we are down here as men living on the earth, where death is entered by sin, and to the separation of soul and body. It is, as Scripture speaks, killing the body, and has nothing to do with the soul A person who, in his soul, has eternal life, has not athanasia more than another,-has still to put it on. That is, it has nothing to do with the dying nature of the soul, or the contrary. It means that it cannot cease to exist in the state in which it exists at present; not that it has it in itself, as God, but that is its condition by His will. What puts on immortality is what was liable to death,—this body which could be killed in a saint as in a sinner, for the saint lives because Christ lives,-his soul cannot die more than Christ now; yet he is as mortal as the sinner, and so, in fact, did Christ die. Did he cease to exist, or did He not truly die? Does it cease to be true that God only hath immortality, when we are raised,- for then we certainly have athanasia

When I find all these efforts to falsify the use of words, I know the source of this doctrine, and that no lie is of the truth.

B. M.

Lord, We Rejoice That Thou Art Gone

"If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because... I go to the Father."—John 14.

LORD, we rejoice that Thou art gone

To sit upon the Father's throne;

And, all Thy days of suffering o'er,

Thou now shalt weep and grieve no more.

Lord, we delight Thy path to trace,

So full of wisdom, power and grace;

To sit as learners at Thy feet,

And find Thy loving words so sweet.

The desert and the mountain brow,

Garden and lake are sacred now;

Each spot Thy holy footsteps trod-

The Son of man, the Christ of God.

We love to muse on Olivet,

The guest-room we shall ne'er forget,

Nor thy dark vale, Gethsemane!

The groans, and sweat, and agony!

But how our hearts again, again

Upon Thee on the cross remain;

Searching the heights and depths to know
Of love, e'en greater: than Thy woe!

O wondrous cross! O blessed tree!

We glory now in naught but thee;

Where God's own Lamb was crucified,

And, for our sins a ransom; died!

We love to look within the tomb

Thy vict'ry robbed of all its gloom;

The stone, the guilt-all rolled away,

Witness that death has lost its prey.

We joy to see Thee, Lord, arise

Triumphant through the opening skies;

And hear the shouts of rapture there

Thee worthy,-Thee alone,-declare!

Worthy to sit upon the throne!

Worthy to reign as Lord, alone!

The Lamb of God for sinners slain,

Worthy at God's right hand to reign!

Lord, we rejoice that Thou art there,

In spirit we Thy triumphs share;

But perfect will our rapture be,

(When we Thy face in glory see)

Or-When we shall share them all with Thee.

O God, Thou art my God."—Psalm 63:1

SHALL I distrust Thee, O my God?

Whom can I trust but Thee?

I rest upon Thy faithful word;

I call Thee Abba, Savior, Lord;

For Thou art God to me.

Creator! I Thy creature owe

All that I am to Thee;

Thy hands each day each gift bestow,

Provide for all my wants below;

For Thou art God to me.

Savior! how blessed is that name!

Salvation is from Thee.

'Twas from Thy bosom Jesus came,

To bear my sins, and curse, and shame,

For Thou art God to me.

"Abba," my Father—God Thou art,

Abba! I cry to Thee;

Among Thy children is my part, -

I have the witness in my heart,

Thou "Abba " art to me.

All that I have or hope to have,

I have my God from Thee:

He who for me His own Son gave,

And raised as First-born from the grave,

Is God of Love to me.

Yes, I will trust Thee, I will cleave

All my life long to Thee:

No more, by doubts Thy spirit grieve

But all thy promises believe,

A God of truth to me.

THE "MAN OF SORROWS."

O! ever homeless Stranger,

Thus dearest Friend to me:

And outcast in the manger

That Thou might'st with us be.

How rightly rose the praises

Of heaven, that wondrous night

When shepherds hid their faces

In brightest angel-light:

More just those acclamations,-

Than when the glorious band
Chanted earth's deep foundations,

Just laid by God's right hand.

Come now and view that manger:

The Lord of glory see,

A houseless, homeless stranger

In this poor world for thee.

To God in the highest-glory,'-

'And peace on earth' -to find;

And learn that wondrous story-
' Good pleasure in mankind.'

O strange, yet fit beginning,
Of all that life of woe,

In which Thy grace was winning
Poor man his God to know.

Bless'd babe who lowly liest,
In manger-cradle there;
Descended from the Highest,
Our sorrows all to share.

O, suited now in nature

For love's divinest ways,

To make the fallen creature

The vessel of Thy praise.

O love all thought surpassing,

That thou should'st with us be;

Nor yet in triumph passing-

But human infancy.

We cling to Thee in weakness,

The manger and the cross-

We gaze upon Thy meekness

Through suffering, pain, and loss.

There see the Godhead-glory

Shine through that human vail,

And willing hear the story

Of love that's come to heal.

My soul in secret follows

The footsteps of His love-

I trace the Man of Sorrows

His boundless grace to prove.

A child in growth and stature,

Yet full of wisdom rare:
Sonship, in conscious nature,-

His words and ways declare.

Yet still, in meek submission,.

His patient path He trod;
To wait His heav'nly mission,

Unknown to all but God.

But who, Thy path of service,

Thy steps removed from ill,

Thy patient love to serve us,

With human tongue can tell?

Midst sin and all corruption

Where hatred did abound,

Thy path of pure perfection

Was light to all around.

In scorn, neglect, reviling,

Thy patient grace stood fast,

Man's malice unavailing

To move-Thy heart to haste.

O'er all, Thy perfect goodness
Rose blessedly divine-

Poor hearts oppressed with sadness

Found ever rest in Thine.

The strong man, in his armor,

Thou mettest in Thy grace,
Didst spoil the mighty charmer

Of our unhappy race.

The chains of man, his victim,

Were loosened by Thy hand-

No evils that afflict him

Before Thy power could stand.

Disease, and death, and demon,

All fled before Thy word,

As darkness the dominion

Of day's returning lord!

The love that bore our burden

On the accursed tree,

Would give the heart its pardon,

And set the sinner free.

Love that made Thee a mourner
In this sad world of woe,

Made wretched man a scorner

Of grace that brought Thee low.

Still in Thee, love's sweet savor

Shone forth in every deed,
And showed God's loving favor

To every soul in need.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I pause,-for on Thy vision
The day is hast'ning now,
When for our lost condition
Thy holy head shall bow.

When deep to deep still calling,

The waters reach Thy soul;
And death and wrath appalling-

Their waves shall o'er Thee roll.

O day of mightiest sorrow-

Day of unfathomed grief-

When Thou shouldst taste the horror

Of wrath without relief.

O day of man's dishonor,

When, for Thy love supreme,

Man sought to mar Thine honor,

Thy glory turn to shame.

O day of our confusion-

When Satan's darkness lay,

In hatred and delusion,

On ruined nature's way.

Thou soughtest for compassion,

Some heart Thy grief to know;

To watch Thine hour of passion,

For comforters in woe.

No eye was found to, pity-

No heart to bear Thy woe:

But shame, and scorn, and spitting!
None cared Thy name to know.

The pride of careless greatness

Could wash its hands of Thee:-

Priests-that should plead for weakness-

Must Thine accusers be.

Man's boasting love disowns Thee;
Thine own the danger flee-

A Judas only owns Thee,

That Thou may'st captive be.

O man, how hast thou proved,

What in thy heart is found-

By grace divine unmoved,-

By self in fetters bound.-

Yet with all grief acquainted

The Man of Sorrows-view,

Unmoved—by ill untainted,

The path of grace pursue.

In death, obedience yielding

To God, His Father's will:
Love still its power is wielding

To meet all human ill.

On him who had disowned Thee,

Thine eye could look in love-

(Midst threats and taunts around Thee),

To tears of grace to move.

What words of love and mercy

Flow, from Thy lips of grace,
For followers that desert Thee,-

For sinners in disgrace!

The robber learns beside Thee,
Upon the cross of shame,

While taunts and jeers deride Thee,

The savor of Thy Name.

Then finished all, in meekness

Thou to Thy Father's hand-

(Perfect Thy strength in weakness)

Thy spirit dost commend.

O Lord, Thy wondrous story,

My inmost soul doth move;

I ponder o'er Thy glory-

Thy lonely path of love.

But O, Divine Sojourner,

Midst man's unfathomed ill,

Love that made Thee a mourner,

It is not man's to tell.

We worship when we see Thee,

In all Thy sorrowing path-

We long soon to be with Thee;

Who bore for us the wrath.

Come then, expected Savior-

Thou Man of Sorrows, come!

Almighty, Blest Deliv'rer,

And take us to Thee, home!

Luke 24:26

THE work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the life which He lived when on earth, though carefully distinguished in the scriptures from the death which He died on the cross, should never be separated from it, or we shall miss that grand whole, which embraced His incarnation, and found its accomplishment in His crucifixion. Nevertheless, this mighty whole has its parts, and it is encouraging for us to know that the Holy Ghost has employed apostles and prophets to give out the particular aspect or relation of the Christ of God with which each was entrusted.

The history of the world and the ways of God with mankind are plainly enough recorded, and perhaps sufficiently understood, to lead any careful reader of the Old Testament to discover that the Creator was, as a consequence of Adam's sin, restricted to a general but providential care of His creatures,-and that all men being sinners, and the world itself filled with violence as the result of sin, the waters of the deluge closed up that state of things, by the righteous judgment of God, and the destruction of all flesh. What else could follow, when man was corrupting his way upon the earth by the activity of a fallen nature, and when God, supreme in His own goodness, was lavishing every outward gift providentially upon His creatures. Man had the more to corrupt, by the very liberality of his Creator, who put all into his hands-till it repented God that He had made man upon the earth! Sovereign grace preserves Noah; and the ark, floating upon the waters of death, shows how in judgment God remembers mercy.

It is at this very point, that a great difference is established in the further relations of God and mankind; for if Adam's blessing was based on his personal responsibility in obedience, and lost,-God will pass Noah through death and judgment to bring him forth upon a new earth, with covenanted blessings secured by the bow in the cloud. In Adam's world, man was a driven out creature,-in Noah's new world, man is reprieved, and an heir of covenanted blessings, on the ground of the altar and its sweet savor.

The confederacy of the nations in combined will and action at Babel, led to the confusion of tongues by the righteous judgment of God, and to the consequent scattering of the people over the face of the earth. This state of things in punishment leads to the calling out of Abram from his country and his father's house into a land that God would show him; and makes him righteous by faith, and the head of this new family,- the father of us all. These new principles of action, thus introduced and established, get their width in the people called out of Egypt by Moses, and finally "brought in, and planted in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in; the sanctuary, O Lord which Thy hands have established " under Joshua as captain-and under Solomon as the typical king. How cheering, as one takes a place in Jerusalem, and reads, in those chronicles of Jehovah's faithfulness to His promises, the people's prosperity and peace, under their king, or takes a place in the temple, to witness the nation's worship and allegiance to the God of Israel and God of the whole earth, under the anointed priesthood of Aaron and his sons! What a point of glory is reached by the king who sits, on the throne under this theocracy of Israel,-and what a point of holiness is maintained in the temple, so that the covenanted relations of Jehovah and the people promise fair! Alas, who that has learned the fall in Eden does not tremble to see the advancing steps of Noah, Abram and the patriarchs,-then of Israel under Moses and Aaron, or under David and Solomon. What splendid and weighty endowments,—but depending upon the fulfillment of added responsibilities. For though all these blessings are finally covenanted and sure, yet were they necessarily conditional upon obedience from a people under the government of Jehovah. It cannot be too plainly seen that Christ, the true seed has secured, by His own death and resurrection, all these forfeited blessings for the " heirs of promise," as well as by redemption secured the people being brought under the new covenant; and thus fitted for their enjoyment in perpetuity, to be made true in application, at His second coming! Most of the Lord's people see and acknowledge this, though many have not as yet discovered the immense charm which the righteous and personal title of Christ sheds upon all the future ways of God with His earthly people. For instance, must God, in absolute, sovereign power, accomplish His own promises, as due to His own faithfulness,-and must He in this way too, make good all His covenanted blessings,-or is there a Christ, who has come in, as a man, and a true Israelite, and on account of whose intrinsic excellence, and perfect obedience from first to last, this new consideration springs up, as to what is due to this Son of man, in righteous—reward from God? What a new question is this for settlement! and with what joy is every eye turned upon such an answer as His ascension to the right hand of God supplies.

But, before we follow this risen Son of man into places where man never was before,-what shall be said or done as respects the many places and relations in which typical men had been once set-and failed? Will this same Jesus charge Himself with the defects and disgraces of the people, as well as finally with their sins, and so personally stand in these positions towards God as not merely to regain them, but, because of what He is, bring a higher character and luster into them all than they could have had in any other way? In this way God is vindicated by this Son of man, in every relation in which God had been outraged: by these means, the ways of Jehovah with Israel are re-established, for He goes over the whole path in perfectness with the remnant at John's baptism. The devil is also defeated by the temptations in the wilderness;-and man, in the person of Christ, is master of the whole position, in righteous title through obedience! What a triumph (not got by death and resurrection-but) by those three and thirty years, which measured what else was immeasurable. Besides the recovery of lost positions for man and for Israel, and securing these in His own person for the latter day glory, and for the people that shall then be born, the Lord will only now take them up with His people, in a manner suited morally to their state, and the condition, through their own failure and sin, of everything around them. For example, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses;" and again, "the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Besides these positions, and others, into which man lapsed by transgression and punishment, but into which the perfectness of Christ brought Him, as recognizing all such penalties, not as due to Himself, but as righteously fallen on the sinful race in whose behalf He came-what a relief to our souls is it to see this last Adam gathering all these sufferings around Himself, and making them the very stepping-stones by which He will reach the place where as a man, in such a world as this, He can suit Himself to the holiness of God! He is not yet putting aside the causes or these sufferings and sorrows,-this He will do at the Cross: but He will go down into their consequences, so that in all their afflictions He may be (not separate from them) as the afflicted one; and, being there in righteousness as the only position into which correspondence with the mind and ways of God towards men could place Him, He will cry out of those depths, or suffer being tempted in those depths. God can now change the whole course of His government, and open the heavens to this "fulfiller of all righteousness,"—or send the Spirit like a dove to rest upon Him, or send angels to strengthen Him, or make His own voice to be heard (as it rolls around the length -and breadth of the whole world), " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." What a moral victory is won in these very depths of man's disgrace, and of God's dishonor! and with what astonishment and fright does the devil cast his eye upon this second man, triumphant in the very circumstances which, alas! had only, hitherto, been the proofs of man's defeat, and of Satan's strongest holds! This Son of man will win, by such weapons as these, more than Adam ever had to lose, and far more than the beloved nation even when at her brightest, could ever forfeit. But He will win it all for Himself in righteous (though suffering) title first, with His people, till, in making atonement for their sins, He will glorify God yet further by laying down His life, and by shedding His own blood for the remission of His people's transgressions, and even exhaust the judgment of God, by suffering " the just for the unjust." What a history is this! and how brightly does it shine, in its pathway of light, across this dark world-with its closed gates, and flaming sword, and the waters of a flood,—or, in later times, with a nation judicially blinded, and with a veil upon their hearts. Who can dispute the fact, that the Messiah has for Himself (and, as one of the people, for them too) made a claim upon Jehovah to come out from the strange place of lightnings and thunderings, into which He had withdrawn Himself-as the voice from the excellent glory on the mount of transfiguration shows us, and to come out to bestow " majesty and glory " upon this beloved Son, in that hour when " His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." What a change passes upon this Son of Man in the heights, -corresponding to His jealousy for the holiness of God in those depths out of which He rose for this bright moment of intercourse with the heavens about "the decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." But He must descend into those very depths again and deeper and rougher ones still, so that " all thy waves and thy billows'.' should pass over Him, and He from the bottom of that pit, cry, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me." A scene such as this is for the loving heart of a disciple, much more than for the pen of a writer. The soul would find its relief in being melted, in its measure, where His soul was melted like wax; and the heart would feel how becoming is a broken heart, where He broke His. Precious Jesus, what we owe thee! Man is recovered and saved; yea, redeemed by blood, risen with Christ, in eternal life, and sealed by God through the Spirit as an heir of glory, and a child of the Father's love. God has known ONE, upon this earth, who accepted the place of man's dishonor and defeat, that He might justify God in all His ways with men,-and then (surpassing, in virtue of His own perfectness all that Creation had ever witnessed in what the Creator gave) found a new title for Himself, and for His Church, upon His own righteous sufferings, so that not only He should get a new answer by ascension to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, but leave His own people His own pattern for their present conformity: "for me to live is Christ." But for these new ways between this Son of man and God, how could the Apostle say, " that I may know Him, and the power of: His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. These are, now, the footsteps of His chosen ones, and it is upon this moral elevation that they assert their true dignity, "the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, etc." Who made such a position as this, for others, but. He who won it for Himself, as "He glorified God upon the earth." May we not say, further, it is these moral victories below, which give to the heavens their jubilees. Who was it that said: "Get thee hence, Satan," and when was it, and where? "Angels must come and minister to Him" the emptied one, the humbled one, this obedient servant-this fasting, hungered, and tempted son of man. "Then the devil leaveth Him." What triumphs are these, in the living ways of Christ, previous to the final overthrow and destruction of Satan's power in the grave, by His own death. How all is changed between the heavens, and the earth; and the power of hell-the devil is defeated; the Son of man is the victor everywhere, and God is glorified. "Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains." "Yea, let the very trees of the fields clap their hands," as it befits them. But will the Lord Jesus win these triumphs for Himself alone, and stand solitary in the midst of all this glory? No. For He will say, " except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit" that by means of His death and resurrection, we, and His people, may hold the respective places now, and in the millennial age, which He secured for Himself. The " Son of man," upon the earth, having been thus led of the Spirit, and tempted by the devil, and tested and proved by God, in every place and relation on behalf of man and Israel, He will close up all that He was in life, by going into the strongholds of the enemy's power; " that by means of death he might overcome him that had the power of death, that is, "the devil," and so possess Himself of the keys of death and of Hades! That prophetic word too, " Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts," having found its full accomplishment in the atoning sufferings of Christ on the cross, and judgment having done its strange work upon Him, as the victim, the cup of wrath having been drunk to its very dregs by our Substitute,-and everything done, that as our Surety He undertook to do -He will at last say, " It is finished," and give up the ghost! Nothing, no nothing remains of this kind for Jesus to do below. He has made Himself known amongst us, as the One " who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself; and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." This One has said upon the earth, " have glorified thee, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." The fulfiller " of all righteousness " in His life; -the taker-away of the sin of the world the justifier of God by suffering the consequences of His righteous government on the earth, and making a path, through them all, for Himself;-the vindicator of God, as regards all the inflictions and penalties and wrath itself, by bearing these in His own body on the tree, where He put away sin by (the sacrifice of Himself...... What can God now do as the suited answer to obedience and sufferings such as these? What will He do, but rend the veil that hid Him, from the top to the bottom. If care for the glory of God led Jesus to death, God will introduce the new power of resurrection, and give Him the new title of "first born from the dead." Will He lay Himself in the sepulcher with its guard of soldiers? It shall only be to declare "the snare of the fowler is broken." He has indeed finished the work, and completed all "by binding the strong man, and taking away the armor wherein he trusted and spoiling his goods."

Hitherto we have been tracing the steps and paths of "Him that descended" into the wreck and ruins of this world and its occupants, since the fall. But what becomes of the paradisiacal symbols in that brief day, when the man and the woman were first created;-when the Lord God brought her to Adam, because " He said It is not good that man should be alone,"-the hour when this last and only void was filled up, where all else was good? Will this first, and perfect type, this "great mystery" be out of reach, And will it be the abiding and everlasting witness, that there was once a purpose in the mind of God, brought out in the annals of time too, and set up in this Adam and Eve in the garden, before the fall, in figure, which is lost and gone forever? What a question! and will the perfect one, the second man, the Son of God on earth, give an answer to this, as He has to every other question? Yes, He will, for, in the depths of His solitudes, He will say "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished." The very thought of "abiding alone" is repugnant to Him; and He will take up in anticipation His own deep sleep, and speak of "falling into the ground, like a corn of wheat, and dying," that He may bring forth His fruit in His season, and get His Eve, His Bride; that so in the coming day of His joy, He may " present the Church to Himself, a glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." But first He will go into this sleep, His own deep sleep of death, that God may go into the new place of "the quickener of the dead," and call the heavens and the earth to behold another power introduced into the scene of ruin and wrath around—" the power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Another sphere is required for this antitypical mystery, when Christ and the Church are to be displayed, and it is our turn now to learn, that He, the Son of man, who has won every blessing that the future day of His glory will make good in manifestation upon the earth, has also won new trophies and new relations for God and for Christ and for the Church Which the heavens must open to receive, and which the heaven of heavens are alone worthy to display. Through what Christ has done in death, and because of who and what He is and deserves, another wisdom (the hidden wisdom) and another power, (which raised up Christ from the dead) will settle such new demands as these: and this " Son of God with power, according, to the Spirit of holiness," will make the opportunity for the bringing out of all the hidden mysteries of God, as He passes triumphantly by ascension title, into all His new glories, with His redeemed ones, throughout the everlasting ages! Thus will the Lord Jesus Christ open a new volume with its ever-increasing perfections; by which will be displayed, in the risen populations above, the present meaning of that scripture, " for it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." In prospect of this result in glory, Jesus had said, when His hour was come to depart out of this world unto the Father, " I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." The Father's House, and its many many mansions, shall ere long receive its "many sons." And in that day, when the Father has His many sons, God will take care that the Son shall have His "many brethren," according to that word " for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren." Moreover if this " salvation " (when inquired and searched into by prophets, who prophesied of the grace that should come,-or, in later times, when reported to us by the Holy Ghost sent down), was a "thing which the angels desired to look into,"-what shall be said as to these new lessons, now that the grace which has come, is about to get all its fulfillments in the glory? What must the Bride, the Lamb's wife, be in the light of the coming nuptial day? What must be their instructions and attainments in the things which are ours, when we are taught that one object of God is "to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God!" These sons of God had shouted for joy when Creation's work was done; but since then they have viewed our "great mystery of Godliness, God was manifest in flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." Redemption by the blood of the Cross, flowing from Him who hung there, and resurrection from the dead, and the ascended glorified One in the heavens,-are their new objects. Angels ministered to Him once on earth; two angels in white were at His sepulcher; angels attended on Him, as He went up in the clouds; and, in the coming morning of His reintroduction, " when God brings again His first begotten into the world," He will say, " Let all the angels of God worship Him." How truly are we brought, and how well can we perceive why Jesus must say, No man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him": and he turned and said privately," Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see."

Nevertheless He will leave behind Him like the Sinaitic inscriptions which marked the journeyings of His ancient people, the proofs and witnesses of the out-of-sight path which He made for Himself, as we are led to the manger,-the carpenter,-Egypt,-Jordan,-the opened heavens,-the descending dove,-the voice of God,-the wilderness and Satan -the last supper,-the Sanhedrim,-the Judgment Hall,-Gethsemane, and Calvary,-the crown of thorns, -the soldier's spear,-His cross,-His death,-the sepulcher (that womb of sorrows and suffering which gave birth to " the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead "); the man the Word made flesh (who cleared the world of all that stood in the way of God's glory, and of universal blessing) is now, by ascension title, at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, "crowned with glory and honor and set over all the works" of God's hands. What new places and relations with a Father's delight open out for this Son of his love, in the bright future which He has made for Him!

Man being no longer under judgment (through the efficacious work of Him who bore it on the Cross), and God having now got man for Himself in resurrection, and that same man, too, who is the righteous and appointed heir of all things,-He, in whom all the covenants and promises are made yea and amen, and who has won, for Himself and His people, the necessary and suited positions and spheres for their accomplishment in glory on this earth and in the heavens-what will God invest Him with, as due to such an One, but all " honor, power, wisdom, riches, and strength and glory and blessing." If the garden of Eden showed us the man who had forfeited everything, the earth and the heavens are to manifest in glory the second man, who is worthy to receive all the Father has, and has given Him. Besides this, " God has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." Daniel by the spirit of prophecy had long before said, " I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days and they brought him near before him, and there was given unto him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people and nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." An evangelist will tell us, that the humbled Son of man who stood alone in the earth, as the master of the entire position by life and death, and who is now in the ascendant at the right hand of God, is soon coming again; and, that " when this Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, etc." An apostle will confirm this great fact in result, as he says, " Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power; for lie must reign, till lie hath put all enemies under his feet." (1 Cor. 15:21-28) " For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first- fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." The Apocalyptic writer will tell us, " I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he cloth judge and make war and he bath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written; King of kings and Lord of lords." "All power is given unto me (Jesus said) in the earth and in the heavens "-the proof (not merely of the Son of man's righteous title to power and glory everlastingly, but) that "the. Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth." Yea, God himself will tell us not only of the place this Son of man had in the eternal counsels of the Father, but that be is glorified by making room in all the further displays of His wisdom and grace and glorious power by leading this Son, the second man, to the very highest place in heaven: " above all principalities," and making Him the unchanging center of all accomplished blessing,-" that, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him," etc. What a relief to the aching heart, which has learned its humiliating lessons with the man who fell, to see where Man is, in the Person of the Son, in this new creation of God,-the risen, the ascended, and the exalted One. The might of that arm which rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulcher and began the celebration of its acts and deeds in Him who lay there in the silence and majesty of death, by raising Him from the dead, will presently " bring again his first begotten into the world,' which once cast Him out, to begin there, afresh (not the triumphant career of the man, great and supreme in His weakness and humiliation, but) the pathway of the mighty One, whose name shall be celebrated evermore as the " Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace;-of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it, and establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth and forever." This authority to set in order, and to establish everything great and small,-and to put aside, in righteous retribution, all his enemies-gets a yet further extension in John's gospel: " Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation:"—and all " authority to execute judgment (founded moreover on the title) because he is the Son of man," is His. As one with Him, and His associates in these very scenes, we are reminded (by the apostle to the Gentiles) "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life!" The poor man who once cried out of the depths, and "was heard in that he feared "—the, one who knew no sin, when made in the likeness of sinful flesh," and bore the judgment of our sins in His own body on the tree-He who once bowed His head and gave up the ghost-is now in the ascendant, and has all judgment committed to Him, " that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." And execute this judgment He will, as the Son of man on the throne of His glory-as the Messiah-King when He brings His majesty and power into connection with the throne of David; or when the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. The Lord Himself says, in anticipation of His day of renown, "now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out." And to the very last will He affirm " the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." How supreme is our Jesus, in these noiseless victories, as He thus gives them out to us -and as He bids us be of good cheer in an overcome world; and not to let our hearts know either trouble or fear, through the conscious peace which He leaves us, till He comes in power " to judge and to make war"; for all His enemies shall lick the dust!

The first Adam's transgression threw Satan into prominence and strength, and obliged God to retire into the heaven of heavens, or else maintain His righteousness in judgment by destruction. The second Man (come to do the Father's will, in the body prepared for Him) has set up a claim before God to come forward, and (by righteous judgment) take this perfect One, out from the death into which His devoted obedience carried Him, and put Him into position, place, power and glory! " Behold I make all things new," is the only, and fitting reply from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as He introduces the man of the new heavens and the new earth, into their length and breadth, and instals Him as the beginning of the new creation of God I We may well ask in the midst of such gains and triumphs as these, is there a power that can not merely grapple with Satan and overcome Him-but is there authority likewise to put aside the great enemy " the Wicked One " himself? With what gladness to our hearts (afraid because of the past) is the assurance from the risen One, " and I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old Serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him' etc." How freely can one breathe now, as we see the Son of man exalted into the highest place-the center of all prophesied, promised, covenanted, and purposed blessing for the glory of God with His redeemed,-the families in the heavens and on the earth in their Goshens, by undisputed right, and in undisturbed possession, and Satan—nowhere! or, if memory, bestows a thought on the past, as regards that old serpent, only to be assured by the key, and the chain, and the bottomless pit, and the seal, that the stronger than he, who once took away his armor, wherein he trusted, has now shut him up, and shut him out, " that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled," and that when loosed for a little season "out of his prison," only to earn a heavier punishment, by being driven to his own place. "And the devil that deceived them was 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." The liar, from the beginning, is gone! the great enemy of God and man is judged and cast out! Man, in the person of our Jesus, has glorified God upon the earth, and finished that work, in life and death, which was given Him to do; and God-thus liberated from His place of righteous judgment against sin by the waters of a flood, and by melting elements through fervent heat-is set free to raise, and exalt, and glorify, and crown the man whom He made strong for Himself, and to re-introduce man from the heavens, into the whole scene of previous defeat and disgrace and destruction below, till every creature's heart and voice shall give expression to their new-bought joy in ascribing salvation and honor and glory and blessing unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever. What a day for our God-and what a day for our Lord I how truly will He take the place of His typical Solomon in times of shadows and figures, when He said, " the Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness; but I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling forever!"

" Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God," so God rested from all His works on the seventh day.

Matthew 16

Whatever may help to make the mind clear on passages used to support the errors of Popery and Puseyism, is of use at this moment,-at least to supply an answer to those whose minds are less exercised on such subjects, even though their own faith may be settled by positive truth. God's goodness may preserve a soul from Popish error; but, as to doctrine, where redemption is not clearly known, I have always felt that there was nothing to secure the soul from its inroads. Its positive superstitions and errors may suffice, under mercy, to lead the mind to reject it, and for this we may thank God; but, as to peace and acceptance, a vast portion of the evangelical world is so little removed from the Popish faith that one can never be surprised (in the present confusion, and prevalence of superstition) if people fall into the snares its agents lay for souls. Even the doctrine of the Reformation of assurance of salvation," held then by all, and condemned by the Council of Trent as the vain confidence of the heretics, is condemned by a vast body of Protestants now-a-days as presumptuous, and is possessed by few in simplicity of well-grounded faith, though the number of these be, thank God, increasing. Where redemption is clearly known, where what Christ positively promised is possessed, " In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and ye in me and I in you," the whole system of Popery and Ritualism falls to the ground, has no possible place in the mind. Popery and Ritualism profess to patch up continually the conscience for those who are still far from God; leaving them to answer for themselves in the day of judgment: the true believer is with a perfect conscience in the presence of God. He is accepted in the beloved and has boldness to enter into the holiest now, and knows that God will remember his sins and iniquities no more.

Where this is the case all the appliances of Popery have no possible place. But how few of those opposed to Ritualism are there! A Jew had his sacrifice for every sin; a Roman Catholic has his absolution when occasion arises; the Christian has by one offering been perfected forever, though he may humble himself and make confession to God for every failure. But the evangelical world will speak of re-sprinkling with the blood of Christ or, if Calvin be listened to, be taught, where failure has occurred, to look back to baptism, or will account the Lord's supper a means of forgiveness; for forgiveness of sins is attributed to sacraments in Reformation-theology. On these subjects the Protestant theology is too vague and too inconsistent to meet the positiveness of the deadly and faith-denying errors of Popery. The cardinal point of complete redemption, of Christ's having by one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified, of our being accepted in the beloved, of Christ's appearing in the presence of God for us our abiding righteousness, is unknown or feared; and you have the pretension of positive priestly absolution in an uncertain conscience: in both an uncertain salvation; the doctrine of scripture is lost. We cannot insist too much on the godly life of the redeemed, but Scripture will never use it to weaken the truth or completeness of redemption. Sacraments are most precious, in their place but not to undo or neutralize the efficacy of that of which they are the signs; warnings and exhortations are, thank God, abundantly given for our path, as redeemed, through the wilderness, and as to our dependance every instant on grace to carry us through, but never to make us doubt the faithfulness of Him who exercises it in bringing us to the end of our journey, confirming us to the end that we may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin and condemnation has been learned, but also Christ's substitution for us and the truth that we are made the righteousness of God in Him; so that the question of our righteousness before God never can be raised again, for Christ is it always, and always before God for us. Our weakness we learn every day, but to know that Christ's strength is made perfect in weakness; failure alas! may occur; but it gives occasion to Christ's intercession, to His washing our feet; chastening may be needed from our not judging ourselves, but it is applied that we may not be condemned with the world. There is abundant exercise and testing and trying of the life given, but because Christ lives we shall live also. My object is not now however to pursue the testimony which Scripture gives of a complete and accomplished redemption into the enjoyment of which in its sure efficacy we now enter by faith (in itself a far more interesting subject), but passages and subjects which might perplex the mind in reference to forgiveness and ecclesiastical authority. It will lead us into some inquiry as to the government of God and the discipline of His house; the kingdom of God and the so-called power of the keys. We may take the well-known passage in Matt. 16 as our point of departure.

The essential difference of the synoptical gospels and John's is that the three former show us Christ presented to the responsibility of man, and especially of the Jews in this world, with the result. While John's assumes the Jews to be reprobates, and develops sovereign grace and electing love in connection with the person of the Son of God as a man in this world, which, and not merely Judaism, is now seen as its sphere, and the gift of the Holy Ghost consequent on His going away. There is this peculiar to Luke amongst the three first, that in the first two chapters we have the deeply interesting picture of the godly remnant in Israel; then Christ traced up to Adam-(not from Abraham and David)-and grace comes out as revealed to man in Him more fully< In the Gospel of Matthew (which especially speaks of Christ as Emmanuel, Messiah), the narrative, which develops great principles more than facts in historical order, is arrived, in the chapter I refer to, at the point where the Jews had practically rejected the Savior; so that (verse 20) He charges the disciples that they should no longer tell that He was the Christ, and proceeds to show His disciples that He must suffer, and the substitution of the Church and the kingdom of Heaven for the Jewish system (in chap. xvi.), and the coming glory of the Son of man in His kingdom (in 17) are brought before us by the spirit of God. The Church and the kingdom of heaven form, consequently, the weighty revelation of the Lord in chap. xvi. On this let us dwell for a moment.

All is founded on the revelation of the person of the Son of God. Various opinions were formed by men as to Him, but the Father himself had revealed to Simon Barjonas that Jesus was the Son of the living God. On this rock Christ would build His Church. The true force of v. 18 is: " and I say also." That is, The Father had told Simon what Christ was, Christ tells him what he Simon is. He is Peter, or a stone. But on the doctrine of His person as Son of the living God Christ would build His Church. It was on a risen Christ, for this, was the public witness that He was Son of the living God, and all the power of Satan, who has the power of death, should not prevail against what Christ thus built. The important thing here to note is that Christ and Christ only is the builder. No man has any- thing to do with it, nor is that which Christ builds, yet finished. It is a building which continues till the whole temple is complete according to the mind of God. So when Peter speaks in his Epistle (1 Peter 2:4,5), he says, Unto whom coming as unto a living stone, ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house. We have no human builder. So in Eph. 2, Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple, in the Lord. In all this, we have no builder save Christ, and the building is only growing up to a temple in the Lord. I have spoken elsewhere of the contrast of this with 1 Cor. 3 where we have the agency and responsibility of man. Paul is a wise master builder; some might build with wood, hay and stubble, but be themselves saved, others corrupt the temple of the Lord and be themselves destroyed. Into this I do not enter further here. But they are looked at here as the temple of the Lord already, and God's building, not merely growing to it.

What we learn from Matt. 16 is that in the building against which the gates of hell do not prevail, man takes no part. It is Christ who builds; while in that in which man's responsibility is engaged, wood and hay and stubble may be built in and the work destroyed by fire. To confound these two things (a confusion on which the whole pretensions of Popery and Puseyism are built up) is most mischievous, and makes God answerable for man's evil work, and bound to maintain and sanction it. It is a very wicked doctrine.

Further, there are no keys to the Church. It and its building have nothing to do with the keys. Christ builds and does not build with keys. The keys are the insignia of the administration of the kingdom. These were in a special manner entrusted to Peter individually; but the passage gives him nothing to do with building the Church at all, nor does he pretend to it when he refers to this passage in his Epistle. He partakes in a remarkable manner of that on which the Church is founded. He is a stone, has part in the nature of the living stone, the Son of the living God, the truth on which the Church rests, but that is all. Of the kingdom of heaven he had the administration specially entrusted to him. The kingdom is not. the Church, and never will be. In a general way we may say, those who compose it have a part in the kingdom, will hereafter reign in it as they now suffer for it. It is the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ now; hereafter the kingdom and glory. Christ had, as John the Baptist had, preached the kingdom of heaven as at hand, as did the twelve (Matt. 10:7). When at length it was set up, though in no outward power, Peter had in an especial manner the administration of it as we see in the Acts. The Lord added to the Church daily (then openly) such as should be saved. This was His own work; but we see Peter, whether in testimony to Jews or Gentiles, or ordering the choice of deacons, or dealing with Ananias and Sapphira, having the administrative lead in the work. And what he preaches is the lordship of the ascended Man as a present thing (in chap. 2), and His return in power to accomplish the prophecies (in chap.3) The assembly was there, and the Lord added to it but the testimony was to the lordship of Christ, made Lord, and returning in power. In the case of Cornelius, the Church does not come in question. Peter never preaches once that Jesus is the Son of God. He is exalted, made Lord and Christ. In this administration of the kingdom, Heaven put its seal on his acts. Whatever he bound or loosed was bound or loosed with an authority which heaven sanctioned. I will speak of forgiveness in a moment, but in general what was established by Peter's apostolic authority in the administration of the kingdom, had heaven's seal put-upon it. But- in the-xvi. of Matthew, the keys have no connection with the Church, and Peter has nothing to do with building that church against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. Scripture never confounds the Kingdom and the Church.

Further, binding and loosing is not confined to forgiveness, even if, in a collateral way, it may include it, and it is only in such a way that it does. Whatever Peter established by the authority committed to him was sanctioned in heaven, as was also whatever two or three did, as really met in Christ's name. That too was sanctioned in heaven as much as Peter's administrative acts. But only what was within the competency or left to the service of the place he was put in, or of the two or three gathered in Christ's name. Heaven's sanction on what they did does not mean that they could determine all that heaven could. The sanction of all that an inferior authority does, is not saying that that inferior authority can do all that its superior is entitled to do or has to do. Many things may not be left to it. It is a question of what is rightly left. Thus " What you shall bind on earth shall be bound in, heaven " does not include binding anything in heaven. Whatever in Christianity belonged to heaven itself, whatever was done there, Peter and the Church had no power whatever. He bound things on earth and only there; his commission did not go further; what he did in these that heaven sanctioned; but he had nothing to say to what was bound or loosed in heaven itself. And this is of all importance when we come to certain points. He, Simon Barjonas, had the administration of the kingdom confided to him, backed by heaven's authority; a most important and solemn charge, but that was all.

The same, in its own sphere, is committed to any Christian assembly-two or three gathered together in Christ's name, for such is the assembly spoken of in Matt. 18; but no one dreams that such an assembly can bind beyond its own sphere of action, and determine things in heaven. W hat it does according to Christ's institution, heaven holds for good, but that does not confer a power of binding beyond the reach of its commission. Heaven's-sanction of what is within, is not the same thing as giving a power beyond its limits. I come now to the case of forgiveness.

All true Christians are forgiven, have received the forgiveness of their sins, and God will remember their sins and iniquities no more. God has quickened us together with Christ, having forgiven us all trespasses. I write unto you, says John, little children (addressing all Christians), because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. This can neither be bound or loosed by any one, for God has settled it. Remission of sins is the portion of every one who has the true standing of a Christian. He is accepted in the beloved. We have redemption through Christ's blood even the remission of sins. Through Christ (we read) all that believe are justified from all things. Christ is made righteousness to us of God. In the Old Testament this was not made clear.- There was occasional forgiveness, and the full acceptance of the person was not revealed, no more than the full character of sin. A sacrifice could be offered to atone for faults committed; for some there was no remedy; a prophet might be sent to proclaim the putting away of sin. It was administrative forgiveness. The righteousness of God was not revealed. In the Gospel it is. There was the forbearance of God, who did know, of course, why; but the end of the third of Romans makes this point quite clear-that the actual remission of sins according to the revealed righteousness of God came in by the Gospel-" Whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, to declare I say at this time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus. This is a most important sentence on this subject. God had been righteous in forbearing as to the sins of the Abrahams and Davids and others, because of the sacrifice of Christ; and that righteousness was now declared, and the ground of it seen. It was by Christianity God's righteousness (we read in Rom. 1) is now revealed, and Christ has been made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Hence peace-and remission of sins was to be preached in His name; all who believed were justified. The prophets witnessed that, through. His name, whoever believed in Him should receive remission of their sins, and this was now come and announced in the name of the Lamb slain, with the blessed testimony for those who received it, that their sins and iniquities would be remembered no more; that, sitting at the right hand of God, Christ was the perpetual witness there that the work was accomplished and owned of God, of which the Holy Ghost testified down here, come forth in virtue of Jesus being up there, and that Christ sits uninterruptedly there, because by one offering He has perfected in perpetuity those who are sanctified.

It is not at all a question as to sins committed to-day or to-morrow, but of a work done before we had committed any, into the present efficacy of which with God we enter, an efficacy which is of perpetual witness before God: that, further, we are in Him, accepted in the beloved, of which our life will be the practical proof for others, seeing that if we are in Him, He also is in us. This is not an administrative matter. It is the condition and standing of every true Christian. Peter preached this, and Paul preached this, as we may read in Acts 2;10;13, and the passages I have quoted from Rom. 1;3, and Hob. x. They preached it, and, so far as causing heathens or Jews to be received by baptism, administered it externally, though the latter act was accomplished by any and every Christian when the occasion presented itself; the apostles did it very rarely indeed. But a Christian was a forgiven, accepted person, according to the value and efficacy with God of Christ's work which never varied. He was accepted at all times in Christ, according to the abiding value of Christ's work. We have forgiveness, " all that believe are justified " are apostolic words. Once a person was a Christian, Simon Barjonas had nothing to do with administering this.

This leads me to another point in connection with this passage. It is a personal matter with Simon the son of Jonas; He was blessed by the revelation from the Father and the keys of the kingdom were given to him; he was Peter, he only so designated of the Lord: to him, and to him only were given the keys or administration of the kingdom of heaven; what he, Simon, bound on earth would be bound in heaven, what he would loose would be loosed. He was the first confidential and divinely guided servant of the Master of the house. That was wholly personal to him as the revelation of Christ by the Father to him was.

But the sanction of heaven on loosing and binding on earth is declared, in another place, to belong to another depository of power where it is not personal, which does not refer to the kingdom but to the church, and which if granted of God's grace may be found at any time while Christianity subsists, namely, wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, because Christ is there in the midst of them. This is no personal authority of any or all the members, but of an assembly because Christ is in their midst. The language of the passage is so plain that there would be no difficulty to any one, if habits of thought had not clothed it with a meaning which its language leaves no room for. If a brother should offend, the offended one was to seek to gain him; if that failed, he was to take one or two more, so that it might not rest on the injured one's statement alone, if it had to come into judgment. It that failed, he was to tell it to the assembly; if he refused to hear the assembly, he was to be counted as a heathen man. The Christian assembly took the place of the synagogue, and where the assembly had acted the judgment (till repentance) was final; the offender was held to be outside as a heathen. First, one was to go,- then he with others, then the assembly to be informed of it. It was the discipline of the gathered saints in any given place; and to make the matter precise we are told that wherever two or three are gathered in His name, Christ is in the midst of them. Nothing really can be simpler. There is not a word of clergy, nor ministers (however useful these latter may be by their gifts for service), nothing even of elders, though these had their local functions also. The point is, that where two or three are gathered in Christ's name, Christ is. This then 4 the abiding-seat of the exercise of that authority in its due sphere whose acts are sanctioned in heaven. The same authority given personally to Simon Barjonas was that authority conferred on the two or three gathered together in Christ's name, and exists wherever two or three are so gathered. This is a very important point. The perpetuity of the loosing and binding power is in two or three gathered together. It was personal in the chosen apostle and continued in none. It is a mistake to think that forgiveness alone is binding or loosing. What the apostle wrote was to be received as the commandments of the Lord.

A special case in connection with this is that of forgiving sins, only collaterally after all connected with the general authority of binding and loosing conferred on Simon. Forgiveness is much more directly connected with the communication of the Holy Ghost and the mission of the apostles in John 20 Matt. 16 has no direct reference to it. In Matt. 18 it comes as necessarily administratively involved in it, of which anon. John 20 was the general mission of the apostles which, as we have seen, had the forgiveness of sins for a principal object; indeed, as to the individual's state, repentance and remission of sins embraced the whole circle of its testimony, both of course in the name of Jesus. The apostles acted with the Lord's authority in this matter; Paul (as is fully declared by himself) coming in to partake of it from Christ Himself. But this forgiveness had a double character.

All Christians (as we have seen) were a forgiven people. They had redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. John would not have written to them but that they were all forgiven. " I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." God has quickened us with Christ, having forgiven us all trespasses. We are personally forgiven and accepted, our sins remembered no more, perfected forever. Either that is true or Scripture is not. So true that there is no more offering for sin; if they are not forgiven completely and forever (as regards the imputing of sin to us, and just, divine wrath against the sinner as to judgment), they never can be, because there is no more offering for sin, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. I do not talk of sins past, present, and future, for I ought not to think of sinning in future; it is a misapprehension leading to a reference to the time of 'the fault and the then change of the state of the individual needed for forgiveness but shuns its meritorious cause, instead of seeing one perfect work accepted of God as its ground, a work perfect and complete as accomplished by Christ for believers before or believers after, before believed in a hoped for, now accomplished and believed in, righteousness, revealed and accomplished propitiation. If will speak of time, all my sins were future when Christ bore them. But the true way is to see a complete work accepted of God in the acceptance and sweet savor of which we always stand. God for Christ's sake (in Christ) has forgiven us. This was the grand testimony of Christianity. Called thereby to repentance, men had received the remission of their sins by faith in Christ and they were to be remembered no more. They were justified. But besides reconciliation with God and man by the precious blood of the cross, there is the government of God's children.

God withdraws not His eyes from the righteous, says Elihu to Job, and then enlarges upon the ways of God in chastening the righteous, and their restoration to blessing on their humiliation under His hand. Just the lesson Job had to learn, and which is taught us in that book. The three friends insisted that this world was an adequate witness of the dealings of God with man as to good and evil, and, hence, that Job was a hypocrite; but we learn in it that it is when a man is righteous in God's sight, then it is that the dealings of God have their place for his practical profit and the acquirement of self-knowledge; that whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. This connects the idea of forgiveness or the contrary (not at all with imputation of sin as guilt, and condemnation as the consequence), but with the present infliction of chastisement, in displeasure doubtless, wrath if you please, in the righteous. If we judge ourselves we should not-be judged of the Lord, but when we (Christians) are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we might not be condemned with the world. When this chastening, or the forgiveness which is connected with relieving any one from it, is confounded with the forgiveness by which we are accepted and reconciled to God, redemption is not known at all. I do not say intentionally denied, but not known at all. A conscience purged by the blood of Christ has no more to do with guilt, or with the question of salvation. If he is not cleansed, forgiven, justified completely and forever he never can be, for Christ cannot die again, and as the apostle reasons, were it not so, he must suffer often, for that only puts away sin. He suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust. Christ is his righteousness, and he is in Christ before God. But for that very reason God will not allow any evil in him. He chastens for our profit that we may be partakers of His holiness.

Let us see what Scripture says of forgiveness in respect of these dealings of God with the righteous, whether using the word forgiveness, or practically referring to the thing. The whole book of Job is a history of it. I quote particularly chap. 33, " He openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, etc., He is chastened with pain upon his bed.... If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show unto man his uprightness, then He is gracious to him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. He shall pray unto God, and He will be favorable unto him, and he shall see His face with joy." Here the man is not spoken of as righteous; but the dealings are in grace for correction; and when set right, the hand of God is removed from upon him. In chap. 36 it is expressly the righteous man who is dealt with. Again then He opens their ear to discipline, and if they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, if they obey not, they shall perish with the sword and die without knowledge. The Psalms are full—of this principle; it is; so to speak, their-main subject, though founded on atonement. " Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest out of thy law; that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity (94) The Lord has chastened me sore, but he path not given me over unto death (118) Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. In the New Testament we have a positive intelligent intervention of the saints in the administration of this forgiveness. First, indeed, men are called upon to judge themselves that they may not come under chastisement (1 Cor. 11:31,32). But we have two cases where other saints have to say to it besides apostolic power: discipline, and the supplication of brethren, or the elders' prayer of faith. And, first, in respect of discipline. The wicked man had been put out from the midst of the assembly. This, while purifying the assembly from evil, had brought the offender to his senses, and he was profoundly humbled about his sin. The apostle directs the assembly to forgive him; the punishment had been sufficient, and they were again to show their love to him. ft was no question of His being the righteousness of God, or of his part in it, but of the government of the Church, and the maintenance of its holiness here below. The wicked man could not enjoy in his wickedness the blessed privileges that belonged to it. He was excluded; now, humbled and penitent, he was to be forgiven. It was the present administration and government of the Church down here, and sanctioned of. heaven. At the same time, the apostle uses his apostolic authority; and as he had judged the case himself, so now he forgives (2 Cor. 2:7,10). He had the same authority as that given to the apostles in John 20, and the assembly at Corinth was to exercise concurrently its own in dealing with the case. The apostle was careful there should be no jar between the two. This is the force of verses 10, IL The intervention of any Christian, in favor of a sinning brother, we find in 1 John 5 A sin may bring death on a Christian, bodily death in this world, and that in a twofold way irremediably, so that he cannot be prayed for because of the character of the sin; such was Ananias and Sapphira; or, it may result in death, if he be not humbled. As we and in Job, " because there is wrath beware, lest He take thee away with a stroke." If they obey not they shall perish. That is, when he opens their ear to discipline. The Christian is expected here to discern where the sin has a character which draws out terror and indignation, not intercession. But if it is a sin not to death, though unrepented of, it may lead to the sinning brother's bane-t' cut off, taken away with a stroke; then prayer is to be made, and the life of the sinning brother will be spared. He is in this sense forgiven. The threatened result of his sin is turned aside by the intercession. So, in Job 42:8, the effect of God's displeasure is to be averted by the intercession of Job. In James it is the elders' prayer of faith. A Christian was sick, he was to send for the elders of the assembly, and they were, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, to pray for him, and the prayer of faith would restore the sick to health, the Lord would raise him up, and if he had committed sins they would be forgiven him; evidently implying that if those sins had been the occasion of his sickness, it would not hinder the efficacy of the prayer, but the sins would be forgiven, and the man restored to health. We have thus the various phases of administrative forgiveness. God, in His government, no longer held the offender liable to judgment according to that government exercised here below, not as a question of acceptance in Christ, but the government of His children. It might be chastening from himself, or it might be also the assembly's discipline. It does not refer to final judgment: the believer has boldness for the day of judgment, because as Christ is, so is he in this world; but he is, as calling on the Father, and knowing he is redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot and without blemish, to pass the time of his sojourning here in fear, for the Father judges every man according to his works. Now, as regards the final judgment, the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son, but there is the judgment of our ways in the path towards the glory obtained by Christ for us. There is a judgment of the ways of all. The unrepentant are heaping up wrath against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, but God withdraws not His eyes from the righteous, and it is our God who is a consuming fire. Where true gold is it purges away the dross. There may be tribulation for good, in which we can glory; there may be chastening for actual transgression, under which we have to humble ourselves; there may be discipline which applies correctively to our state, and even, as in the case of Paul, anticipates the evil for our blessing. We have to distinguish the obsolete forgiveness and acceptance of the believer from the forgiveness which applies to Divine discipline, or even Church discipline when we are accepted, the effect of the eyes of God being on the righteous. The denial of the fullness—of the former is the great plague of modern Christianity. It will be resisted and calumniated as every important truth will; but if the word of God be true, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, and are purged, have no more conscience of sins, by one offering are perfected forever. This the Old Testament saints did not know. Christianity is the revelation of the righteousness of God. It is that that made the apostle boast of it (Rom. 1 in. It was then that righteousness was declared. God's discipline, and the assembly's judgment (for it judges those within), forgiveness, as to present displeasure with the conduct of the children, come in when acceptance is perfect and apply to the righteous and accepted children. In the Old Testament these were not distinguished with the same clearness, because the full remission of sins was not yet revealed, nor Divine righteousness, so that this distinction could not be brought out, for it depended on that remission and standing in righteousness our entrance into the holiest through the rent, veil. Hence, even Protestants who have not the consciousness of this standing are at a loss as to forgiveness. Some remarks may have their just place here. First-It may be remarked that all the chastening is from God's hand, even when wicked men are the instruments urged on by Satan. God it is who has set Satan at work as an instrument, as we see in the book of Job. The interpreter, the man-of prayer, may be the means of removing the evil, but no human authority imposes any. Chastening discipline is the judgment of the Lord, a Father's hand upon His child; it has nothing to do with the Church, nor the Church with it. The Church or assembly only acts on proof of evil, by putting out from itself, and so clearing itself, and bringing back when the person is humbled. It judges those within, and forgives when there is just ground for it. The Lord chastens in love to make us partakers of His holiness. He forgives and removes the chastening, when there is just occasion for that. An individual's prayer may avert death when wrath is there, or the prayer of the elders of the Church, if the prayer of faith may restore to health when sickness is discipline, and forgiveness be granted. God may see occasion to inflict permanent chastisement, as Jacob halted all his life. Full remission of sins was not known under the Old Testament; its announcement is of the essence of Christianity, and peace with God through justification. An unjustified believer is a contradiction in terms, all that believe are justified; but justification if it be more, is certainly imputing no sin. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is pardoned; blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no sin; but to him that believes in Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is imputed to Him for righteousness.

Let me add that delivering to Satan is an act of power -putting out a wicked person a duty attached to the faithfulness of the assembly. No doubt exclusion from the assembly of God is a very serious thing, and leaves us exposed to sorrow and just trouble of heart, and that from the enemy: but direct delivering to Satan is the act of positive power. It was done in Job's case for his good. It was done by Paul in 1 Cor. 5, though acting in the gathered assembly, for the destruction of the flesh. And again, without reference to the assembly, in 1 Tim. 1, as to Hymenmus and Alexander, that they might learn not to blaspheme. All discipline is for the correction of the individual, though to maintain withal the holiness of the house of—God, and clear the _consciences of the saints themselves.

We must not confound what the Church binds, being bound in heaven, with the Church being able to bind and loose all that heaven can. What the Church, (that is, two or three gathered in Christ's name), binds in the sphere committed to them according to the word, that is sanctioned by heaven. But the Church has nothing to do with forgiving sins, in the sense of not imputing guilt, or making a person righteous; that heaven (that is God Himself) has done as regards the believer; and the Church can neither bind nor loose it. It has no power or jurisdiction in this sense at all. It has a sphere of discipline in which it forgives or judges, and its righteous acts in that sphere are sanctioned on high. And it is important to remark, that the binding and loosing is, in Matt. 16, conferred on Simon Barjonas in the administration of the kingdom of heaven. He has nothing to do with the Church there. That Christ builds. When the Church forgives, it is an assembly, it may be of two or three gathered together in Christ's name. The apostles could administer forgiveness, and did, in receiving into the Church of God, persons called in by grace (John 20). Paul acts in the same power, and owns it in the assembly then in respect of discipline; the distinction of which, from not imputing guilt, I have already noticed. Simon Barjonas binding and loosing had nothing to do with the Church. Two or three gathered in the Lord's name do it in Church matters. It has nothing to do with any supposed authority of the Church as a whole.

My Gospel

In order to be able clearly to apprehend what the Apostle Paul calls " My Gospel," it is necessary for us: to understand what preceded it. Judgment, which is se great a quality of the spiritual mind, is the power of nicely distinguishing between two points in which, there is the -least difference; and where there is a spiritual mind, its aim is ever to distinguish things that differ.; and whenever this distinction is not made, and in proportion as this is lost sight of, there is not only ignorance, but defect in the exercise of the spiritual mind, which would have grappled with it, and through grace have counteracted it. The Word is given us to guide and instruct the spiritual mind, and to lead it to that judgment which would set the truth in its due place and order. I propose, therefore, to examine the Gospel which was proclaimed and taught before there was any revelation unto Paul; and having done so, to present as clearly and fully as I can, the Gospel entrusted to Paul as to its nature, characteristics, etc. I know and feel that I undertake a task which, though so interesting, is so little known, that if I had not the assurance of the Lord's mercy in helping and encouraging every little effort of His people, to clear His truth of any mixture which leavens it, I could not attempt it. But with this conviction, I assure myself that any, however feeble, tracing out and presentation of the truth as it has been revealed, will be helpful and useful.

First, then, I would examine the nature and scope of the Gospel preached during our Lord's walk on the earth; and then, the Gospel preached after His resurrection, until the revelation given to the Apostle Paul. I trust that every student of Scripture will admit that there is some difference, at least, in the Gospel preached in each of these three periods. It must surely need but few words to convince a Christian that the Gospel which was preached before the death of Christ, could not be the same, as to fullness, as that preached after His resurrection. It is true that when Mark commences the narrative of our blessed Lord's ministry (Chapter 1:1) he calls it " the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God;" but this passage indicates the nature of the narrative which he was about to give; that is, good tidings relating to Him as the Son of God, rather than the nature or subject-matter of the Gospel preached. This last (the Gospel preached) is definitely stated in verse 14 of the same chapter, where it is said, " Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel." Now, what was that Gospel? Surely not the same as that preached by the Apostles after the resurrection, or as that revealed to Paul. It was the Gospel of the kingdom of God, as Mark plainly tells us; and that was, that God's kingdom was now offered to the Jew in the person of the Heir. Now the effect of repenting and believing this Gospel is set forth in the prayer which our Lord taught His disciples, who, as the faithful of that day, had accepted this Gospel. It was good tidings that God was offering to man His kingdom in His Son, the Heir of all. The disciples believed this and hence our Lord teaches them a prayer expressive of the state of soul which they, as believing in this Gospel, should have; that is to say, they, through grace, were bound to have the sentiments which that prayer comprised. Prayer when true properly expresses the relation in which the soul stands with God. You cannot, if you pray truly, take higher relation than that in which you are set. When you pray to God you present yourself in that relation which you feel is alone justifiable before Him; that which you can truly assume. If I pray to God assuming a false relation, I must, on the face of it, feel in my conscience that I disown the nature of God; that I lose the sense of His being God. Even ordinarily, if I make a petition: to one who knows my condition, I am careful not to represent it in a false light, not to presume on my claim and relation beyond what I think will be acceptable. We find in Luke 8:1 That the Lord " went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings (or Gospel) of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with Him." And then in Chapter 11 when " He had ceased praying, one of His disciples said unto him, Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray say, Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." In this prayer the Lord teaches His disciples to address God as their Father, because He had been exhibited here on earth in His Son, who could say, " he that bath seen me hath seen the Father." Hence He requires of them to address God in this name. " Hallowed be thy name," shows that they were on earth, and desiring that the Father might be hallowed on earth; and as hallowed, that His kingdom might come; the kingdom of which the good tidings or Gospel had been proclaimed by the Lord Himself. The Gospel of the kingdom was a Gospel, but this prayer shows the extent and position in which, under divine teaching, that Gospel placed souls before God. No one can study the subjects contained in this prayer without seeing that the condition of soul described as expressing itself therein does not go beyond this earth. And while it treats done believing in God on the earth, there is no thought of heaven in it. The " kingdom " is God's earthly kingdom, and the highest desire is to have God's will done here, as in heaven; while for oneself daily bread was the measure of desire; a looking for forgiveness according to their practical power to forgive, and this with preservation from temptation and deliverance from evil. Surely all this very clearly describes to us the state in which the believers in the Gospel of the kingdom were placed. Nothing was assured; everything was in expectation. They had accepted it; they believed in God; but as such, the Lord could not teach them more than this prayer embraced.. He gave them the words which to the utmost suited their condition; and no believer could now really be satisfied with a condition Which did not go beyond this. God is addressed as Father, it is true, but when this relationship is fully known as now, through the "spirit of the Son," it only makes the condition in which this prayer supposes and sets one, the more unsatisfying; for surely, as such, I should expect and ask Him for more than is here set forth. Surely the prodigal, the thief on the cross, every Christian, now knows Him in a higher, an inconceivably higher way than this prayer presents. I adduce it merely to show the position in which the. Gospel of the kingdom as preached before Christ's death set souls before God. And if I go further and note the manner and ways of the Apostles at this time, I see in them no moral power, no correct idea of the things of God, though they, to the joy and rest of their hearts, were in a surpassing way sheltered by Jesus in person. Would saints in the present day approve of being, or consent to be no better in power, hope, or intelligence thin the Apostles before the resurrection, who slept when asked to watch with Him, and who all forsook Him and fled?

And, " as yet they knew not the Scriptures that He must rise from the dead." Now, these were' believers in the Gospel of the kingdom, and in the spirit of their minds they were according to the prayer in Luke 11 Hence, when saints now-a-days limit their standing to that prayer, they cannot practically rise above the Apostles at that hour, in power, hope, or intelligence; and, sad as it is to say it, they literally do not!

Now on the resurrection of Jesus the Gospel obtains a remarkable breadth and fullness not known before that great event. The Lord not only stands in their midst, a risen One, assuring them of peace, but He breathes on them, and says, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:19-23). Now they are to realize that they not only believe in God, but also in Him. And they receive from Him the commission, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned " (Mark 16:15,16). Here in precise and unmistakeable language is declared to us the blessing of the Gospel now to be proclaimed. The Gospel at that time was that every one believing in Jesus risen, and taking his place in accordance with this fact on earth through baptism, would be saved. The Gospel now conveyed salvation, and the power of the Holy Ghost on earth, but nothing beyond this. " These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly -thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." And we read (ver. 20) the Apostles " went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." It is important to notice the nature and character of the Gospel presented; because according to it must be the consequent blessing; and if I, like Apollos, preach only the baptism of John, as he did at Ephesus, is it any wonder that the believers at Ephesus, as we see from Acts 19 knew nothing more, and never had heard that the Holy Ghost was now on earth? The Gospel that I preach is of all importance, for though God (blessed be His name!) saves and secures blessing for me according to His love in Christ, still my sense of it, my joy and strength because of the blessing, must be determined by my knowledge and faith in the nature of the blessing. Now if some have not advanced beyond the Gospel preached during our Lord's life here, many more think they have gained the heights of grace when they proclaim with much energy and faithfulness the truth that salvation follows, and is assured to the soul on believing in a risen Christ. It is doubtless a truth of unspeakable magnitude that a lost sinner-at a distance from God and under fear of judgment-finds himself now, through faith in Jesus Christ, fully and finally saved by Him. It marks a new and wondrous era in the grace and mercy of God; and on the descent of the Holy Ghost Peter insists on this blessed truth, showing that the manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost was indicative of the time when it should be fulfilled, and " it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21). And further (ver. 36) " Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." The Savior was Lord and Messiah; and hence, in verse 40, he calls, on them "saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received His word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." I give this large quotation in order to show where the Gospel then preached set souls. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved [or, the saved]. Saved was the great leading characteristic of those who had accepted the Gospel. And on earth they were in the unity of Christ's body by the Holy Ghost, though that truth had not as yet been revealed. Now this Gospel, as far as we have seen; does not present heaven before the soul; nor does it separate man from the earth. True, it sets man so in the power of the Spirit, that selfishness has lost its influence and rule; for they "had all things common." But a hope apart from and outside earth is not presented, nor are they regarded as no longer connected with man as men on earth. On the contrary, they are a beautiful expression of God's grace to man on earth; individual selfishness set aside in the power of the bond which united them; "with one accord they continued daily in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." They kept up the earthly order divinely established, while they maintained the new bond, and the testimony to it at the same time. The Gospel that they had received was that Jesus was risen, and that he was appointed of God both Lord and Christ. And now in the power of the Holy Ghost they were in unity, but still as yet their hope was not apart from earth, nor did they regard themselves as apart from relation thereto; though they held that relation in view of their risen Lord, whose return to it they announced. It may seem almost unnecessary that I should dwell so long on this point; but it is of great moment in tracing the history of the Gospel; for it will be found that practically many earnest souls in the present day have not got beyond the Gospel of Acts 2; though alas! without arriving at the blessed results manifested there; which really now could not be manifested because the earthly connection has terminated. Are there not saints now who being assured of salvation, meet as saved ones to support an earthly order, while admitting also an expression of spiritual union, which the breaking of bread indicates; who are thinking more of their relation to earth than of their hope and place in heaven; and who regard the coming of the Lord in the light of His return to the earth, more than in that of their meeting Him in the air.

But to proceed. In Acts 3 Peter and John go up together to the temple at the hour of prayer; and there at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, they in the name of Jesus tell the lame man to walk. And when all the people ran together unto them, greatly wondering, in the porch that is called Solomon's, Peter answered them by an address, in which, if we read to the close of the chapter, we shall find that he impresses on them two points-one, that Jesus, whom they had crucified, God had raised up; that His power was present to bless; that His name, through faith in His name, had made this man strong; " Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." This is the first point, because to them first, as we read in ver. 26, " God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from His iniquities." Now the other point which comes out in this discourse is (ver. 19, 20) that "the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you: whom the heavens must receive, until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Up to this moment this was the hope presented to the Church. " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." They knew their Lord had gone into heaven, but they expected His return; and they connected all their ideas of the place He went to prepare for them with His return. His promise to them in John 14 was that he would come again to receive them unto Himself, that where He was, there they should be also; but however they understood this, it is evident from Peter's sermon, as well as the testimony of the angels, that up to this moment His return to earth was their great cardinal hope.

In the next chapter (Acts 4) we find that the " chief priests and captains of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them (Peter and John), being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day." Now after this marked rejection of their testimony by the leaders of the people and the heads of the nation of Israel; the apostles, it appears to me, adopt another style in their testimony. It is from henceforth more of the character of warning and denunciation, as from men forewarned and prepared for the rejection of it. Peter addresses the rulers of the people, and the elders of Israel, and for the first time alludes to their rejection of Christ. " This is the stone which was set at naught by you builders, which is become head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Salvation is the great point insisted on; a Savior "under heaven" not yet as seen in glory; and the more unpromising everything seemed around, the more distinctly and entirely would their testimony be confined to this momentous subject. And hence we read (ver. 33) "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resur, rection of the Lord Jesus." " And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women" (Chapter v. 14). But now the High Priest, etc., laid hands-on the apostles (not only on two now) and put them in the common prison; and' when they are brought forth and set before the council; Peter and the other apostles answered and said, "We ought to obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised up, Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with. His right, band to be a Prince and a.

Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And ive are His witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him." Now two things are presented here;-Christ risen and a Savior, and the Holy Ghost here on earth in testimony thereof. And this is the last recorded exposition of the gospel which Peter preached before the death of Stephen; for in the next two chapters we are told how the people and the elders and the scribes came upon Stephen and caught him, and brought him to the council; and then deliberately they not only rejected but stoned, to death the witness of the Holy Ghost who, by the word of God, appealed to their consciences not to resist the Holy Ghost. Thus, as before in the death of John the Baptist, they had proclaimed their opposition to Him whom John proclaimed; so now by the stoning of Stephen, they openly unmask and expose the hatred and rebellion of their hearts to a glorified Christ. It is now declared that there is no acceptance of Him on earth by His own people; but on the contrary, there is in act, the open avowal, " We will not have this man to reign over us." Hence, it is easy to see that the hope of Christ's return to earth, which was the hope of the' gospel preached by Peter and the apostles up to this time, can no longer be insisted on. Stephen is taken to glory with Jesus, instead of waiting here for His-return to earth as its true and only king. Now, taking into account that the gospel up to this moment set forth three things especially-1. Salvation through a risen Savior; 2. The presence of the Holy Ghost here on earth; 3. Christ's return to earth as King of Israel it is plain, that if the hope, which necessarily is a very important part of the gospel, has been set aside, a very great and momentous change must take place in the gospel to be presented. I study to be very careful and accurate here; because the point of transition, the point of juncture, between the gospel hitherto preached by the apostles, and that which, consequent on the death of Stephen, was committed to Saul of Tarsus, is one of extreme interest and importance. Christ coming from heaven to earth has been deliberately, defiantly, and outrageously refused. His witness, being stoned, has been taken to be with Him where He is;-now comes the call of Saul of Tarsus; and the gospel which is now revealed and committed to him, sets forth how God in His grace, and according to Himself, will disclose the purpose and fullness of His heart.

(a We see from Peter's epistle how he impresses on the saints who are scattered abroad " that the inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away." How suitable and fitting when everything here had been broken up.)

The Lord Jesus Christ tells Saul, " I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." And what does Saul "see "? Not only Christ risen, but Christ in glory. Stephen had seen Him there, and had consigned his spirit to Him whom he had seen there; but Saul sees Him, and is commissioned to be a minister and a witness of the things which he sees. Here then was the introduction of the gospel of God according to the fullness of His heart and purpose. To be a minister and a witness of the things which he had seen, defined and embraced the principle and scope of Paul's commis sion. Can any one for a moment hesitate to accept the beautiful order of this wondrous gospel beginning and consummated in the bright, full circle of God's presence and glory? We have seen that salvation through a risen Savior could be and was known, and the saints maintained (through the Holy Ghost here on earth) in one mind and one soul, remembering the death of Christ in the breaking of bread, while they were still linked to earth and to the temple services; and their hope entirely connected with the earth, as awaiting their Lord's return. But now that this hope could no longer be presented on account of Christ's rejection from the earth, God unfolds* through Christ the deep full counsel of His heart; and the scene where all this can be displayed is the glory into which Saul of Tarsus is now introduced; and seeing Jesus in the glory, is the pivot and the center of that gospel which is now entrusted to him.

The nature and scope of this gospel we shall best ascertain by tracing the lines of truth expounded in Paul's writings, which like rays, emanating from Christ, the Center and Source, lead the heart back to Himself, and feed it with His excellency and glory. Saul's first sermon gives us a clear idea of the power and greatness of the gospel committed to him. He preached that " Christ is the Son of God " (Acts 9:20). It is not merely His official dignity, or His immediate use to souls;-it is not that He is a " Prince and a Savior;" -but that He is the Son of God. What good tidings! what wondrous tidings for any believing soul,-that his Savior is the Son of God, and that through grace, he is united to Him! The moment I get to this, I get to the outside of what merely belongs to man, to earth, and to the first creation; and am set in God, (how blessed!) and then I begin to comprehend the wonderful unfoldings of Him and His life as set forth in John's gospel. Saul has seen Christ in glory; in the divine region, and as He has seen Him there, he can accept nothing lower. He has been introduced to the highest level, and according to this must his gospel be in everything. The higher we go the more we are dissociated from that which is inferior, but further, we seek the more to rise to, and maintain the level to which we are raised. One may be restrained like Joseph from expressing oneself, or like our blessed Lord while walking through this world; but no one can know a higher order of things, and know it, so as to find his life only there, and be contented to ignore it or to surrender all hope of reaching it. To be so, is to be a moral Nebuchadnezzar, reduced from the highest dignity to take his place among the lowest.. It is impossible, I say, for me to see the high origin from which I spring, and be content Nebuchadnezzar-like to take a low carnal place: if I keep true to my origin, I must resist and refuse everything which opposes or checks the maintenance of it. I may put up with any manner of thing here as long as I do not know my high origin in Christ; but once I know it, there is -a moral necessity that I should accept nothing which would mar, cloud, or interfere with it; nay, on the contrary, I seek and cultivate everything which will contribute to, and establish me in my true condition. Hence, it is of great importance that I should see and present to the soul that Christ is the simplembject of faith; and as He, in glory, is the object of my faith, and as He who s there controls my heart, I learn that everything I have to do with, must be consistent, and in keeping with Him who is the foundation of all blessing to me. Christ is the Son of God; and the soul once in faith laying hold of this truth, according as it is-occupied with Him grows in knowledge and strength, and longs to see itself in everything in conformity to Him. As He is known to be the spring and fountain of blessing, so everything is refused and set aside which is not of Him. The Savior in glory before God once seen by faith is a starting-point of incomparable value; and, when simply maintained, the manner and ways of God's grace are then easily seen and apprehended. We sometimes try to comprehend the manner and ways of His grace, without seeing the simple starting-point of the gospel now. Christ, God's Son in glory, is the center for the soul to rest in, and it is as this, the foundation and starting point, is rested in that we are prepared to understand the nature of our position before God as opened out in Paul's epistles.

Let us turn to Paul's epistles, and seek to gather from them the characteristics proper to those who have received the gospel committed to Paul. The characteristics indicate the origin and nature; and the nature and origin in action, always express the characteristics.

In the epistle to the Romans where Paul calls the gospel, God's gospel (chap. 1:1), the gospel of His Son (ver. 9), and " my gospel" (chap. 16:25), the first characteristic we find of it is justification through faith, because God's righteousness is revealed in Christ. Here the line and order of truth is, that man, whether: under law or not, is without righteousness, but that, outside and apart from man, God has. brought in righteousness through His Son, and therefore that He is just to justify every one believing in Christ. The righteousness of God is thus a characteristic of Paul's gospel. If you have received his gospel you have found yourself in the righteousness which God in Christ reveals to faith.

Now the righteousness of God is established in the Cross of Christ-He bearing in Himself the judgment on man, so that there is an end of that which offended against God. He is made sin for us that we should be made the righteousness of God in Him. There is then an end of man as man was; the old man is crucified with Christ. Hence with the righteousness of God there is another characteristic, viz., the end of man in the flesh. Then comes life eternal-" Grace reigns through righteousness unto life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord." The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. A further characteristic is that " ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit." It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which has made me free from the law of sin and death (Chapter. 8:2), and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His (ver. 9). Here then, we have four leading characteristics of Paul's gospel; and if I am established according to it, as he prays that I may be (Chapter 16:25), I must have learned that it confers on me, and sets me in, four distinct blessings:-1. In righteousness according to God; 2. The end of the old man; 3. In eternal life in Christ Jesus; 4. Possessing the Spirit of Christ-all summed up in Rom. 8:10. " If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Let the soul endeavor to embrace all that is in this epistle conferred on it by Paul's gospel;-righteousness -the righteousness of God established by Christ;-the ending of the old man;-the gift of eternal life;-the Spirit of Christ; so that Christ in me is the summing up, as well as the fullness of blessing. One who has received and is established in this gospel is in divine righteousness-is freed from the old man before God-is in the eternal life of the Son of God-has Christ's Spirit, and Christ is in him. What deep and wondrous blessings!

The gospel in this epistle only reaches so far as to set the soul in Christ; and as may be seen from a study of it, the Spirit of God first shows how both Jew and Gentile have failed as men to do anything to please God; but on the contrary that there was none righteous, no not one; and at this point the apostle introduces his gospel.

Now in the epistle to the Galatians, we get this highest point (being in Christ) fully explained and unfolded. In this epistle the saints had gone back from the teaching of the gospel, which had set them in the Spirit, and they were now seeking perfection in the flesh. They were not like the Romans who were ignorant of the gospel. The Galatians had retrograded; they had begun in the Spirit; they did run well. And hence the way the apostle brings the light of the gospel to bear on them is quite different from the way he deals with the Romans; and therefore, he opens out powers and properties in the truth of it, which are not so fully declared in the epistle to the Romans. In Galatians, as it is most interesting to observe' the apostle begins with the fact of being in Christ the Son of God, outside of man altogether. He is an apostle " not of man, neither by man." And again; (Chapter 1:11, 12) " I certify unto you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." And then he explains in ver. 15, 16, what he received himself, and what it was. " It pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal his Son in me." This is the great point. God had revealed His Son in him. This gives a definite character to the nature of the gospel., In Romans, we are gradually brought to this point as the grand total, as indeed it is. But here, this total is the starting point. Paul now addresses those who had declined from the true path; the path of the Spirit, outside and apart from the flesh. If I have begun with Christ, God's Son revealed in me, it is not in the flesh I live, but Christ liveth in me. And "the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). And I myself am crucified with Christ; and if I be crucified, it is senseless to revive that in myself for which He was crucified. The great point the apostle insists on as conclusive against the existence of man in the flesh, and therefore against the re-assumption of it by a Christian, is that " God had sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons God bath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.":Paul's gospel is definite and conclusive on this point. The believer receives the Spirit of Christ; Christ lives in him; and if he departs from this, he departs from Paul's gospel, which he preached to the Galatians in infirmity; but they had received him as an angel of God; even as Christ Jesus. And now that they had gone back from it, he has only to tell them-I must go Over all the old ground. " My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you," chap: 4:19. This is the point they had lost sight of; and this is the one which he will take all pains-travail in birth again, until it be restored; even that Christ should be formed in them. I need not pursue this further; but it is important to see how simply and fully Paul's gospel sets us in Christ.; and that " they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." Everything of it is ignored and set aside judicially; and if judicially set aside, it cannot legally be resumed. But this truth certifies and simply determines man's state as in the flesh before God. And the apostle does not make this an attainment-an advance in knowledge.; but shows it as affecting the foundation of Christianity; that it is the kernel of his gospel, and that anything else is not the gospel, and not to be attended to; even though preached by an angel.: Nay, that " if any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed." In this epistle, the great point is, that I am in, Christ. Hence, it is not certain great characteristics and virtues that I have received, which are presented to me as in Romans. It is impressed on me that I am in a new order of' existence; after another order of man::Christ lives in rne. It is not that the old man has received additions and advantages as in a legal religion; but that I am made anew of Him who is the Son of God;' and that the old man has been superseded and judicially put an end to in His cross; being crucified with Christ, it has no longer any recognized existence before God; while I, in my new creation, am in Christ, and He lives in me. These are two points of the very highest importance and their presentation in this epistle, as the very kernel of Paul's gospel, is most interesting and complete.

Thus far we have, I trust, seen how the Gospel places the soul before. God in relation to Him, and also with relation to his old man. Now this was very partially unfolded in the gospel preached by Peter. He preached salvation, perfect and final, through a risen Savior, and-:the present indwelling of the Holy Ghost; great elements it will be admitted, in the truth revealed- to Paul; but they did not set aside man as entirely and judicially ended in the cross of Christ; nor connect the soul with Christ as its life and head, though the -saints possessed it -through the Holy Ghost..

But there is another characteristic of Paul's gospel which we must notice before we attempt to say succinctly what it embraces. And that is the hope connected with it, as well as the appointed inheritance attached to it. In Col. 1:5 we read, " the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye have heard before in the truth of the gospel." And again, in ver. 23, " be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.". Also, in ver. 27, where the hope is presented as connected with Christ-" Christ in you the hope of glory." Now these quotations establish the great fact, that there is a hope connected with the gospel of such importance that- it is one of its main characteristics. Nay, that the apostle comprises all the blessings conferred by the gospel Under, two heads;: viz., faith-and hope. As for faith, it will easily and readily be admitted, as that power by which the soul-enters into and enjoys one great part of the provision of the gospel what we are in Christ; and...hope-;what We shall be must also be admitted as securing and embracing the rest: What we have hitherto seen as characteristic of the gospel committed to Paul, peculiarly referred to the grace and the manner of it, by which we, who were of the first Adam and under judgment, have been delivered there from, and raised into an entirely new and inconceivably higher existence in Christ; so that we have found ourselves set in Christ. But now comes the inquiry, Are we for heaven or for earth? What is our proper sphere, and what our inheritance?

Now if we turn to 1 Cor. 1, we see that the wisdom of God is made ours through the cross of Christ, Chapter 1:30, " Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom." Now this wisdom, in Chapter ii. 9, is described, " Eye bath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." They do not enter into man's heart; they are revealed by His Spirit that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Then, in the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, (Chapter iii.) the apostle sets forth that as the ministration of death was connected with glory which was to be annulled, how much more should the ministration of the Spirit be from glory. " If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more Both the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." The argument is, that if that which condemns is from glory, how much more that which is the expression of God's righteousness! Thus righteousness is the ground for the opening out of the glory fully; and of our unhindered entrance into it. While there was a demand for righteousness on us who had none, it was of course a ministration of condemnation; but when there issued from it, according to its own majesty, a ministration of righteousness established in the Son of God, there could then be no longer any check or vail, to the glory in its fullness. When the citizens on earth refused the Lord from heaven, Jesus in the glory was seen by Stephen, whose spirit departs to be there with Him. Hereon, Paul is called to be a minister and a witness of the things which he had seen; God will now open out in glory with Christ a place for His people. Christ has been refused His rightful place on earth; and God in His wondrous grace, now opens out glory where Christ is, as the home and hope of His members on earth. There is a ministration of righteousness from the divine presence, so complete through Christ (by whom all sin has been taken away,) that the glory in divine freeness and fullness, is able to receive and be the home of every one who is in Christ. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." It is the sphere where Christ is, where God in all His greatness and intrinsic blessedness expresses Himself in His Son. And to this sphere we are introduced by the gospel, because Christ is there. Thus it is to the apostle the " mark" known to him at his conversion; but kept in view " and followed after " all through his course; and to each of us, according to our acquaintance with Christ, it is, or should be, the same.

But it is also our hope, for we " rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory."

Now there are two things connected with glory which give a finished view, a complete idea of Paul's gospel. One is our inheritance there, from which we derive our present position in heaven; and the other, the resurrection of our bodies. The apostle says, in Rom. 8, " we are saved by hope." And as I have already noted from Col. 1:5, the word " hope, which is laid up in heaven;" was " heard in the word of the truth of the gospel." The gospel includes this hope; nay, the hope was a main part of it, and is therefore called the " hope of the gospel,'.' from which the saints were not to be moved; and which many, seeing it so distinctly insisted on, and not understanding what it truly meant, explained as the hope of salvation eventually. Now, it is as set with Christ in glory (glory being the sphere proper to our membership with Christ, that the formative process morally to that glory takes place in us) that we are "transformed from glory to glory:" Butin this glory there is an inheritance for us. Therefore the apostle prays, " that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, arid what the riches of the glory of His inheritance," of which the Spirit is now the earnest. It is beyond my subject to speak of the inheritance, but I merely desire to assure the heart of the fact that, in connection with Paul's gospel, and because of the sphere in which the believer in Christ is thereby set, there is an inheritance " incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you," (as Peter speaks of it) in that glory in which our association with Christ is now through the Spirit (and not merely in the future), and where we are now transformed into His image. For besides having an inheritance which is future (as Peter presents it) and which is properly the " hope," we are now seated in Christ in heavenly places; we are through faith made now to know that we have a place " prepared for us in heaven. In a word, heaven, as a definite place, is our place, and that to which we belong even now. Glory is too indefinite an idea; for wherever God manifests Himself there the glory is; but heaven is a definite place, and in this definite place, we are now seated in Christ Jesus. And hence we are the heavenly family, as surely and distinctly as there will be an earthly family. It is not only that the inheritance is in heaven, but we are now by faith seated there, because partaking of the power of Him who has been raised up, above all principality and power, and has sat down at God's right hand in the heavenly places. He is there the head of the body, the Church, of which the Spirit is the unity; which truth Paul calls " the mystery of the gospel" (Eph. 6:19); and we in spirit now reach up through His power to a sense of our exaltation, and our true locality in heaven because of Him. In fact (as we learn from Col. 3), if we are risen with Christ, we seek the things which are: above where Christ is. We set our affections on things above, and not on things on the earth. We are a heavenly people, though for a season on the earth; and our " conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto His own body of? glory." The body of glory will be the consummation; for when we see Him, we shall be like Him, and when He appears, we also shall appear with Him in glory.

Thus, very inadequately I know, but as carefully as I could, have I endeavored to sketch Paul's gospel. It tells a man hopeless and undone, what God is in His own nature; -and what He is for him. That He has established righteousness in Christ; that He has condemned sin in the flesh; having ended judicially there the body of sin; and that now His grace can reign through righteousness unto eternal life in. Jesus Christ our Lord. That He has set aside the first man judicially in the cross of Christ and on the ground of righteousness; He forms us anew in Christ Jesus, in His life; so that we are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit; Christ dwelling in us, and we in Him, and in His glory because of the same righteousness. That we now know by faith heaven as our definite place; our spirits' present home as well as our future inheritance; for which we shall have bodies of glory when our Lord comes, and we shall be forever with the Lord.

To sum up. The parts of this great economy committed to Paul Are:- -

1St. We are in God's righteousness.

2nd. So complete is God's righteousness, that all which offended against it has been judicially ended in the-cross of Christ; the old man crucified with Christ.

3rd.. Eternal life in Christ is given.

4th. We are in the Spirit, and not in the flesh it is Christ liveth in us, and we in Him.

5th. The glory of God is our hope, and we are there through the same righteousness in Christ..

6th. We have a definite place now in heaven, as well as a future inheritance there.

7th. We look for Him to come to change our vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like unto His own glorious, body.

The. Lord give us grace to realize somewhat in our hearts the amazing elevation to—which the blessed or happy. God., in His ineffable wisdom and love, has raised us through the gospel in His-.Son Jesus Christ our Load.

Notice

THE enlarged sphere, both Continental and trans-Atlantic, into which He that once said to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia-" Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no one (Gr. oudeis), can shut it" (Rev. 3:8)-has, of late, led us [our own " little strength," and many adversaries under Satan, notwithstanding]-has suggested some change in the form of this serial.

With that change, a partially new name and new series has, for the convenience of others, been adopted.

I add the Title-page and the Address of the previously issued fifteen volumes on the next pages.

London, June, 1867. G. V. W., EDITOR.

Paul's Gospel: Do You Preach It?

Introduction.

Is the Gospel of " The grace of God " as now usually preached, a presenting of the truth in the same form in which it was shown to Saul of Tarsus,-the very same form as that in which Saul, when he was called Paul the Apostle, preached it?

I have raised this question on various occasions; with various results, perhaps, as to details; but generally, if among those who were both acquainted with Scripture and observers of what is passing around them, with the distinct answer, No.

I have put the question to some, whom I esteemed Evangelists and men of God too,- and I have been told, often modestly and humbly, " I do not see what sense of need that preaching could produce in man. You must know yourself a sinner, ere you can feel your need of a Savior "; or again, " What is there in the heart of man down here which could respond to such a proclamation?" etc., etc.

The diffidence and modesty of those that have thus replied, and the felt need which they have expressed for fuller light upon the subject, with the confession made by several of them, of a suspicion of a defect in their light (which, perhaps, left them to use what they did know, instead of the Gospel in its fullness) induce me to endeavor, God helping me, to present a few remarks upon this subject.

Before considering what the form of the Gospel was which delivered Saul, which Paul preached, and which I conceive is the form delivered by him for the evangelists who were to follow after him-and the questions incidental thereto,-I would make a remark or two on the two fold form in which grace may be presented, and on the reason why, of these two forms of grace, the one is better known now and has been more used in our day than the other.

In dealing with souls we may begin with what man was and is, and has done, and go on from that to the answer thereunto, which God has provided in Christ, the Lord of all. Such was the form in which Peter presented grace on the day of Pentecost. He began with what had been seen down here, and then showed God and His thoughts about Jesus as Lord and Christ seated in Heaven. On the other hand, we may begin with what Christ is in Heaven and let that produce its own effect on the sinner; this was the form of grace in Paul's conversion and gospel.

Our first impressions naturally take the deepest and most lasting hold of our minds. Subjects are then new to us, and they form themselves within us according to our first thoughts of them. Often, too, there are at those first hours of our acquaintance with the truth of God, peculiar circumstances which have arrested a former course of life and become turning points through which the outward life got, then and there, a new direction; often too dangers, needs, hopes of a new kind, have been then suddenly discovered, etc., etc. Account for it as we may, first impressions upon all subjects are, I think, in the very nature of things, the most likely to be the more lasting; and, in connection with this, I have remarked that the form in which the truth of God -is apprehended by a man at first, is the form in which the mind is most inclined, most disposed to retain it. This was the case with Peter, it was the case with Paul, it was the case with Timothy, etc., etc. But of this more anon. I have found one corrective to this, in some respects and in so far as it is merely a result of human infirmity in myself and others, to exist in the consideration of the history of the way in which the truth was brought out into the form in which -God-now presents it to us in His written word.

There are two things to be noticed here. Christ is the truth. By Him, where, and as He is, we believe in God who raised "Him from the dead and gave Him glory; that our faith and hope might be in God: that is the first grand lesson; the Christ, Son of God and only begotten Son of the Father, is the medium by whom we believe in God, who raised Him out from among the dead and gave Him glory so as for our faith and hope to be in God. Himself, as He is, is our peace, our hope. But, secondly, there is the way in which God was pleased gradually to bring out the truth until it could be presented as -it now is presented by Him. This, rightly understood, gives the most abundant confirmation to the, Gospel as it is-and is that to which I referred as the good corrective, in some respects, to any imperfect view of the Gospel which may result from an undue cleaving in us, either to the thoughts of our day, or to first impressions of our own. So far as I understand the Gospel, it is Jesus Christ Himself,-seated on the throne of God, from whose face shines the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.

A. Now, the first intimation about Him: was spoken in the declaration to the serpent: It (the seed of the Woman) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). " Himself, the head of a family or seed, the overcomer of the serpent and his seed; the Lord God pledging Himself thereto "- was the first announcement. In that declaration the Lord God put Himself forward, pledged Himself that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. This was God's first promulgated word or thought (and addressed to Satan) about the scene in which sin was ruling among men. Pass from that first word onward. Trace out, if you will, what may have instruction in it, but notice well as bearing the authority of God's stamp of type upon it (on New Testament authority too) the seed of Abraham (Gen. 12:7;15. 3, 5; 17:7, 8; compare Gal. 3:16-29, etc.), including, as it does, a view of heaven and earth in connection with the seed, etc., etc. Patriarchs (Psa. 105) grew into families; and families into a nation. The paschal-lamb, redemption out of Egypt, the feast of Pentecost and the great Day of Atonement; the mediator, High priest, prophet-the tabernacle, with its altars, etc., etc., all in the nation to whom Jehovah made Him- self God and King, were, according to the New Testament, types of Him that was to come.

Samuel the prophet that judged, and David the king that sat on the throne, were types too. And there were declarations of Moses in the law and in the prophets about Him which aided a man like Philip (John 1:45) to recognize the Nazarene. The Lord God pointed onward to what He would do against the evil one. If any one hoped in Him he got faith in so doing and rest. In all this time, from Eden until Caesar,-hope took the lead. Some one was to come,-the Lord God had declared it to the serpent,-some one was to come, the' seed of the woman,-the son of a virgin (Isa. 7:14, and Matt. 1:23), the destroyer of the serpent and His seed. Hope, I say, took the lead, and where there was no hope, there was no faith and no rest. Promises to Messiah, promises in which Jehovah, God and King of Israel, would prove Himself to be with His anointed in blessings of deliverances on earth to Israel, fed the hopes of God's people upon earth. A person was looked for-the Hope of Israel. That was clear; and this was the position in which a Mary, an Anna, a Simeon were found at the time of the birth of Him who was the Hope. We wait, in hope; was faith's word.

B. But when the babe was born, this was, to some extent, changed. The One waited for-the One that was to be the Worker of deliverance-there. He was! The second chapter of Luke's gospel tells us (ver. 7) of the birth of the child. " And she (Mary) brought forth her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." The angel of the Lord swiftly announced it to certain shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Upon these, the angel came, and then the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and the shepherds were sore afraid. But the angel said, " Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (ver. 10), etc., etc. And a multitude of the heavenly host then joined the angel, praising God, and saying, 64 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward [or in, among] men." The shepherds went in haste to see and found the child-and "returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things which they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them" (ver. 20). Simeon is then an eye witness, one that embraces the babe, a rejoicer before God in Him. His word to Mary was of God-Behold this One is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed (ver. 34, 35). As though he said; " Himself is the. One who is our Hope!-but Himself has yet conflict before Him before victory." Anna, too, came and saw and gave thanks.

Note it, there is nothing said about the babe, such as mere human affection in nature would have said; but Himself, in all the attractiveness which. He is to faith was there-Himself the stay of their faith, their hope.

C. Hidden in retirement for a season-He in due time goes to be baptized of John; gets there a recognition from God on high, " And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him; and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. 3:16,17).

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, stood thus confessed at His entering upon service.

His gathering unto Himself (John 1:29-51); His going about doing good; His zeal for God, His readiness to do anything needed by any one in Israel, His miracles, His instructions, etc., etc., trying to reconcile the world unto God,-seeking to gather the children of Jerusalem as a hen doth gather her chickens. What, in all the variety of the three years' active service of His, did faith see in Him? what stay was there in Him? what hope to any save the few that loved Him? But. He Himself was the great book that was open before man: all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily; Himself as a man, the presentation and declaration of the Father. Such was He in life here below.

D. But Israel would not be reconciled to God-would not take the promises under Him. He was there, willing and able to make good all the Messianic promises, all the Jehovah blessing to them,-in spite of all their ruin, if they would but have Him as the sent. One of God. But they would not; and Pontius Pilate, the representative of the Gentile power, concurred with them. He then set His face toward death, the death of the cross; baptism, which He knew all along He would have to pass through if that part of the will of God was to stand that Messiah was to Have: a kingdom and a people upon earth, although that kingdom and that people might in themselves have no heart to have Himself as Messiah. Who can frustrate God? who can escape from the blessing which God thinks to give?

Him crucified! His blood shed! Him put to death. Where were the promises,: where the rest, where the object of faith?

E. All was safe in Himself—the resurrection and the life, according to the thoughts of God and the Father, -though none on earth, none could follow out the thought. What mind, what soul on earth could say " It is well," even as to the counsel of God. Affection to. Himself was deeply tried; hope might be flickering; or to human feeling, even extinct. Faith might be baffled; love, however deeply agonized, still slave to Himself. Yea! His very death revealed the thoughts of the hearts of a Joseph with his tomb, of a Nicodemus with his spices. And dead, as alive, He was to Mary's heart her all. What? Whom had she but Himself?

Her love met its reward. Awake from death when He spake to her and used her as His messenger, these were. His words:-

Go to my brethren, and say unto, them, I ascend unto my Father and your. Father, to my God and your God " (John 20:17.)

The Lord is risen! what a thrilling fact! but what a new position was it which He had now taken, which He now held before them! Himself, however, their all still. What the results to them of His new state, they knew not: nay, all such questions seemed foreign to the hearts that loved Him, in the fresh intercourse they had with Him. His intercourse through forty days with them (Acts 1:3), and all that passed then, showed that their past, present and future was Himself-unfruitful as their understanding might be.

F. But they saw Him ascend-were told to wait for the promise of the Father, and shortly after at Pentecost the Holy Ghost came down and the assembly of God was formed. Himself made Lord and Christ in heaven, shed abroad that which was seen and heard-the presence, power; anti powers of the Holy Ghost, which nor Satan nor man could deny, though men there were hardy enough to resist it. Stephen was stoned. His martyrdom was the expression of Jerusalem's rejection of Messiah in heaven, God-honored, the Giver of the Holy Ghost; even as the Lord's own death had been the expression of Jerusalem's rejection of the Messiah when on earth.

Paul was converted, and began his labors-Apostle of the uncircumcision, as Peter was of the circumcision. Ere their living testimony closed,-

G. Truth was embodied in books, in the which we find all that God was pleased to reveal in writing of His own thoughts about the life, and death, and resurrection and session in heaven, and coming again, of His Son, whether to fetch His Church home, or to take up a new position of government and of grace in Jerusalem; or after that, to wind all up in the eternal state-a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

Himself who has triumphed gloriously, and ourselves called by Him to enter into His joy and into all the fruits of His victory as the servant and champion of God, -worster of the serpent, open manifester of all this world's wickedness, and of the poverty of man as a ruined creature,—Himself filling heaven and earth with those that can unselfishly rejoice in His joy and in His triumph,—that is what I wait for to see in the end.

There will be the two spheres, heaven and earth, just as there are now heavenly glories which are His in the presence of God and His Father,-and there were in Him Messianic and Jehovah glories, which though man rejected then, will surely be made good upon earth yet when He comes again. I do not lay stress here upon the difference of the apostleships and of the truths connected with the apostleships of Peter and of Paul. I believe them to be recognized and held by those for whom I write. The truth brought out by Peter goes not into the wide compass of that which it was given to Paul to minister; for Peter teaches not the mystery, nor the union of members down here with a glorified and ascended Lord as Head of a body,-the truth of the assembly of God. Paul teaches all that Peter does, but goes on beyond to a truth which is peculiarly his own. His line includes also (in principle fully, I think), John's line and measure. So that, while Petaean, Johannian, and Pauline truth may be spoken of, as referring to the portions the most connected with each of these servants of the Lord respectively, Paul's measure of truth in a sense included, I judge, both Peter's and John's. Peter, as the Apostle of the circumcision, had a measure of truth measured to him which hardly went beyond conscience formed down here for God and heaven, by the knowledge of the Lordship and Christhood of Jesus seated in heaven, and the Holy Ghost sent to His servants down here. The eternal life in man down here, is John's subject presented in his gospel in all its fullness, in Him who alone had eternal life in Himself, who was and is its source; in his epistles the stream of the river of life flowing in and through men down here, who are sons of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, is traced. The over-ruling governing hand of the Lord God. Almighty in heaven, disposing of everything on earth according to His thoughts of the glory of the Lamb upon the throne, both for the heavenly people down here now and the people that are to succeed us on earth hereafter, is John's subject in the Revelation. The mystery and its attendant truths is peculiar to Paul;-but his line includes, necessarily, in that "straightway he preached Christ (the anointed man) in the synagogues, that he is Son of God" (Acts 9:20), all truth.

It does not suppose much light for me to give credit to the disciple that he sees that the conscience of a man needs being made for God as a Creator, and for God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,-if the man is to be at peace and happy.

The epistles of Paul are, some of them, as that to the Romans and the Hebrews, about the truth which can make the conscience of a man down here to be in peace before God. But Paul, in his own conversion, had another turning point, though he had to pass through that same truth, in soul afterward. The union of Jesus in Heaven, as Head of a body, with members down here, when revealed to Paul, led him to take the place of an enquirer both as to the Lord on high and as to what he was to show his subjection to Him in: " Who art thou, Lord?" and " what wilt Thou have me to do?" These were his first lessons,—viz. those, the answers to which he unfolds in his letters to the Ephesians and to the Colossians (in which latter epistle, those to whom he wrote were in danger of letting slip the truth of the Head). If quickened together with Christ, raised up together with Him and made to sit together with. Him in heavenly places according to the. Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, justification, separation to Christ, acceptance, etc., etc., were all settled according to the Spirit and in the new nature given, and as parts of the new creation of which the Lord is the Head. This, however did not prevent his needing to learn justification, separation, acceptance, etc., according to the work of Christ, as for man on earth and as according to what a human conscience down here, with thoughts of what man has been here, and what every man in nature is, would want. Paul goes systematically through the whole question of man in ruin down here in himself, and God's answer to all that ruin by Christ's work, in the epistle to the Romans, in a way addressed to Jew and Gentile; and in the epistle to the Hebrews, in a way more particularly addressed to the Jew; as in the letter to the Galatians in a way more addressed to converts from among the Gentiles when judaizing.

If any man can see no difference between the sufferings and works of Jesus Christ in redemption and His own person as the Redeemer,—I can only say: "if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant " (1 Cor. 14:38.).. To one taught in the word tare is a difference and the all-important one.

There is, as I said in commencing, a two-fold form in which grace is presented to us. The one is in the works and sufferings of Christ and in the position taken consequent thereon by Jesus in. Heaven, as Lord of all and. Christ, shedder abroad of power to the people of God down here. In a certain sense, this may be called the more human side of the truth, in that it is, while in itself divine, truth for man as man, a ruined creature;- truth which enables him to know the relationship once denied but now made good for every believing man, relationship in which he can say " My God," and say it heartily and with intelligence. The other form of truth is more connected with the person of the Lord-as second Adam, life-giving Spirit, the one whom the Father of glory has exalted; according to which all that is true of Him as first-born among many brethren " is in a way true of them that are such. All that is true of Him as -Head of a body, the Church-is in a sense true of them that are members of that body of which He is Head. This is the more divine side, if I may so say, of the grace-the revelation of the Father of an only begotten Son.

Now, when I look back from our day to Pentecost, and see how the human judaizing spirit which so opposed itself to Paul among men, so grieved his spirit, has wrought,-and how it completely transformed the house of God down here as set up at Pentecost into a Jewish worldly thing as it was in A.D. 1500, I can say that I believe it was the grace of God, God in His grace, which took up man, afresh, where man had sunk himself down to. As Paul became all things to all men: with the Jew took his ground according to the furniture of thought that, before God, belonged to the Jew; and with the Gentile, according to the furniture of thought which, before God, belonged to the Gentile, (not compromising ever, yet always self-denyingly meeting each man according to God's thoughts about the man at the time being,) so I think it was God in His grace who did meet the Roman Catholics, Luther, Boos, etc., just according to where they were: and that he meets men, often, now just according to where they are. The ten commandments painted on wood have reduced the moral conscience of professors to a very low condition; but grace has met many there and gently shown, or forcibly pressed home, the truth that God's description of what man, as a creature, should have been and should be towards His Creator, will neither give him power to be what he ought to be, nor meet and clear all the arrears of what man has been and done contrary to what he ought. If intelligence sees this, or if the cursing power of the Law has killed any man, he may find to his wants so felt a full answer in Christ in His sufferings and present place on high. In this view of the subject, man begins with himself and finds in the Lord's sufferings and work, the full answer to every need. This is to me the explanation of the prevalency of the lower form of truth and grace. To them that are learning of God, in this form, the blessed work of redemption, I wish God-speed. And when they have learned the work of Redemption, yea! while they are learning it, may they learn not only what suits themselves in their needs, but also who the Redeemer is, and what sort of person He is.

Still Paul's gospel was given to him as the one called' to be the apostle of the uncircumcision: and to this, the higher form of grace and truth, I now turn,' and to the truths incidental to it.

Paul's Gospel. What Is It?

The portions of the, word more especially to be studied in connection with this subject, are such as Acts, Chapter 7 and 8 and 9, which contain the history of Saul's conversion. Then, Chapter 22:1-23, which gives the account of how he, as Paul, put home upon the consciences of his Jewish brethren his own conversion; as in Chapter 26:1-23, he presents it to the king Agrippa. Also, 2 Cor. 4:1-6, in which he connects his preaching and gospel with his own conversion: that which converted him he preached.

1. As to the first of these portions, I would remark that where he says of himself, "sinners of whom I am chief" (1 Tim. 1:15), we must look for the explanation of what he means, in these chapters. Israel had rejected Messiah when upon earth, crucified Him. In the martyrdom of Stephen, they were resisting the Holy Ghost and the power which He in heaven had now shed abroad. Saul got a marked place in that sinful act: " the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul " (Chapter 7:58). " Saul was consenting unto his death " (Chapter 8:1); "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison " (ver. 3); and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem " (9:1, 2).

In the blindness of his heart he thought he did God, Jehovah of Israel, service, for he was alive without the law once; yet at this, the time of his conversion, he had no sore conscience, no suspicion that he was wrong, for he tells us (1 Tim. 1:13) " I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." What! be a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious (ver. 13) ignorantly? Yes, easily enough, when the vail is over the heart, and the mind is set upon the law of God and Jehovah and not upon Christ Jesus. As. Paul says, and it is an awful word in its bearing upon the professed Christianity of our own days; upon the many who are " desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm" (1 Tim. 1:7)-those who would., one way or the other, merge. Christ in the law:-" Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that thee children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished..But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament: which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart" (2 Cor. 3:12-15). This Scripture was not written in vain as to this day (1867) for those that have hearts to be warned. Saul knew it not; nor did he then know the next verse as he did afterward: "Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away" (ver. 16). The Gospel was hid from him, hid as from one that was lost: in whom the God of this world had blinded the mind as of one who believed not (2 Cor. 4:3,4). Occupied with the temple and religion of Jehovah, God of Israel, and full of zeal for the law of Moses' etc., etc., his tem- per and tone were like one of old: "Come and see my zeal for the Lord." He had no sense of need of mercy, of grace, or of a Savior. But if he did not feel the need of a Savior, the Savior felt yearning as to him, and made known to him His needs of showing mercy and grace, and the mind of God and of Heaven as in contrast with the mind of man and of earth. This is the proper and true order of grace always and at all times:. "I am the first and the last." But besides this it is the manifested order of grace now, under the apostleship of the uncircumcision; as Paul said of himself, quoting Isaiah in all his very boldness: " I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me" (65:1, and compare Rom. 9:30). Saul did not seek Christ, yet was Saul found of Christ; Saul did not ask after Christ, but Christ manifested Himself to Saul. This, emphatically true of Paul and his gospel, is the order really of grace; for the lost sheep sought not the shepherd; the piece of lost silver sought not the woman. But by the lost sheep and the piece of lost silver (in Luke 15) the publicans and sinners who knew their lost estate, as saltless salt, were represented; in Saul's case, he had the conscience that he was all right, so far as confidence in himself and a ground for confidence in the flesh went: a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee; full of zeal.; " touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless'' (Phil. 3:5, 6); " I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth " (Acts 26:8,9). But when Christ took up Saul to make a model man of him," Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting" (1 Tim. 1:16); when it " pleased God to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen " (Gal. 1:16), when God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness (Gen. 1:3) shined into his heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), what discovery was then made to this Saul? Heaven and earth contrasted stood; Jesus, as He is, in His place on high, in His own character stood in contrast with Saul as he was in his place on earth and in the character natural to him. God and His ways stood in contrast with man in the world and his ways; Christ on one side, Satan on the other; the energy of Jesus working by the truth, and through the Spirit upon a man whose energy was as peculiar as the man was great among and above his fellows,-and yet at this moment detected as identified with Satan in work and way and character, against man and against God, and against one of the dearest counsels of God-the Church. Shut up in his own set of circumstances, as much as the woman of Samaria was in hers, he had only a human mind, and that a fallen one and one under Satan's deluding power, to act by. He leaned to his own understanding and consulted his own wisdom -and his wisdom, perfect in his own eyes, had no standard by which he could measure it. He, was nearing Damascus, his schemes well laid,' his plan well prepared for, when suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. Fallen to the earth he hears a voice and has to converse with Him who spake.

The Lord.-" Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

Saul.-" Who art thou, Lord?"

The Lord.—" I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

(Then trembling and astounded.)

Saul.-" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

The Lord.-" Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou shalt do."

Three little sentences dropped from the Lord's lips in heaven,-what discovery did they make to Saul, think you, reader?

First. I must remark that when God, or the Son of God, speaks, it is the speaker who gives the word spoken its power. " And God said, Let there be light, and there was light," etc., etc. The word was God's and the power to accomplish its purport was God's. So was it as to the rainbow and the seasons (in Gen. 9:12, and xi. 21, 22); so was it in government as to Israel set apart from the nations; so is it with the word, looked at as the word of the living God always. If I preached law with the view of awakening, or if I preached pardon for the guilty sinner, everybody knows it would be just the same as I have said. They that heard my words as if they were the words of a man merely, might gibe and mock;-they that heard them as the word of the living God, would be pricked to the heart by them,-would know the power of God's word,-the two-edged sword, -sword of the Spirit-but they only.

Secondly. Though it is not for me to give an account of what did pass through Saul's mind beyond what is written, I may be allowed to show what may have passed through that mind.

Himself, Saul, surrounded by a light from heaven,-called by his own name, " Saul, Saul,"-and the present purpose and occupation of his soul, his purpose, his plan, his present business called in question by the One above, whose voice spake to him -as being about a business which told of a bitter zeal in Saul's heart against Himself.

" Why persecutest thou me? "

When opposite extremes seem to meet—the human mind feels it. One, an unknown One, in heaven, who had aroused Saul's attention by a flood of light from above; knowing him though Saul knew Him not, accosted him and repeated his name; and knowing what was in his heart, what his business, challenged him as to, the reason of his bitter zeal against Himself. Challenged him as one man might speak to another. " Was; there not, here enough to arrest me?" Paul might surely say. And Saul asked Him who He was, for he knew not, and then the awful discovery, " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." The head of the Nazarenes,- Jesus, the Lord of all glory! yet in all the gentleness possible,, arguing-and talking with this mad persecutor„ this; apostle of cutting off of all the innocent Nazarenes. To Saul, at: least; it was as the word: of the living God. His lot was chosen.

Lord, what wilt thou have me to do,?" was word and to the answer he gave a practical reply, by-doing what he was bidden. And the Lord said, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And he went. The Nazarenes, whom as lion ravening for its prey, he had sought in pride and fierceness and bloodthirstiness, and in ignorant contempt of the Nazarene, now as a lamb he sought; he needed help from one of -them.; and had to be debtor to those that journeyed with him, '.and they led him by the hand and, brought him into Damascus (ver. 8), and-he went. The light was the discoverer to Saul of darkness within and darkness around-that is clear.

Thirdly. Nor, if the acorn contains the -oak-tree; if the moon that shone in paradise lightens: our nights still, if the sun which hid its light at Calvary shines, on us,

there any difficulty in seeing how the scene: just viewed suffice& for: every poor sinner now.. First, how-did heaven stand forth.. 'M contrast to earth, and how did the light of the contrast then shine' out!

Heaven, the dwelling-place of God, had provided the Son of God, who came seeking fruit as the heir from His Father's vineyard. Heaven had received Him back again when earth rejected and cast. Him out. Earth, had given to Him a cross, and then had rejected heaven's recognition of Him, and the Holy Ghost sent down from Him who was Lord and Christ there. Light and darkness stood in contrast. Did not. Saul know when in that light, the darkness which had been, which was still, in him? Set heaven and its thoughts and ways as to Jesus in contrast with earth's thoughts and ways as to Him:- and are the openings in' the sieve too large to catch and' arrest a sinner? If heaven is wholly occupied with Jesus, what was I to think of myself, who never had had one correct thought, one right affection toward Him; who lived as though He were not,—and whose purpose, plan and business, when He met me, were all about myself and the world.

Fourthly. And this unknown Jesus, Lord of all and. Christ in heaven, what His character and what His ways? As Lord, or Master of all, He had all power in heaven and in earth; and now, got back again from: among men, what sort of a person is He, and what does-He do? First, before He went nil high, He said that.

I mercy should he preached, the whole earth over, " beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). For this, too, He gave power on the day of Pentecost; and not only so, but He gathered out from the Jerusalem-sinners 3000 and 2000 unto God. These He made to be a.

house of God, through the Spirit. But the aggressiveness, the craving of His love toward man was not content with this, and. He raised up witnesses and testimony still Jerusalem. Jerusalem would not have Him' with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and the bright promise of His return on their repentance; and they of Jerusalem stoned Stephen. Did this change the Lord's character, and stop the outflow of His love? His delight in blessing, and in making man blessed? No. The persecuted went everywhere. " throughout the regions of Judaea, preaching the word." Philip is sent to the city

of Samaria, and preaches Christ unto them; and then to draw the bow and wing the' arrow that should go into distant lands, through the eunuch of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians; and then the Lord, that had looked down and sustained Stephen in his martyrdom, and had seen Saul there-Saul, a Goliath after Satan's own heart, whose mind was held as under Satan with a lie, so that he could not say, " Is there not a lie in my right hand?" and whose heart, in his blindness felt called upon to carry out Satan's love of destroying and pulling everything to pieces-that Saul, who had had no pity for Stephen, no power to appreciate Stephen's character and conduct in contrast with his own-that Saul who breathed destruction-to him spake Jesus, from His own proper glory all divine yet with a gentleness and a tenderness all worthy of Himself. [He wanted one to preach the gospel to every one under heaven, and Saul should be the one.]

Cannot this Person-Jesus, in His own place in heaven, acting according to His own character in contrast with us in our place on earth, and acting according to our own characters, be set forth in preaching? God manifest in flesh, in eternal glory in heaven, cares, and shows He cares, that we (who care nothing about Him or His glory) perish not under Satan. Is not this true? Is it not a reality? Has it no voice to sinful man, dead in trespasses and sins?

Fifthly. God and His ways stood in contrast with man in the world and his ways. His Son, the beginner of the new creation of God, was revealed; where and what now was the first Adam? where and what the world that had crucified Him? where and what the serpent that had wounded His heel? All the wisdom of God, and His righteousness and His power, and His majesty and His love, all stood out in contrast to the folly, unrighteousness, weakness, frivolity, and hatred of men- all showed that God's ways were not as man's ways, nor God's thoughts as man's thoughts.

Sixthly. And not only so, but in this scene He showed how His principles in redemption stood in contrast with His principles in creation, in providence, and in government-

By weakness and defeat,

He trod the victor down;

Trod all our foes beneath His feet,

By being trodden down.

Seventhly. Christ on the one side-Satan on the other. The energy of Jesus, working by the truth and through the Spirit, upon a man-upon men, whose energy, whose plans, purposes, objects, and motives are all selfish and darkness. Man on earth and in time is looked down upon by Jesus in heaven, and from His own proper eternity.

Will man have that Lord Jesus?

To the remark, "You must know yourself to be a sinner, ere you can value a Savior," I would only answer, " If you know Himself, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily-Him who is the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth-Him in heaven, according to the ways in which the heaven of heavens stands in contrast with earth-Him calling men down here to notice the light wherewith He has lighted up heaven's high throne-as the Lamb that was slain, but is alive again for evermore; I say, if you know Himself, you will know yourself too. Consciousness of things done down here, which are contrary to a man's duty to God and his neighbor, do give the sense of need of salvation from the just consequences thereof. But what is this compared to the discovery of the contrasts between Himself and myself? Himself, as a Man perfect and His will always, in times past, present, and to come, subject to God; and I, a willful one by nature, glorying to be willful, ere I knew Him, groaning ever since I did know Him, under this part of? my fallen nature, though fully hoping to see Himself soon, and knowing that then there will remain no more will in me. But it is not Himself, as a perfect Man only, that is there; He is God manifest in flesh-He is the faithful servant (though Son) of God, and that which leads Him to reveal His light is the desire that man may become part of the new creation, one Spirit with the Lord.

And will any one tell me that if the curtain that did shut into heaven its light has been rent, and that the light now shines forth from the face of Jesus Christ-I say, will any one tell me that if that light can be brought to bear upon a human heart down here, that its vail will remain untaken away-that this light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus will produce no sense of light and blessing, no sense of sin and of need in man?

What I have done and left undone, and what Adam was in his innocency;

Or between-What Christ is as the last Adam, and what I was when He found me?

What I am, on the one hand, is the root of all that I have done and all that I have left undone-includes it and a great deal more. On the other hand, the last Adam, life-giving Spirit, what is He as to fullness and contrast to the first Adam, when he had become a perishing soul?

God demanding of me, a ruined creature, what, because of sin, I can never pay, is in contrast too with God, as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, showing to me what He has provided for Himself, in that last Adam-the fountain and channel of His grace and glory. What a contrast!)

And will any one who has a human heart, a human mind, say that he can set Christ Jesus' ways to Saul of Tarsus in contrast to Saul of Tarsus' ways towards Christ Jesus, and find nothing to which he can respond?

Besides the giving of a new nature, making us partakers of the Divine nature, creating us anew in Christ Jesus, born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, that liveth and abideth forever, one great result of the Spirit of God's presence with man is, that He enables man, and makes him, to see the things of God as he sees the things of man. They become real, have their eternal and their heavenly nature, as he looks upon them; and thus can a believer respond to the vision of the glory of God in the face of Christ most truly and truthfully in spirit and in truth.

And this One-Himself-in all that He is-Himself in heaven, revealed the love that was in Him to Saul of Tarsus. Saul knew Himself-knew the interest which He had in himself in all his littleness-took a living interest in Himself up there, ere ever he knew one office of Christ, or what his own need of offices and the fruits of them was. I cannot doubt but that, like Abraham of old, the knowledge of the Lord Himself decided every question at once summarily to Paul. Nor can I doubt, with Paul's writings in -my hand, that the unsearchableness and the glory of the One that had revealed Himself to him, gave that vividness and that power to all Paul's thoughts about sin-bearing on the cross, atonement made in heaven, acceptance, etc. which is so peculiar to himself among the writers of the New Testament. Rom. 6, Heb. 9 and 10, and Eph. 1 are proofs of this. But Saul knew Who was in heaven, and what was in His heart, and mind, and ways, ere he knew any one office of the Blessed One, either down here or up there-past, present, or to come.

I turn now to Acts 22:1-13, which gives the account of how he, as Paul, put home upon the consciences of his Jewish brethren his own conversion; for the facts which he had to record at once fully justified his own course and position, and, while they condemned their conduct and ways whom he loved, presented the only ground of escape, rest or hope for them.

In passing through the history of his conversion I (with, I think, but one exception which I marked of in brackets [ ]) avoided everything which (though he knew afterward) Paul knew not at the time;—such things as Ananias must have told him and the Christians at Damascus; and perhaps some which were revealed to Luke when he wrote the Acts of the Apostles.

These things are now in our hands, and they enable us to set forth what the light is which shines now from Heaven upon a sinful earth. The Lord knew none could arrest Saul save Himself, but He will have His saints down here in fellowship with Him in His work. Himself prepares Ananias, and shows how watchful He had been over His praying yet timid flock. Ananias freely states his thoughts to the Lord. But he has to submit to have this honor put upon him and learns the Lord's own thoughts and intentions about Saul: ".He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel," and the Lord adds " for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake " (chap. 9:15, 16). It was a large sphere the Lord meant the light of His glory and love to be proclaimed in, and He chose a special vessel for the work. Tis a new form of truth which Saul preached. " And straightway he preached Christ.... that He is Son of God" (ver. 20). " All that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is very Christ" (ver. 22, 23). Whatever heedless man may think, the powers of darkness were in this beaten back and discomfited for a time, and angels in heaven owned the wondrousness of their Lord's unsearchable ways while they looked on, and learned about Him in His dealings as to the Church. And what comfort of love and encouragement was there to the Damascene Christians in that day, in all this. The Lord was with Saul; and the hearts of Jerusalem converts got strength and comfort—" Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied" (ver. 31), and cannot we see the brightness of Heaven's light and love as it thus shines out and down upon the earth where we still are?

In reading Acts 21 we may well be struck with the unheeded admonitions which were given to Paul, at Tire—certain disciples said to Paul through the Spirit, "that he should not go up to Jerusalem " (ver. 4). Again (ver. 10, 11), there was a certain prophet, named Agabus, " and when he. was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said: Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." The apostle of the uncircumcision must live among. the Gentiles,—God's free man, or God's bondsman. " And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem" (ver. 12). Arrived there, he found first the state of James and all the elders there and of the Jerusalem brotherhood (ver. 18-25). The currents were too strong for him, and in the midst of the conflict, Paul has to admit: " I saw Him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me" (22:18), and after -Paul had argued the point with the Lord—" Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles (ver. 21).

It is to be noticed that the uproar commenced in the temple with certain Jews, which were of Asia. These appealed to the men of Israel against Paul, then in the temple about his vow:

" This is the man, that teacheth all everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place," that was his first offense; his second was—" and further brought Greeks (Grecians not Hellenistic Jews) also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place " (ver. 28).

Carried off by the chief captain and soldiers to the castle, lie is there permitted to speak unto the people from the stairs.

What strikes one, first of all, in reading this his testimony, is the way in which on one side Paul is himself called in question,—his life threatened, for the truth's. sake, as his Master's life had been taken. In life Paul was now one with that Master; yea Christ was his life, his life hid with Christ in God. If so be we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together with Him. He had too passed through experiences in nature which httett him to know and to understand thoroughly the position and feelings of the Jews to whom- he had to speak. If Jesus spoke from heaven to Saul as seeing and divinely reading all the secrets of Saul's heart and life to him, Paul could speak to the Jews as one that knew by his own past experience (already judged by him), whereabouts they were to whom he spake. Peter could not have done this. Peter, after he knew the Lord, cursed and swore and denied that he knew Christ, ere he could be trusted to stand forward and charge on Israel that " Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:22,23). The Lord upon earth, Peter, having known Him, had denied, whom they, not knowing, had slain. Paul, awakened to Jesus in heaven, got a thorn in the flesh, messenger of Satan to buffet him as his schooling as to himself. I cannot read Peter's life and not see his need of the lesson he learned: perhaps Paul's need of his lesson may be seen too.

But again, Paul, one in life with Christ in glory, and as servant an ambassador for Christ, spake to his Hebrew brethren just that which Jesus had shown and said to himself. Mark this well. And mark too why his witness was that which he had seen and heard. Not a long argument and reasoning built upon it-but the facts formed his testimony. He had seen and heard something, and what he had seen and heard that was what he put forward.

First, he introduces himself: I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest cloth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished (ver. 3-6).

Then secondly, comes his report of what he saw and heard.

Ver. 6. That it was "at noon " that the light shined, is noticed for the first time here.

Ver. 8. Our text gives here, " I am Jesus of Nazareth,"

the words " of Nazareth " are not named in chap. 9.

It is written in chap. 9:7, " The men which journeyed

with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man." And in

Chapter 22:9, " But they heard not the voice of him that spake to me." That is, they heard the sound of a voice; but not the words of Him that spake.

Chapter 9:3, " Suddenly there shined about him a light from heaven."

Chapter 22:11, " And when I could not see for the glory of that light," etc.

Paul then adds, that when Ananias (a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews) came to him, he said:

" The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth".(ver. 15). " For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard".(Ver. 16).

The revelation was made to him not only for his own salvation's sake, but also that he might witness unto all men-be His witness, who had shown Himself and who had spoken to him,-of what he had seen and heard.

And, thirdly, came that which to -the earthly mind of the Jew spoiled all; that which, on the, other hand, told out how the Lord knew Israel and would not close up His own bowels of mercies because Israel would reject, but contrariwise would take a larger and a wider range in which to make known His presence in glory, beauty, power and majesty in heaven; and how His voice there would speak to poor sinners down here about Himself and make poor sinners to know how He was their Savior, and to learn the contrasts too between God' and man; Heaven and earth; righteousness and mercy; deserved reward and free grace; the life of God, eternal life, and the life of man, perishing and all spoiled. And mark it, too, His herald was to be a Jew. The Lord of heaven and earth would show His rights over all on earth. Had He not the right to send a Hebrew of the Hebrews, one of the straitest sect of the Pharisees as His messenger sent in the foolishness of God to the wise Gentile in all his liberty-loving contempt of the narrow-minded Jew. The Jews, looking at Paul in his testimony to them according to their own pride, doubtless saw in him nothing but a renegade to the national glory, an enemy to their proud claims: had they looked at him according to that which was in God, they would surely have said, What grace in Messiah, when we had rejected Himself, to send one of our own people, one of His people according to the flesh to the Gentiles! Thus still showing His thoughts of and love for Israel. Paul must become the off-scouring of all things, yet be that part of the channel of testimony which was nearest to the Lord. Taught too by the Lord Himself in heaven-thoroughly taught-in spirit and in truth he loved the Head of the Nazarenes, whom he had seen and heard in heaven.

"And it came to pass, that, when 'I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and I saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles " (ver. 17-21).

Poor but most blessed Paul I Thy testimony is delivered to Israel. Thy Lord knew better than didst thou; His word, not thine, must stand as to the results also of the testimony.

" And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live."

I doubt whether Paul's love to his kindred according to the flesh had not led him, and that too against the word of his Master, to Jerusalem this time. But how blessed is it to see a man thoroughly whole hearted in such cause. And if his being here and his conduct in the next chapter is not fully acceptable-the beauty and the grace of the Lord only shines forth the more brightly (Chapter 23:11), "and the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." The bondage that follows onward, may have been needful for his too fervent spirit and I am sure it threw out into relief the truth (when before kings and rulers he had to appear in bonds), of the Lord's grace, Paul, himself, the prisoner, was in spirit the free man,-the potentates before whom he appeared were to be pitied. Then all was in time, He was a pilgrim and prisoner down here, but the free man whom the Son had made free and for whom He had gone forward to prepare a mansion.

In dealing with the Jew Paul put home first and foremost the ascended, glorified One, God, manifest in flesh, who had been seen by himself and heard by himself. And there was certainly more to cut to the quick the heart and mind of the Jew in this than there would have been in any preaching of Moses or of law.

"There He is, whom I saw and heard for myself when I was as you are. Himself, God-manifest-in-flesh, now in heaven, is the turning point of everything. I Paul saw, heard, obeyed Him, and am what I am. You, my Jewish brethren, are what you are, will you receive Himself and become as I am?" Where, at such an hour, in such a scene, are the questions of how far have I fulfilled, my whole duty of life as a man down here? how far have I done all that man by nature ought to have done, left none of it undone? Where the question, What will God think and say of my omissions and commissions as to law, when God's whole mind and heart and plan rolls around Jesus of Nazareth, a man glorified in heaven, owned there upon the throne, God manifest in flesh, Himself the answer to all that rebel man is. And will any one that pretends to common sense tell me that there is nothing in such a scene, nothing in such a testimony, calculated' to turn man upside down, inside out, if you please. Stupefied and stultified, altogether besotted the man that maintains such folly:-as ignorant, surely, of the things of man as of God.

Paul had to taste in his own soul as a man, what was that bitterness of man's heart against himself as a member of Christ, which he had shown against Christ Jesus.

Forty Jews made a conspiracy and banded together, and bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him: and they had the co-operation of the chief priests and elders (Chapter 23:12-14). He appears before Felix, Drusilla, Festus,-appeals to Caesar-which leads to Festus and Agrippa seeing him: that, after examination, had, they may know what to write about him.

Since Porcius Festus was seeking to learn what he should write to Caesar about the prisoner Paul, whom he was about to send to Rome as having appealed to Caesar's judgment (which a Roman citizen was free to do), I do' not think that my taking Paul's confession before Festus and Agrippa as a specimen of his testimony to the. Gentiles, is any forced notion of my own. We find the account of this in Chapter 26 which is my third scripture.

Before Festus, Caesar's representative, and before the: king Agrippa, "expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews," Paul declares; First, That his manner' of life from his youth, at first among his own, nation at Jerusalem., was known to all the Jews'; they could testify' that after the most strictest sect of their religion, he lived a Pharisee. He stood now to be judged about the hope of the promise' made of God: to the fathers-a hope recognized by the twelve tribes in their -faithfulness-for the sake of which he was now accused by the Jews;-

Secondly, That God should raise dead men should not be thought incredible; '

Thirdly,. That he too had thought it his duty to oppose Jesus of Nazareth-at Jerusalem be had imprisoned many saints and been authorized by the chief priests to do so; had punished them- and compelled them to blaspheme; and, being exceedingly mad against them,, persecuted them to strange cities... But when nearing. Damascus, authorized and commissioned by the chief priests;

Fourthly, He had seen something wonderful, viz., at mid-day in the way, a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining about himself and those that journeyed with him (ver. 13);-

Fifthly, Fallen to the ground,. He heard something-astonishing, viz., a voice speaking to himself in the Hebrew tongue and saying: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks (ver. 14).

Saul asked " Who art thou, Lord? " Taking thus, perhaps for the first time in his life, the place of being an enquirer, one that needed teaching about God at God's own hand,—though, " they shall be all taught of God " was an old promise.

The answer was: "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: but rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from: the people, and the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me " (ver. 15-18.)

He saw a truly astonishing sight, and heard what-was altogether new to him; about the Son of God -(whose: Father was in heaven), and of the mercy and, grace, the long-suffering patience of that blessed One with sinners, of whom he was chief,-of plans too and purposes of mercy and grace in heaven to man on earth. And,

Sixthly, He was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea, the Gentiles heard of what he had seen, and heard;-and therefore the Jews caught him and went about to kill him.-To all whom he met he had, through God's help, proclaimed that himself had seen and heard that which proved that all that the Prophets and Moses said should come to pass had stood firm, and was in the way of its accomplishment: that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first to rise from the dead and that He should show light unto the people Israel and to the Gentiles (ver. 19-23.)

To Porcius Festus he seemed to be mad. To the better knowledge of King Agrippa, who knew what had of late occurred in the land and had read too the prophets,-the appeal of this whole-hearted man was searching. As he said, " Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (ver. 24-28).

" Would to God (was Paul's reply) that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds " (ver. 29).

That which was seen and that which was heard from Jesus in heaven dwelt in the heart of Paul by faith, and was his and is our blessing for our own souls, and is that which we have to bear witness of to all around.- To Jew, to Gentile, to every creature under heaven, Jesus Christ, in the place which He holds on high, and the fact that He has let the light of His glory shine upon man down here and spoken to man, sinful man, down here is the all-important fact. It is a fact that He is on high,-and it is a fact too that men down here are living in the place on which has shined down the light of the glory of God in the face of that same Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, the fact that he had seen the Lord is used by Paul (1 Cor. 9). Am I not an Apostle? am I not free? " Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? " He had, and he had seen Him in quite another position and place from where Peter, James and John had seen Him., To them He was still upon earth although risen from among the dead; to Paul he showed Himself after the day of Pentecost when the promise of the Father was made good, after that He had ascended up on high.

To this Paul refers in writing to the Galatians (Chapter i.), the Gospel which was preached by me... I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, etc But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, etc.; and again (in 2 Cor.) we read " we all beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit (3:18).

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake... For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, path shined in our hearts, for (or unto) the radiancy of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (Chapter iv. 5 and 6).

The bearing of this chapter has been gone into by other children of God, I think, in The Present Testimony, so that I leave it. May God guide His children into a full and perfect understanding and taste of what the fullness of the Gospel is.

G. V. W.

I Add a Table of the Three Passages—From a Literal Translation

c. ix. 1 (et seqq.) THE HISTORIC ACCOUNT OF SAUL'S CONVERSION. But Saul, still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, came to the high priest and asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, so that if he found any who were of the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. But, as he was journeying, it came to pass that he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly there shone round about him a light from heaven, and falling on the earth, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? And he said: Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said: I am Jesus, whom, thou persecutest. [T.R. adds, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And trembling and astonished he said: Lord, what wilt thou that I do? And the Lord [said] to [him'], But rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. But the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but beholding no one. And Saul rose up from the earth and his eyes being opened he saw no one. But leading him by the hand they brought him into Damascus. And he was there three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank. And there was a certain disciple in Damascus by name Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias. And he said: Behold [here am] I, Lord, And the Lord [said] to him: Rise up and go into the street which is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, [he is] of Tarsus; for he is praying, and has seen in a vision a man by name Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he should see. And Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard from many of this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name, And the Lord said to him: Go, for this [man] is an elect vessel to me to bear my name before nations, and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show to him how much he must suffer for my name. And Ananias went and entered into the house: and laying his hands upon him he said: Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus that appeared to thee in the way in which thou camest, that thou mightest see, end be filled with the Holy Spirit. And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he immediately saw, and rising up was baptized; and, having received food, got strength. And he [T.R. reads ‘Saul’] was with the disciples who [were] in Damascus certain days. And straightway in the synagogues he preached Jesus [T.R. reads ' Christ'] that He is the Son of God...

c. xxii. 9 (et seqq.) Paul’s Testimony To Israel -His Conversion. I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to [the] exactness of the law of [our] fathers, being zealous for God, as you are all this day, who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prison both men and women as also the high priest bears me witness, and all to presbytery, from whom, haying received letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus to bring those also who were there, bound, to Jerusalem, to be punished. And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, that, about midday, there suddenly shone out of heaven a great light round about me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I 'answered; Who art thou, Lord? And He said to me: I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom thou persecutest. But they that were with Me beheld the light, and were filled with fear but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me. And I said: What shall 1 do, Lord? And the Lord said to Me: Rise up and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do. And as I could not see, through the glory of that light, being led by the hand by those who were with me, I came to Damascus, and a certain Ananias, a pious man according to the law, borne witness to by all the Jews where dwelt there, coming to me and standing by me, said: brother Saul, receive thy sight, and I, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him. And he said: The God of our fathers hath chosen thee beforehand to know his will, and to see the Just One, and to hear a voice out of His mouth, that thou mayest be witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptized, and have thy sins washed away calling on His name. [T.R. reads ‘on the name of the Lord.’] And it came to pass when I had returned to Jerusalem and as I was praying in the temple, that I became in ecstasy, and saw Him saying to me: Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said: Lord, they themselves know that I was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue them that believed on thee; and when the blood or thy witness Stephen was shed, I also myself was standing by and consenting [T.R. adds ‘ to his being killed,'] and kept the clothes of them who killed him. And he said to me: Go; for I will send thee to the Gentiles afar off.

e. xxvi. 4 (et seqq.) His Conversion-His testimony before the Roman Festus and Agrippa My manner of life from my youth, which from its commencement was passed among my nation in Jerusalem, know all the Jews, who knew before from the outset [of my life] if they would bear witness, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand to be judged because of the hope of the promise made by God to our [T. R. omits ‘our’] fathers, to which our whole twelve tribes serving incessantly day and night, hope to arrive; about which hope, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be judged a thing incredible in your sight if God raises the dead. I indeed myself thought that I ought to do much against the name of Jesus of Nazarene. Which also I did in Jerusalem, and myself shut up in prison many of the saints, having received the authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my vote. And often punishing them in all the synagogues I compelled to blaspheme. And, being furious against them, I persecuted them even to the cities out [of our own land]. And as I also was engaged in this, I was journeying to Damascus, with authority and power from the chief priests, at midday, on the way, I saw, O king, a light above the brightness of the sun shining from heaven round about me and those who were journeying with me. And, when we were all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice to me and saying in the Hebrew tongue: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against goads. And I said: who art thou, Lord? And He said: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; but rise up and stand on thy feet, for for this purpose have I appeared to thee, to appoint thee to be a servant and a witness of what thou hast seen, and of what I shall appear to thee in, having taken thee out from among the people, and the nations, to whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me. Whereupon, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but have, first in Damascus and Jerusalem, and to all the region of Judaea, and to the Gentiles, announced [to men] to repent and turn to God, doing works worthy a repentance.

The Power of the Heavenly Calling

EVERYTHING connected with the Heavenly Calling evidently lies on the resurrection side of the Cross of, the Lord Jesus Christ: the center of it is Himself, and Himself ascended to heaven. When He was risen from the dead, He tarried and showed Himself to His disciples during forty days-nearly six weeks, as we speak-Himself the center of all the affections and thoughts and actions of those that were disciples-and they, not knowing what was about to take place, did not and could not in heart or mind precede Him to heaven. When they saw Himself, however, go up, " and a cloud received him out of their sight" (Acts is 9), they could and did follow Him-they recognized that He was in heaven. And did He not carry off their hearts and minds with Him? This is the first great point of power: Himself, the recognized spring and center and end of all their blessing who loved Him, was gone away, be it to receive a kingdom and to come again, but still He was gone away, and gone into heaven. The needle turns to the north, and love turns to Himself wherever He is.

But, secondly, they had not then inward power; the promise of the Father was not come. Obedient to their Lord's words given after the resurrection (Acts 1:2), they had to wait for this. Ten days after His ascension He shed forth that power. Life they had had before; instruction and the opened understanding had been given to them, but now the power of God the. Holy Ghost come down from heaven, was with them. " They were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance)) (2:4). Here was power, power indwelling. The Spirit had come down from heaven, proof of God's delight in Jesus: " This Jesus hath God raised up therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." Jesus their Lord and, through three-and-a-half years of eventful service, their proved and tried Savior and Lover,-Jesus was Himself gone to heaven; and they had proof of it, and the world too had proof of His discriminating love, when He sent down the Holy Ghost to them that, being one with Him, they might be able to bear worthy witness of Him. But while He was in heaven and they on earth were vessels of the power of God in heaven, witnesses that Jesus had been made -Lord and Christ,-they knew not that He would not return to Jerusalem. Israel was called by them to repent of its sin and to receive the fulfillment of the promises that had been made to it. This, however, was changed when they rejected the Holy Ghost and martyred Stephen.

With his death came out to light a proof of his Lord's amazing grace, and that in a form which brought out, in principle, the outline of the truth of the heavenly calling. An earth-rejected Stephen-" being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). And he declared what he saw: "the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God" (ver. 56). And then, invoking the Lord Jesus, and saying, Receive my spirit, and again (when kneeling), Lord, lay not this sin to their charge-he fell asleep.

As the types of Leviticus, as the tabernacle and the „temple, as Moses a mediator, and Aaron a high priest- were embodiments in tangible things addressed to sense, of truths presented in the Lord Jesus Christ, just so do I look upon this scene. It is what might serve as a vignette at the head of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and of Peter's first epistle. Who can read 1 John 1:1-3, and not, see how John's previous intercourse with the Lord down here was the elementary experience which was meant to be developed in his after service. Just so, as I judge, that which shined down from the Lord, in a way addressed to man's senses, when Stephen was martyred-is taught to every partaker of the heavenly calling in spirit and by faith. Earth rejecting, and all down here that is of it against us-heaven open and the vision of the glory of God, and Jesus the Son of Man on the right hand of God-this is at once the golden key to the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man (of Hebrews), and the lamp to the feet of the pilgrim according to Peter's first epistle.

The Holy Spirit, promise of the Father shed abroad by Him who, seated at Jehovah's right hand, had been proclaimed Lord and Christ, is the grand revelation and doctrine in the second chapter of Acts. The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, the sustainer of this rejected witness, is the truth of the seventh chapter. I will but advert now to Him as the caller of Saul of Tarsus and the energetic guide to the testimony in its flowing out in various ways down here-in all of which we see the mind of Heaven with regard to man upon earth. It is in the epistle to the Hebrews that we find the grand outline of the heavenly calling. And what a string of precious glories does it open to us as being the Lord's.

In the first chapter we have His personal fitness as Mediator to lift up His head in the presence of God. As to God-Son; heir, by appointment, of all things; maker of the worlds; brightness of glory and the express image of His person; upholding all things; seated (after having made purgation of sins), on the right hand of the Majesty on high; and then (from ver. 4-14) the roll of titles in which He is contradistinguished from angels.

In the second chapter we have Him looked at, on the other hand, as Man. Made once low that He might be crowned with glory and honor-set over all the works of God's hands.. All things to be put in subjection under Him, nothing left not put under Him. And, though all is not yet seen put under Him, Himself is already seen crowned with honor and glory. The suffering of death; the tasting death for every man; the being made perfect through sufferings; the taking a place in which He could trust in God, have a servant's work assigned Him to do for those committed to Him, that He through death might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage; a man among men,-though a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people,-able to succor them that are tempted.

But in the third chapter He is presented to holy brethren down here, partakers of the heavenly calling, as the object of their faith: the Apostle and High-priest Christ Jesus, to whose claim they had bowed. Faithful to God in all things to which He was called, as Moses had been in that which fell to his charge, yet as preeminent to Moses as the builder of a house is better than the house. God was the builder of all things, and Christ as His Son was over His house. How should we, who are of His house, " hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." But Israel, adopted by God as His first-born among nations when in Egypt, carried their own flesh with them out of Egypt,-and to get through the wilderness into Canaan was another thing than merely to get out of Egypt. So, those who believed in Jerusalem found too; to receive Christ for pardon and for acceptance, and deliverance from the world was one thing, and to walk with God through this life was another. But provision for that their second need had been made in Him who was their Savior. As the great high priest who has passed through the heavens, He is our living and our professed Helper. His eyes read all that is within us (iv. 13); His word searches all, and makes all to appear in its true colors (ver. 12), when we have to do with Him. And (ver. 15) He is not One who "cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The fifth chapter treats of His being the great responsibility-bearer, and that as an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec, king of righteousness, and prince of peace.

The sixth chapter presents Him in connection with a pilgrim band as their sure and certain hope. " Men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the, order of Melchisedec " (Chapter 6:16-20).

The seventh chapter unfolds the pre-eminence of His priesthood above that of Aaron.

The eighth shows how all the covenants are sure in Him.

The ninth and tenth handle the insufficiency of all the types and shadows to satisfy either God or man, and show how He has at once become, in heaven above, the- displayer of the mercy, compassion and grace of -God, and is, through faith, the former in man down here of a conscience fit for God and His presence in light.

Haying touched upon this elsewhere, I may leave it now.

Most blessedly does the remaining portion of the epistle take up practical consequences. The eleventh chapter leads us through the battle-field of life here below of His worthies from the beginning..

The twelfth teaches us, however, a deeper lesson as to what this earth must be to us. Himself who is set down at the right hand of God,- Himself beginner and finisher of faith was once down here. His heart, filled with the joy that was set before Him, took what the world gave Him and endured the cross despising the shame. Deeply does every section of this chapter press practical conformity to His sufferings upon us to whom Himself is revealed as set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

What a vision of glory,- already in all its brightness, does this epistle open to us. The curtain rolled back which intervened between God above and man down here, and all the wonders of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man made known to us partakers of the heavenly calling.

A few words on Peter's epistles and I have done. He, according to the grace given to him, takes up the case of some who had been outcasts from the land, for the faith's sake of Jesus Christ. They were not, however, like those to whom the Hebrews was written, letting slip the truth they had received and professed. This accounts for the difference of his first letter from that written to the Hebrews. Beautiful and perfect in its place is the consolation to the suffering pilgrims contained in Peter's epistles. In the first, he shows what we have got, while down here, in our own selves and according to the thoughts of God and of Christ. In the second, he shows how men and profession will corrupt themselves and become identified with the very world itself (as is now the case), which world will all pass away to make room for a better. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again: and this new birth is unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

This, our " being begotten again, already " with the ground of that confidence and the hope of it, is the leading thought in the epistle.

As another states it-we are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus and we can call upon the Father. But Israel had to come out of Egypt, and to go through the wilderness, and to come into Canaan. So we leave the world, pass over the earth and get into glory. But we are sons all through, and if we believe in God, that raised Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God, we have to know all the blessing of the various glories in that Blessed One.

One set of glories, so to speak, may come out in deliverance from Egypt and the world; another set in conducting of us through the wilderness, the battlefield of life down here; another set in receiving and leading in, establishing in, the Canaan, to us the Father's house and new Jerusalem on high. But, in all these lessons, we learn Christ and His works and workings as the servant of God. Are we sons,-born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible? Then our all is assured to us in Abba and in Him, who is the only begotten Son of the Father. But then, too, not only is the place of our sojourning now one of strangership and patience, but as the second epistle shows us, all that is around us down here reminds us of conflict and declension and apostacy, and even of judgment to come.

What is heaven then to me?

Well 1St, Jesus is gone up there and there abides.

The One whose well-proved love to God and man has rescued me from Satan and the world,- He is in heaven.

2ndly, He has sent down the Spirit and I know Him, and the unction whereby we know all things.

But put His own self is there I the one that enters into every trial and sorrow of His people down here, He is this Jesus.

4thly, the curtain dropped, all heaven is opened upon us!-and the precious glories of His person and offices and works wrought, or now doing, or about to be wrought,-all stand confessed before all and shed their light down upon us-blessed people, partakers of the heavenly calling.

5thly, all within us, save the seed incorruptible, is sorrow and vexation; that seed connects us with the Father of the Lord Jesus in heaven; and

6thly, all as to what man is-in himself, in the professing body, in the house corrupted by superstition and infidelity-all moves on to judgment. G. V. W.

N°. 17—THE TWO RESURRECTIONS.

THE doctrine of two resurrections—a first and a second -has been treated of occasionally, in connection with the coming of, the Lord, in more than one of the papers on that subject. But its importance, and the way in which unscriptural views on it mislead the mind as to the gospel itself, seem to me to call for a distinct paper on the point.

The doctrine of a first resurrection does connect itself with the truth of our complete salvation in Christ, the part we have with Himself in glory and blessing, and with His coming again; and this will appear in the following lines; but my object now is to give the scriptural view of this particular subject.

Are there two resurrections, and what is their true character? There are two resurrections, entirely distinct in character and in epoch. The whole character of the resurrection of the saints is totally distinct from that of the resurrection of the wicked.

We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son that He may be the firstborn among many brethren. This is the full result of God's purpose as to us. This is evidently in our resurrection state. Hence we are raised in glory. Upon the face of it this shows that our resurrection is in its nature, wholly distinct from that of the wicked, who are yet to be judged. It is, as to our present state, the full result of redemption, in which the wicked have no part whatever, but quite the contrary. It is not what leads to the diescion of the state we are to be in by a judgment to be pronounced, but our being, by, the power of. God, in the state which the unspeakable grace of redemption has made ours.

This single point at once shows the great importance of this question.

The resurrection of the saint is not a preliminary to a judgment which is to decide the state he is to be in, but the putting him into the state in which he is like Christ and in which he is to be forever in the Father's house with Him; power introducing him into that condition which redemption has obtained for him. Let my reader weigh for a moment the vast importance of this truth, incontrovertible if we acknowledge the authority of Scripture. We are raised in glory. Let him see what a seal it sets on the efficacy of redemption and on the nature of our association with Christ in life. We have life in Christ, life from Him risen. So complete is our redemption and the efficacy of Christ's work, that the power which calls us out of the grave is used only to put us into actual glorious conformity to Christ glorified, who is our life. It is evident that this can have no application to, but is in the completest contrast with, the resurrection of the wicked.

A common resurrection, of which the result is afterward to be proved by judgment, is entirely contrary to Scripture, a tradition, deep rooted in the Church's habits of thinking perhaps, but, which has no foundation in Scripture. And this will soon be found to affect the whole character of the gospel and the present condition of the soul under its influence. The resurrection of the saint is not a resurrection to an uncertain or even an unascertained result in judgment, but is itself the result of redemption, a resurrection in glory.

If we look at another aspect of the resurrection of the saints, we shall find this amply confirmed. We read in Rom. 8 " If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up the Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you." The resurrection of the saint is the effect and consequence of the Holy Spirit's dwelling in him. As Jesus was raised from the dead by Him whose Spirit dwells in us, and in the power of that Spirit (as we read in Peter), we also shall be raised by (or, as some read, on account of) that Spirit which dwells in us. It is equally clear that this can have no reference to the wicked. The nature, of our resurrection is different. It is the result of that Spirit's being in us, which is the witness already that there is no condemnation for us, that we are in Christ and Christ in us. That which has saved us, that which has made us walk in holiness, in newness of life as sons of God, has its result in what demonstrates fully whose and what we are. Just as Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead, so we, through Him in blessing walking in that Spirit here, are by His power manifested

in resurrection in full result as sons of God. The children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

I will now show from Scripture that while the resurrection of the wicked is distinctly taught, the resurrection of the just is always distinguished and never confounded with it. It would be confounding a state which is the result of redemption and the act of grace in power which brings that result about, with a state in which the result of man's sin is to be carried out by judgment; because in each case divine power works to call the dead out of their graves. It is this confusion which has the effect of throwing such obscurity on the gospel itself by which we have a part, and through faith by the Holy Ghost know we have a part, in the effect of that redemption. There shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust. That is clearly laid down.

They that have done evil will come forth out of their graves to the resurrection of judgment. This itself marks a peculiar character of resurrection for the wicked, but I do not pursue their case any further; my special object is the resurrection of the saints. Suffice it to say the wicked will be raised and raised for judgment. 1 will now first of all take 1 Cor. 15 as the fullest scriptural expression of the subject, and then 1 Thess. 4 as giving some very precise details.

The tenor of 1 Cor. 15 applies only to believers, and more than that distinctly states that they only will rise when Christ comes. The resurrection described is the resurrection of the saints. " It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory." This clearly, applies only to believers. The resurrection he is speaking of applies to believers only. So it is said: " Death is swallowed up in victory." It is that act of power which causes us to bear the image of the heavenly (vers. 42, 43, 49, 54). Nothing can be clearer than that it is a description of the resurrection of the saints. But more than this, the order of the resurrection is formally spoken of, and the wicked left out, and more than that (verses 20 and onward), " But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them' that slept." Christ is not the first-fruits of the wicked adjudged to condemnation. But further, " Every man in his own order, Christ the, first-fruits, then they that are Christ's at His coming." That is, when the order of resurrection is specifically declared, those only who are Christ's are declared to rise at His coming, those of whom He is the firstfruits. The end comes afterward, " when he shall have delivered up the kingdom." That is, we have a distinct revelation of the order of the resurrection in which we are taught, that those that are Christ's will rise when He comes, those of whom Be is the firstfruits, who are to bear His image.

This is fully confirmed in the book of Revelation (Rev. 20.), where we learn that at the end when the wicked dead, who had not part in the first resurrection, are to stand before the throne and the books are opened, and they are judged out of the things written in them, Christ does not come at all. One sits on the great white throne, and heaven and earth fly away from before His face. He does not, that is, come at all.

Turn now to 1 Thess. 4, where, again, we have direct instruction on the point. ".The Lord himself shall

descend from heaven with a shout and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord 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." The changed saints are associated with the raised to go and meet the Lord and be ever with Him, as in 1 Cor. 15:51, 52; but it is only the dead in Christ, or living saints changed. Grace and faith had made the separation and make it, not judgment. Jesus comes to fetch them to be with Him forever; and when He does that He changes the body of their humiliation and fashions it like the body of His glory (Phil. 3) It is quite certain all this applies to the saints only, the wicked have no part in this resurrection.

Such then is the formal doctrine of the word, namely, that grace makes the separation here between the wicked and believers, and that Christ at His coming raises the just to have a part with Him.

Remark how (in 1 Cor. 15). the saints are associated with Christ. If we are not raised Christ is not, says the apostle, and insists on it. We are so connected that you cannot separate the two cases. If He is not raised, we are in our sins; clearly showing that if He is, we are not. In the Adam all die. In the Christ all are made alive. Those connected with each, of the two heads and the heads themselves have respectively the same portion. Christ is the firstfruits of those that are fallen asleep. As is the heavenly, such are the heavenly, and we shall bear the image of the heavenly. All this teaches not a mixing up saints and unjust for judgment to distinguish, but the blessed truth of the association of the saints with Christ, and apart from the wicked.

Do the other passages which speak of this subject confirm this, or do they show that some fallacies have entered into our minds, and that these passages do not teach this, however plain they may seem. All other passages fully confirm the doctrine, that there is a distinct resurrection of the just. Thou shalt be recompensed, says the Lord, at the resurrection of the just.

There is such a thing as a distinctive resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14).. Again (Luke 20:35), "but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Here some are counted worthy to obtain a resurrection from the dead, in which they are as angels, and proved to be the children of God because they belong to it and it to them. If all were raised together, this could not be true. There is a resurrection which belongs to the children of God only, and proves they are such.

John 5 is equally clear. Two great means are there set before us of the glory of the Son: quickening with the Father and judging alone; the two are not confounded, the judgment is to compel all to honor Him. But in which am I to be.? They that have heard His word and believed on Him that sent Him, are quickened; they have everlasting life; shall not come into judgment but are passed from death unto life. Christ already quickened souls as Son of God. They were not to marvel at this, for the time was coming when all in their graves should hear His voice, they that have done good coming forth to the resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment resurrections thus distinct in their character and nature, one being for judgment, the other for life, completing, as to the body, what had been already done for the soul. The word hour is alleged here to show it is at the same time. This is comparatively of little moment compared with the saints being raised apart as already accepted, and now glorified, the wicked being raised for judgment by themselves. But there is no ground for the remark; ὡρα merely means an epoch. There is one of quickening to have a part with Christ, another in which judgment will be executed. The former has certainly lasted 1800 years and more, and comprises two distinct states, Christ on earth, and Christ in heaven. An argument has a poor foundation which rests upon a word in verse 28 meaning a single and same moment, which in verse 25 certainly means 1800 years and more; A conco-rdance will show there is no farce in it at all. In chapter vi., verses 39, 40, 44, 54, all confirm this, it is a promise of that which is the completing the blessing of eternal life. It would be of little import to insist on raising a person up at the last day as a sure proof of favor and eternal life, if the wickedest man going was raised just in the same way, both having their case to be settled by judgment.

It is well here to notice in passing that the notion of Christ's coming at the end of the world is an unscriptural idea. At the judgment of the dead, which is at the end of the world, the last enemy who is to be destroyed then meeting his end also, Christ does not come at all; He sits on the great white throne, and heaven and earth fly away from before His face, and the dead stand before God, and the books are opened. This is not coming back to earth. In the same way the end of this world (in Matt. 13 and other places) is not of this globe when it is consumed, but this age or dispensation; a perfectly well known phrase among the Jews who spoke of the Olant-hazeh, this world or age, and the Olarn-havo, the age to come, the latter being the time of Messiah's reign. Now the last day " alludes to this; he will be raised up when Christ comes and puts an end to this age atcov (aion). It certainly is not the end of the world; Christ could not give the glory then, when He spoke, but when He takes His kingdom He will raise them up and they will reign with Him. 1 Cor. 15 I have already considered.

In Philippians, we find the same truth confirmed. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead,-a very useless effort again, if the wickedest unbeliever would be equally there; there was nothing to attain to. If the saints were to be raised separately in glory, then,' indeed, it was worthy of his earnest desire.

And in the Greek this passage has a force which the English does not give it. The apostle has invented a Greek word to express this distinct resurrection εξαναστασις (exanastasis), a rising out from among others. That is what he sought to attain to. Christ, the object of perfect divine favor, had arisen out from among others, the firstfruits; and Paul, he looked to have part in the blessed harvest when Christ will come from heaven as he expresses it at the end of the chapter, " from whence we expect the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be conformed to His glorious body." How evident it is that the mind of the spirit dwells on a resurrection which belongs to the saints, in which the wicked have no part. In the commonest truths this appears: we are " waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of the body." The deliverance of the body from the power of death could have no such expression if a common resurrection to judgment was in the apostle's mind, was a Christian thought. How would it then be " the adoption"? Death, indeed, then for us will be swallowed up in victory.

1 Thessalonians we have already examined. The dead in Christ rise, the living are changed, and both together go up to meet the Lord in the air, and so are ever with the Lord: a statement which needs no comment as to the exclusion of the wicked.

I would only add that as this and 1 Cor. 15 speak very distinctly of the resurrection of the saints as taking place at the coming of the Lord, those passages which speak of His coming for the saints confirm, in the distinctness way, the same truth. Thus, " if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there ye may be also." Christ comes and takes His own up to Himself. That this excludes the wicked from such a process, there is no need to say.

So in the end of Heb. 9 "As it is appointed to men once to die (κειται, it is their lot), and after that the judgment, so Christ was offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sip unto salvation." Here—again salvation and looking for Him exclude the unbeliever. And remark, that this is in contrast with (the natural portion of fallen man) death and judgment: The more familiar we are with the New Testament, the more we shall see how Christ and the believer are associated by the Holy Ghost. So that life and resurrection belong to both, they have a like part in it; only that it is in Him divinely, and by right of course; in us through grace. Their trust was in God that raiseth the dead; they knew that He which raised up Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and present us with all saints; that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. They looked that mortality might be swallowed up of life. God had wrought them for that, and given them the earnest of the Spirit, so that they ' were always confident. The cold doctrine of a resurrection common to all, to go and to be judged, furnishes no such thoughts. When Christ comes to judge even the living on this earth, when He finds them eating, drinking buying, selling, etc. (which is clearly not the great white throne and seems to have been almost forgotten), all scripture declares that the saints shall appear with Him. The Lord thy God shall come, and all the saints with thee. The Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints. When He shall appear we also shall appear with Him in glory. The armies which are in heaven followed Him, clothed in white linen, and they which are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful: The angels will surely come, but some of these passages do not and cannot apply to angels. We shall appear with. Him in glory. Hence, before any judgment of Christ whatever, even of the living, the saints have been raised and are with Him. Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him, as we have seen in 1 Thess. 4, where there follows the account of how they get there, so as so to come. It is this complete association with Christ which gives such blessedness to the doctrine of a distinct resurrection of saints. We are not only saved through Christ, but blessed and glorified with Him, like Him the firstborn among many brethren. Hence the resurrection was the testimony as well as the hope of the apostles and of saints, as we find them in scripture. It is plainly taught we are happy meanwhile; the thief on the cross, 2 Cor. 5, Phil. 1, Stephen, all testify plainly in fact and doctrine to this, but full conformity to Jesus, and that is our hope, is not when we are dead and our spirits with Him, but when we are raised and glorified as He is, like Him and seeing Him as He is. It will be seen that I have treated the subject on the general ground of the universal teaching of scripture, what it makes of the resurrection of the saints, how it associates them with Christ in it; the resurrection of the wicked (though distinctly revealed, and that it is for judgment,) is simply stated, and never expatiated on,- whereas, the resurrection of the saints is largely treated, and as one exclusively theirs, distinct in nature, principle, object, and time.

I am not aware of the resurrection of the wicked being spoken of directly (though constantly assumed elsewhere), save in Paul's address to Felix, and in the fifth of John, until we come to the Revelation, to which I now turn. There, thrones of judgment are seen, and those that sat on them, among whom we find those who had been beheaded for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus, and those* who had not worshipped the beast; judgment is given to them, and they lived and reigned with Christ. These compose the first resurrection. And remark, Christ is now come, heaven being opened, the marriage of the Lamb is come, His bride made ready, the beast judged. I am not now speaking of the exact moment of resurrection in the order of these events among themselves, which is not spoken of here at all, but of the epoch at which all this takes place. Babylon is judged of God, the marriage of the Lamb come, so that His whole bride is there, the beast destroyed by Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords. The armies which accompany Him being clearly the saints, for they are in their white robes, and (as expressed in Chapter xvii.) they that are with Him are called, chosen and faithful, the first epithet being wholly inapplicable to the angels. When the whole Church, then, is complete, the saints will be raised and sit on thrones, those who have been beheaded for the word of God amongst them; -So that a resurrection of principles is really nonsense. It is those who were beheaded for their principles; nor does Christ marry principles, but (according to the scripture figure) the Church. It is a statement which regards persons. Blessed and holy is he that bath part in the first resurrection. Is that principles? On such the second death bath no power, but they shall be priests: of God and of Christ. Whoever heard of principles being priests? Something may be made figuratively of principles reigning, but being priests! And note, who are kings and priests; and in this very same book we read: "He has loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests to God and his Father." Has Christ washed His own principles from their sins? Those whom He has washed He has made kings and priests, and here they live and are priests, and reign with Him. As promised, if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. Further, we read, " the rest of the dead," etc. Were there some other principles which did not live again? When had they died? There is no real resurrection of the dead here at all, if the first be not one, for the others are the rest of people alike dead. It is really absurd to apply the rest of the dead to principles, and, consequently, equally absurd to apply it to those of whom they were the rest. Consequently, they were in each case dead men, and in each case the resurrection of such is spoken of. In a word, the promised reign of blessing and peace on the earth will be accompanied by a resurrection of the saints, and the judgment of the wicked on -the earth.

And to this the testimony of Isaiah bears striking witness. In Isa. 25 we read, " The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low; and, he will destroy in this mountain (Zion, Jerusalem) the face of the covering—cast over all peoples, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory." Here you have judgment-the blessing in Jerusalem reaching out to taking the darkness from all nations-and, with both, that which the apostle expressly declares to be accomplished in the resurrection of the saints. " Then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." To a mind subject to scripture, and not trusting to tradition or its own reasonings, the point, it seems to me, must be as clear as scripture can make it. Indeed, if that were of any value, for two hundred years the Church believed it. Worldliness and heresies grew in exact proportion to, and by the means of, the decline of this truth, as the Lord had said it would in the case of the evil servants.

I shall refer to another passage, not because it has anything to say to it, but because it is generally considered to refer to this subject,-the parable of the sheep and the goats. Are not (we are asked) all put on the right hand or on the left? The plain answer is, There is nothing about resurrection at all in the passage, nor does it refer to the dead or the raised; but, as is stated in the passage itself', to all the Gentiles or nations. It is the judgment of the quick or living, not of the dead; of the nations on earth, when Christ comes in His glory and sits on the throne of it, and shall gather, as the prophets have declared, all nations together to be judged. Next there are three classes, goats, sheep, and brethren, and not merely two, but a third, which does not come into judgment, but whom Christ designates as "these my brethren," in speaking to the sheep as well as to the goats. And this leads to another very definite point, which demonstrates that it is not a general judgment. Goats and sheep are judged according as they have treated these brethren who represented Christ. What was done to them was done to Him. Now that is not the ground of a general judgment, and cannot be, as we see in Rom. 2, men perish without law,-are judged by the law. In fact, the vast majority of the heathen, nine-tenths, we may pretty safely say, of all that come into the general judgment, will never have had those who represent Christ before them to raise the question. In a word, the passage does not apply to a general judgment at all, nor to those who are raised, but (as it says) to the judgment of the nations. The careful reader will see that all that concerns the testimony' among the Jews is unfolded to the end of ver. 31 of Chapter 24. Then come warnings for Christians in three parables-the good and bad servant, the virgins, and the talents. And then, taking up 24:31, in 25:31, the Lord pursues the judgment of the third class, the Gentiles, all referring to the testimony come in through Him, not to a general judgment on general grounds. People have almost forgotten that there is a Judgment of the living as well as of the dead, that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world (the habitable earth) in righteousness, by that man whom He hath ordained.

The immense importance of the truth we are insisting on, the way it changes the whole tone of our Christianity, will not have escaped the Christian reader. Instead of leaving the believer among unbelievers, mixed up with the mass of those who have not Christ, to await together the decision of the day of judgment, as if the saints were not redeemed and saved, had no special connection with Christ, which changed their position altogether-It brings out distinctly and clearly their connection with Christ, and their disconnection from unbelievers. Christ the firstfruits, they the lump. They have the same kind of resurrection He had, raised out from among the dead, because of their perfect acceptance and the divine favor. Let me add here that resurrection from the dead and of the dead are not confounded in scripture. Resurrection of the dead is a great general doctrine that the dead will rise, not be left in the grave. Resurrection from the dead, or as it might be more clearly expressed, resurrection from among the dead, is taking some out from among others who are left behind, because of the perfect divine favor resting on the first, which does not on the others; so that the former are raised in glory to be with and like Christ forever. It is evident that this is quite a different thought and truth from a supposed general resurrection to Judgment. We are dissociated from the wicked, and completely associated with Christ. At the same time it leaves all the great foundation truths of the Gospel where they were; and this, too, is important (heresies do not)-nay, it adds force to them. The value of the Atonement, the complete efficacy of redemption, Christ being our life, our having received the Holy Ghost; the value of these things come out into much fuller relief. That we are risen with Christ, associated and identified with Him, stands out in its full, and simple, and scriptural force, instead of being practically set aside, by mixing us up with the unbelieving mass who have rejected Him and come into judgment. The connection of Christ with His people is clearer, while His divine oneness with the Father, and similar foundation truths, remain at the foundation of all as ever. His humanity shines out clearer than ever, through our connection with Him. The immortality of the soul retains all its vital importance, and the happy intermediate state of departed souls of believers is brought out more distinctly. For if the saints are to be subject to a judgment at the end to decide their state, how can they have been in heaven with Christ meanwhile? How take Paul, who has been 1800 years with Christ, to have it decided whether he is to be with Him? Whereas, if the resurrection of, the saints is not that, but is the adding a glorified body by Christ's power to a blessed spirit- that is simple enough. The spirit departs and is with Christ, as scripture abundantly and clearly teaches; in due time the body will be raised glorious, and we shall be conformed to the image of the Son, bear His image, and be like Him in glory. To depart and be with Christ is far better, but we await His coming to have a glorious body. The first resurrection from among the dead, the only one which scripture recognizes of saints, associates the affections, the faith, the hope of the Christian, with Christ, the greatest blessing we can have in this world.

As the sincere Christian may very naturally and justly inquire, if this be, so what comes of standing before the Judgment seat of Christ?. I add a few words on this subject. We have already seen that in John 5 it is positively stated that the believer will not come into judgment (κρισις), but it remains to inquire what the passages referred to do mean, and give them their full force. This then is clear from 2 Cor. 5 and Rom. 13, namely, that every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. The result for the wicked is surely the execution of the sentence of condemnation, not the condemnation itself, for he that believeth not is condemned already; but they will receive the things done in the body, cast from before the great white throne into the lake of fire. On this I do not further dwell, solemn and all important as the truth may be, because it is not the subject of our present inquiry. The living as in Matt. 25, 2 Thess. 1, and Rev. 19), and the dead (Rev. 20) will go into everlasting punishment. But as to the saved also the Scripture is plain. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, shall all give an account of ourselves to God. God forbid that one tittle of Scripture should be weakened in any way. We are to receive and, through grace, apply it in all its force. We inquire what is the mind of the spirit in it. It is striking to remark how Scripture avoids the the word judgment, even when we might expect it, when the saints are included.

Now there are two parts of our position as Christians which clear up this question. We stand before God to enjoy Himself in whose presence there is fullness of joy; and, besides that, God has given to us to have a blessed part in the activities of His love towards others, the full exercise of which clearly connects itself with our own spiritual state. If He is to go out with us, there must be no Achans in the camp. Now as regards our standing before God, we are perfect in Christ. He is my life, my righteousness, as much as Paul's. We are all to be conformed to the image of God's Son; as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly: But if we come to spiritual activities, how large the difference. We are all like Christ, all made meet to' be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, all enter into the joy of our Lord: but besides this, every, man will receive his own reward according to his own labor. What has been obtained by Christ for us is the same, being conformed to His own glory in the Father's, house with Him. What the Spirit has wrought by us, each man has his own reward for, though all be of grace. The Thessalonians will not be our crown and rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus, as they will be Paul's. If we have built hay and wood and stubble, we may be saved' but suffer loss. That is one part of the truth. Our acceptance is perfect, and alike for all. We are the righteousness of God in Christ, and God has wrought us all for the glory.

Each will receive distinctively the things done. For the wicked, of course, that will be punishment and condemnation for the saints' reward; they are already glorified before they get there, raised in glory, fashioned like Christ's glorious body. But as it is expressed: " Be thou over ten cities," " Be thou over five," etc. But there is more than this, we shall know as we are known, give an account of ourselves to God, and if so of every-, thing. There is nothing secret but that it should be made manifest, nor hid but that it should come to light. We shall not have a trace of the nature we sinned in, but if we give an account of ourselves to God, it is clear it must be of everything or it would not be a true account as to anything. If we know we are in Christ, and all is honestly out before God, this produces no alarm. If my reader feels uneasy about it, he is not clear before God. If he had all fully open before God now, he would not be afraid of having it so then. If he has the best robe on, he will not- be ashamed to say what horrid rags he had on before. Ah, if he has not, I understand he must try and palliate and hide them, and his nakedness into the bargain. But we shall give an account of ourselves to God-not be judged. We shall be, as we have seen, in glory already, some will have been for ages with Christ already. But it is a great gain. I look back now and see how the High and Holy God has spared and kept and led and hindered me from falling, and lifted me up when I fell, has not withdrawn His eyes from me, not merely wrought a great salvation, but never ceased leading and watching over me, making everything to work for my good, followed my character, circumstances, dangers, difficulties, and ministered needed grace and correction through the intercession of Christ. Am I unwilling to know all this. I believe it now. I can trace it in a thousand cases when I look back. I believe it in every case. Then I shall see it all perfectly. What a scene of grace it will be. Why, I shall delight and adore when I see it all as I adore and am thankful -oh, how thankful—for it now. Were it judgment, it must be judgment of all Christ's work set aside, and my condemnation certain. But it is not, and that cannot be. But it is knowing as I am known and seeing God in all His ways with me. But it has another and a present effect. We are manifested to God. " We shall all appear," should be " We shall all be manifested." Now faith anticipates this, and it has thus a practical sanctifying effect: keeps us under God's eye. We are, says the apostle, manifested to God, not merely we shall be. Now this is most important,, we all need it; however holy affections may be our highest portion, and they are, we all need our consciences to be in God's sight, in passing through this world, according to the judgment He has of things. We are manifested to God. It stimulates too as to persuading men still exposed to the judgment of that day; makes us careful not to judge others nor put a stumbling block in their way. These are the consequences the apostle draws from even the terror of the Lord, never the fear of judgment for ourselves who in that day (blessed be God) shall be perfectly like the Lord himself. " Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

Psalms

Book 1. (Psalm 1-41) In Book 1, the Remnant is not looked at as driven out of Jerusalem; hence covenant mercies with Jehovah, are all through referred to.

Psalm 1. The righteous man, the Remnant in Israel.

Psalm 2. The Messiah, the Son of God, King o Israel, but rejected.

Psalm 3-7. The state and feelings of the Remnant, in consequence of his rejection.

Psalm 8. Exaltation to the higher place of Son of Man, consequent on his rejection as Messiah.

Psalm 9-10. The historical condition of the Remnant in the last days,—Jehovah's judgments being their deliverance.

Psalm 11-15. Express the Spirit's giving them expressions suited to their state and feeling in that condition.

Psalm 16. Messiah coming and taking His place among them, as trusting Jehovah, and having Jehovah

as His object; it leads up to heavenly joy.

Psa. 17. An appeal to righteousness, ending in glory.

Psa. 18. The suffering Messiah the center of all God's ways, from Egypt till the Royalty of Messiah. Psa. 19. The heavens and the law.

Psa. 20. The Remnant prophetically see Messiah in His trouble.

Psa. 21. The answer in His heavenly exaltation, the result being judgment on men, who are His enemies.

Psa. 22. His suffering as forsaken of Jehovah; the result being grace, traced on to the Millennium.

Psa. 23. Jehovah recognized as Shepherd, Messiah having taken His place with the sheep.

Psa. 24. Messiah is Jehovah, entering into the temple in glory and after His victory over all His enemies.

Psa. 25. The foundation being thus laid in the place which Messiah has taken, you get the confession of sin.

Psa. 26-39. We get the moral exercises of the Remnant, which follow from it, amongst the rest the blessing of forgiveness.

Psa. 40. The foundation laid in Messiah undertaking to do the will of God, and His patient endurance in going through it.

Psa. 41. The blessing of the man who understands the position of the poor (the sheep).

Book 2. (Psa. 42-72) The Remnant are seen driven out, and, unless viewed in the future, God, not Jehovah (His covenant name), is referred to. The consequence, however, being that what is in God Himself is more deeply learned and desired.

Psa. 42. Casting out by the heathen.

Psa. 43. Casting out by the ungodly Jewish nation.

Psalm 44-48. A series extending from their first appeal to God, to their re-establishment in Zion, Psalm 49 being a general moral commentary on it.

Psalm 44. They plead ancient favor and present faithfulness, and their extreme distress.

Psalm 45. Messiah is introduced, the mighty deliverer.

Psalm 46. Consequently God rises above all the waterfloods to give blessing to Israel in Zion, and the covenant relationship of Israel with Jehovah is re-established.

Psalm 47. Establishes His dominion over the heathen.

Psalm 48. Zion is the settled center of the blessing. What they had heard in 44, they now see with their eyes.

Psalm 49. (Which is a comment on the preceding), shows how man's glory is set aside, and all his pretensions come to nothing before God, who is the deliverer of all those who trust in Him.

Psalm 50. The great principles in display of God's judgments.

Psalm 51. Israel's confession of sin, looking for mercy and cleansing, and owning it in its root in nature and its results in the rejection of Messiah.

Psalm 52-67. The Remnant's exercises of soul, in which Israel becomes the blessing of the nations.

Psalm 68. Messiah ascended and exalted, is the bringer in of the blessing.

Psalm 69. The full depth of Messiah's sufferings in connection with the Remnant.

Psalm 70. Appeal from the sufferings.

Psalm 71. Carrying it on to the deliverance of Israel, when their strength is all but gone.

Psalm 72. Messiah is established as the Son of David.

Book 3. (Psalm73-89) Takes up Israel as well as Judah; but only the Remnant in Israel. Hence it refers to all the history of Israel from the beginning, the external attacks against them as a nation in the latter days, and looks for the judgment of the kings of the earth assembled against Jerusalem. It goes through the whole history of Israel, ending in God's electing love in David, which He is to make good. In it we find reference to Israel's responsibility, but his reappearing like the new moon; the judgment of the judges of the earth; the destruction of the last confederacy, so that Jehovah's name shall be known.

Psa. 73. Takes Israel up thus, and distinguishes the Remnant, and weighs the momentary prosperity of the ungodly as the trial of the Remnant's faith, who cannot understand it until it goes into the sanctuary of God, who judges them at the end. Meanwhile he (the Remnant) trusts in the Lord's guidance and care.

Psa. 74. The destroying inroad of the adversary in Mount Zion and the Temple, and the appeal of the poor (the Remnant) to God's delivering hand.

Psa. 75. Messiah takes up the congregation, and judgment into His hand.,

Psa. 76. God is made known in Judah and Israel, and judges the kings of the earth.

Psa. 77. The godly man (? the Remnant) goes r back in his sorrow and trouble to the long known, early faithfulness of the Most High to Israel.

Psa. 78. He goes through the whole history of Israel's failure under the law, and resorts to the principle of God's electing love for blessing.

Psa. 79. The Remnant sees the anger of God, and the laying waste of Jerusalem by the heathen, founding an appeal to God upon it.

Psa. 80. Replaces Israel under the Shepherd care of God as in the wilderness,

Psa. 81. While Israel is judged under responsibility, and reappearing as the new moon.

Psa. 82. God judges the judges of the earth and even in Israel.

Psa. 83. God is called upon to judge the last confederacy, that men may know Jehovah is Most High over all the earth.

Psa. 84. They rejoice in the thought of going up to Jerusalem.

Psa. 85. Being-restored to the land they look now for the full blessing, according to the full blessing of Millennial rest.

Psa. 86. The personal sentiment of the godly man looking, before it comes, for the blessing in the midst of the sorrow.

Psa. 87. God founds Zion,-counts the redeemed to her as her children, and she is the boast of the restored Remnant.

Psa. 88. The utter desolation and condemnation under the law, and looking for deliverance.

Psa. 89. This, on the contrary, refers to mercies and centers them all in Messiah.

Book 4. (Psa. 90-106) In connection with Israel. The bringing in the Only Begotten into the world.

Psa. 90. He turns back to the original unfailing security of an unchangeable Jehovah, their dwelling-place in all generations, and looking for the manifestation of His work.

Psa. 91. Messiah takes the God of Israel as His God, and the promises are thereupon conferred on Him.

Psa. 92. The millennial celebration of the Most High, consequent on the above.

Psa. 93. Jehovah reigns and the throne is established in holiness and peace, after all the raging of man.

Psa. 94. The cry in distress, for Jehovah's coming in vengeance, and then He must set aside the power of wickedness.

Psa. 95. He calls on Israel to come for Him as their God (to the Jews).

Psa. 96. The testimony goes out to the heathen, because Jehovah is coming.

Psa. 97. He is actually coming in the power of His reign.

Psa. 98. He is come, and remembered His truth to Israel and set aside their enemies.

Psa. 99. He is come, and sitting between the cherubim in Jerusalem on earth.

Psa. 100. The heathen are called to come up and praise there.

Psa. 101. Messiah states how He will rule the world when He gets it.

Psa. 102. Is perhaps the most striking expression of the sufferings and rejection of Messiah, and the inquiry is raised, if Zion is to be restored, what is to become of Messiah who has been cut off? And the answer is, the Eternal Divinity of Christ.

Psa. 103. Forgiveness and healing for the Remnant thus restored, or the blessing of Jehovah.

Psa. 104. Praise to Jehovah as the faithful Creator, but who rejects sinners out of the earth.

Psa. 105. Thanks to Jehovah as the One who having given unconditional promises to Abraham, acts in grace to Israel. (The previous book does not go back beyond Moses).

Psa. 106. Gives the full confession of the constant sin of Israel, in spite of mercies, and looks now for the accomplishment of that mercy; and grace celebrating it, therefore, as enduring forever.

Book 5. (Psa. 107-150)

Psa. 107. Celebrates the bringing back of redeemed but scattered Israel from all lands as a testimony of the goodness of Jehovah and His mercy enduring forever.

Psa. 108. Counts upon God with a fixed heart for triumph among the nations, through the strength and help of God.

Psa. 109. The desolation of the apostate, but God's care of the poor who trust Him.

Psa. 110. Jehovah exalts Messiah at His right hand until He sets Him in Zion, as Melchizedec.

Psa. 111. Specially celebrates Jehovah for His works, who sent redemption to His people and sets forth the fear of Jehovah as the beginning of wisdom.

Psa. 112. Hallelujah Assures the godly Remnant of his place in blessing with Jehovah on the earth while the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Psa. 113. Hallelujah. Celebrates the praise of God for His condescension to the poor of His people, whom He has exalted.

Psa. 114. Celebrates the presence of Jehovah in the midst of His people.

Psa. 115. Appeals to Jehovah for the glory of His own name in contrast to idols. And calls on Israel and those that fear the Lord to trust Him. Israel are the blessed of Jehovah.

Psa. 116. Rehearses how Jehovah brought them up when they were at the grave's mouth, and almost in despair.

Psa. 117. Calls upon the nations to praise Jehovah because of His goodness to Israel.

Psa. 118. Celebrates Jehovah for the deliverance of Israel, but enters into the detail of the nations encompassing them, Satan's hostility in it, and Jehovah's chastening seen in it all. Then the gates of righteousness are open, and Messiah is owned as head of the corner, and blessed as coming in the name of the Jehovah, in the day which the Jehovah bath made.

Psa. 119. The law is written on their hearts and they confess that they had gone astray.

Psa. 120-134. The songs of degrees. A progressive celebration of the course of the Lord's ways from the time of their crying in distress till they bless Jehovah in the sanctuary.

Psa. 135. Praising Jehovah in contrast with all idols. Proved in His deliverance of Jacob, and His

dwelling in his midst.

Psa. 136. Still celebrates the mercy that endures forever, connects it with creation and His dealings in favor of Israel.

Psa. 137. The judgment of Edom and Babylon.

Psa. 138. Praises the endurance of mercy forever, in connection with Jehovah's care for the lowly pious one.

Psa. 139. They have been searched out by Jehovah, from whom it is impossible to escape. But the pious can trust Him as a faithful Creator, for good.

Psa. 140. Looks for deliverance, from (by?) Jehovah, on the ground of God's own character as contrasted with the wicked.

Psa. 141. Looks to Jehovah to keep the hearts and lips, that there may be no connection with the wicked whom He will judge.

Psalm 142. Is the expression of confidence in Jehovah, so that trouble is only, the occasion of looking to Him for refuge.

Psalm 143. The extreme of distress is urged as a motive for God's interference.

Psalm 144. Urges the worthlessness of man as a reason for God's not delaying judgment, by which His people shall be brought into full blessing.

Psalm 145. A dialog between Messiah and the blessed remnant in the Millennium, and celebrating Jehovah's praise.

Psalm 146. Hallelujah. Unfolding His character in His dealings with Israel in the last days.

Psalm 147. Still praise to Jehovah for His great kindness and condescension to His people, and that He who governs all creation has given His word to. Jacob only.

Psalm 148. Calls upon all creation, from angels downwards, to praise Jehovah who has exalted His people Israel.

Psalm 149. Praises Jehovah in the congregation of Israel, and of the saints to whom God has given power to destroy their heathen enemies.

Psalm 150. A summons to universal praise to Jehovah.

"Tusca"

Revelation 20:4-15

Revelation 20:4-15.

4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.

This is the first resurrection. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first' resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10. And the devil that deceived them was 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.

11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it-from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Ver. 11. " A great white throne" is here presented to us, as having been seen, seen in vision, by John. This is commonly called "The great white throne,"

And there was "him that sat on it" seen too.

"God commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he (Jesus of Nazareth, ver.38), which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead" (ver. 42), so said Peter.

"God now commandeth all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he bath raised him from the dead." So testified Paul.)

Then we read "from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them."

Here, clearly, we have the end of all that on which, and in connection with which, man had been found, in time, a dweller upon earth. This last of God's acts in time is described, here, very briefly, "from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away." Peter also; in his second epistle, describes this scene; and tells us how it shall be brought to pass, " the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10); "the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" (ver.12).

Time (as men speak) is that portion of eternity which is measured and marked off in portions, in connection with man here on earth, where he was originally placed by God as the center and head of this earth's system. When the system itself passes, time (as we speak) passes with it. God's last act as to this earth is this causing the heavens and the earth which now are, and which are, by the word of God, "kept in store, reserved unto fire" (2 Peter 3.7), to pass away.

Some argue from what has been here, on earth, to what will be in another and entirely different system of things. And that what is true now would be true then. This is folly. If we do, by experience, know a little about things as they have been and are, yet do we know nothing correctly unless it be that which is derived from Scripture; and to God's word must we go, if we would know anything that lies beyond the passing away of the present system.

Next, we read of a judgment. And, mark it, I pray you, it is a judgment, not in this world, nor in the time of this world; but after "the earth and the heaven fled away," after the whole system has been purged by fire. But there is a judgment then. "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."

Who are judged? The dead only.

It is not a general judgment; but only of such as are, at that time, "the dead."

It is not a general judgment,-for the first resurrection had brought out of the grave (as God thought it due to Christ that it should be) all that were therein who had believed in and served Him.. "Blessed and holy is he that bath part in the first resurrection" (ver. 6). After living and reigning with Christ a thousand years, and being (together with those who had been alive and waiting for him, and had been changed), priests of God and of Christ (ver. 6) there is no question about judgment for them. God had shown what He thought it meet and right to do with those that slept in Jesus, and those that waited for Him. They had both been associated with His Son, reigning with Him a thousand years. Christ had come (1 Thess. 4) to raise those that slept through Jesus; to change those that were still alive and awaited Him. They will not be among the dead. But, from Adam downward, many had died as unrepentant sinners,—down even to the host of daring, open rebels, stirred up by Satan at the last: "Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them" (vers. 7-9).

Where are they to be judged? All that is said is—They stand before God.

There is no difference; the dead, small and great, stand before the throne. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.

The trial will not turn upon human evidence. Books are to be opened-books of works; and another book to check them by-the book of life; that it may be shown that none that have their names in that book of life come into judgment. "And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works"... "And they were judged every man according to their works."

Of the sentence, I may speak presently.

To two things I now call attention. First, that this scene presents "the dead" who have ceased to be in time; the scene is in "God's forever," and there they are: and Secondly, that they that stand to be judged, have been brought there by the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we turn to John 5 we shall see the proof of this second point.

There I read " the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (ver. 22). " And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man" (ver. 27). There are two resurrections mentioned here, the resurrection of life and the resurrection of judgment; both are the expression of His power, "marvel not at this: for the hour is coming; in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (vers. 28, 29). As to the first of these two classes, viz., those who partake of the resurrection unto life the Lord has known and wrought in them previously in a special way. This we find in vers. 24-26, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."

When- a creature; whose existence began yesterday, has to speak of his Creator, who is self existent and never had a beginning, surely humility and caution become him. I would remember this; yet where truth has been revealed in Scripture, that must, in all the details of it, be carefully gathered up as the humbled creature's safeguard against the cunning wiles and the vain reasonings of deceivers. In connection herewith, there are several things which I would now notice as to the Son of God.

First, because He is God, this same self-existence, this power to say "I am," the glory of being the First and the Last, is His. Himself, "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15); "in him it was well pleasing that all fullness should dwell" (ver. 19); " in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (ch. 2:9).

Secondly, and more than this, He could say and did say " He that has seen me has seen the Father also" (John 14:9). "And now, O Father, glorify thou me, with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (ch 17:4). Both these glories are referred to separately, in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. First it is said of Him, in His name of the Word, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God" (vers. 1, 2). And after, wards, "and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (ver. 14). "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (ver. 18). And of Him, as the Son, it is written, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power," etc. (Heb. 1:3).

Thirdly, the glories of being the alone Creator, the alone Upholder of everything, as also of being the one for whom all was made, are His.

"All things were made by him; and without him was not anything [not one thing] made that was made" (John 1:3). "God who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:9). "For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Col. 1:16,17).

Fourthly, as to the life which He gives to believers.

His own life is that which is God's, for He is God; and it has, therefore, all the moral character of God. He had in Himself, as God, immortality (1 Tim. 6:16) and incorruptibility but, as we saw above, in John 1 and Heb. 1, the whole moral character and glory of God was and is His, the Son's. I notice this because some speak as though the eternal life which He gives to the believer were merely the same thing as perpetuity of existence. When the Son of God speaks of having eternal life in Himself, which He gives to any that comes to Him, this is not merely perpetuity of existence: that is clear, for our life is "hid with Christ in God," and Christ himself is our life; "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:3,4). Certainly to any simple and honest mind such scriptures as these suggest far more than mere perpetuity of existence. As do these also: "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4); "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God that liveth and abideth forever" (1 Peter 1.24); " the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us ... full of grace and truth. And of [out of] his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace" (John 1:14,16); " born ... of God" (John 1:13); "changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18), etc. The Lord so makes us one with Himself in the Spirit, that without destroying our individuality as men having human life, He can speak of us who believe as having been crucified together with Him (Rom. 6:6), dead together with Him (2 Tim. 2:11); buried together with Him (Rom. 6:4); quickened together with Him, raised up together with, and made sit together with Him in heavenly places (Eph. 2:5,6). And this is true now. The mind that can see nothing more than perpetuity of existence in this, I can only suppose never tasted it. It is a spiritual nature, a moral being. Just so in speaking of "death," of "being dead," the Holy Ghost does not use these terms only in connection with the body. Besides Saul's "consenting unto the death of Stephen" (Acts 8:1), when he was stoned,-he (after Saul had become Paul) states of himself that he had, at that time, been "dead" as to God-"Even when we were dead in sins"; for he had persecuted the church, dear to God as it was (1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3, 6). He was morally, spiritually, dead.

But, again, I need not say that He "who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Phil. 2:6), existed as God ere "he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (ver. 7), and was "found in fashion as a man" (ver. 8). But I would remark that when God was manifest in the flesh, -that very body was one altogether peculiar,-born of a virgin, and this is told us in the angel's answer to Mary's question, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" (Luke 1:34). "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee"; and as a consequence, "therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (ver. 35). Many overlook this truth that the babe, that which was born of Mary, shall be called Son of God.

And observe, too, here that as to the power of laying down His life as a man, and the power of taking it again, He was quite by Himself. "Therefore Both my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:17,18). Of what other man could this be said?

Again, observe here, a difference as to life itself. " The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" [in Jesus Christ] (1 John 1:2). This if, in Him, the source of all manifested life, is not the life of all the creatures. Nothing exists in creation wide, whether in heaven above, or on earth, or in the prison of wicked spirits, but what derived its life and being from Him. He made all good. In heaven, some fell-He still holds them in existence by the word of His power, fallen though they be. Man fell on earth: the race still lives on earth; and though death, the wages of sin, is at work on the human body, there is yet to be a resurrection of the just and a resurrection of the unjust. That He has given various kinds of life is clear. Angels, beasts, birds, fish, plants, men, etc., are the witnesses of various kinds of life, or of life in creatures of various kinds and entirely different destinies. In man he displays one life in how many various states and conditions; but of the heavenly saints alone can it be said, One Spirit with the Lord himself.

Resurrection is not part of God's law as laid down for Adam at his creation. It could not have been so, for death did not exist among men. When the Son of God so far identified Himself with man as to become seed of the woman, we learn that He was to be, also, Raiser of the dead, and Judge of quick and dead. When He comes for His own people, "and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:28), He comes to fulfill his own promise made in John 5.24, as quoted above. In this resurrection there is no question of the merits of man, but only of the free gift of God, working on account of His estimate of Christ's merits. Now the first resurrection takes place in man's day, in time, from the earth as it is, and out from among the dead, one thousand years before the close of earth's history. And a body fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself (Phil. 3:21), one fit to go into the Father's house in, to see God in, and to share His glory in, the being like Him, when we see Him as He is, are gifts of His love. Gifts surely not natural to the position of Adam the first as placed in Eden, though natural enough for the last, Adam to give to those whom He has so associated with,, Himself that they can know that Christ Himself is their life (Col. 3:3,4). And this is our present blessing, according to John 14:19,20, "Yet a little time and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because...I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."

But the resurrection of those who are to be judged, and judged according to their works-that does not take place in man's day of possessing this world, it is in God's eternity. None but the wicked rise then. They are raised by the power of One whom they knew not. Those who have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam, and perished in the gainsaying of Core, with every doer of unrighteousness, and the fearful, and the unbelieving, will then be raised without their consent, and against their every desire, raised in eternity, when time is no more, in God's eternity, and then the judgment will take place and the sentence be pronounced.

And now let me observe, that the language of the Bible is strictly the language of man in every-day life. It means what it says. Man with man makes himself understood very well without any school-master's over-accuracy, and no mistakes arise to the simple mind as to what he means. Is God the only one who cannot use language so as to correctly awaken man's mind to His meaning? I will take as an illustration of what I mean the words "forever." Who in every-day life, in the things of men, gets into any mistake about the words forever, or supposes that "forever," always means the same duration? No; the context always decides the sense. A father gave to a child a plaything. The child (but of five years old) asked " How long is this to be mine?" The father replied "forever." And the child said “Then it is my own, my very own; and I may burn it, if I like, or give it to my sister." Land is sold in Devonshire on leases of one, two, and four thousand years, but not “forever." A child was run over on the car-line; the judgment of the doctors at the hospital was that the child would be a cripple "forever." In all these, and in innumerable other cases which occur, there is no ambiguity, no mistake in the hearer's mind of what is meant; and is there to the simple man who, taught of God to be as a little child, takes the Scripture as it is written, any difficulty when God speaks? I speak as a fool; not as a wise man, nor as a learned man, but as a fool, who asks God to teach him, and who desires to let Scripture speak to him whatever it means -without vain reasonings or quibblings.

If I say, God is "forever," how long does this "forever" last? He who calls himself a Christian and hesitates to say "'tis an endless forever, the life of God," is a fool. And if, when the earth and time are passed, God, in God's endless forever, declares something is to be "forever," tis an endless forever, which God so pronounces, and will make good too. The bliss and blessedness of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ is as endless as is He who has loved them, and whom they love; and the woe of those brought up for judgment after man's for evers have ceased, and sent into torment, is too an endless forever: where their worm dieth not, and where their fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44).

God's word does use the words "forever," in the same way as do men for durations which have an end; but then it is said of something in man's day, and not when man's day, with all its subdivisions of time, is past. Ever and forever, etc., are so used-I give instances from Cruden's concordance-

Ever.

Lev. 6:13, fire shall ever be burning on the altar.

Psa. 25:15, mine eyes are ever toward the Lord.

Luke 15:31, and he said, Son, thou art ever with me.

Eph. 5:29, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh.

2 Tim. 3:7, ever learning, and never.

Forever.

Gen. 43:9, then let me bear the blame forever.

Ex. 12:14, a feast for an ordinance forever. 17. (said of the passover, a type until Christ came).

Ex. 21:6, bore his ear, and he shall serve him forever.

Ex. 32:13, give this land, and they shall inherit it forever.

Lev. 25:30, the house shall be established forever to him.

The "forever" of the Mosaic economy, with its mediatorship, priesthood, sanctuary, nation, etc., seeing that it all pointed on to another, the Lord Jesus Christ, was necessarily limited to the duration of that economy. Just as the " forever" of a man's service to another was limited to his life.

So again-

1 Kings 9:3, this house built, to put my name there forever.

2 Kings 5:27, leprosy cleave to thee and to thy seed forever.

Psa. 30:12, I will give thanks to thee forever.

Isa. 35:6, Jonadab said, Ye shall drink no wine forever.

Jonah 2:6, earth with her bars was about me forever.

How different is the "forever" in the above cases to its sense, where it is used either of God himself, or of the truth of His word, or of the blessedness which awaits His own people. That of which when time is done, and it is in God's eternity, the weal or the woe is "forever," is surely an endless portion; whether of the good, bound up in one bundle of life with the Christ of God, or of the wicked raised up in the day of God, still haters of Him and of His Son.

Rom. 1:2:5, the Creator, who is blessed forever.

Rom. 9:5, Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.

Heb. 13:8, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.

1 Peter 1:23, the word of God, which liveth forever.

1 Peter 1:2.5, the word of the Lord endureth forever.

Gal. 1:5, God to whom be glory forever and ever. Phil. 4:20; 1 Tim. 1:17; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 13:21.

Rev. 4:9, to him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever. 10. 5:14; 10:6; 15:7.

Rev. 20:10, tormented day and night forever and ever.

Rev. 12:5, and they shall reign forever and ever.

Any one can follow out this as to the terms everlasting, eternal, evermore, etc.

My statement is plain, and, I trust, distinct. The words " forever," " ever," etc., if they are applied to anything or person, in man's day, may be a duration limited by the context, short or long. But if presented to us as being said of God, or of anything found in His presence, when man's day is passed, their they areas much for perpetuity as is the God who announces them; their "forever" is as long as His.

Reader! may God grant unto you, and unto me also, to receive His word as a little child, and to bow to it.

Scripture on the Judgment to Come

FIRST, that definitive and final judgment is entirely committed to the Son.

" The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; that all men shall honor the Son even as they honor the Father " (John 5:22,23). The Father " hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is Son of Man" (ver. 27).

As regards our sojourning in this world, the Father does judge (1 Peter 1:17): " If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear; forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed but with the precious blood of Christ." This judgment is carried into effect in the holiness of His nature, against evil,-and, in His fatherly care of us, in holiness: as it is written, " Holy Father, keep through is thine own name," etc. (John 17:11). And so we have to judge ourselves; and if we do not, we are judged of the Lord. There is His government in this respect (1 Cor. 10:31,32). It is chastening. Compare Job 33 and 36.

Christ judges the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Now is not the time of Christ's judgment, save as Lord over His people for their "good, as we have seen. It is the time of grace to the world. That the Jews as a nation are rejected, is, as to God's dealings, the reconciling of the world, the accepted time, the day of salvation. Of course God can interfere in judgment, supremely if He pleases, as He once did in the flood, not a sparrow falling to the ground without Him. But this time is the time of grace to the world. When He appears and establishes the kingdom, it will be the time of judgment. As it is expressed in the Psalm-

"judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it" (Psa. 94:15). In the cross, though infinitely deeper things were wrought by it, and Divine righteousness established through it, yet righteousness was not made good in this world, but the contrary. Righteousness was found in the person of Christ; judgment in the hands of Pilate, or the chiefs of the Jews. When Christ appears for His kingdom, judgment and righteousness will go together in the earth. As it is written (Psa. 94) " Jehovah! God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth. Lift up thyself thou judge of the earth, render a reward to the proud. Jehovah! how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?" Christ comes to judge the quick: " He cometh, He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness " (Psa. 96:13). "He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world (habitable earth) in righteousness, by that man whom He hath ordained" (Acts 17:31).

When the Lord judges the dead, He does not come at all. " I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened " (Rev. 20:11,12). Here there is no coming to the earth or coming again in any way. One sits on a great white throne, and heaven and earth flee away. At the judgment of the dead there is no coming of Christ. His kingdom is given up after it is executed, but not till then (Comp. 1 Cor. 15:24) But there is another judgment, that of the quick or living, a judgment of this world, for which Christ comes. Which will be like the days of Noah and Lot, there will be eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, marrying, and giving in marriage, and the day will come upon them like a thief in the night. It is clear this is a different scene from the great white throne. There is no buying and selling there, in the midst of which they are caught.

Yet, when Christ comes to judgment, there will then be those who are " punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe " (2 Thess. 1:9,10). At this judgment of the quick, Christ comes, He appears. The holy angels come with Him, as in the passage just quoted from verse 7, " The Son of Man shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26). I might cite other passages, but these are clear.

But He brings His saints with Him too: " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory " (Col. 3:4). " Those that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him " (1 Thess. 4:14*). The fifth chapter shows that this is the time of the judgment of the careless on the earth. And this truth of the saints coming with Christ when He appears to judge the quick, is largely and fully taught in Scripture. Even in the Old Testament we read (in Zech. 14:5) " And Jehovah my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." That is, the day when " Jehovah shall be king over all the earth " (ver. 9). So in Jude: " The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all" (verses 14, 15). Nor is it the angels who alone are spoken of, as in some of these passages it might be alleged, though groundlessly. They will come; but Col. 3:4, cannot apply to them; nor 1 Thess. 4; nor Rev. 17:14, " They that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful": nor again, in the chapter where it is fully brought out, Rev. 19; where the clean linen is the righteousness of the saints, when the Lord comes" as king of kings" to judge and destroy the beast and his armies, and Satan is bound, and the saints are seated on thrones, and judgment is given unto them; for the saints shall judge the world and even angels (1 Cor. 6:2,3). In Isaiah we find this judgment also of the quick, with the solemn declaration: " It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see my glory; and I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations," etc. Where we see that in that judgment of the quick, some will escape. This will be seen, as to the Jews in Zech. 13; as to the ten tribes, in Ezek. 20; as to Gog, in Ezek. 39 It may not be amiss to quote another passage relating to this judgment of the living: " Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel." And the abiding blessing of Jerusalem is then spoken of (Joel 3:11, and following).

(*If carefully examined, (1 Thess. 4:15-18) will be found to be a parenthesis, in which a special revelation is given, in which the Apostle shows how the saints will be with Him, in order to being so brought.)

Were I to enter into details I should multiply passages too much, and perhaps distract the reader from the main point. An earthly judgment was familiar to the Jews; a, judgment of the dead little so. To us, one of the dead is familiar; one of the quick far less so. Hence it was needful to quote a greater number of passages. The last passage refers to the time (as, indeed, all do that speak of the judgment of the quick) when Jehovah shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem; when God will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and will plead with them there for His people (Joel 3:1,2). From Psa. 93; to c., describes this scene in general, including the precious call to all who have ears to hear,-it is reproduced in Rev. 14:6,7:° judgments' on the earth following also there. The parable of the sheep, goats, and brethren (Matt. 25) describes the judgment of the nations,-not exactly the destruction of the beast and his armies and the false prophet. That is executed by Christ as coming from heaven, and as a warlike judgment" And in righteousness doth he judge and make war" (Rev. 19:11): that is the destruction of those who, animated by Satan, rise up against Him.

But, besides the warrior-judgment, there is a sessional judgment, when, by the destruction of the beast and Antichrist, Christ has taken the throne of the Lord on the earth at Jerusalem; for Jerusalem is to be called the throne of the Lord (Jer. 3:17).

Let us now examine the passage in Matt. 1 do it with more detail because it is the passage which stands in the way of many, and is appealed to as a description of a general judgment -(a thing unknown to Scripture), whereas it is simply and exclusively (as is stated in the passage itself) the judgment of the Gentiles or nations, not of any dead persons at all. In the end of Matt. 23, the Lord, addressing Jerusalem, declares her house is left desolate to them, and He declares they would not see Him thenceforth till they said: " Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The Lord then (in the first 31 verses of Chapter xxiv.) gives an account of all that was connected with the testimony among the Jews till He came,—when " they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. He then exhorts His disciples, and, in three parables, presents the responsibility of Christians in His absence, showing that the putting off of His return would lead the public ministry of the Church to hierarchical oppression and worldliness as has happened; and that the actual delay would lead even true saints to forget His return and go to sleep as to thus waiting for Him; but what would awaken them was the midnight cry that He was coming; and, lastly, the service of the saints in His absence (namely, the use of the gifts which He had left to them on His going away to receive the kingdom) is judged of in the parable of the talents.

Thus what concerns the Jewish people having been fully gone into, Matt. 24 yen 1 to 31; and, then, in the parenthetical exhortations and parables, the-Conduct of Christians and their motives in reference to His return set forth, after that the historical part is resumed in 25:31. " When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him." This will not be a transient act like a flash of lightning, but " He shall sit on the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all the nations (the Gentiles)." Israel and Christians have been already spoken of. Now the gospel of the kingdom had gone out (24:14) as a testimony to all nations (all the Gentiles), and then the end was to come. And now the end was come; and the nations were judged-the quick-according as they had received these messengers of the kingdom. It is a mistake to say that there are two classes here. There are three; the sheep, the goats, and the brethren. The goats had despised this final message of the kingdom and were condemned; the sheep had received the messengers and were blessed. Their treating the brethren so, was as if they had treated Christ in the same way. These is not a word about the resurrection Those judged are the nations (or Gentiles) upon the earth when Christ comes. Christ as King will sit and judge the Gentiles. That is the express statement, and it is an event often spoken of by the prophets. I have dwelt more fully on this passage because it is that which, from old traditional teaching, hinders people receiving the plain and positive testimonies of the word of God. It is simply and expressly the judgment of the Gentiles upon the earth: for when Christ comes and appears in glory He comes to earth; and He must judge the quick as well as the dead; and as regards the quick (as the very word itself means, those living on the earth), when they will be eating and drinking, buying and selling, saying peace and safety,-" As a snare shall it come upon them that dwell upon the face of the whole earth." Many details might be gone into; the judgment of the Jewish people- and Jerusalem,-the judgment of the beast, of Gog in Idumea, which vary in details and character so as to distinguish even the Jews who having rejected Christ receive Antichrist,-and the ten tribes who do neither; but this would lead me too far from my object. Suffice' it to say that Matt. 25 describes the sessional judgment of the nations by the Son of Man when He is come. It bas nothing to do with the dead.

Let us now inquire how far, and how, does judgment apply to us, to the [heavenly] saints. First, from the judgment of the quick and the dead (which is to take place at His appearing and His kingdom) they are clearly wholly exempt: for when He appears they shall appear with Him in glory; they come with Him when He comes to execute judgment (Col. 3:4; 1 Thess. 4; Rev. 19). This is confirmed by the striking scene in. Rev. 4 where the throne (not of grace but) of judgment, of thunderings, lightnings, and voices, is set in heaven: There the twenty-four elders, the kings and priests, are sitting on twenty-four thrones around. I need not recall the many passages already cited which speak of their coming with Him. But there are other Scriptures which refer to the subject.

But first let us recognize that we are all subject to condemnation, and liable in ourselves to judgment as responsible to. God. That is a great foundation truth which is at the basis of salvation as well as of wrath. Nothing must be allowed to weaken that, and further that " every one of us shall give an account of himself to God " (Rom. 14:12). We shall all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in the body (2 Cor. 5:10). " We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ" (Rom. 14:10). But the Christian has, through grace, anticipated this. He has recognized by divine teaching that condemnation is his own portion; he knows that in him, that is in his flesh, dwells no good things;- he has said, in spirit, " enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." In a word, the sentence of the day of judgment—has passed upon his soul by faith. He knows that he that believeth -not is condemned-already;, and he has applied to himself the sentence: " there is none righteous, no not one;" he has gone further,-if really clear as to his state-and learned that " they that are in the flesh cannot please God." In a word, he has recognized, by a divine work in his own soul, what sin is before God as the judgment-day will show it. The feeling may have been deeper or less deep, but, if one is a Christian at all, it has been truthful in this respect. But then he has recognized that He who is to judge the quick and the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ, has also (anticipating that day) stepped in, in grace, as a Savior, before He becomes a judge, and has borne his sins in His own body on the tree, and, in blessed obedience and love, drank the cup of wrath. The sins, for which him- self would have had to he judged, and certainly and justly condemned, have been borne already by another, and that other the One who is to judge; and that if that were not so he is condemned. He owns it to be a perfect work; perfect in every respect, perfect to glorify God, and perfect as regards all his sins; and he owns that if Christ has not completed that work in dying once for all, it never can be completed, nor God glorified about sin; and that if all his sins were not put away then they never can be, because Christ cannot die over again, but that, indeed, having by Himself purged our sins, He has sat down forever on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, having by one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified; so that there is now no more offering for sin. He may feel them, though gone, more deeply; it is most right he should; he may see more deeply what they are, and the nearer he draws to God, the more deeply will he see the horror and baseness of them; but the work which has put them away is done and cannot be repeated. And when he is manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, he is before Him who Himself put them all away. Christ must deny Himself if He imputes them to him.

But, further, in what state does the Christian appear before the Lord? He is raised in glory. No judgment can apply to him which can affect his being in glory, for he is in it already when he appears there. And to what extent does this go? Judgment begins when Christ appears. " He shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; ' but, " when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). "We are conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). " We have borne the image of the earthly, and we shall bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor. 15:49). What is judgment, if we are completely like the judge, and He Himself our'righteousness? And the knowledge of this is applied to our present happiness in this world. " Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world ' (1 John 4:17). The truth is, though we may all pass through it as an experience, hope for the day of judgment is an imperfect and ill founded feeling which cannot be justified. If I am judged I shall certainly be condemned; if justified there is no judgment for me. Hope, though very natural, is here the result of human reasoning, not the simplicity of divinely wrought faith. But the more we reflect on -what Scripture teaches, the more shall we see the truth on which I am dwelling. When we depart or are absent from the body, we are with Christ, present with the Lord (as we speak) in heaven. Could Paul or Stephen be taken out of heaven to be judged as to whether he should have a place there? This is not what Scripture teaches. It teaches an accomplished salvation, in virtue of which being justified we have peace with God, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. In which we say, " If God be for us, who can be against us."." It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" But, further, how is it that we believers arrive before the judgment seat of Christ? "Let not your heart be troubled " (says the Lord, John 14:1).

...... “I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there ye may be also.'.' That is, the way I come up before Christ is that He so loves me that He comes Himself to fetch me, that I may be with Himself. And so the apostle teaches us. (1 Thess. 4:16, 17), "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the dead in. Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain [to the coming of the Lord] 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." That is a blessed way of going before the judgment seat. And so in Phil. 20, " Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." In a word, we go up before the judgment-seat of Christ, in that Christ who has loved us, and given Himself for us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood; who comes Himself to fetch us, and changes our vile body into the likeness of His glorious body, raises us, or changes us into glory, and takes us, made like Himself, to be with Himself forever, who in His own resurrection was the first-fruits of the saints that slept. Such is the scriptural account of the way we go up before, and the state in which we are manifested before, the judgment-seat of Christ.

And Scripture is yet more precise as to the question of our being judged. In the 5th chapter of John this question is directly treated of. Two means are stated by which the glory of the Son is secured. In one, H works in common with the Father; in the other, alone. The two are life-giving and executing judgment. One, that by which we are brought to enjoy communion with the Father and the Son, the other, that by which the Son's glory is secured, in the case of the wicked who reject Him. These two are not confounded. He does not bring into question the truth of the life He has -communicated, by calling the quickened into judgment.

In which, the question naturally arises, is my part? The Lord answers (in ver. 24), " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life," he is quickened; " and shall not come into judgment but is passed from death unto life." He is not to be tried, as on the footing of his own conduct, to know if he can be received. He was dead in sins, but has been brought, out of that totally lost state, into a new one, by the quickening power of the Son of God. So in the resurrection; there is a resurrection of the just to life, and a resurrection of the wicked to judgment. Those who have everlasting life do not come into judgment (ver. 29). This contrast of the natural portion of man in judgment, and the value of the cross of Christ-as come to deliver and redeem-is strikingly shown in the end of Heb. 9 " As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin; unto salvation." He appeared the first time to be made sin, for sin, but to put it away by the sacrifice of Himself. This He accomplished for us, and He who was ever sinless Himself; having put it away for us the first time He came; appears unto those who look for Him the second time, not having to say to it at all, to take us into the full salvation of glory. Man's portion, as such, is death and judgment. The believer's portion is Christ's bearing and putting away his sins; and then coming to bring him to glory. Hence, when the throne of judgment is set, the kings and priests are seen sitting on four and twenty thrones around it, and come back in glory with Christ when He executes it on the earth.

A striking instance of the effect of the thought of judgment according to Scripture will be _found in 2 Cor. v. The apostle first looks at the proper portion of the saint, not as death and judgment, or even death and happiness. It is mortality being swallowed up of life, the mortal body being changed into glory, without death's necessarily intervening at all. But death and judgment are fallen man's portion; and if death did thus intervene, confidence remained unmoved, for he had divine life, and if he were absent from the body, he would be present with the Lord. Then he considers judgment, calls it the terror of the Lord, looks it fully in the face, knows it, states we shall all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ; and then, what—trembles or thinks of himself? In no wise; he persuades men. Its terror produces no effect of terror at all on his own mind. It was a judgment which as such affected others. It had, however, a powerful influence on his heart and conscience. Others were not free as he was. And the thought of that day stirs up the love of Christ constrainingly, and he persuades men who were not ready for it; but then, secondly, it brings him into God's judgment as a present thing in a sanctifying way. We are, says he (not shall be), manifested to God. And this is a most important effect; nothing more so, practically, than bringing us into the presence of God to judge ourselves, and to do so as to good and evil, as it will be judged of in that day. Such, then, was the effect on Paul: no terror for him in that day of terror, but a stimulus to his seeking unconverted sinners, and keeping his soul in the presence and fear of God.

Another expression in this passage calls for remark—" to receive the things done in the body." The expression, " judgment," is carefully avoided, even when in a certain sense there is such. Man would soon turn it into a question of the acceptance of the person. As regards the wicked, I need not dwell on it. They will receive the things done in the body, it will be their condemnation; but as regards the saints, they will also. As regards acceptance, we are in Christ, all accepted alike—all to be conformed to the image of the Son—all having Christ for our righteousness. Paul cannot have one more perfect or a higher glory. But besides this, saints have the privilege of service, of being the vessels of God's love to others. In the work of the;: Holy Ghost by us there is a difference. And while all is pre-ordered of God, and to sit on Christ's right and on His left is for those for whom it is prepared of the Father, yet we do receive, through grace, the reward of labor, and every man his own reward according to his own labor. Scripture speaks of receiving a full reward. The Thessalonians will be Paul's joy and crown of rejoicing, not ours, as the fruit of our labors. If we have built with—wood, hay, and stubble, all will be lost, though we are saved. In a word; righteousness is in Christ, the same for all; service is rewarded.

Another point remains. We shall be in glory, we shall not even have the nature, the flesh in which we sinned; but we shall- know as: are known, and give an account of ourselves to God, re-pass our whole life and all God's blessed ways with us, see it all as God sees it, and wonder, at the all-perfect grace which has led us onward from our birth. Now when I look back, I adore God's grace. Then I shall know as I am known, and see the thousand instances of how His eye has watched over me to bless me. We are manifested thus now, even, in thinking of it. We shall give an account then, in fact; but it is when we are glorified, and brought to be with Christ by Himself forever. As to judgment, there is no such thing for the saint, understood as pronouncing on his state. He is already in glory when he stands before Christ. On that Scripture leaves no doubt, no ambiguity.

There is, then, a judgment of the quick when Christ comes; a judgment of the dead afterward, before the great white throne. There is a continuing judgment when Christ returns, in a more general sense, of power associated with righteousness governing the earth, of which prophecy specially treats; a subject full of interest, but too long to be entered on here. For the saints no judgment at all. Christ comes to receive them to Himself, and raises them in glory to have them with Him. But they do give an account of themselves to God when in glory, and receive the reward of service, though it be grace that has wrought it in them. Such is the Scriptural instruction on this subject.

J.N.D? or B.M?

Self Judgment

"I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself."—Job 42:5,6.

"For if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged."—1 Cor. 11:31.

IT is a common saying that " self-preservation is the first law of nature," and, without doubt, nature does prompt self to preserve itself in every condition and circumstance. Naturally man cares for self before any other object, and whether it be in connection with his life, his possessions, his ease, or his character self has the first place in his thoughts and affections. Even the law of God fully recognizes this, for (addressing man as it does in his unregenerate state, 1 Tim. 1. 9, 10) it says, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Greater love than this God's law does not exact from man to his fellow.

Now, as self is a selfish and a jealous being; justification is its first impulse when accusation or conviction is brought against it. Naturally, if it can avoid it, self will never condemn, but will always justify self; and thus self-judgment is a work not of nature, nor of willingness, but of compulsion and constraint.

Self-judgment, however, lies at the very basis of Christianity in the individual soul, and it is the inseparable condition of a walk in communion with God.

I think we may say that self-judgment is an effect of the conscience of a man (sinner or saint) being brought into the presence of a higher standard of righteousness than it has hitherto apprehended; for although self-judgment is a spontaneous act of the conscience of man,-as distinguished from his being judged by another,-yet self cannot judge self apart from a standard, and that standard or measure must be outside self, and to be of any value to the soul in the way of comparison, it must also be altogether above it. True self-judgment is therefore always in the presence of God, and of His revelation or word, for here alone a perfect and unchanging standard is to be found. No judgment of self by any lower standard can avail either to arouse the conscience or to raise the condition of a soul.

Indeed we may say that self-examination or self-judgment by any lower than a divine standard, must always partake of, and end in self-justification. Thus, for instance, if the uneasy conscience or dissatisfied soul commences a comparison of its present with a past condition, whatever may be the discovery as to advancement, or declension, it cannot profit or raise the soul above its own either present or past experience. So we find with Job's case, his remembrance of what he had been in the past, gave him no power in the present (chaps. 29, 30 etc.). He was measuring himself by himself, and though dissatisfied enough with his present, yet he boasted in his past condition, and was proved after all to be " righteous in his own eyes " (Chapter 31:1). But no sooner does he apprehend the righteousness and the glory of God than self is judged and abhorred.

Again, the examination of self by comparison with others can only bring the same imperfect results-; for though on the one hand self in me, may in a degree be rebuked, and judged in some respects by the higher tone and character of life in another, yet on the other hand I see failure in them, and then there is the tendency to say in the heart, " I am not so bad after all. Though he exceeds me in this, I excel him in that, and our trials and temptations are not the same "; and so self, whether in me or my brother, is excused and justified. Paul sums them all up in 1 Cor. 10:12, saying of those who "measure themselves by themselves," and " compare themselves among themselves," that they "are not wise." This, however, is the tendency of the natural heart, and of a human religion. Human rather than divine excellence is set up as the standard, and so in Romanism; " Saints," so called, are the examples set before the soul, as in them may be found a righteousness attainable by human nature, and infirmities offering an excuse for the failures of the flesh.

But how different and how perfect is the work of self-judgment when produced by a divine and unchanging standard, that is, by the conscience of man, a sinner, being brought into the presence of God, the Holy God. Gen. 3, Ex. 20, Isa. 6, Luke 5, are well-known instances of what is wrought when God is seen in His holiness, and self is judged in its sinfulness before Him. "I was afraid"; "Let not God speak with us "; " Woe is me "; " Depart from me," are the varied utterances, telling the same tale, that conscience had been brought into the presence of a righteousness which it had not before apprehended. And in the case of a sinner unreconciled to God, or of unjudged flesh in any, whether sinner or saint, the sense of this righteousness is insupportable, and the conscience seeks to escape from its presence. And this work still goes on when the souls and consciences of men are brought into contact with the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel of Christ (Rom 1:17). A sinner is proved to be a sinner by this very Gospel, gracious and blessed as the message is (2 Cor. 5.14; 1 Tim. 1:15), and if on the one hand the grace of God, when learned in the cross of Christ, brings peace and salvation to the broken and convicted heart, on the other hand it is the unwavering righteousness of God's judgment of sin in the person of His Son, which breaks and convicts the heart, and shuts it up to this one, this only way of salvation.

But it is self-judgment in the believer that we rather desire to speak of and to press upon the consciences of our readers. We have said that it is an inseparable condition from a walk in communion with God, and this is the question which is so important for the soul of every Christian.

God has brought His people to HIMSELF. It is not merely salvation from death and judgment which they obtain by the Lord Jesus Christ, but they are brought "to God" (1 Peter 3:18). This has ever been God's purpose in redemption, that man might so have fellowship with Him, and walk with Him. He brought Israel to Himself (Ex. 19:4); but they refused Him. In that nation it was tried, and proved that unregenerate man, however favored, could not have fellowship with God. The mighty signs and wonders by which His presence with them and favor towards them were evidenced, never touched their hearts, nor gained their affections. No mere exhibition of the grace or of the power of God can alter man, or give him power in himself. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Man to have fellowship and communion with God "must be born again" (John 3), and "through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus," God has shown how His purpose is now fulfilled. In the death of Christ we learn how the believer's sin, and sins are judged, forgiven, and put away (Rom. 8:3; 1 Peter 2. 24; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:26); the " old man crucified with him (Rom., 6:6); "the body of the flesh destroyed" (Col. 2:11). In His resurrection is declared the way in which He becomes the quickening Spirit, and thus imparts to the believer a new life, a divine nature, in the power of which he can and does have fellowship with God the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Lord (see John 5.26; 1 Cor. 15:45; Eph. 1:19, 20, and 2:5, 6; 1 John 1:3).

Now it is this new standing, this nearness to God; which gives the believer power for self-judgment. The believer now knows God, is no longer in ignorance of Him or of His will. Not only by outward revelation through the Word, but by the inward witness of the Spirit hath He " shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God' in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). "We have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16). In Christ, the believer is always in the presence and power of divine righteousness, for "we are made the righteousness of God in Him."

For self-judgment the believer has therefore a perfect rule and measure, and the ability to use it. He has only to ask himself, "How has God judged, how has He examined, by what has He tested my nature, my thoughts, my words, my deeds "? "Do I know peace with God and have I tasted that the Lord is gracious, even He who bore my sins in His own body on the tree? If so, do I desire to know communion with Him"? "Then let me ever in honesty and sincerity bring my- self, and all that is within me, to the light of His presence, and by the Word of His grace test, it, and judge it, even as He has done already. God knows me through and through, and He has given me ability to know myself through and through. Deceitful and desperately wicked as my heart is, yet He has searched it; and I can search it too, and may and should detect every motive and thought, and sift them and judge in their true character, in His sight. What will bear His eye, and the judgment of His Word, I may allow; and whatever will not, let me condemn it that I may be of one mind with Him out of whose presence the soul can have no true rest,- the heart no joy."

True self-judgment then is the judgment of myself as God has judged and still judges me.-Christ as the revelation of God, in His love,-His righteousness and His glory, is the rule, and touch-stone for my conscience: the Word and the Spirit the means and power for applying Him thus.

Faith in, and the practical application of the word of God to the soul is what we need. The Word which tells us of the infinite grace of our God, tells us also of His Holiness. And the same revelation which gives the believer to know his completeness, his standing in Christ, beseeches him to walk worthy of his calling.

" Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, by taking heed thereunto according to thy word " (Psa. 119:9); " clean through the word" (John 15:3); " the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26); also Heb. 4:12,13, and 2 Tim. 3:16,17, show us the fullness and value of the word of God as a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, and the searcher of our hearts.

Now we must again repeat, that without self-judgment there can be no communion with God. Faith may have believed the Gospel, and a soul may know forgiveness of sins and peace with God through the precious blood of Christ; but his fellowship and communion with God depend upon his judgment of self, and confession of sin. It is one thing to be a believer and a child of God; it is another thing to walk in the light of His presence, in the sense of relationship, and of unhindered communion. We may often hear Christians, when spoken to in admonition about some inconsistency in their course, reply that they are " happy in the Lord," thus implying that the thing rebuked does not hinder communion. But what such really mean is, that they know their sins are forgiven, and do not doubt that they are saved. This, however, is not communion—this is not the happiness, the joy in God which He desires for His saints. It is the common portion of God's children to know forgiveness of sins, indeed no one can call God, Father, who knows it not; but communion, fellowship, confidence, gladness, joy in His presence, are something more, and these cannot be attained or enjoyed apart from self judgment.

"Can two walk together except they be agreed "? (Amos 3:3.) Can parent and child go on happily together if there be controversy between them? The nearer the relationship and the greater the love which exists between two, the more sensitive will their hearts be to any difference of judgment or mind. And how infinitely true is this of us in our dealings with God our Father. " His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3); and His desire is that we "may stand perfect and complete in all his will" (Col. 4:12); and it is in His presence, in Whom is no "darkness at all," that it is our privilege, as it is also in our power, to judge and bring into light the secret and dark corners of our hearts: And what growth would there be in our souls, what power and what testimony in our lives, if as the light of God shone in we opened up more willingly these dark and hidden things. He knows that they are there, and we know many of them ourselves, but alas! we often close our hearts, desiring to keep within us, or around us, things which will not bear His judgment. " Happy is that man that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." Happy indeed; and one may add, that none other is truly happy.

It is blessed to realize that, for Christians, self-judgment is not a legal exercise, but an evidence of that liberty which belongs to them as children of God. There should be no sense of bondage for the quickened soul, in having to detect and subdue things which make against its apprehension and enjoyment of the love and presence of its Savior and God; and on the other hand how wonderful is the grace of God who has thus given to His people the power of meeting and overcoming by self-judgment all the infirmities, temptations, and conflicts of nature and flesh, which unjudged must separate their souls from Him, but when judged prove the intense reality of the things so freely given to them of God, and the abounding grace and power of Him with whom they have to do. For we can truly say that our very weakness, and the infirmities of our nature when dealt with in self-judgment, so far from hindering communion,—cause the grace of God to be more precious to the soul, and the things which seem to be most against us, prove to be for us, giving us, as they do, experiences of God which we should otherwise be ignorant of; for weakness, infirmity, and temptation in themselves are not sin in the believer, though they be evidence of sin in the flesh. It is only as they are allowed, excused, or justified that they defile the soul, and destroy communion.

1 Cor. 11:28 teaches us how inseparably self-judgment and communion are linked in connection with the table of the Lord. It is there the communion of saints in Christ is openly witnessed, and so each one is to approach in the spirit of self-judgment, lest by the presence of one with a defiled conscience he eats judgment to himself, and destroys communion in the assembly. "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat." For our God is a Holy God, and "the Lord shall judge his people." Sin must be dealt with, if not by ourselves then by Him; but He has said, "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged," and this is the way that He has chosen for us, and that we should choose for ourselves.

It may be said that all have not equal discernment even of their own hearts, and that we must not judge one another in this matter. This is quite true, but it is not about judging one another, but about judging ourselves that we have, been speaking. Every quickened soul can and must judge itself in some measure; what, however, all must own is that the measure is usually low and insufficient. In divine exercises as in all other things "practice makes perfect." It is "by reason of use," that our consciences become "exercised to discern both good and evil." That "all seek their own" is too true of Christians now-a-days, but the perfect Exemplar remains the same, unchanged and unchangeable, for the soul that desires to know the secret of communion with God. Christ, who "pleased not himself," could say, "I do always the things that please him." With Him, self-precious and perfect as He was-was always denied, and His own will disallowed, and thus "his judgment was just." B.

PSALM 139

*** I would add a word or two to the foregoing paper. If there ever was one time more than another in which the duty and privilege of self-judgment were important, that time, as it seems to me, is now. The night far spent and the morning star soon to appear, how little are we, practically, like unto those that wait for their Lord!

In perusing the paper, I trust with profit to my own soul, it struck me that the subject might be looked at from two different points of view.

1St: We are pilgrims and our feet tread the earth (as in 1 Cor. and Pet.). We know whose we are and whom we are called to serve; and we have power and responsibility (in the new nature) to walk in the light, and to cease from all the unfruitful works of darkness. Examining ourselves to see whether we are consistent with our professed calling, there is no need for God to judge us, lest we be condemned with the world. Our doing so is part of our privilege (it is priestly, too), and is an expression of our individual identification of ourselves, through the Spirit, with the glory of God. But

2nd: (and this sets its seal on the other), as being in spirit in heaven and in fellowship with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ, it is impossible for any of us to feed on and enjoy the beauty and the glory of the blessed Lord, without the consciousness being produced in us of the contrasts between Himself and us. Would we wish to lower Him to what we are? Never! No, Never! Because He was the perfect one and very contrast to what we were, therefore He could give Himself a ransom for us. He is—how perfect now, all-glorious in light! And we see in Him the character and nature of our acceptability, and His fitness up there, to secure all for us, poor morals that we are! Whose inward weakness and whose outward circumstances need such and One on high. And we know that He will come forth soon, and then what we are in spirit now (cleared from all guilt and accepted sons of God) will be made evident. But how could a John, or a Paul, or a Peter, have fellowship with the Father and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, without that fellowship producing, in him, the consciousness of the contrasts between them and that Lord?

Shechem and Sychar

It may not be without interest to compare the historical notices of Shechem with that one visit of two days spent by the Lord Jesus at Sychar, so many of the events of which Shechem was the theater in Old Testament times appearing, when we read John 4 as foreshadows of what should take place when the Messiah Himself should visit it.

Very early in the world's history after the flood, we have mention made of the land of Canaan, destined to be the scene of the pilgrimages of the patriarchs, the victories of their descendants, the blessings of the people and glory of the kingdom under David and Solomon, the nativity of the Lord, the sphere of His labors, the place of His crucifixion; within whose confines is that mountain from which He ascended to heaven, and on which He will stand when He comes back to earth. How soon after the flood the children of Canaan settled in it is not recorded, but we do learn that about three hundred and sixty seven years after the deluge Abraham first set foot in it. He was " seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran " (Gen. 12:4); and the first place in the land at which he rested, the name of which is recorded, is Shechem. There the Lord first appeared to him; and there he built an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him, the first witness for Jehovah which he set up in that land.

Many years elapse ere we read of Shechem again. Then it comes before us as the first named resting place of Jacob on this side Jordan, as he journeyed homewards to Bethel and Hebron. Returning from the country of his exile he pitched his tent at Shechem, and " bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money," and he erected there an altar, his first altar after his return, to not simply Jehovah, as Abraham had done, expressive of God as the self-existing one, but to God the God of Israel. The treacherous conduct of Simeon and Levi forced him to leave it; but, before he departed for Bethel, he collected the false gods of his family and their ear-rings, and buried them under the oak which was by Shechem, perhaps the very same tree under which Abraham between 180 or 190 years before had spread his tent. See Gen. 12:6, where for the plain of Moreh we should read oak of Moreh. Sometime during his sojourn here he dug that well, mentioned in the gospel of John, and visited to this day by travelers. Owning no other spot in the country besides the cave of Machpelah, which came to him, as we should say, by the right of inheritance, though the reversion of the whole land belonged to him and to his descendants,' he went down into Egypt, and there died, bequeathing as the birthright " the parcel of the field " to his son Joseph. Before his descent into Egypt his children revisited Shechem from time to time with their flocks (Gen. 37:12). But Joseph only entered on the possession of it as his place of sepulture and that, when the children of Israel fulfilled his command in laying his bones in that "parcel of a field," after they had crossed the Jordan under the leadership of Joshua (Josh. 24:32). Before that took place, whilst they lay encamped in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, Moses gave commandment respecting the solemn ceremony, which all Israel under Joshua and Eleazar were to be engaged in, on the slopes of both Ebal and Gerizim, and in the valley which lies between them. Situated on a shoulder of Mount Gerizim (hence probably the name of Shechem), it must have been within the limits where the Amen of all the people could be heard; and that shoulder of the mountain on which their forefathers had trodden, was now' the ground which part of the six tribes appointed to stand on Gerizim must have occupied, not to pronounce-the blessings as the others had the curses, but, to hear' recited how, if obedient, God would bless His redeemed, people (Deut. 11, 27, Josh. 8).

The next notice of Shechem which calls for remark is its appointment to be one of the six cities of refuge, to Which the manslayer could repair, and, if subsequently acquitted of murder, where he could remain sheltered from the wrath of the avenger of blood, till the death of the high priest permitted his return to his own place without fear of molestation. To this same spot, rich in patriarchal associations, and where the whole congregation had once assembled, did Joshua assemble them all again to remind Israel of God's great goodness to them in all that he had done, and to exhort them to put away the strange gods from their midst, and to serve the Lord only. The people promised obedience. How long they adhered to their promise is known. " They served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel." Very little progress in the reading of the book of Judges brings us to a passage (2:12) which speaks of idolatry as rife in their midst. And Shechem, one of the cities of the Levites though it was, where the knowledge of God and obedience to Him should have been diligently fostered and enforced, chooses a god for itself, and builds a house for Baalberith, in the hold of which about a thousand inhabitants of the city subsequently lost their lives.

In connection with this sad history another chapter in the annals of the city commences It was the first place where a kingdom was attempted to be set up in Israel; it was also the place where the kingdom established by David and carried on by Solomon was divided never again to be united under one scepter, till David's son shall sit on his father's throne. Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal was made king by the plain (rather oak) of the pillar that was in Shechem. Rehoboam went down thither to be crowned king as successor to his father Solomon. After his flight, and the revolt of the ten tribes, it became the first capital of the newly appointed kingdom of Israel. Abraham's first halting-place in the land, the site of Abraham's and. Jacob's first altars, the scene of the first attempt at a kingdom in Israel, and the first capital of the tribes who had revolted from the house of David, it subsequently was famous as the first place where a temple was built professedly for God besides His house at Jerusalem: The first because there was another built in Egypt by Onias in the time of Ptolemy Philometer. The temple at Gerizim was a rival to that at Jerusalem.

Turning to Sychar the notice of it is brief; all that is recorded in the Bible concerning it being found in the gospel of St. John Chapter iv., yet, though brief, full of deep interest. As Shechem was the first place on record where the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob showed whom they worshipped, so Sychar was the first place where the Lord unfolded the principles of true worship, such as God can now accept (iv. 21-24). And as Shechem Was the place where Jacob first erected the altar to God the God of Israel, expressive of the position in which Jehovah had consented to stand to him and his descendants, (for hitherto He had been described by Jacob as " the God of my fathers "), so here it was that the Son of man made known the relationship in which God was pleased to stand to all who should believe on His Son. That God was His Father, He had declared at Jerusalem (John 2:16); that He was God's Son John had borne witness (iii. 35); now the Lord goes further, and speaks of the Father whom men should worship. In that relationship God would now stand to them, and they should know it. In the midst of the Hivites both Abraham and Jacob erected their altars; in the midst of a people worshipping they knew not what did the Lord first unfold what true worship now is. And as Jacob buried the idols of his family under the oak of Shechem, and Joshua had recalled Israel at the same place to the worship of the Lord Jehovah once more; so the Lord Jesus carried on a similar work in separating hearts from the worship of what they knew not, to know, and surely to worship, the Father in spirit and in truth.

There too was the well; and sitting by its side Jesus proved Himself to be greater than their father Jacob. Jacob gave them the well to which they had often to go; not once for all; the Lord revealed, what had hitherto been to them as a fountain sealed, God's precious gift,- living water, which should be in each believer as the well of water springing up unto everlasting life. And this water once partaken of, the thirst of the drinker would be forever satisfied. How fully He responded to the challenge of the woman! How surprised must she have been, if the truth ever dawned on her, and surely it must have done so when she knew who He was, that He had wrestled with Jacob, thus conclusively in a different manner showing His superiority, for " he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him;" and Jacob went on his way with the marks of that conflict. We can trace, perhaps she did afterward, the same hand in His dealing with her. Both the one and the other had to be brought down ere they could have the blessing the Lord was willing to impart. In both cases he brought them down Himself, and then bestowed it. Jacob asked for His blessing after He had touched the hollow of his thigh; she got the blessing after He had put His finger on her conscience. He could bless, what the six tribes standing on Mount Gerizim could not do, because all who were under law, standing on the ground of creature responsibility, were under a curse; He, who was shortly to stand on another mount to bless (Matt. 5), allowed her and the Samaritans, who flocked to Him, to taste of blessings rich, free, unfading. Moses had said, and Joshua repeated " If thou shalt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice, of the Lord thy God" (Deut. 28:1,2; Josh. 8:34). Who of all the children of Israel had done this? Which of the Samaritans had observed this? Most 1 certainly that woman could not claim the blessings on that ground. To her however, and to all who received Him was that living fountain imparted which would forever quench the thirst of the soul.

With blessing to the soul was linked deliverance from judgment. The Samaritans owned Him as the Savior of the world. This was just what they wanted-a refuge from the wrath of an offended God. However glad the manslayer in former days might have been to gain that city, and to know he was safe from the avenger of blood who followed him in hot pursuit, far greater was the relief of soul those enjoyed, who believed on the Lord Jesus whilst He dwelt for those two days in their midst. It was not with them deliverance from death with restriction as to their movements till the death of the high priest, but deliverance from the second death with the liberty which belongs to the children of God. The conviction grew on their minds, as they heard Him, who He was; and they own His title to the affections of their heart to be this-the Savior of the world.

Another truth remains to be touched on as unfolded at Sychar in perfect keeping with the previous history of the place. Where Abimelech had endeavored by unlawful means to set up a kingdom in Israel, and Rehoboam, by following the foolish advice of the young men, gave the ten tribes an ostensible reason for revolt, in that same place centuries afterward the Son of David announces Himself to be the Christ, the king who was to come. And what Rehoboam could not do, gain the hearts of those outside Judah, and the rent which none of his successors had been able to that date to heal, the Lord did accomplish by drawing hearts to Himself. In Him the Samaritans and His disciples then found a coin-men center. Those who had often maltreated the Jews, and some of whose kindred at a later date refused to " receive Him because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem " (Luke 9:53), now submit themselves to this stranger, as He appeared at first sight, who had come from Jerusalem. Had Rehoboam hearkened to the advice of the old men, " that stood before Solomon his father," all might have been well. " If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever" 1 Kings 12:7. Observe the order here. If you serve them, they will serve you. Sagacious counsel! He rejected it. The opportunity was lost, the kingdom was divided and the heir to David's throne had to fly from Shechem to

Jerusalem How differently did the Lord act. Just what Rehoboam should have done, He did. Though far higher than Rehoboam, His ancestor according to the flesh, He emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form Of a servant, and in that character presented Himself to Israel and the Samaritans. In Israel He went about doing good, ministering to the need of those who came to Him. In Sychar He offers the woman the gift of God, and ministers to the souls of the people of the city. He became their servant, and they owned Him as the Savior. He spent His life in service for sinners and even died to serve them. He also spake good words to them. Rehoboam at Shechem showed himself to be unfit to reign over Israel. The Lord at Sychar shows how competent He is to make all hearts bow to Him. He had been in Galilee, and He had visited in Jerusalem; in neither had He announced Himself as the Christ. That was reserved for Sychar. There in the first capital of the ten tribes did He first announce this. Where the link between Judah and Israel had been broken, does He forge a new one to unite Samaritans and Jews, and gathers up as it were, by a secret which He alone possessed, the two ends of the thread, which had been severed after the death of Solomon.

What interesting associations are connected with that spot I Various reasons may have led Abraham and Jacob to select it as the site of their first altars in the land. The lie of the ground many might affirm as the reason for its selection by God for the solemn ceremony under Joshua. Reasons of state craft may have induced Rehoboam to go thither to be made king. But with the narrative of Sychar before us such reasons will surely be deemed insufficient. Why was it that in the days of the patriarchs, at the first entrance of the land, in the time of the judges, and under the kings this place should be the scene of events worthy of note, and of sufficient importance never to be forgotten? Was there not a cause for this, depend-in not on the judgment of Abraham, the sagacity of Jacob, the conformation of the valley, or political designs? God had an end in view, and we see it since the Lord visited Sychar, because there Jehovah should be found to show by His intercourse with the woman at the well, and His subsequent sojourn in the city, that what had taken place there before, however to be explained at the time of its occurrence, was a kind of earnest of what should be, when Messiah should appear to " tell them all things."

C. E. S.

Historical Notices of Sichem, Shechem

Here Jehovah first appeared to His pilgrim servant Abram in the land, and promised it to his seed. Here was his first halt and altar to the Lord, who appeared to him.

At Shalem in Shechem.—Gen. 33:18-20. Jacob returning from exile, bought a field of Shechem, spread a tent, and built an altar to El-elohe-Israel.

Gen. 34, And, ere forced by the sin and treachery of his sons to move on, he gathered all the strange gods which were in their hands, and the earrings, and buried them under an oak. Gen. 35:4. (Was it about this time that he dug the well?)

Shechem.—Gen. 37:12,13. Joseph's brethren, after his dreams, fed their flocks here. He went thither (ver.14) seeking them.

Josh. 24:32. It was his (Joseph's) burying-place, on a shoulder (or Shechem) of Gerizim. Deut. 11, 27; Josh. 8 Moses ordered six tribes to stand, as to God's blessing the obedient people.

Shechem--Josh. 20:7;21:21; 1 Chron. 6:67—in Ephraim was a city of refuge for the manslayer.

Josh. 24:1. Was Joshua's final rendezvous, for his charge to the people.

Judg. 9 City of Levites though it was, strange wickednesses were wrought as to God and as to man there.

Judg. 9:1. As a kingdom had here been first attempted, so here David's and Solomon's kingdom was divided. 1 Kings 12:1,25; 2 Chr. 10:1.

The Gospel of John, Part 3

And now we are left to walk simply with the Lord alone. John's testimony, blessed servant as he was, is over,-confirmed indeed as to man's state by the word. and deed of Him by whom came grace and truth. And more solemnly confirmed it could not be. " Grace" itself could not trust man. " Truth" had to say, " Ye must be born again." Through His disciples He had even taken up John's work, and baptized with the " baptism of repentance." Thus the revealer of the love and grace of God had borne true witness to the state and condition of man; Sinai's thunder, and the veil which it was death to pass, not more.

And this must needs have been. For all God's attributes commend each other, and it is the blending of them all, like the colors of the prism, however various they may seem, which alone makes the ray of perfect " light." The flames of Sinai did not indeed reveal God's love, and yet it was there unseen amid the flames of Sinai. Take the law which says, you cannot draw near to God, and the voice of Him who says, " I am the way," how surely they tell the same tale of man as an outcast naturally from the glory of God. And when the law says, " there is none righteous, no, not one," does grace reverse that sentence, when it speaks of One of God made unto us righteousness?"

Only, as I have said, grace speaks of this far more solemnly, and there is a persuasiveness in its accents I find not in the other. I look at the cross, and how can I escape the conviction-the overwhelming conviction -of sin? Can that be by any possibility an overdrawn picture, that lone figure hanging between earth and heaven,- there are others, but I think of no other, for which heaven has no help, and earth no pity? Can that be an exaggerated tale which love tells me of what I am, in that cry of forsaken sorrow, the outburst of the broken heart of the Lord of life and glory, given for me?

But thus grace, while it does substantiate the law's verdict, has a thing to speak of peculiar to itself, still righteousness, aye, " righteousness of God," wondrous to tell, for the sinner and just as a sinner. This the Baptist's lips could not declare. He could point to the " Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," and could say, "He that cometh from heaven is above all," not knowing how much lay hid in the words he uttered. And the Lord, on the other hand, could and did confirm the testimony of one who, " in the way of righteousness," called men to repentance. But even so, this was not in the line of Christ's peculiar testimony. Thus He Himself " baptized not." It is perfectly beautiful, that sanction given by disciples' hands, to that to which yet He could not put His own. It was meet and right to sanction it, and He does. But in passing as it were only. After resurrection, when the glory shines out through those opened heavens into which He has gone, even baptism itself, the declaration of death, has to take new shape, and John's disciples are baptized afresh. If it be death still, there shines even there too the track of His footsteps who has now passed through it. And the new truth is, if dead, we are " dead with Christ."

And now we pass with the Lord from Judea to Samaria. Solemn to say, yet sweet, the new truth can be more fittingly and freely told out in that land of outcasts than among them of whom, in the Lord's testimony, salvation comes. Itself an outcast, it has come to dwell with outcasts. " Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan?" was the reproach of another time, answered by that tale of Samaritan pity, where priest and Levite had no help. And now grace would stoop lower still, and be more wondrous, however they might cavil. A weary man, not so much with His journey as with the unbelief of His own to whom Fie had come, would seek that refreshment at the wells of Samaria, which Israel's streams had failed to give. Think of it, beloved. Think of Him, who made the worlds, Him for whom all streams ran, Himself the fountain of gladness in a poor barren world that had departed from Him, and that knew Him not when He was there, and that cared not for Him when it knew-now content to be debtor to a Samaritan sinner for that which shall relieve His thirst. And was it Christ, the Man, thirsted only? or was it Christ, the All-sufficient, thirsted-thirsted for a weary heart into which to pour out of His own fullness, to fill and gladden it, and to find Himself refreshment in so filling it? Surely, with this before us, we have the key to the apostle's declaration, that as " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself," and we now "in Christ's stead"-Himself gone up on high,-carry this " word of reconciliation "-it is " as though God did beseech by us." For did not Christ " beseech"? Content to expose Himself even to rebuff and scorn at the hands of a poor wretched creature, herself the scorn, and worthy of the scorn of others, that He might win but one soul, one uncared for and careless soul to God, that He might cause to spring up in it that " living water" of which He spake, of which whosoever drank, thirsted no more forever!

I do not intend to go at length into what follows, though indeed there is a freshness in it that never tires. But my object is rather to trace the doctrine that is developed here and its connection with that which precedes: the place of this blessed chapter, in the general line of truth running through the gospel. Yet a few thoughts that strike one may fitly find place first.

Notice then the Divine style of reaching a sinner's conscience.

You might say, she had none practically. At least, that callousness had come upon it, the natural result of a bad life which the world knew, and after its manner scorned and pointed at. She was alone and she was weary indeed, and felt, no doubt, the world's reproach. She came by herself, not at the time when women draw water. The grossness that could scarce see anything beyond her water-pot, it may be was just the weariness of a heart which had been saying " Who will show us any good?" until by degrees had come utter despair of good, and the little petty wants of every day life had become the only certainties-" let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." A lesson of the world's vanity, which brought no deliverance with it, but shut up hopelessly to what seemed contentment with vanity itself.

However it was, she was dull enough, indifferent enough, callous enough, to excite wonder. You would have said, a soul so dead, a conscience so dull and seared, would have needed some rousing appeal, some startling denunciation of the sin which had seared and deadened it. You expect to hear such, it may be, from the Lord's lips. You think that very love itself would need to speak in thunder, as at Sinai.

But it is not so, but the very contrary. No gentle dropping of the rain, no distilling of the dew, no " small rain on the tender herb," is gentler. And though it seem at first as vain as showers on desert sand, no repulse repels. " If thou hadst known the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink," is the only rebuke;-a word of pity and sorrow which does the work, reproach would never do, and the wonder of His presence steals in upon her heart, " Art thou greater than our father Jacob? "

Still she has no thought but of bodily want supplied. Conscience must be roused as well as wonder, ere she can know this man and his strange sayings; but the way has been so far prepared that, rouse it now, she- will not start away as at first she would have done, nor resent it as she might at first; cloak her sin, if she can, she will. But even so, at least she cannot brazen it out as she might with another. And, uncloaked and exposed, still she does not turn away, nor resent it. Cover it up again she cannot: " Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." The thing is out; she knows it, and He knows it. Is she not already glad He does?

He has told her her sin; but told it, surely as never did man before. He has told her what conscience had accused her of; but He has not accused her. He has shown her her guilt; but not condemned her. He is on the side of her conscience, and yet not against her as her conscience is. And He knew it too from the first, when He forgot His weariness to think of' hers, and His thirst to think of hers. What was that living water He had told her of?

From thence, it is not far to know. Yet a little while, and He is revealed to her heart who is thenceforth to fill it. She can go away with her new found joy, to speak of Him to others,-to tell of her shame, heedless if it speak His glory-and in words which show where she has got her understanding of Him: " Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"

But I pause somewhat more upon the doctrine which is developed here. It is plain that we have something in advance of the last chapter. There it was new-birth; here it is what many a new-born soul for some time knows nothing of-a heart satisfied. " He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water, springing up into eternal life." A comparison with the words at chap. vii. 38, 39, demonstrates this "living water" to be the Spirit of God. Hence we have in these 3rd and 4th chapters the two great characteristics of the Christian, the two things that lie at the threshold of all progress,-new birth and the indwelling Spirit. Few who may read these pages will need reminding as to the separateness of the two. That there were children of God-new-born, therefore, of the Spirit -who had not the Spirit, is plain from the very form of the question which Paul puts, in Acts 19, to the twelve at Ephesus. And that that was the necessary condition of believers, in a past economy, is equally plain from the commencing verses of Gal. 4, Heirs, though those old saints were, yet in what was a childhood state, and under the tutelage of the law, they differed nothing (in their own experience) from servants, though lords of all. Christ had to come, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons; and only as sons, given the right to take openly that place. Did God " send forth the. Spirit of His Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father?" " At that day," says the Lord in this gospel, speaking of' it to those who were already disciples, " ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you."

There was no settled peace with God then, no consciousness of the child's place with God, no abiding satisfaction of the heart, short of the cross and resurrection of Christ, and the sending of the Holy Ghost, the witness of His place in ascension glory. In this 4th chapter of John, anticipative in its character, as I have said before the whole gospel is, we have the germ at least, and more than the shadow of it. It is not a question of how far it was apprehended then. The doctrine of it is here, if not the apprehension, a doctrine with which all the features of this touching scene are, by the Spirit of God Himself, most plainly connected. After this manner, therefore, and with this justification, We use them here.

The features thus sketched for us are, a Gentile scene: -Christ the "Savior of the world" (ver. 42),-the living water springing up, type of the ever freshness of the abiding Spirit; and the Father seeking " worshippers in spirit and truth." It is not hard to trace the connection of these different elements, nor unprofitable to seek to follow that connection out.

The first points are plain enough, and simple enough in their significance.. If the " middle wall of partition" be not down, we have at least nothing to remind us of it, nay the contrast is suggested here. " How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." Here, if we take the two chapters, the middle wall is up for the self-righteous Jew rather. " Ye must be born again " was said to such, and though the thing itself was as much needed surely by Samaritan sinners, yet it was not as suited an utterance for such. With Nicodemus it was self-righteous confidence that needed shaking; with the woman it was the weariness of one that had lost belief in good. Hence the different treatment of the two cases, where the same love and wisdom dealt with each. Beloved reader, how have you heard the Lord's voice for yourself? Does it say, " ye must be born again," or " if thou knewest the gift of God?" and from hence read your character.

A door shut for self-righteousness is surely in perfect keeping with a door open for the sinner. Nay, there is something more in the way of contrast in the Lord's dealing with these two cases, for Nicodemus comes to Jesus, to find apparently (and yet in Divine love to him) a shut door, while the woman (sinner as she is, however weary,) is sought and gone after, and besought to know the grace that is brought to her. Oh if the eye of only one in such a condition should ever rest upon these pages,-lonely, weary, with no right sense of sin either, and occupied with a host of petty cares, or the daily routine of an aimless, unsatisfying life,-how I would pray that there might be for such an one in the history of another like one, full and Divine blessing, and that He who took up the denier of His master, Peter, and Saul, the manslayer, as suited messengers to proclaim His grace, may make this Samaritan woman a preacher to you now. Poor, weary one, whoever you are, the appeal is to your heart and conscience, what say you of Him, who told her " all things that ever she did," and so told them as to send her away full of the joy of His having told them her,-did ever man speak as this man to a sinner? "Is not THIS the Christ?"

I would notice here, moreover, that it is not the joy of pardon merely that we have before us in this blessed scene. It is the joy of the discovery of Christ rather. In the knowledge of salvation only we have not the abiding freshness of the living Spirit. Salvation (looked at, I should say, as my salvation simply) is a negative thing as it were, I am saved from something. It is very blessed, and, in the first sense of it, full of a power we think can never fail. Yet how often and how soon sometimes it does fail. We want to know, not merely what we have escaped from, but what we are brought to -" to see," not our salvation simply, but " the salvation of God:" Himself displayed in it, and Himself our God; the former loneliness of our being filled up with a new presence. " We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation."

This is very plainly what we have here. There is no such word even throughout, as " thy sins be forgiven thee "—no similar word to that. "Is not this the Christ?" is the question which shows where her own heart is. And as connected with that, the truth of what worship is, and how produced, is brought before us. "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.... But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him."

It is striking how the woman had introduced the question. With her, as with so many now, worship was the fruit of an uneasy conscience, not of a heart at rest. It was a thing of place and duty and decent form, which had descended to her from pious ancestors.

Her mind naturally reverts to it, the moment her conscience is alive; still with a certain weariness, as conscious that it had never done much to relieve her disquiet at all events. She has no better authority for it than that her fathers did so. What it was she worshipped, she did not know. Would a weary heart find rest at Jerusalem, which Samaria's altars would not give?

Let me vary the question for souls around me now. Shall I find, if I look closely at all at what men call worship in the present day, a much truer idea of it, or much more rest of heart, in general, than this Samaritan enjoyed in hers?

I see the signs of weariness, of emptiness, of want everywhere. I am not deceived certainly by the joyousness of the melody of trained voices, or by the skill of artistic performances, so essential a part now of Christian services. It does not take a very deep plummet to sound the depth of this. Nay, some would say that it all betokened anything but the abundance of joy in the Lord, and that it was the fruit of anything rather than the knowledge and the worship of One, who, being a spirit, " must be worshipped in spirit and in truth." Nay, it might be argued, they do not themselves believe it has that character, as they never question the world's right to take part in it as well as they. And, indeed, beyond even that, confess that they have no skill to distinguish " true worshippers" from those that are not.

Yet " we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit," is Paul's characteristic Of Christians. And here we are told, it is what the Father seeketh, in opposition to the Jewish form, which men have got back to. And sweet it is to know that the only " coming together " of the Church as such, which the word speaks of, is for worship. " In the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto Thee," is the Lord's own expression, prophetically, as the one risen from the dead, telling where His heart is, who is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows:-alone in the sorrow, first in the joy which has sprung out of that sorrow.

Oh, what it tells of the place we have been brought into, a place where the heart of Him who could not rest till He could " rest in His love," can rest and be satisfied, and pour out itself in joy and thanksgiving. unto God:-a place which He expects us to be so consciously in, that our attitude, no less than His, is to be that of worshippers-worshippers with Him. I would that the saints of God did always remember it, and that when they speak, and rightly speak, of "Jesus in the midst," they did always remember what is His spirit who is in the midst of them. Whatever consequences of blessing flow from it, and surely from all true approach to God blessing must flow, yet if we " come together" to seek that, we should remember that we are bringing the testimony, of want and neediness where we should be found, rather, giving Him the glory of. a full and accomplished blessing; can we be in sympathy with the spirit of Jesus else? And which of us, beloved, would willingly rob Him of His part in that united joy the fruit of His own accepted work of travail and sorrow?

We are set in full blessing. We " who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus," is part of the -very definition of Christians. And God knows that our practical strength, and power for walk and service are inseparably connected with it. " The joy of the Lord is your strength." If we have only emptiness to bring to God, be sure we shall have only emptiness to tell of before men. Service is only the man-ward side of worship. We " teach and admonish one another " then, only effectually, when, " with psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs," we " sing with grace in our hearts unto the Lord."

" The Father seeketh such to worship Him." There is no veil here which shuts out God. It is the Father in the activity of love coming out, all veil removed, to put His arms round the neck of the sinner, and to bid him know Him now indeed. The joy in this, above all, His who has sought and saved,-the witness of it in this chapter. He whom, having left weary and hungered, they find refreshed. "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." But it would be a terrible reproach to us, beloved, if He had to say to us now, " I have meat to eat that ye know not of."

And beyond He sees fruit of His own labor, into which disciples may as reapers enter, reaping where others have sown-the blessed harvest-time, when sower and reaper shall rejoice together. What a joy, when the full result manifested, freed from all mixture and from all reproach which man has cast upon it; He who has wrought it all shall see of the fruit of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied! F. W. G.

Things as They Are and the Time of the End

Whatever the character of the respective governments in Christendom may be, the constituent elements which mark the masses to be acted upon, even though separated off into nationalities, are the same.

Indeed, these apparent diversities, by geographical boundaries of mountains and rivers, which divide one kingdom from another, have more to do, in distinguishing a throne, or form of government from its neighbor, than as affecting the generic character of their populations.

The diverse languages of Europe do much more in this respect to break up the masses, and so prevent a general confusion, by one great moving crowd swayed this side or that, as powerful agencies may act on human passions, or enterprise. In truth, these great continental distinctions are now viewed as little more than deeper-cuttings of our home-method of dividing a kingdom into counties-or of the varying dialects, which meet the ordinary traveler in an extended provincial tour. Passing by these considerations, which mark differences of an external order-what are the constituent and common elements of the people who are to be governed?

These cannot be more in number than each man naturally possesses as his birthright, and they are soon told. He may be viewed (in these relations)-physically, mentally, and morally, and it is in this way that each government treats its subjects practically. Physically, man becomes the care of the State from his birth, and is thus registered; his health is in a great degree its concern too, and therefore sanitary measures are instituted; poverty is also considered and provided for, hence its poor-law unions.

The paternal kindness of the State, in those needing this care, raises no opposition on the part of those receiving it; but the danger and difficulty begin, when these governments take up their subjects, as mental and moral beings, to be instructed and controlled.

The schoolmaster, and an education which was first purely elementary, and met by national schools, presented no fear to the State-reading and writing were good, and useful for every-day life; but can any government say to development " hitherto but no further"? A population, made conscious of a power put into its hands, different to the wealth, which is seen all around (and only seen to' be coveted), asserts its own rights, by calling in question the rights of others. What is now to be done? The State will patronize the Church and its clergy by the enforcement of duties and obligations, and seek to counteract this one sided liberation of mind and will. Religion and conscience are added, as checks to what has become rank and luxuriant.

Moral means are also in abundance, and man is a moral being, and can be thus acted on-but the discontent is wide-spread, and ingenuity is prolific in the assertion that all outside is not what it should be for the general good of society. What is to be done with a new born power, which the State is impotent to guide, and unable from the nature of its constitution to satisfy? If the disaffection cannot be suppressed, because of free institutions and liberty, it will find an opportunity from this state of things, to help itself forward, and by means of agitation and public meetings, make its threatening voice to be heard by the rulers in a popular outcry.

The pressure from without is felt and yielded to-the franchise is extended, and a further grant of power is thus put into the lands of the people, " the iron mixes itself with the miry clay," before the downfall of the image.

When a throne or government forbids such assemblages for such objects, and enforces its authority by the sword, the discontent changes its character to a growl, and in its enmity waits the hour for a bite. Barricades, and a revolution at length break out, like a volcano from its hidden depths, and these are the reliefs, and the resources, alas! But is bloodshed a remedy? Let history answer. Mankind goes on repeating itself in these forms, only in new latitudes and longitudes, and what is there magnanimous, or great in this? Modern history is but a new volume of an old and disgraceful series. Egypt with its Pharaohs-Babylon and its Nebuchadnezzars, have given place to the Medes and Persians, and they in their turn to the Greeks and Romans. What are these ten kingdoms of modern Europe compared with the empires and dynasties of ancient times? A man who thinks he would be content with a freehold plot of ground, and another who counts up his acreage by hundreds and thousands, cannot understand what the Imperial monarch feels as he looks around the vast enclosures by which his kingdom is hedged in, and sighs for a base of operations large enough for the unlimited conquests of neighboring states. An Alexander may regret there is not another world to conquer-a Caesar may find enough to do in this-and a Napoleon may covet a reconstruction of the Roman earth. Every one upon his own line of things, great or small, mistrusts his fellow, and is mistrusted. Restrictions by diplomatic arrangement must be put around the great potentates, and " a holy alliance" will be mutually formed and signed. When this has been broken through, and war;; has exhausted the resources of the combatants by blood and by wealth, " a balance of power" will be accepted, as a common term of honorable compromise. By such means an Autocrat, an Emperor, or a President, may agree upon certain conditions of expediency; but essentially each means to be what he was. More recent corn-pacts have made us acquainted with the principle of " non-intervention" (if such it may be called), as an accepted proposition by the allied powers. But what is this in result, if it be not leaving might to overcome right-a state of things which every man of common sense shrinks from, and repudiates emphatically the nearer it fastens on his home circle and family interests.

A mere glance such as this, at governments, peoples, and tongues, must show the gravity of an inquiry whether the prophetic image of gold, as interpreted by Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, the head of Gentilism, remains true, and is fulfilling the course of predicted declension? Has the boasted progress from Babylon to Rome, and from Rome to these ten kingdoms, reversed the doom and fall of the image-or, are men bold enough to change the gradation of the symbolic metals, and affirm that the progress has been from iron to brass, and from brass to silver, and from silver to gold?

What a relief to any student of Scripture, and much more to the man of God throughly furnished there into open that book, and step into the vast arena of human enterprise, and Satan's seat, boldly saying " Let God be true, but every man a liar." There are few lessons so solemn to such an one, as the discovery that God allows I evil to grow, and come to its maturity, before He deals with men in the midst of it, and then puts all aside by judgment. If we confirm this statement by Scripture, we may call to mind the early record in Gen. 15, " for the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full;" and again, the words of Jesus, " in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them;" and further, of the time when " iniquity shall abound." The closing scenes of this dispensation, as described in the Revelation, will confirm the fact of the growth of evil to its climax, by the judgment which is poured out on the seat of the beast, and the binding of Satan.

There is, however, another way of learning according to truth, besides that which makes all plain by judgment, at the close, when every eye must see and own " there is a God by whom actions are weighed." This same God who judges in crisis, teaches those who are simple, in the beginning-and none else can tell the mercy of being saved the disappointment of a longer or a shorter life, spent in the schools of science, falsely so called, where our lessons have been accepted according to the course of the world.

First, we may learn by the man who fell, what man was at his best,-or we may learn by Cain, what man is at his worst-or we may learn an end of perfection, as we look at Job; and after these examples, who can find a ground of confidence, or a door of escape? But further, God passes outside the mass of mankind, and calls out a people and judges all other nations, by that sample nation God judges a king, when at his brightest, for He magnified Solomon exceedingly-and then put him to the proof. If we step outside the nation and its king into Gentilism, and see power and majesty transferred in righteous judgment from Jerusalem to Babylon, and from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar, we shall find this new head, forfeits as speedily as His predecessors, his place and dominion, " for he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws."

There is nothing left to be proved. "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting," is the handwriting on the wall, and the threatened consequences follow. History gets its place, after God has tried the creature upon the original ground of responsibility, where He placed it in sovereign goodness. And what is history but a filling up of the dark interval of ripening iniquity by successive generations, till men, carried away by delusions, " believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Do any wish to learn the doom of Gentile greatness, in its last forms of crisis, let them listen—" and they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast, who is able to make war with him?" The practical value of these lessons, when viewed in the light of God's word, is immense, to the soul which seizes them and holds them fast. The contradictions between the wisdom of age, with-its flattering prospects, and -the gathering clouds of divine vengeance upon the ripening grapes of the vine of the earth, are of giant growth But let no soul hesitate a moment; "at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come." Neither the world, nor men in it, would be what they are if the light of divine truth were accepted; on the contrary, "the prince of the power of the air" would be detected and exposed; and the vaunted spirit of this age would be discovered in its character, and shunned.

Who is bold enough in these last days to challenge the course of this present world? Who dares take a place outside the ranks, with a sling and a stone, to defy the uncircumcised Philistine, this antitypical Goliath?

Let not such an one be discouraged, even though Abner, the captain of the panic-stricken host, knows not the youth, and though the king may command him to inquire whose son the stripling is? Then, the armies of the living God were defied—but now, the man of sin, son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, is on the scene. Much that perplexes, and terrifies the heart, on its first discovery of the wide departure of man, and Israel, the Gentiles, and the professing Church, from God and His word—is explained, as we learn that Satan is, the grand actor, in the midst of mankind, and the corrupter of whatever God gives. Indeed, as the grace of God is to the sinner—so is light to the great enemy of souls—and if that light be turned into darkness, how great is that darkness, for the devil's use. What else can he do so well, as corrupt and change the truth of

God into a lie-so that the Lord, in separating Himself from the lie, must, judge His people. What is the history of Judaism but this-and why the coming judgment on Christendom, but for the same reason?

The working of the enemy with man is awful-take, as examples, Judas, and Satan entering into him-or the closing up of the age in the coming Anti-Christ, to whom " the dragon gives his power, and his seat, and great authority. What a place does man occupy, in his three score-years and ten so close-to-the devil and his wiles and stratagems and, on the other hand, so close to God, by the testimony of the gospel of salvation, through His Son.

Oh! the deliverance to stand outside the whole scene at, the cross with Jesus, and to take the place of rejection with the cast out Lord and King. What an elevation to be one with Him, as an heir of God, and joint heir through Christ, and to look on to the dignity that awaits us in the coming day of His glory, for which we are now sealed by the Holy Ghost I Occupied as men are by power, riches, and glory, skilled as Satan is, in their bestowment and use—they and the devil alike know, that the Son of Man refused them at his hands, and said, " Get thee hence." Full well does Satan realize the fact, that the Lord Jesus is the rightful possessor of them all, by the sovereign decree of the Father—and that the angels of God worship Him as the rightful heir, before the day comes, when every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess it on earth. " The dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan," knows too that his time is very short; and that the bottomless pit awaits him, when the morning without a cloud dawns, which ushers in the second Man, the Lord or glory, with ten thousand times ten thousand round about Him. How graciously has God turned all round, and will yet do so, to His praise and glory, and for the blessing of His own people, who by faith in Christ Jesus have come out to Him, and thus set to their seal that God is true. "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven," introduces us to a power, ' that will establish that kingdom which cannot be moved.

It is a sad thought, in the midst of the world's swellings and strivings, that man is doing nothing for himself in his relation to God—and therefore only earning a heavier title to judgment, by scattering abroad, and bringing on the delusions of the wicked one, and thus hath ring fast for the burning. "For Tophet is ordained of o yea for the king it is prepared—he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of _the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Both kindle it."

The power that shakes, and the power that binds and destroys, is the power that will build up and bless.

" And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." B.

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Present Testimony: Volume N1, 1867-1868

Table of Contents

2 Corinthians 5:12-18

Additional Notes on the Greek Article

Address

All Things Are of God

Remarks on "Christianity and Modern Progress"

Remarks on the Church and the World: Part 1

Remarks on the Church and the World: Part 2

Remarks on the Church and the World: Part 3

David on His Throne a Type

The Effect on England and Progress of Democratic Power

Doctrinal Evil

Thoughts on Faith

The Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles

Fragments

God, Who Is Rich in Mercy

The Introductory Portion of the Gospel of John

Heaven or Canaan the Hope of Abraham?

Home

How to Get Peace*

Immanuel's Rule and Service

The Immortality of the Soul

Lord, We Rejoice That Thou Art Gone

Luke 24:26

Matthew 16

My Gospel

Notice

Paul's Gospel: Do You Preach It?

The Power of the Heavenly Calling

Psalms

Revelation 20:4-15

Scripture on the Judgment to Come

Self Judgment

Shechem and Sychar

Historical Notices of Sichem, Shechem

The Gospel of John, Part 3

Things as They Are and the Time of the End