Sound Words - 1873

At the beginning of another year, and coming before our readers in an altered shape, it seems to us in place to bring freshly before their minds the aim that we have in view.

" SOUND WORDS " announces itself as " A Monthly Periodical for the spread of the gospel and feeding the Church of God." It desires thus, on the one hand, to be the bearer of a message of peace to any poor anxious sinner that may come in its way, and on the other, to be the carrier of food in season to any who have " tasted that the Lord is gracious." Our aim, under the 'Lord, is to make it serve both these ends, and at the same time we greatly desire to be the means of uniting the hearts and energies of the children of God in seeking to " edify one another in love " as " called in one body " to glorify the Lord Jesus.

A brother writes us the following seasonable words with reference to this last. "Sound Words " should have its columns open and free for Brethren who love to open their hearts to each other and to lost sinners. Such should be encouraged to semi in their communications, and thus we should see the impress upon it of more than one living soul who has caught the fire from heaven, and is scattering-burning words every where amongst souls. We want a Magazine that will show out the breathings and throb bings of the whole family of God." To make it such. while carefully watching that nothing not for edification shall enter its pages, will be our aim. And we count upon the hearty sympathy and co-operation of our brethren in pushing the circulation of such a Magazine, as well as very earnestly invite them to contribute articles and send in interesting notices of the Lord's work of grace on the earth, that all our hearts may he together comforted and encouraged.

One happy means of edifying one another in love " has been found under "Answers to Correspondents," and we can only express our desire, that our readers will avail themselves freely of this means of intercommunication, assuring them. at the same time that special grace and wisdom from the Lord will be sought for this part of our service. The price of " Sound Words," as will be observed, has been considerably reduced, in the hope that those who know and value the truth they have, may be the more induced and enabled to spread it amongst others. And we mention here, as matter of encouragement and interest to all, that the names of over five thousand of God's dear children have been supplied to us, to whom this January number will be sent, and we ask the earnest prayers of our brethren, that this effort to spread His truth may be signally blessed of the Lord, in leading those to whom we send it, not only to take our magazine for themselves, but to push its circulation amongst their fellow believers. No pecuniary profit is derived by any from its 'publication, and the cost is put as low as possible, so as to enable it to be given freely away by those Who have means, while to those who are not able to procure it otherwise; it will be supplied free by Him from whom all goodness flows.

" By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body," and that one Spirit is very remarkably moving the hearts of believers to seek fellowship one with another. The throbbings of divine life are being more distinctly felt and acknowledged, while in the search after holiness, which has been so manifest during the last few years, the rejection of "a form of godliness but denying the power thereof" is at least very decidedly marked.

The divisions and strifes of Christendom are growingly felt to be cause for alarm and shame. The restraints of human dogmas are becoming increasingly irksome to many, while a sense of insecurity presses upon the hearts of a vast number-of God's dear children, leading them to seek some refuge from the inroads of error. As another has observed, "The need of union is felt now by every right minded christian. The power of evil is felt by all. Its pressure.-comes too near home,. its rapid and gigantic, strides are too evident, and effect too nearly the particular feelings which characterize distinctively every-class of christians, to allow them to be blind to it, however little they may appreciate its true bearing and character. Better and holier feelings, too, arouse them to the sense of common danger, and (as far as it is entrusted to man's responsibility) the danger in which the cause of God is from those who never did, and never would spare it. And wherever the Spirit of God acts, so as to make the saints value grace and truth, it tends to union, because there is but one Spirit, one truth, and one body.

The feelings which the sense of the progress of evil produces may be different. Some, (though they are but few) may yet trust to the bulwarks they have long looked to, but which had their force only in a respect for them which exists no longer. Others may trust to a fancied force of truth, which it has never exerted but in a little flock, because God and the work of His Spirit were there. Others, to a union which never yet was the instrument of power on the side of good, (that is a union by concord and agreement;) while others may feel bound to abstain from such an agreed union by reason of previously subsisting obligation or prepossessions, so that the union tends to form only a party. But the sense of danger is universal, and this state of things produces difficulties and dangers of a peculiar kind to the saints, and leads to the inquiry, where the path of the saint is, and where truth is to be found."

These remarks, though made a good many years ago, we believe are to the point, and many we doubt not will feel them to be so. With the growing sense of need for union felt by true christians, and it cannot be denied, comes the question necessarily " what is true union, and how is it to be expressed outwardly?" True union is to be found in God and what He has formed. " There is one body and one spirit." Union exists in the blessed abiding reality of what believers are as having the life of Christ, and being indwelt by the Spirit-"ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." The outward ruin of Christendom, and the development of evil within the house of God, mournful as it is, blessed be God, touches nothing of this. Christ is head of His body still, and all true believers are His body' which He nourishes and cherishes as His own flesh, " for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." We have not then to make a union, it exists and nothing can destroy it. Thus union is found in the discovery of its actual existence, and it is to be expressed outwardly, not by a change of church position, nor by the adoption of a new set of views, but by the acknowledgment of the mighty and abiding truth, that " there is one body and one Spirit." God has made a unity, all believers in whom His Spirit dwells are in it, and all we have to do is to endeavor practically to " keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." This will lead into all that holy, gracious walk that makes Christ and His members the consideration before our hearts. We shall be "holding the Head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God," and thus be enabled to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love."

The apostle Paul finds his heart greatly drawn out towards the Ephesian christians, because he had heard of their "faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints." He prays for them, that beside knowing and enjoying for themselves all the blessing into which divine grace had brought them, they might "be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that they might be filled with all the fullness of God." He exhorts them to be found "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all supplication for all saints," and bids their elders to take heed unto themselves and, says he, " to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood."

Our 'desire is to be found in the current of the apostle's prayer and exhortation, and that "SOUND WORDS" may have that true catholicity, which while it disallows all evil, whether of doctrine or practice, sees Christ in all that are Christ's, and acknowledges all that is of Christ in all that are of Christ. In short, that our pages may be the expression of the love of God to sinners, and of the love of Christ to the church for which He gave Himself, and at the same time a means of inter-communication between the members of that " one body " of which He is " the' Head" in Heaven, while waiting for Him to come and present us all " faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy," will be OUR AIM.

Lord Jesus, are we one with Thee?

O height! O depth of love!

With Thee who diedst upon the tree,

We're one in heaven above.

Such was thy Grace, that for our sake

Thou didst from heaven come down;

With us of flesh and blood partake,

And make our guilt Thine own.

Our sins, our guilt, in love divine
Confessed and borne by Thee;

The gall, the curse, the wrath were Thine,

To set Thy ransomed free.

Ascended now, in glory bright,

Life-giving Head Thou art;

Nor life, nor death, nor depth, nor height,
Thy saints and Thee can part.

Then teach us Lord, to know and own

Thy wondrous mystery;

That Thou in heaven with us art one,

And we are one with Thee.

And soon shall come that glorious day,

When seated on Thy throne,

Thou shalt to wondering worlds display

That Thou with us art one!

Fragment: What I've Done, What Christ Has Done

Christ on the cross was the effect of what I have done. My place of blessing in glory is the effect of what Christ has done in putting away what I have done.

Faith or Politics: Which Can Give Contentment?

The politician is necessarily a careworn man. His mind must be anxious and ever occupied. The events of the day, in all their changing character, engross his thoughts and engage his attention; and in no small measure is his rest of heart dependent on the turn which they may take. The man of faith, on the other hand, is one to whom " the course of this world" is no longer a problem-for the word of God is a light in the dark places to a Christian. He has learned that in this world he is a " stranger and a pilgrim " (1 Peter 2:11); and that his "conversation is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20). He has believed, moreover, that " the world passeth away" (1 John 2:17); and this knowledge has had a moral effect on his thoughts and ways. He has seen that he " is crucified to the world " (Gal. 6:14), and therefore to its political interests he is practically dead.

A striking proof of the truth of each of these statements was furnished me the other day. I happened to be walking about midday in the outskirts of a large city, I came upon a respectable mechanic, who, sitting by the way-side, was enjoying the simple dinner brought to him by his thoughtful wife. We fell into conversation. Our subject was in the word of God. Presently he said to me that the working classes had just to support the great and the rich in the present day, and that all the power of the Government was put forth to keep them under; that, in short, the working classes had to toil morning, noon and night, so that the rich do-nothings might roll about in their carriages; so much so, indeed, that were it possible to convey all the working people to some island they would soon be joined by the rich from inability to thrive without them. "Ah," said he, "let me have the reins of government in my hand for a month, and I will set things in their proper order." " There is need," he continued, "for some one to arise and level the country again."

I could but answer in return, that whatever abuse man may have made of power to suit his own ends, the word of God remained the same, and that word says, " I will overturn, overturn.. until He come whose right it is, and I will give it Him" (Ezek. 21:27); that One was about to arise, who should regard neither high nor low, rich nor poor, but who should " lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet" (Isa. 28:17).

We parted. I felt that I had been dealing with one whose heart was dissatisfied, and that because he sought satisfaction from an empty spring-under the heavens. A few days afterward, near the same place, I overtook in my walk a man of much the same outward appearance. He was going home from his work, for the week was over. I said to him, "It is sweet to look forward to a home in heaven when the work of life is done." His reply was simple-" Sir, heaven is my home. I am a poor man, and find it hard to get along sometimes; but, never mind, Christ has gone to prepare a place for them who believe in Him, and, through grace, I am one of them. I have been converted only five years, and my life before that was miserable enough; now all is bright. I don't mind what takes place in this world, for heaven is my home, and Christ is coming for me." I shook hands, saying, " Farewell; I trust we shall meet again in that place which God has made our common home."

Ah, thought I, that man, though poor, is contented, and " godliness with contentment is great gain " (1 Tim. 6:6). Reader! Are you contented? Poverty or wealth has no place in this question. Contentment lies far beyond the pangs of poverty; nor does it lie in the power of wealth to give it. Politics have absorbed the energies, dried up the life-blood, and disappointed the very souls of thousands. The man who thinks to organize, according to any given system, the policy of this world, is seeking to arrange that which God is determined to "overturn," until Christ shall have His place on earth even as He shall have it in heaven. Faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died in this• world but lives at God's right hand in heaven, has been the secret of peace to millions, both high and low, rich and poor; for, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). The first man with whom I sat and talked was a mere politician, but the last had been in the place of a sinner before God, at the cross of Christ, which condemns every man. He put his own mouth in the dust and acknowledged himself guilty before his Judge, and did not condemn others, whether great or small. He saw Christ as his Savior and substitute on the cross, the just One for the unjust, to bring him to God, and he believed and was saved. He was not thinking of putting this world right, like the politician.

Reader! let this portion be yours.

Under Grace

OM 6:14{It is a long time before we fully understand what it is to be under grace. Even where the doctrine is clearly apprehended by the mind, nothing is so difficult as to practically maintain ourselves in grace. Grace is not merely mercy coming to a lost sinner pardoning his sins and saving him, but it is a power under which the one pardoned and saved is brought, so that he is delivered from the state of bondage to sin under which he once lay. It is not simply to be saved from the consequences of sin as to judgment to come, but to be now delivered from sin itself. It is not only to be justified from sins, but to be freed from sin as a nature that controls one. "Sin shall not have dominion over you; because ye are not under law but under grace," says the apostle. The apostle is speaking here to Gentile converts who had never been under law. They had previous to their conversion beers simply lawless and living away from God in a sinful nature. They were not now as saved persons, brought under a religious system such as that under which the Jews already were, and which, as a system, while it separated them outwardly from Gentiles, left their hearts still under the power of sin as much as the Gentiles outside them.

Under the Jewish system there were sacrifices for sins and thus forgiveness of sins, but there was no deliverance from sin itself, as a nature. There was a law to prevent sin acting, with a penalty attached if it did; sin as a nature was recognized as there, and the law, had it been possible, was to have kept it under entire restraint. The history of the Jews up to the cross of Christ, where it fully displayed itself, is the history of a nature that could in no way be held in check by a law imposed upon it. Moreover the sacrifices themselves, we speak not here of their typical import, were rendered useless because the law was broken, and the curse of the law came in taking away, without remedy, so to speak, the transgressor. This will become clear to us if we think of how things actually stood. The sacrifices only touched, as we have said, the question of sins. They never even proposed to take away the sin itself as a nature. Law-keeping was to meet this, as far as not allowing the sin to come out was concerned. Could it have done this, all had been well, but it did not, and consequently the righteousness of God came in and judged the sinner, and the previous sacrifices went for nothing.

A sacramental system, with law-keeping as a condition of blessing, is not only then useless to man as a sinner, be he Jew or Gentile, but positively disadvantageous to him, because it puts him under greater responsibilities, while it gives him no power to meet them. It is even worse than this, because it hardens him in sin, putting him more completely under the power of sin, by opposing a check to it which only calls forth its energies against that which is given to check it. In the wisdom of God the law was given to man, not as a ground of blessing, but as means of teaching him his true state before God, and his need of redemption. It gave neither life nor righteousness, but supposed life to be there, and demanded righteousness as the ground upon which life should be enjoyed,-"he that doeth these things shall live in them."

As to law itself, man being a sinner in his nature, " it is the strength of sin," and " by the law is the knowledge of sin" when the soul is spiritually alive, for "I had not known sin," says the apostle, "but by the law; for I had not known lust unless the law had said thou shalt not covet." Sin, by the commandment, only becomes "exceeding sinful."

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is the starting point of grace and thus the initiative rite of Christianity, sets forth our participation in the death of Christ, as that through which we enter under grace. As baptized to His name, we are baptized to His death. Baptism puts us outwardly in relationship with Christ, as the one raised from the dead and in power at God's right hand. "Grace reigns through righteousness unto 'eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.' We can only he under grace by being under Jesus Christ, and we can only be under Christ in grace, by participating in His death. " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit."

Not only was Judaism, with its sacrifices and law-keeping, of no good to man, but Christ himself incarnate availed him nothing. Incarnation could no more bring man to God than Judaism. A living and incarnate Christ stands alone. To bring' others into blessing with himself He must die,—as Peter says, " the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." It was the truth of the cross, not of the 'incarnation so much, that stumbled the Jews. They "strove among themselves," we read, "saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" The Lord answers them, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

It is of all importance, in this day, when ritualism with its fleshly religion, is raising its head so imperiously aloft, and repeating its opposition to Christ, to press home the fundamental truth, that it is alone by participation in the death of Christ, that we come into blessing, in other words, "under grace." Outside of grace, all is judgment because there "sin is reigning unto death."

To be brought under grace, is to be brought outside of sin,-and thus outside its consequences. This is far more that forgiveness, and it is here that christianity so contrasts itself with Judaism, where, as we have seen, partial forgiveness of sins was known, but where bondage to sin itself was complete, in spite of the law given to keep it under. 'Grace brings us the double blessing of deliverance from sin as a nature, and of forgiveness of sins as the fruits of that nature. This flows from the double bearing of the sacrifice of Christ upon the question of sin and sins. Christ on the cross by His death put away sin itself, as well as bore the sins of those who believe. If Christ had only put away our sins, and thus procured the forgiveness of sins alone, it would_ practically have put us upon the same ground as the sacrifices under Judaism put the Jews. The nature of sin would have remained, either to be allowed to live along in lawlessness so that grace might abound, or to be put under restraint by law-keeping, the result, of which would be pure bondage to sin and misery. The first of these states, is what the Gentile, never under law, would run into, and the answer to which we get in the 6th of Romans. The latter is where a Jew would find himself, the picture of which we find in the 7th of Romans. In both cases though sins are forgiven, supposing this were possible, sin is reigning.

What is wanted then, is not merely forgiveness of sins, but deliverance from sin itself. This the cross of Christ brings us; "In that He died, He died unto sin once," and "what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh." Sin itself has been put away in the death of Christ, and thus grace carries with it, in entire contrast with Judaism, deliverance from sin, together with the forgiveness of sins.

It is the first of these blessed truths that Christianity, so to speak, begins with, and the other follows as a necessary consequence. Participating, as in figure by baptism the believer does, in the death of Christ he walks in newness of life. Knowing this, "that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin."

The believer in Christ has died with Christ out of all that condition of life in the flesh in which he stood as a child of Adam. If in the flesh, he is morally alive under law, for the "law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth." If dead with Christ, he is dead to sin, and has also "become dead to the law by the body of Christ." He is as much dead to the law, as he is dead to sin, and "sin," says the apostle, " shall not have dominion over you: for you all are not under law, hut under grace." " 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," this is the state in which every true believer is as the effect of the act of God in sovereign grace. It is no question of experience and is always true of us. We walk by faith and not by feeling, even as we are saved by faith and not by feeling.

Practically we have to reckon ourselves dead, and to stand fast "in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," but whatever our experience may be, we are as believers in Him, dead and risen with Him, and grace, and nothing but grace, is our position before God, and while walking in grace, we not only have a conscience clean through the blood of Christ, which is forgiveness of sins, but we walk in practical holiness outside the power of sin, and grace reigns in practical righteousness, as well as in our judicial standing before God. We have to do with " the God of all grace," and may He keep us; as believers in His Son, ever abiding in the sense of that grace, that we may know the full meaning of not being under law, but "under grace."

I come to God- in the perfection of the grace that gave Christ for me, and in the absolute righteousness in which He has accepted Christ for me.

The Lord's Farewell

In the 14th chap, of John, the Lord Jesus, says: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. 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."

I think we see here just one great leading thought on the mind of Jesus, and that thought HIS ABSENCE. And when we look abroad over this earth from end to end, from north to south, from east to west, and see its glory, and its pomp, and its power, and its dominion, and its multitudes-but oh, see nowhere Jesus, this chapter becomes very precious to us. It speaks of this time of Christ's absence from His people. He was with them then, face to face; He spoke with them; eye to eye He looked upon them. Now He looks forward to the time not long distant when He would no more be with them in His bodily presence, but be far away; and reckoning upon their love to Him, He feels that the thought of His absence was the one thing that would grieve their hearts to their very depths, and so speaks these words for their comfort -" Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts." But, says He, "Let not your heart be troubled." How Ile counts upon our love I Oh, that we had hearts more to mourn over the absence of Jesus!

He is far away in bodily presence. Oh, 'tis sorrow to Him to be away from us; and if we loved Him as we ought, it would be our greatest sorrow that we are not with Jesus yet. He counts upon its being so, and says, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God "ye do not see God, ye walk by faith as regards God; henceforth ye shall walk by faith also as regards believe also in Me." And then begins a wondrous tale-it is a tale told by the lips of Jesus, and it is a tale of love. In every word that fell from His gracious lips, He is giving them something to fill their empty hearts when they have lost Himself. Sonic comfort He tries to give them that their tears may be dried in His absence, and their souls sustained. And it seems to me that Jesus here speaks to his disciples even as we would speak to those we dearly loved if we were leaving them. For Christ's heart is a man's heart, a human heart. The love that is in our hearts is, in its nature, the same love as in His; but oh, how different in its measure! And therefore He says the same sort of things to them as we would say, if we could, to those we love when about to leave them. The first thing is just the thing we say-" I will come again." Is there anything more soothing, more cheering to drooping hearts, than the words, "I will come again." And that the words may be more sweet, He says, " I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." I will no longer cone to be a visitor among you, to spend three years or a thousand years in your midst, " but I will come again, and receive you unto myself." And oh, how happy is the home where.Jesus is I Very unlike the poor world -He wits leaving. I can imagine these disciples. by one act of faith, overleaping the whole interval between His going and coming again, so joyous must have been the hope He created in them when He said, " I will come again, and receive you unto myself." Oh, may the Lord give us to realize that this promise is as true today as it was eighteen hundred years ago, and, if possible, niece true than then, for it is nearer its fulfillment.

And what more does He say for their comfort? All the time that I am away from you, my heart shall he filled with you; the whole time I am away, my heart's affections shall be centered on you; my mind's attention shall be riveted on you; and all that love can devise, all that wisdom can plan, all that almighty power can accomplish, to this will My heart be set, to make ready a place worthy of you. And I am sure His love is devising a plan ever since to make glory more glorious, to make heaven more heavenly for the reception of those poor sinners whom He has loved, And,-oh, we wonder as we think of it,-what can Jesus be doing? Oh, what can He be doing to prepare a place for us? I Is not glory lofty enough? Is not heaven bright enough? Is riot His own presence sweet enough? No, all inestimable as His own presence is, all lofty as heaven's glory is, that heart can find something else to add to make a place fit for us. But oh, let us think alone of HIM.

" I will not gaze on glory,
But on my King of Grace;
Not on the crown He giveth,
But on my Bridegroom's face."

G. F. T.

The Two Great Phases of the Cross

I would dwell for a little, on the cross of Christ, in its two grand, fundamental phases, or in other words, the cross as a basis of our worship and our discipleship, our peace and our testimony, our relation with God, and our relation with the world. If as a convicted sinner, I look at the cross of -our Lord Jesus Christ, I behold in it the everlasting foundation of my peace. I see my "-sin " put away, as to the root or principle thereof, and I see my "sins" borne. I see God to be, in very deed, "for me,"

and that, moreover, in the very condition in which my convicted conscience tells me I am. The cross unfolds God as the sinner's friend. It reveals Him in that most wondrous character as the Righteous Justifier of the most ungodly sinner. Creation never could do this. Providence never could do this. Therein I may see God's power. His majesty and His wisdom; but what if all these things should be ranged against me? Looked at, in themselves, abstractly, they would, be so, for I am a sinner: and power, majesty and wisdom could not put away my sins, nor justify God in receiving me.

The introduction of the Cross, however, changes the aspect of things entirely. There I find God dealing with sin in such a manner as to glorify Himself infinitely.

There I see the magnificent display and perfect harmony of all the divine attributes. I see love, and such love as captivates and assures my heart, and weans it, in proportion as I realize it, from every other object. I see wisdom, and such wisdom as baffles devils and astonishes angels.

I see power, and such power as bears down all opposition.

I see holiness, and such holiness as repulses sin to the very furthest point of the moral universe, and gives the most intense expression of God's abhorrence thereof, that could possibly be given. I see grace, and such grace as sets the sinner in the very presence of God-yea, puts him into his bosom. Where could I see all these things but in the cross? No where else. Look where You please, and you cannot find aught that so blessedly combines those two great points, namely, " Glory to God in the highest," and on " earth peace."

How precious, therefore, is the cross in this its first phase, as the basis of the sinner's peace, the basis of his worship, and the basis of his eternal relationship with the God who is there so blessedly and gloriously revealed! How precious to God, as furnishing Him with a righteous ground on which to go in the full display of all his matchless perfections, and in his most gracious dealings with the sinner I So precious is it to God that as a recent writer has well remarked, "All that He has said-all that He has done, from the beginning, indicates that it was ever uppermost in His heart. And no wonder I His dear and well beloved Son was to hang there, between heaven and earth, the object of all the shame and suffering that men and devils could heap upon Him, because He loved to do His Father's will, and redeem the children of His grace. It will be the grand center of attraction as the fullest expression of His love, throughout eternity.

Then, as the basis of our practical discipleship and testimony, the cross demands our most profound consideration. In this aspect of it I need hardly say, it is as perfect as in the former. The same cross which connects me with God, has separated me from the world. A dead man is evidently done with the world; and hence, the believer having died in Christ, is done with the world; and having risen with Christ, is connected with God, in the power of a new life, a new nature. Being thus inseparably linked with Christ, he of necessity participates in His acceptance with God, and in His rejection by the world. The two things go together. The former makes him a worshipper and a citizen in heaven, the latter makes him a witness and a stranger on earth. That brings him inside the veil; this puts him outside the camp. The one is as pet fact as the other. If the cross has come between me and my sins, it has just as really come between me and the world. In the former case, it puts me into the place of peace with God; in the latter, it puts me into the place of hostility with the world, i.e., in a moral point of view; though, in another sense, it makes me the patient, humble witness of that precious, unfathomable, eternal grace, which is set forth in the cross.

Now the believer should clearly understand, and rightly distinguish between both the above phases of the cross of Christ. He should not profess to enjoy the one, while he refuses to enter into the other. If he enters into the atonement which the cross has accomplished, he should also realize the rejection which it necessarily involves. The former flows out of the part which God had in the cross; the latter, out of the part that man had therein. It is our happy privilege, not only to be done with our sins, but to be done with the world also. All this is involved in the doctrines of the cross. Well, therefore, might the apostle say, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Paul looked upon the world as a thing which ought to be nailed to the cross; and the world, in having crucified Christ, had crucified all who belonged to Him. Hence there is a double crucifixion, as regards the believer and the world; and were this 'fully entered into, it would prove the utter impossibility of our amalgamating the two. Beloved reader, let us, deeply, honestly and prayerfully ponder these things: and may the Holy Ghost give us the ability to enter into the full practical power of both the phases of the cross of Christ. C. H. M.

Shall I Ever Die?

OF course! you will, sooner or later," most men will answer.

I DO NOT KNOW," is the answer which most Bible students ought to give.

Of believers, it is only those who have a special revelation that They will die, as Peter had (John 21:19, 2 Peter 1:14), and Paul (2 Tim. 3:6), who are justified in saying certainly I shall die.” I Peter could say so, for the Lord Jesus had promised him in particular the martyr's crown; Paul knew the same of himself. But /am only an ordinary christian, and I do not pretend to be either a Peter or a Paul, and I do not either pretend to have had any revelations direct from the Lord Himself to me about my own private self in particular. Therefore, I am obliged to be satisfied with the general light which God, in His Word, gives to His family as such-that clear and broad light which shines upon the people of Christ as such.

I am thus obliged to he satisfied with such words as I these, (Heb. 9:27.) As it is appointed unto men [man as a sinner, not (as often wrongly quoted), unto all men] once to die, but after this the judgment; [so far we read of what awaits man in fallen nature: death and the judgment.

Then comes what is true of the believer only] verse 28, " 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."

AS mere man is a sinner, and as such is appointed to death and judgment: SO the believer (every believer) had all the penalty due to his sins borne by Christ. He looks for Him-" to them that look for Him He will appear a second time, without sin, unto salvation" (Heb. 9.). Again (1 Thess. 1:9), "ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

Again (1 Cor. 15:51), We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

Again (1 Thess. 4:15), "This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore—comfort one another with these words."

Again, John (in the Rev. 1:7) says, "Behold, He cometh with clouds;" and (chap 3. ver. 11, the Lord says to John, and to us too), Behold, I come quickly; and (in chap. 22. ver. 7 and 12) Behold I come quickly; and (ver. 20) when the Spirit and the Bride (ver. 17) invite Him to come-" The Spirit and the Bride say, Come."

He answers, " Surely I come quickly. Amen." To which John replies, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus..

These Scriptures and many others show; first, that the, path of the believer, as laid down in Scripture, leads the mind, not down to the grave, but up to meet the Lord at; His coming: and secondly, that the believers in apostolic. days did look up that bright and shining way to the Lord; returning as their hope, even as it becomes those " whose conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20).

Thus did they, as I, having no special communication of my death,-act up to the word of the two in white apparel, who stood looking up steadfastly towards heaven (where a cloud had received Jesus from their sight).: Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so, come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven (Acts 1:10,11). Being myself only one of the flock-nor bell bearer, nor shepherd-the-prospect of the flock is my prospect, nor more nor less. Special communication to myself, as an a individual, as to what ought to be looked for by myself in particular-have I none-so I must content myself with the hope set before all christians, and seek to be like unto one that waits for his Lord from heaven, " who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His, glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things to Himself" (Phil. 3:21).

It must be so, the Lord has not yet fulfilled the promise which He gave to poor self-confident Peter (see John 13:38, and 14:1, 3).

"Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou host denied Me thrice."

" Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. 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." Yes I such is our hope-" that when Christ who is our life, shall appear. then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." (Col. 3:4.)

Some one may say, If these things are so in the scriptures, how come the religious people of our day not to see them?

To this I answer, the Pentecostal Christians were by faith and through the Holy Ghost occupied with the ascended Lord, who having by His death cleared them of all guilt, was in heaven caring for all their heavenly and spiritual interests; and about to come again that He might receive them unto Himself.

Few of the religious now a-days know even what the value of His death and resurrection is to them i they therefore cannot study His glory in heaven; and they do not long for His return, or even wish to do so.

It may be said, " Are you alone right " and " every one else wrong?" I reply, " Thank God, I am not alone in this; but if I were alone I would be alone in truth rather than with a multitude in error."

But are you sure you are right? Of this I am sure-first, that God's Word is with me; and secondly, that God will not suffer those that prayerfully search His Word, and lean not to their own understanding, to err in their faith and hope.

Certainly Christ in His coming, and not death, was the hope of the early Christians. Certainly too, it is written at the end of the Revelation (and it cheers my heart to read it for others' sake as well. as for my own,) " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come."

" Surely, I come quickly. Amen."

" Even so, come, Lord Jesus." G. V. W.

Fragment: The Love of Christ

In whatever way the love of Christ is in truth brought before our hearts, we get by it a lever that raises at once our aims and spirit above the world. It was the kindness of the Philippians in apostles necessities during his imprisonment for the Gospel's sake, that awakened, as it were anew, his sense of the wonderful love of Christ, and set the springs of his admiration and gratitude flowing anew. Hence he says, " If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded," &c. This -is the ground of his exhortation and entreaty, and it is according to the vividness of our apprehension of these heavenly motives that we are in possession of the secret springs of power to answer in any sense to this earnest entreaty. The more the heart is found dwelling on these things, the more the force of the moral exhortation is enhanced, and the greater the power to obey it.

Answers to Correspondents: Sin(s); Crucified with Christ When I Still Feel Sin in Me?

Q.-What is the difference between sin and sins?

A.-Sin is the nature we inherit from Adam. It is the root out of which the fruits come. "By one man sin entered into the world "-not sins. Adam brought in sin, -not sins. From him we have received the principle of sin, the sap that supplies the branches, that is his work, and we are not responsible for that, but sins are our work, and these we are responsible for. I can't help having a bad nature, but I can help letting it act. The distinction is well and uniformly maintained in scripture, and the distinction is most important not only for our own souls' profit, but for the true understanding of the cross of Christ. Christ is said to have borne away " the sin of the world," but never the sins of the world. He has borne the sins of those only who believe in Him, and He "has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Sin as sin, no longer stands in the way of the sinner's approach to God, the blood is on the mercy-seat and all may freely draw nigh; those who do draw nigh find out not only that they can draw nigh, but that all their sins are forgiven by Him to whom they come. The double value of the work of Christ putting away sin and sins becomes known to the soul, and it learns. that the evil nature as well as the evil fruits are all gone through the blood of Christ from the sight of God.

Some teach that sin is only what we do; scripture teach& us that sin is what we are, and that sins are what we do. It is a far harder thing to say as a sinner, I am sin, than to allow that I have sinned. All will admit the one, but many will by no means allow the other. One text much used in support of this view, is that in 1st John 3:4, where in the received version it says, " sin is the transgression of the law," and they infer from this that unless there is a breach of a known command, there is nothing for the conscience before God to be troubled about. All know, who have any acquaintance with the original, that this is a false translation, and that the true rendering is " sin is lawlessness," in other words, having my own will. Hence Gentiles who never had the law are said to be lawless, or without law, the word in the Greek being the same, ('αυομια). Whereas Jews, who are under law, are said to be law-breakers, or transgressors of the law, (παραβασις) being the word used for this, hence "where there is no law there is no transgression," the same word.

Sin does not give a bad conscience. I know it is in me; but the blood of Christ meets it before God. Sins dos" I''' need forgiveness for them, and the conscience knows no rests till through confession forgiveness is known. s'

Q,-How can I say " I am crucified with Christ'," when I feel sin still working in me?

ANS.-The mistake here, is in confounding the work of Christ for us on the cross, with the work of the Holy Ghost in us. It is as participating in the value of the cross that I can say, " I am crucified with Christ." It I have not been crucified with Christ I am no Christian all, but only a living sinner before God. All believers in the Lord Jesus were crucified with Him when He was crucified, just as all their sins were put away when He bore them in His own body on the tree. It is the work of the Holy Ghost to show me my sins, and then to show me that Christ has put them away on the cross. In the same way it is the work of the Holy Ghost to show me I have an evil nature, and then to show me that it, too, has been put away by Christ on the cross. The Holy Ghost does not tell me the evil is gone out of my heart, which would not be true, but that I have been crucified with Christ on the cross when He was crucified.

His Sent Ones

" Who are these who come amongst us,
Strangers to our speech and ways?
Passing by our joys and treasures,
Singing in the darkest days?
Are they pilgrims journeying on
From a land we have not known?"

We are come front a far country,

From a land beyond the sun;

We are come from that great glory,

Round our God's eternal throne:

Thence we come and thither -go,

Here no resting-place we know.

For within that depth of glory,

In the Father's house above,

We have learned His wondrous secret,

We have learned His heart of love;

We have seen and we have heard

That bright joy He hath prepared.

We have seen the golden city

Shining as the jasper stone;

Heard the song that fills the heavens

Of the Man upon the throne-

Well that glorious One we know,.

He has sent, us here below.

We have drunk the living waters,

On the Tree of Life have fed;

Therefore deathless do we journey,

Midst the dying and the dead;

And untwisting do we stand

Here amidst the barren sand.

Round us, as a cloud of glory

Lighting up the midnight road,

Falls the light from that bright city,

Showing us where He has trod,

All that here might please thy sight,

Lost in that eternal light.

" Wherefore are ye come among us,
From. the glory to the gloom?"

Christ in glory breathed within us

Life-His life, and bid us come,

Here as living springs to be-

Fountains of that life are we.

Fountains of that life that floweth

Ever downwards from the throne,

Witnesses of that bright glory

Where rejected, Ηe is gone.

Sent to give the blind their sight,

Turn the darkness into light.

There amidst the joy eternal,

Is the Man who went above,

Bearing marks of all the hatred

Of the world He sought in love.

He has sent us here to tell

That His love is changeless still:

He has sent us, that in sorrow

And in suffering, toil and loss,

We may learn the wondrous sweetness,

The deep mystery of His cress,

Learn-the depths of love that traced

That blest path across the waste.

From the dark and troubled waters

Many a pearl to Him we hear,

Golden sheaves we bring with singing,

All his depths of joy we share,

And our pilgrim journey O’er,

Praise with Him forever more!

It Is God That Justifieth

"I am trusting to the justice of God," said a dying woman in answer to a question put to her by one who had come to visit her. "To the justice of God!" replied the surprised visitor, "had you said to His mercy I could have understood you, but you are trusting to that which condemns you because of your sins!"

"I say what I mean," responded the woman, "and, though I am a sinner, yet the justice of God is the ground of my hopes of heaven; for I read in Rom. 3:26, that God is just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. " For a criminal evidentially and confessedly guilty, to throw himself on the justice of the court before which he is arraigned, would clearly be to run into the arms of judgment. Justice demands his punishment. To trust to justice, in such a case, would be folly in the extreme. But not so, my dear reader, in the case which we are now considering.

True, God is holy-so much so that, in His presence, the very angels veil their faces-and yet this woman, about to appear before Him, and a sinner on her own acknowledgment, was not wrong in trusting to the justice of God for her salvation. But how comes this? How can one who "pleads guilty" reckon upon acquittal when he throws himself on the justice of God?

This is an important and most interesting question. Let us look carefully and prayerfully into it. I have quoted Rom. 3:26; for that verse is the result of the argument in the preceding passage. But let us examine the context. There are three points worthy of notice. First, "now the righteousness of God is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ."

Second, that "there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" and third, that this righteousness of God "is unto all, and upon all them that believe."

Now, inasmuch as all have sinned, it is evident that no one has any righteousness, any justifying, merit of his own. But we find that the righteousness of God is manifested; and not only so, but that whilst it is unto all, it is upon all that believe. That is, when man had no righteousness before God, God had righteousness for man, for all men; and those who received it were those who believed. The righteousness of God is "upon him who believes." In other words, the man who believes from amongst the all who had sinned, is justified.

But here comes our question, " How can a holy God maintain His holiness and yet justify a „sinner?" In this way-and oh, that the living luster of the verse may shine before our adoring hearts-" being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." Yes dear reader, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the work of Christ on the cross, furnishes the answer. There Christ as substitute bore judgment and underwent the wrath, drinking, to the very dregs, that bitter, bitter cup. " He took the guilty culprit's place, and suffered in his -stead. For man, oh! miracle of grace! For man the Savior bled." And what then? The sword of divine justice, which had fallen on the willing victim, now returned to its sheath satisfied, and the same God who, in mercy, sent His only begotten Son that we might live through Him, now, on the ground of that wondrous and perfect work, justifies freely by His grace. Nothing stands in the way for the outflow of His heart of love. His grace is the source, the work of Christ on the cross the ground, and a free justification for the sinner the precious consequence-and this, observe, on the thorough maintenance of the character of God.

I remember, so many years ago, some one telling me that when she thought of the justice of God she was troubled. But she was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. We were standing outside her house. I said, "if the door of your house were locked so that we could not enter, we should be exposed, by our position, to any storm that might come-but, supposing we were inside the house, then the massive walls which had been the barrier against our security in our former position, would now be our safeguard and shelter from the storm; and so with the justice of God-so long as a man lives in sin and unbelief he is exposed to wrath, but when, through grace, he believes, then the justice of God is on his side." The illustration was, I believe, useful to her.

Oh! how deep the significance of the word-" It is God that justifieth." How amazing that our holy, sin-hating God should interpose as a justifier! How infinitely precious is the redemption in Christ Jesus, which has put God in that position that He may be "just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus."

" Our holy God did hide His face,

Oh! Christ, 'twas hid from Thee,, „
Thick darkness veiled Thy soul a space,.

The darkness due to me;

But now that face of radiant grace

Shines forth in light on me. J. w. s.

Substance of a Letter to a Relative Who Had Not Peace

DEAR E.—

Thank you very much for your letter and especially for opening your heart and telling me a little about your state of soul before God, which interests me more than I can tell you. You mourn over constant failure and over coldness, forgetfulness, and indifference towards our blessed Lord Jesus, and call this a trouble-some world.

Dear —, I thank God for all this, as it shows me that you are not dead to God and the SOD of His love, as so many are, though professing to be and calling themselves christians; but I long for you to go a step farther, and I know God would have it so too, and that is, that you should know and enjoy "peace with God;" assurance of acceptance without a doubt, for to doubt is to be miserable, besides most dishonoring to God [and to Christ] who has written things in His word " to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know ye have Eternal Life." 5th chap. John's 1st epistle, 13th verse.

And now that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, has come, after that Jesus was glorified at the Father's right hand, we are living in "that day" when the Lord says in John 14th and verse 20, " Ye shall know, that I am in my Father, and ye in me, [what a safe place] and I in you." " Ye shall know," mark.

But, dear -, having been through all you now experience, as deeply, perhaps more so; and God having in His grace shown me by His Word in the Gospel the way out of this slough of despond, by showing me what He is towards and for a poor sinner who really honestly endeavors himself or herself, having nothing good to say for self at all; I trust He will help me to show you why you are so often backsliding into wrong things, and feel so little love towards our blessed Lord Jesus whom you trust in.

It is this, you are looking at, or for your love towards Him, instead of at His love towards you, shown in His dying for your sins. You are looking at your feelings towards Him, instead of His feelings towards you. You look at your doings for Him (poor miserable filthy rags to look at) instead of His finished doing and perfect work for you, and how that work has satisfied God; and so you have no rest, or only at times. You must remember that He never loved us because we had, or ever will have anything worthy or deserving His love, in us. "In me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing." " God commendeth His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 5th Romans. " Herein is love, not that we loved God (though we all ought to have done so) but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins," and not past sins only either, but present also, thank God, see 2nd chapter let John, 1st and 2nd verses. " He is (not merely He was) the propitiation for our sins," and He is our advocate with the Father, blessed be His name.

It is in His love and His finished work then, which has satisfied and glorified God, that I find rest; if I found rest in my love or my works, I should be satisfied with myself, which is self-righteousness, like the Pharisee in Luke 18th, and I should not be resting in, or satisfied with Christ. Again it is only in proportion as you or I believe in and thus know God's wonderful love and grace towards us, who, like the Prodigal, have sinned and are not worthy to be called His sons or daughters, that we can or do love Him at all. "We love Him, (not because we ought to love Him, though we ought surely) but because He first loved us." let John 4:10,19.

Do you, dear -, believe He first loved you? Now do not look in, to see His love, but look out, at that Cross, and see Jesus there in your place, there bearing all your sins in His own body on the tree. Made sin for you, He who knew no sin, and had no sins of His own. Forsaken of God, listen! "My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me? What is the answer? He was forsaken of God, that you and I might never be forsaken in Hell. His disciples forsook Him because they were afraid of men. All the world was against Him, when on that Cross, but worst of all, God forsook Him, for God was judging, condemning sin in the flesh, (ours, mind) in the person of that spotless One, made sin for us; and now can you not see how God loved you, and gave His only begotten Son for you? He could not do more. And how Christ loved you, and gave Himself for you, for your sins. There is love, there on that cross, love for poor guilty unworthy sinners, who did not love Him, or one another as they ought to have done, and as the law told them to do. And think too of this blessed fact, that love shown out on that cross, is the same love that beams down from the glory in the face of Jesus Christ, unchangeable, and eternal, upon you, and me, and all that trust Christ; the weakest as well as the strongest. " He ever lives to make intercession for us," not for the world. He says " I pray not for the world," 17th John, but for us who trust in Him, in His precious blood, in His love, whom the Father has given to Him.

Dear E-, in proportion as you, or I, realize this love, we shall not only love Him, but have power to walk in separation from evil, and above the world and its ways, and pleasures, and fashions, etc. For once lose the sense of His love to me, and I have no proper spring, or motive for pleasing Him, or serving Him, nor power, either for I have nothing in myself but weakness and sin. It is in Christ I have everything. Listen to Paul. " For the love of Christ constraineth us." (2 Cor. 5:14.) Christ's love to us, mind.

Now dear E-, you have been practically under law, like the wretched man in the 7th Romans, and though the law is holy, just and good, you have been finding out, that you are unholy, unjust and bad-just what the law was given for-to stop every man's mouth, that sin might appear sin, "for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. 3:19,20.) " And also that sin might become exceedingly sinful." (7th Rom. 13.) The law tells us what we ought to be for God, and demands righteousness, and the awakened soul under law finds out it can't give what the law demands; but grace, which is the opposite of law, and came by Jesus Christ-" Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ," 1st John, instead of demanding righteousness, gives it to us who have none, just as the father gives the best robe to the returned prodigal. Yes, Grace comes down to me where I am, in the person of Christ, like the good Samaritan coming where the man was in the ditch and in his helplessness. See 33rd verse of 10th of Luke. Redeems me from the curse of the law, "being made a curse for us." Delivers me from law altogether, which condemned me to death, by my` dying with Him so that I am counted dead. See Rom. 7:4, and Gal. 2:19,20. Puts away all my sins, " When He had by Himself purged our sins sat down," etc., 3rd verse of 1st Hebrews; and us too, as to the old man, " Knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him, etc. 6th of Romans 6th verse„; and gives me righteousness and life in Him who is risen from the dead, who is " our life," and who is " made unto us righteousness." See 3rd Col. 3;4, and 1st of 1st Cor. 30th verse. Yes, I thank God, as the man in 7th of Romans 25th verse did, as I look at the cross, and then up into the glory at the risen Christ, and see all that I am in my sinful self, and all that I have done, met and settled with by a Holy, Righteous God, and put away in the death of Christ, which covers all, sin and sins; and see all that He is up there in the glory. of God, and made unto me, righteousness. I am made " the righteousness of God in Him." 5th of 2nd Cor. A new standing altogether out of Adam, or self, in Christ, where there "is therefore now no condemnation."

" If He is free then I am free from all unrighteousness.
If He is just then I am just, for He is my righteousness."

" Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace (not doubts and fears) with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." No fear of wrath, for the 9th verse of this 5th of Romans tells us, that " being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him," and instead of running away like Adam and hiding from God, or rather trying to hide from Him in the pleasant things, or business, or anything of this world, we run into the Father's arms, and hide ourselves in God. "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." Yes, we joy in God. "Accepted in the beloved." "Complete in Him." "Made nigh by the Blood of Christ," loved by the Father as He loves His Son, 17th John 23, and knowing God as sons, 1st John 3rd chap. 2nd verse, we are brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son, and this is what produces holiness. It is the grace of God (not the law of Moses) that bringeth Salvation to me first, then teaches, having saved me, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, and to look for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, etc. See 2nd Titus.

Now I would again earnestly press upon you dear -, that not only your sins, but your old self-called, "our old man" in 6th of Romans, "is crucified with Christ," is gone, not out of your body, but out of God's sight, as a Holy, Righteous Judge, by and in the death of Christ, and you stand as a believer in Christ, in a new man or life, even in Christ risen. " For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God, when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." 3rd Col. All is certainty, and because it is so, that is why we are to, and can, set our affections on things above. Being certain of the better world is what enables me to willingly turn my back on this world, which turned the One who loved me and gave Himself for me out, and hates His precious name. "Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, etc." 1st chap. Gal. 4.

It is quite right E-, to find fault with ourselves; if we ever get pleased with ourselves, we are self-righteous. It is also quite right to wish to be holy, and serve God perfectly, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord; " if these desires are not there, there surely is no true life in the soul. There is perhaps the mere fear of Hell-not the fear of God. But His way of salvation and holiness, is by grace, that first brings salvation, and then teaches holiness, as we already noticed: and the Spirit always points outside to Christ, never inside to ourselves for anything good.

May God bless these few lines to you dear E-, and lead you to rest in His love, in Christ's work, and God's satisfaction in that work, not in your love or your work. J. D.

" Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the saints in light."-Col. 1:12.

Responsibility: Part 1, In Eden

If then, we would know what man's place is, as a creature before God, we must take a view of him where we first find him in Eden, and thus take note of the changes which have come over him, and the ground of responsibility upon which he now stands.

First, then, after the creation, we find the man in Eden, having "dominion" complete over the earth and all in and upon it. An innocent creature with neither holiness nor righteousness, but simply innocence. Gen. 1:6,29.

This gives us what the man was and what he had. He was an innocent creature, having dominion, but as yet we can only guess at his responsibility. But when we look on a little farther to the 2nd chap. 16th and 17th verses, we find the word which defines his responsibility. Such and such liberties were given him, in the full measure of which he could act in perfect harmony with the Divine will. But a prohibition was given, and this defines his responsibility. To take and use freely all that God has appointed, was his place, and that was simple obedience. And while he thus walked, he could not be said to have a will of his own. The child is never called responsible until his little will rises up in opposition to the will of the parent. The creature will was there, and all below were subject TO IT; but IT must abide in complete and perfect subjection to the will above.

Hence, the Divine will was the only will expressed. A prohibition was a simple test of obedience; innocent in itself; if it had not been forbidden by the Divine will.

Two wills were there; and it was simply a question of which should be supreme in the earth, whether the man should be the expression of the Divine will or of Satanic will.

For if the creature will is expressed, it must be in opposition to the Divine will; and Satan is the only creature opposed to the Divine will, and hence the creature will, being "beguiled" by the satanic will, becomes itself satanic. It was not a question of power, but of the use of power. Adam had the power, but the liberty to use that power contrary to the Divine will had never been given but rather restricted, not hindered, but simply forbidden. Hence morality consisted, not in choosing for himself; nor in freedom to choose for himself; but simply in obedience; for if he stopped to think whether he might choose for himself, sin was there, hence immorality.

Responsibility must always arise from relationship. Define the relationship and then you can define the responsibility. Adam's relationship was first given and then his responsibility defined, and morality consisted in walking in that relationship. Adam was free, in the sense of being unhindered, not restrained; his fall proved that. But he was not free in the sense of being at liberty to choose for himself, or have a will of his own.

He was not a machine, for that would have been a proscription upon his power.

Whereas the proscription was not upon his power but upon his liberty to use power in opposition to the Divine will. This, then, being the first man's position, relationship, and responsibility in Eden, we could not say in harmony with scripture teaching, that Adam was a free moral agent. For to be a free moral agent, he must be as yet indifferent to both good and evil; which was not the case; for he was created in good and had it not to choose; and evil he knew nothing about; hence could not choose that. But he did know the Divine will, and was warned not to infringe upon it, under the penalty of death. This was the test. And the test proved, not that the creature was bad; but that left to himself he could not stand. The Divine will was all-sufficient for him in every respect, while he was occupied with that, but the moment he lost that as an object, that moment he failed, like Peter walking on the water. God willing, our next paper will take up the first great change which came over him in the fall.

C. E. H.

A Man After God's Own Heart

If the testimony of Samuel concerning the one whom Jehovah had chosen to be " Captain over His people," had been a prophecy concerning Him who was to be " born King of the Jews," our minds could readily enough conceive how the heart of God would find in such an one that which could call forth His affections; as an object worthy of Himself, and as such, fitted to be the channel of His goodness to the people of His choice.

With Jesus, the Son of God's love, before our minds, we have no difficulty in picturing to ourselves the moral excellencies that would entitle Him to be pointed out as " a man after God's own heart." We are quite prepared to see the heavens opened to Him, and to hear the voice of God proclaiming to Him, " Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." But are we not somewhat at a loss to understand how such a marvelous and touching title could be bestowed upon David the son of Jesse? Yet such was really the case, and the way in which the Spirit of God, by the apostle Paul, in the 13th of Acts, quotes this testimony 'of Samuel concerning David, makes it the more striking.

That Samuel, ignorant personally at that moment, of the object of God's choice, and thinking of him only anticipatively, according to the direct thoughts of God, should thus describe him, we can easily understand, but that the apostle Paul, with full knowledge of -the actual life and character of David, as Jewish history describes him, should bring him forward, and while contrasting him with Saul, and 'proving the Savior's descent from him, put Samuel's words into the mouth of God, as saying Him. self of him, " have found David the son of Jesse, s man after Mine own heart," may well astonish us, and lea C us to inquire what was that quality in David, which, sin. ner and " man of blood," as he was, could lead God Him self thus to speak of him.

Such an inquiry, if correctly answered, will not only give us a true conception of what David was to God, but will enable us to understand that which as to ourselves, may call out similar thoughts and feelings from God. For those who believe in God and love Him, nothing can be nearer their own hearts, than that they should be " after God's own heart." The more we enter into God's love, the more we must seek to answer to that love, and to supply to the heart that does thus love us, that which shall be according to itself. As we said, this is perfectly easy as we think of Christ, everything in Him answered completely to the heart of the Father that loved Him. But how could this be as to David? How can it be as to ourselves?

As to David we may be quite sure, that He who looked not as man upon the " outward appearance," did not find in the " beautiful countenance and goodly to look to," that which called out this wonderful expression of divine complacency,-" a man after Mine own heart." The future walk of David could not have been in question at this moment; and present to the eye of God, as that sin-stained history certainly must have been, it could have supplied no motive to the heart of Him that looked upon him, thus to speak of him. We may be quite sure, too, it was no fair child of Adam, with " beautiful countenance," and heart all innocent within, that moved divine affections thus to express themselves. We have David's own testimony in the 5th verse of the 51st Psalm, that he had no native innocence to boast of, when as the ruddy " son of Jesse," he was singled out from others, to be " the Lord's anointed."

No, David was but a sinner in common with those that surrounded him. Like ourselves he stood before God upon a platform where " none are righteous, no not one."' What was it then that marked him off from those that stood with him, and made him a "man after God's own heart " in contrast with them all? What did " the Lord, that looketh on the heart," see in that youthful heart that he found not in Saul the king, or in any other of the sons of Jesse, which thus made him the object of His favor in so marked a way? And what can we bring forward in our day to enlist a similar divine approval, and gain the assurance that we have the same place in God's affections as David had?

We shall find the key to our difficulty as to David, as well as the ground of our own assurance for similar blessing, in the 11th of Hebrews. " He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him," and '' without faith it is impossible to please Him." The one solitary principle that God can own in man, is faith; and it is alone through faith that any with Him have " obtained a good report." It is the pivot, as on man's side, that all blessing from God turns upon. " He that believeth shall be saved," and " he that believeth not shall be damned." God's approval, and with it His righteousness, falls upon the believing soul;—He is the "Just, and the Justifier of him that believeth;" and " to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness;" and the just shall live by faith."

Apart from other qualities that doubtless accompanied ' it, what characterized David was faith,-simple trust and confidence in God. What God did not find in the heart of Saul and his courtly surroundings, He " found " in the heart of the youthful shepherd, who kept " those few sheep in the wilderness." And never, in his whole history, does 1 David more beautifully stand before the eye, that is opened to see what God finds pleasure in, than when before the craven-hearted Saul, king of God's Israel though for the time he be, he simply relates the ground of his confidence in entering the lists with Goliath, and adds, " the Lord thi t delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." God delighted in David because he trusted in Him-not because of his goodness, for he had none. " O Lord, my God, in Thee do I trust," is David's watchword through the Psalms. David had a heart that satisfied God's heart. It was " after His own heart," as a heart that gave Him pleasure by trusting in Him. It was a "good heart," and a good heart is a heart that trusts in God at all times, for " Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is." Saul had "an evil heart of unbelief," that departed from the living God, and " cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord."

A self confident moralist and religionist is God's abhorrence. Such was Saul. Such are all that are like him. A poor, weak, believing sinner is God's delight. Such was David. Such are all that are like him. A man after God's own heart, is then one who trusts God as He has revealed. Himself in His grace, and thus every believer in Jesus is a " man after God's own heart."

No one can. be in the presence of God without holy fear. And he who cannot reconcile this with confidence and joy, does not know the presence of God.

Roots and Fruits

The right place is the place of growth. Paul grows in Arabia and in the prison at Rome. In the one he was a prisoner, in the other he had liberty enough. In the desert there was nothing around to interfere with or intrude upon him, but it was a desert; and the only thing to attract was the vision of Heaven, and this he sees-he is caught up to the third Heaven.

In Rome, on the contrary, there was everything to try and distress him; the prison, the chain, the din and, evil of the world. All this was around him, but this was the right soil and climate for him at the time, in the mind of God; just as much so as Arabia had been before. In Arabia he sees the third Heaven, he gets rooted there. In Rome he dwells in Heaven, the virtue of the roots is developed in the leaves and fruit; he writes there the Epistles to the Ephesians.

The great hindrance or obstacle to true testimony is that the roots are not strong enough, or nourished enough. The root is the great thing to be acquired, and this is acquired in the desert where there is no one but Christ. If there were only good soil, the root would soon be strong, and able to bear an external growth, and root and fruit would keep pace together. But the impure soil, the worm, the snail, the creeping thing, too often damage the root. There is not sufficient isolation with the Lord only where we are rooted; and hence there is not power to dwell in Heaven in spirit when we are in the midst of the great city of this world, where every power is against us, and seeks to keep us in prison; but the word of God is not bound. What your heart really learns and enjoys in Arabia, your life and ways will not only tell of in Rome; but that which was only a vision, an introduction to you there, now becomes your resource an dwelling place. It ruled the day for you in the desert, and in the night its true and full virtue is known to you, and you become the witness of it. J. B. S.

An Aphorism

We do not by any means sufficiently realize the power of God to keep us from falling. There is so much levity of heart in Christians, (for I am not speaking of the unholy levity of the world,) so much lightness of thought even in our best intercourse with one another, and lightness of speech even about good things, that it keeps us from realizing what the holy power of God could and would do in us in keeping us from falling. People excuse themselves by saying, " The flesh will be in us to the end." This is true; but we are nowhere told that the flesh must work in us to the end. The flesh ought never to be allowed so to work in a saint as to get into his conscience, or to show itself before others. We ought riot to have the pain of learning the nature of the flesh by its workings, but by the workings of the Holy Ghost in us. And when we detect the flesh thus, because we are in communion with God, it never either troubles our conscience before God, or dishonors our Master before men. God is able to keep us from falling both inwardly and outwardly. A saint feels that an unholy thought is a fall, for it takes him out of God's

presence, as really a fall as an open transgression, though not so manifest to others. Indeed, where there is spirituality, an inward fall will be perceived by others. If a brother comes in when an unholy thought has weakened my spirituality, if he is in communion with God, he will feel the deficiency in me We should bear in mind that even these inward falls are not necessary-He is able to keep us from falling altogether, and if the flesh were always judged, and thoroughly judged by us in the presence of God, we should find that He would thus keep us.

The Watchers

Through the slow rolling hours of the desolate night,

There are watchers still watching to see,

The Star of the Morning discover Its light.

What a moment Its dawning will be!

For their hopes are all centered in that single Star;

And whenever Its light shall appear,

They'll be caught, they'll be wrapt, in a moment far, far,

From the face of this sin-stricken sphere.

'Tis Jesus their Savior, who's coming ere dawn,

From the darkness to catch them away;

To their eyes He'll appear as the Herald of morn,

The golden Forerunner of day.

With what hearts have they watched for His coming again!

Through whole ages of darkness they've waited for Him;

They have known what it is to have trouble and pain,

Heavy hearts, and tired eyes growing dim.

But their Star will arise; not a doubt but It will,

When the night's at the darkest their Star will appear,

Through the world-folding clouds It will issue, to fill

Their souls with Its radiance so clear.

With these watchers I'll join, for their hopes are my own;

I've been washed in the Savior's blood;

Of His church I'm a part-of His fold I am one;

I'm a child of His Father and God.

In the prayers of these watchers I’ll heartily join,

When the Spirit and Bride whisper " Come!"

“Lord Jesus, conic quickly " 's a cry that is mine;

When that's uttered, who then can be dumb?

Philippians 2 and 3

MY DEAR BROTHER:-

I send you some brief thoughts on the second and third chapters of Philippians. The whole epistle is a very remarkable one, and raises the christian to his highest condition of matured experience; but I will take up only the above chapters. The former gives us christian character as men speak, -christian grace; the latter, the energy which carries the Christian above present things. The former speaks of Christ coining down and humbling Himself; the latter of His being on high, and of the prize of our calling above.

A little careful attention will show that the second chapter presents throughout the gracious fruits connected with the heart's study of the blessed Lord's humiliation, and of its imbibing the spirit, of it; and that the third gives the picture of that blessed energy which counts the world as dross, overcomes on the way, and looks forward to the time when the Lord's power shall have subdued even the power of death in us and all its effects, and change us into glory. We need both these principles and the motives connected with them. We may see much of the energy of Christianity in a believer, and rejoice in it; while another displays much graciousness of character, but no energy that overcomes the world. Where the flesh, or mere natural energy, mixes itself in our path with the divine energy, the way of the sincere and devoted christian requires to be corrected by the former; more inward communion and gracious likeness to Christ; more feeding on the bread which came down from heaven. Besides displaying Christ, it would give weight and seriousness to his activity; make it more real and divine. On the other hand, one who maintains a gracious deportment, and judges, perhaps, what he sees to be fleshly in the energy of another, fails himself in that energy, and casts a slur on that which is really of God in his brother.

Oh that we knew how to be a little self-judging and complete in our christian path; that we had nearness enough to Christ to draw from Him all grace and all devotedness, and correct in ourselves whatever tends to mar the one or the other! Not that I expect that all christians will ever have alike all qualities. I do not think it is the mind of God they should have. They have to keep humbly in their place. The ye cannot-it is not meant that it should-say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the hand to the foot. Completeness is in Christ alone. Mutual dependence and completing one another under His grace, is the order of His body. It is hard for some active minds to think so; but it is true humility and contentedness to be nothing and to serve, and to esteem others more excellent, than ourselves-an easy practical- way to arrive at it. They have the thing that we are deficient in. Our part is to do what the Lord has set us to do, to serve and count Him all, for in truth He does it,, and to be glad to be nothing, when we have quietly done His will, that He may be all.

But to return to my chapters. That the second gives us the humiliation of Christ is evident. We are to pursue its application. But the way it is introduced is very beautiful. The Philippians, who had already, early in I the gospel history shown grace in this respect, had thought, of Paul in his distant prison; and Epaphroditus, giving effect to their love, and full of gracious, zeal, had not regarded his life to accomplish this service, and minister, to the apostle's wants. The apostle makes a touching use of this love of the Philippians, while owning it as the refreshings of Christ. He had found "consolation in Christ, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, bowels and mercies," in the renewed testimony of the affection of the Philippians. His heart was drawn out also towards them. If they would make him perfectly happy, they must be thoroughly united and happy among themselves. How graciously, with what delicate feeling, he turns to note their faults and dangers here in association with their expressions of love to him! How calculated to win and to make any " Euodiases and Syntyches " ashamed of disputes where grace is thus at work! Then—he speaks of the means of walking in this spirit. Every one should think of the spiritual gifts and advantages of his brother ' as well as of his own. To do this, he must have the mind that was in Christ. This leads us to the great principles of the chapter.

Christ is set forth in full contrast with the first Adam. The first, when in the form of man, set up by robbery to be equal with God: " Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." And he became disobedient unto death. But the blessed One, being in the form of God, made Himself of he reputation, and in the form of a servant was obedient unto death. He was really God, as Adam was really man; but the point here is to note the condition and status each was in respectively, and out of which in ambition or grace, he came. For Christ was truly God still, when He had taken the form of a man; but He had taken the form of a servant, and was, too, really a man and a servant in grace. Christ, in love, humbled Himself; Adam, in selfishness sought to be exalted, and was abased. Christ humbled Himself, and was as man exalted. It was not merely that He bore patiently the insults of men, but He humbled Himself. This was love. There were two great steps in it. Being in the form of God, He took the form of man; and, as man, He humbled Himself, and was obedient unto death, and that, the death of the cross. This is the mind which is to be in us,-love making itself nothing, to serve others. Love delights to serve-self likes to be served. Thus the true glory of a divine character is in lowliness-human pride, in selfishness. In the former, in us, both gracious affection and devotedness and counting on gracious affections in others are developed; a source of genuine joy and blessing to the church.

In following the chapter, we shall see this taught in general, and produced unconsciously as it were in details. First, after stating the exaltation and glory of Christ as Lord, he presses obedience, (perfectly shown in Christ,) than which nothing is more lovely, for we have no will in it; and having directly to do with the power of the enemy, without the shelter of the apostle's energy, they were to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. For if Paul who had so labored for them was now in prison, and could not, it was, after all God, (not Paul) who worked in them, to will and to do of his own blessed good pleasure.

Salvation is always, in the Philippians, the great result of final deliverance from evil, and entrance into glory. Everything is looked at at the end, though the blessing shines down on the way. See, then, the result: " 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." Is there a word in this that could not be said of Christ? Only He was the model, and we are to follow His steps as partakers of life in Him. It is just what Christ was, and so it is christian character. We study it with delight and adoration in Him. It is formed in us.

Now see the gracious affections which flow out from this lowliness, in which self disappears by love. " Yea and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." He makes the faith of the Philippians the principal thing. It was the offering to God. His part was only supplementary towards it, though it went to death. For the Philippians were Christ's, the fruit of the travail of Christ's soul, Christ's crown and joy as Redeemer. So the apostle saw them and rejoiced in them. His services had ministered to this. If it went on to give up his life for it, he rejoiced in the service, so much the more evidently self-sacrificing love, for love delights in this. And they, for this reason, were to rejoice with him, for it was really his glory thus to give himself up for Christ.

But more. He was thinking of their happiness, and would send Timotheus, and learn how they were getting on. But lie counted on their love, and he would not send him till he would be able to say to them how his affairs were going on at Rome, where he had to appear before the Emperor, perhaps so to close his life. All this is very sweet. There is the confidence of love, the reckoning on it in others, which produces its free flow, mutually felt and known to be so. Nor was it in the apostle alone, as we shall see. Moreover, it was in the midst of the coldness of the saints, which trial, and for the flesh the discrediting opposition of the world had produced, to which the apostle alludes in this epistle. But the apostle's love did not grow cold nor distrustful by it, and God had given him the comforting testimony of love in the distant Philippians, as he notices in the beginning of the chapter; and love was springing up into courage in others too, by a little patience, as we see in chap. i. 14. But these same fruits of love are found in Epaphroditus and his relations with the Philippians. Paul sends him back with affectionate witness of what he was; for Epaphroditus was longing after them all. Ile had undertaken his commission heartily. Came probably along the great Egnalian high road nearly a thousand miles, and in his refusal of relaxation, had been sick, nigh unto death. But it was the work of Christ. Did Paul appreciate it the less as to himself because it was for Christ? In no way. Had Epaphroditus fallen a victim to his service for him, it would have been to the apostle a deep blow and sorrow, and that he had his cup full of, though sustained of God. God had mercy on Epaphroditus, and on Paul in him. See here how the heart, free in grace, can estimate present mercies! It was not natural affection in relationship, just and fitting as that may be in its place, but divine affections. Epaphroditus would have gone to heaven surely. But the spirit of the apostle would taste present goodness-God's goodness in circumstances; would know a " God who comforts those that are cast down." And he blesses God that the beloved Epaphroditus did not fail a sacrifice to his zeal in accomplishing his mission.

Nor was this all. What made Epaphroditus Anxious was, that the Philippians had heard he had been sick, and he knew this. He reckoned on their love. They will be anxious, he thought, and will not be at rest until they know how I am; I must set off to them. How a son, who knew a mother's love, who had heard he was ill, would reckon on her uneasiness and her desire for news, and would be anxious she should know he was well. Such was the affection among christians, and among christians where devotedness and love had, alas! already sadly waned-where all sought their own, as a general state, such were " the consolations in Christ, the comfort of love, the fellowship of the Spirit, the bowels and mercies." How refreshing it is! Nor is the blessed source ever wanting in Christ, however low all may be; for faith knows no difficulties-nothing between us and Christ. There is no lack in Him to produce fruits of grace.

If we look at ourselves, we could never speak of humbling ourselves; for we are nothing. But practically in Christ, the mind which was in Him is to be in us, and in grace we have to humble ourselves, to have the mind that was in Him, to have done with ourselves, and serve. Then these lovely fruits of grace will flow out unhindered, whatever be the state even of Christendom around us. Working out lowlily our own salvation with fear and trembling in the midst of the spiritual dangers of the christian life, and of pretensions to greatness and spiritual distinction, because true greatness has disappeared as it had when the apostle was put in prison; not with fear of uncertainty, but because God works in us, and that gives the sense of the seriousness and reality of the conflict in which we are engaged; obedience, the humblest thing of all, for there is no will in it, characterizing our path, we shall seek the mind of Christ and be clothed with His character. Blessed privilege! Be more jealous to keep it than our human rights and importance, and the blessed graces of heavenly love will flow forth and bind together, in a love which has primarily Christ for its object, the hearts of the saints. In such a state, it is easy to count others better than themselves, as Paul saw the value of the Philippians to Christ; he was about to be offered up on their faith; easy because, when we are near Christ we see the value of others to and I in Christ, and we sea our own] nothingness, perhaps, our actual short-comings in love too.

I have lengthened out my communication on this chapter so much that I reserve what I have to say on the third chapter, and the character of the whole epistle for another opportunity. I think, on the whole, that this gives the higher, though not the most readily striking and energetic, side of christian life. But, as I said at the beginning, both have fully their place.

Affectionately yours in the Lord,

J. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: Believers Failing; Quickened Souls; The Preaching of the Gospel?

Q.-The Holy Ghost being the power in the believer for holiness, etc., do believers fail because God does not work in them? or because they fail to walk in the spirit?

ANS.-The Holy Ghost ever abiding in the believer in virtue of the "blood of sprinkling," God never ceases to work in the believer, though it may be only in making the person unhappy and restless, a groan being the only witness of the Spirit's presence, it may be. In the end this leads to restoration through confession. The Spirit's working is the answer to the advocacy of Christ with the Father. The occasion of advocacy is sin,—" if any man sin we have an advocate," etc., (1 John 3:2,) and Christ's advocacy for the failing saint never ceases. Believers fail because they grieve the Spirit inwardly, and then comes walking in the flesh instead of in the Spirit. The promise is "walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh; " but "grieve not that Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption," goes deeper, and touches the spring in the heart that leads to walk.

Q.—Is a quickened soul born again? and has that soul eternal life, though perhaps no peace?

ANS.-Every quickened soul is born again, and to be born again, is eternal lire. "You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses,"(Eph. 2:1.) and "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." (1st John 5:1,) and "this is life eternal to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." (John 16:3.) Life comes from believing in the person of the Son of God, and the first effect of life is trouble in the conscience about sins; then peace comes through seeing the finished work of Christ on the cross; " He has made peace by the blood of His cross." A dead soul wants a living Christ to quicken him; an anxious soul wants a dead Christ in order to peace.

Q.—Is it not always through the word of God souls are quickened?

ANS.-The word of God in the power of the Spirit is the agent that quickens in all cases. Souls are " born of water, (i,e. the word, see Eph. 5:26,) and of the spirit."

(John 3:5.) Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth," (James 1:18,) " being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God."(Pet, 1:23.)

Q.—The preaching of the Gospel, is it preaching peace? or is it preaching forgiveness and righteousness?

ANS.-There is no such things in scripture as preaching life. Christ is preached, and this produces life, where Ile is believed on. Salvation and forgiveness of sins are the prominent things set before the soul in the preaching of the Gospel. In Mark, it it salvation, "he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. In Luke, it is forgiveness of sins, this latter being connected with repentance, as part of that which is to be preached,-" that repentance and remissions should be preached in His name among all nations." In the Acts, where the practical work of the Holy Spirit in dealing with souls by the Gospel, comes before us, it begins with repentance and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 2. 3.) Then we have salvation,-" none other name given among men whereby they must be saved." (Acts 4:12.) Jesus " exalted to be a Prince and Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins " is Peter's theme in Acts 5:31. To the Gentiles, in Acts 10, he speaks of God "preaching peace by Jesus Christ," and "that to Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive the forgiveness of sins." Paul presents the Gospel very simply and fully to the Jews in Acts 13:38,40, putting before them forgiveness of sins and justification as the immediate effect of believing on the man Christ Jesus, whom God had raised from the dead to be His "Salvation to the ends of the earth." From these scriptures, and others might be adduced, it seems clear, that to preach forgiveness of sins and justification, with salvation, in the name of Jesus, is specially the Evangelist's work.

God's Way of Rest for Those Who Want It

Christ is now saying to you, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Mark His word, " I will give you rest." Do not yield to the common temptation, and think to change this divine arrangement of ",I will give," by an attempt to earn or merit this much needed "rest," as if it were not a gift; humiliating to our self righteousness, it may and must be, and yet, if received at all, it must be as a gift. It is all a gift all the way through. " The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord."

Just here is the turning point. Do not overlook this one point, you are shut up to one of two acts from which there is no escape. It is this, either to accept or reject this "gift of God," by accepting or rejecting Christ, for this gift of eternal life is through Him only. Acceptance is faith, rejection is unbelief. The one is to be "saved," the other is to be " damned." An interest of such infinite magnitude admits of no delay. To delay now is rejection, for now is all the time that is really yours. Delay is the hidden rock on which so many strike, perish, and are forever lost, and yet you delay. The yoke of Christ taken on you is not bondage, but "rest." It is simply a willing submission to God's will, which is your salvation, and really embraces your every possible good. Where this heart submission takes place, just then and there the burden falls off, and rest of soul takes its place. It is the rest of faith, or rather " trust" that knows no distrust. Trust not in what you have done, or can do for yourself, but wholly in what Christ has done for you in His sufferings, death, and resurrection. He "of God is made unto us (you) wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." What more can you possibly need, here or hereafter? Now no longer in legal bondage, but working out your salvation, as God works in you to will and do of His good pleasure, " Let your light so shine before men." J. C.

Oh! for Some Foundation

"I have nothing to expect, sir, but condemnation; nothing to expect but condemnation."

The speaker spoke with difficulty. He was a large man of massive features, just stricken down in death. His nurse, sought as quietly as possible, to alleviate his sufferings, which were very great.

" Oh, don't talk to me of pain!" he cried bitterly. "It is the mind, woman,-the mind! "

Slowly and deliberately he said: '" I knew it at the time,-every time. I knew it,-I knew that a penalty must follow sin; yet I have done wrong, knowing that it was wrong, first with a few qualms, then brushing aside conscience and at last with the coolness of a fiend. Sir, in one minute of my life I have not lived for heaven, for God, for Christ; no, not one minute."

" Oh, yes, Christ died for sinners; but my intellect is clear, sir, clearer than ever before, I tell you." His voice became shrill and concentrated. " I can see almost into eternity; I can feel that unless Christ is believed on, His death can do me no good."

Soon after, he said, "I have been following up the natural laws, and I see an affinity between them and the great laws of God's universe. Heaven is for the holy; without, all are dogs and whoremongers. There 'tis a distinction, it's all right, all right."

After eleven o'clock, roused by the striking of the clock, he looked around, he caught the eye of his nurse and of his christian friend.

" It is awfully dark here," he whispered, " my feet stand on the slippery edge of a great gulf! Oh, for some foundation!" He stretched his hand out as if feeling for a way. " Christ," gently whispered his friend. "Not for me! " And pen cannot describe the immeasurable woe in that awful answer.

Can any one read this thrilling incident, and not be moved to the deepest depths of his moral being? Can a true believer in the Lord Jesus read it and not with adoration, heartfelt and solemn, bless God that his feet stand firm upon "the Rock of ages?" Can any mere professor of Christianity, read it and not tremble, as his conscience tells him that his feet are but resting upon the quicksands of time, through which he may sink at any moment to meet an unknown God, and to stand before a judgment seat with sins all unforgiven? Can any skeptic read it and not, in spite of himself, find his heart quail before the stupendous and awful realities of an eternity, for which, even with one true thought, he is unprepared,-utterly without foundation of any kind.

The scaffoldings of human wisdom, whether religious or atheistic, are as airy nothings when the presence of God and eternity are brought to bear upon them. The foundations of time all secure and strong while the pulse of life beats full, avail naught in the dread hour of death. The frown of " the king of terrors," well named for an unbelieving soul, abashes all false confidences then. When the dark billows of death, with their deepening and resistless tides surge in upon the struggling soul, vainly does it seek to keep its foothold upon the shores of time. Vain is the strength of man, or the help of man in that hour, one foundation alone stands then, " other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is CHRIST JESUS."

The soul that has built on this foundation, stands firm, amid the crash of all created things, and in the dissolution of soul and body. With peculiar force at such a moment does the voice of the living and eternal God, " still and small," sound its comforting and assuring utterances in the believers ear, taking away all doubt and uncertainty. Satan may do his utmost to distress and harass, the flood may rise, and the storm beat vehemently upon the house, but founded upon a rock, it cannot be shaken, and the heart reposes in peaceful joy upon the word of Him who has said, "Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation, and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded."

But He who gives this solid ground for the foot of faith to rest upon, solemnly declares as to all other foundations, "I will lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place." Isa. 28 Oh! Christless soul, be warned ere it be too late, turn now to Jesus, lest thy death-bed utterances be but the des pairing, cry " Oh, for some foundation!"

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away," says Jesus to His own, and though according to nature "it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment," Jesus speaks thus now to those who believe in Him, " 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 judgment, but is passed from death unto life."

God has anticipated for the believer the judgment due to sin. Christ has been in that judgment, and has borne the wrath of God for all that are His. They have "redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins," and they are far removed from all danger and ruin, and are now in a risen Christ the other side of death and judgment. They can peacefully exclaim, with the apostle, " There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," and amid the storms of life, or in the hour of death, can sing:

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus Christ, God's righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On CHRIST, the solid rock I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to veil His face,

I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil.

On CHRIST the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, and blood,

Support me in the 'whelming flood;

When all around on earth gives way,

He then is all my hope and stay.

On CHRIST, the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.

How Christ Thinks of His Own

" Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair." Sol. 1:15.

What is it, some will ask, that can make one, defiled and deformed by sin, thus "fair" to the eye of Jesus? W here, when, how, can it be found? This is all that is needed to fill to overflowing the soul's cup of happiness!

What would all the riches, honors, and glories of this world be, compared with hearing such words from such. lips! "Behold, thou art fair, my love." Most truly, this is the soul's ineffable blessedness! The gospel of the grace of God, my friend, gives the answer to thy question. Know then, that when a soul is drawn to Jesus, it is received by Him, and placed in the light of God's presence, in the full value of His finished work, and in the matchless beauty of His adorable Person.

This is grace,-the grace of God in the Gospel of His Son to every one that believeth. "All that believe are justified." And all that believe are "accepted in the Beloved," through the accomplished work of the cross. (Eph. 1;2) His precious blood cleanseth from all sin. (1. John 1) Then, oh, how "fair!" "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." (Psa. 90:17.) What perfection of beauty this must be! "The beauty of the Lord our God." How fair for the courts above! The beauty of angels will be perfect after their own order, but the sinner saved by grace shall shine in the beauty of the Lord forever.

All this, I think, I can believe, some may reply, oh, can such a place,-can such blessing ever be mine? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," is heaven's answer to every anxious inquirer.-is heaven's declaration of perfect grace to all. Believe in Jesus, trust in Him, defiled and deformed as thou art, and sooner far than thy thoughts can turn from one subject to another, thou art altogether "fair" in His sight. "Only believe." The work is finished "long, long ago." Oh! beware of that "deadly doing!" The gospel seems too simple to admit of explanation. It is a report to be believed,-an invitation to be accepted,-a voice of love beseeching thee to be reconciled to God,- a proclamation of pardon and peace by Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:36;13. 38 39.) Not, observe, the promise of pardon and peace, but the preaching of pardon and peace. This, makes a wonderful difference. And observe, further, that it is neither by law nor promise that the soul is thus richly blessed; but by Jesus Christ. The moment thou hast faith in Him, thy forgiveness, justification, and reconciliation, are proclaimed by the truth of God.

Take one example, as an illustration of the ways of God in grace, with sinners. In the third chapter of Zechariah, we see Joshua standing before the Lord. He is a type of God's dealings, in grace, with Jerusalem in the latter day. This chapter is the history, I believe, of how the Bride of the King is so "fair" in His sight. This is important as to our present question. It is also the history of every sinner saved by grace. Joshua is clothed in filthy garments. Satan is there to resist him. He always seeks to hinder the blessing of souls. But the Lord shelters the defenseless one. He casts out none that come to Him. He rebukes and silences the adversary; and speaks and acts for Joshua. This He always does. Be of good courage. The filthy garments are taken away; his sins are all forgiven. There is not a rag left for Satan to lay hold on. Thus cleansed from all his defilements, "He is clothed with a change of raiment." The robe of God is put upon him. And now, how "fair!" But this is not all. A fair miter is set upon his head. Surely "The beauty of the Lord our God" is now upon him! He is what God, in "the exceeding riches of His grace," has made him. " Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." Both the kingly and the priestly crown are ours,-ours in His right. This is their glory 1 Highest in dignity, belonging to royalty. Nearest in worship, belonging to priesthood. And oh! 'how sweet the thought, the work is all of God from first to last, and so can never fail. "The Lord hath chosen Jerusalem Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? —I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee—will clothe thee with a change of raiment—And I said Let them set a fair miter on his head." It is all of God-by Christ-Jesus through the work of the cross. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Grace reigns-God is glorified,—faith triumphs,—Satan is confounded, and the sinner eternally saved.

This know also, my dear friend, that if thy desire after Christ, and after the enjoyment of His favor be true and sincere, there must already be grace in thy heart. The desire must come from Him. Where there is nothing more than mere nature, there can be no longing desire for the blessed Lord and His favor. Faith, salvation, and desire, go together, although the timid believer will often hesitate to say, "He is all my salvation and all my desire." The clearest evidence of divine life in the soul, is when the heart is occupied with Him. The link of connection is formed and can never be broken; faith alone enters into its blessedness, Oh! rest, abide in Him. Being associated with the risen Jesus, we are one with Him in resurrection. (Eph. 2) This gives us our wondrous place in His sight. All who are brought into this new,-this resurrection state, are fair even as Christ is fair. Only that in all things He has the preeminence; as it is written. "Thou art fairer than the children of men." Hence we find the same terms of endearment and admiration applied to both. And the same things said of both; the Bride being the reflection of the Bridegroom. If the garments of the Bride are scented with myrrh, it is said of the Bridegroom, "All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes, and cassia." What a blessed theme this great truth opens up for meditation! Oneness with Christ as risen and glorified 1 How little the world in all its relationships and associations would seem, did we look at it from this point of view!

A. M.

Simplicity of the Gospel

It is astonishing how hard it is to get the heart of man to believe in the efficacy of the work of Christ. Even in the case of those who have felt their need of it, the simplicity is unseizable; and, therefore, their power is lost. There is liberty before God; and power where there is liberty. It is of this full and blessed liberty which belongs to the believer in Christ, that it is so hard to persuade. I am sure the more I go on, the more I see how little those who believe enjoy the full and blessed grace in which God has set them.

When once we have seen our entire ruin, and are cast entirely on what God is, and what God has done, then the simplicity of the gospel is apprehended. But not till then. Here it is called that which remaineth. And truly this is what conforms to Christ, as the last verse shows. No responsibility can bring to this. How can I be an epistle of Christ, if I am trying to get to Him? It is Christ that is ministered; and through the ministration of Christ we are put in the presence of God, without fear or torment, so to enjoy the glory as to reflect it. l t is Christ glorified in Heaven, who is thus engraven on the heart, by the Holy Ghost.

Now what is the Christ thus ministered? A christian is a person who carries Christ graven on his heart before the world. What is this Christ? Is it a Christ graven on stones? No, that was on the outside. When God puts man under responsibility He gives a rule outside men. Christ even, as an example, was outside of man. He was perfection; but I am broken heart because I am not it. But if Christ is written on my heart, I am it.

Where the gospel is presented in its simplicity, there is great plainness of speech. Nothing can be simpler in itself than the gospel. Nothing simpler than this: you are lost. Nothing simpler than God so loved us as to send His Son to die for us, that we might live through Him. But what the apostle is doing here is showing what men are doing, —that they are mixing up law and grace; not taking up pure law, but a mixture of law and grace. And that is done in two ways: in the way the natural man takes it up; and in the way the quickened man takes it up. Pure law no man would take up. At bottom no man would pretend to stand by it. So they say that God is merciful. But mercy with them, is God's treating sin as lightly as they do. A quickened person will not go so far; yet in his case the mixing up of law and grace is far deeper and more subtle.

When Moses came down the first time his face did not shine. Then it was pure law. But when he came down the second time, the skin of his face shone, and Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him. Now it was on this second occasion that the Lord proclaimed His name-" The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, and that will by no means clear the guilty." That is what men say they wish to stand on. But that is precisely what they cannot stand on. True there is the revelation " forgiving iniquity," &c., but Moses brought back the law, and the authority of God's law cannot be given up. That is what men want. They want to use the mercy of God to weaken the authority of His law. But this will never do. He will never weaken the authority of His law. If one ray of the glory of God comes in on the principle of law, it will terrify you. Israel could not look at it. Moses said, "If Thou wilt forgive their sin;-and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written." But God answered, " the man that sins, him I will blot out." You must either destroy the authority of the law, or rest under death and judgment.

But the moment I am brought, in my conscience, to bow to the condemnation which is my due, and so am cast entirely on God, I find that what the law could not do, God has done for me by the death of His dear Son. Now I get two things in the ministration of Christ: righteousness and the Holy Ghost. "And where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." Thus I find that God can meet me in my sin; that God is so entirely above sin, that He can meet me in my sin, in order to this wondrous deliverance. One thing is needed to understand it, and that is confession. T. G. O. T.

Fragment: Greater Is He That Is in Us

Satan has no power over the new man in us; but if we walk in the flesh we lay ourselves open to his devices. It is the secret of our strength against him to know that he has no power over the Spirit, but only over the flesh: and that greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world.

His Own Son

What finishing touches are to a painting, as they bring into prominence the whole scene, so are the little words of Scripture to the subject matter by which they are surrounded. They add a charm to the theme.

The Spirit of God is pleased oftentimes to illumine by little words, and thus to arrest the soul of the reader by the effect Which they produce on their context.

And who can read the well known and much loved eighth chapter of Romans, without being struck by the repetition of the expression of fond endearment, "His own Son?"

It is not merely "His Son," but "His own Son," that flows from the pen of the inspired apostle; and that little but deeply significant word, "own," adds a peculiar luster to the phrase.

"God sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin" (i. e. as a sacrifice for sin) ver. 3, and then, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, flow shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Ver. 32. By the truth in the former passage the question of our utmost sin answered, and in the latter the craving of our utmost want is more than gratified. Oh! what a considerate God is ours, yea how beneficent! Able to meet our guilt, and ready to surprise our expectations! To know the measure of our blessing, dear fellow-believer, we must know the heart of God itself. That heart is the fountain-head of all our blessing, since it was from the bosom of the Father that the Son came forth to make Him known.

To suppose that the Son had to kindle the love of God, and, by His life of obedience and death of shame, elicit grace which would otherwise have lain dormant in the heart of God the Father, is wholly wrong. The truth that shines on every page of the word is that " God is love;' nor did the life and death of the holy and only begotten of the Father affect this blessed truth one way or another. It ever held good.

Hence we find such an expression as this, "God sending His own Son." It was God who sent Him, and He who was sent was God's own Son.

Let this then be our starting point, and let us trace the activities of that heart.

Man had sinned. The law was given, but that law instead of giving righteousness to man, only showed him his guilt and moral impotency. "It was weak through the flesh," What remained for God to do? Either to find an infinite compensation for the outrage that man had committed by sin and transgression, or else consign him to that eternal judgment which His holiness demanded.

Blessed be His name! He had recourse to the former. But who could furnish this infinite compensation?

What angel, what seraph could stand forth, and say, "Here am f, send me!" No creature could meet an infinite demand, nor make an infinite atonement for sin. But the Son the untreated, only begotten of the Father, "the Son of His love," in whom daily He had delight, made answer, in the dignity of His own person, and said, "Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, oh My God." Accordingly He came, as sent of God, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin. God had measured the need. The Son answered it fully. Oh! dear reader, see the victim become the victor. Never did David run forth to meet. Goliath more certain of victory; never did the sun leap from the womb of the morning more surely to scatter the darkness of night, than did the Son of God enter the regions of Satan and sin. Himself all holy, to come off crowned with the spoils of conquest. The keys of death and hell are tied to His girdle now!

"Once in the end of the world He appeared, And completed the work He began.

Glorious victory! Sin put away! The power of Satan broken! The sting of Death gone! The demands of the law fulfilled, and Jesus invested with power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given Him. "Grace now reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

Sweet and deep is the rest that fills the conscience of him who knows that God, and God's own Son have settled the whole question of his sin; and well many he sing: "What was it, blessed God, Led Thee to give Thy Son, To yield Thy well Beloved, For us by sin undone?

T'was love unbounded led Thee thus,

To give Thy well Beloved for us!"

Do you see, by faith, dear reader, your sin met by the sacrifice of the Son? If so, learn also that He that spared not His own Son "will also with Him freely give us all things."

As another has said, "There is nothing too good for the believer." If God has given His choicest possession what lesser gift will He withhold? "All things" put together cannot equal in value "the Son of God." Hence "all things are yours." Speak not of a place just inside the door of heaven! The highest heaven is small when compared to Christ Himself. The ground of our blessing is not our merit, nor our faith, but "God's own Son."

How touching is the expression, "He that spared not." Perhaps the thought is warranted that the cost was great, and the wrench was sore, yet God spared not. The richest and fairest jewel in the casket of heaven was surrendered, and then the divine argument is drawn, that with Him God will freely give all things.

Oh! beloved reader, may we rise up to the thoughts of the heart of God, and read them with spirits subdued and sanctified, that with David we may exclaim, "how precious also are Thy thoughts unto me," and that thus our walk on earth may be more that of those who partake in Christ's suffering, His rejection, His cross, till the morning of His and our glory shall dawn.

"Lord since we sing as pilgrims,
Oh! give us pilgrim's ways-
Low thoughts of self, befitting,
Proclaimers of thy praise."

J. W. S.

The Lord Jesus in John 11 and 12

These chapters show us in what different channels the Lord's thoughts flowed from those of the heart of man. His ideas, so to speak, of misery and of happiness, were so different from what man's naturally are.

The eleventh chapter opens with a scene of human misery. The dear family at Bethany are visited with sickness, and the voice of health and thanksgiving in their dwelling has to yield to mourning, lamentation, and woe. But He who of all had the largest and tenderest sympathies, is the calmest among them; for He carried with Him that foresight of resurrection, which made Him overlook the chamber of sickness and the grave of death.

When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He abode two days longer in the place where He was. But when that sickness ends in death He begins His journey in the full and bright prospect of resurrection. And this makes His journey steady and undisturbed. And, as He approaches the scene of sorrow, His action is still, the same. He replies again and again to the passion of Martha's soul, from that place where the knowledge of a power that was beyond that of death had, in all serenity, seated Him. And though He has to move still onward, there is no haste. For on Mary's arrival, He is still in the same place where Martha had met Him. And the issue, as I need not say, comes in due season to vindicate this stillness of His heart, and this apparent tardiness of His journey.

Thus was it with Jesus here. The path of Jesus was His own. When man was bowed down in sorrow at the ' thought of death, He was lifted up in the sunshine of resurrection.

But the sense of resurrection, though it gave this peculiar current to the thought of Jesus, left His heart still alive to the sorrows of others. For His was not indifference, but elevation. And such is the way of faith always. Jesus weeps with the weeping of Mary and her company. His whole soul was in the sunshine of those deathless regions which lay far away from the tomb of Bethany; but it could visit the valley of tears, and weep there with those that wept.

But again,-When man was lifted up in the expectation of something good and brilliant in the earth, His soul was full of the holy certainly that death awaits all here, however promising or pleasurable; and that honor and prosperity must be hoped for only in other and higher regions. The twelfth chapter shows us this.

When they heard of the raising of Lazarus, much people flocked together from Bethany to Jerusalem, and at once hailed Him as the King of Israel. They would fain go up with Him to the Feast of Tabernacles, and antedate the age of glory, seating Him in the honors and joys of the kingdom. The Greeks also take their place with Israel in such an hour. Through Philip, as taking hold of the skirt of a Jew, (Zech. 8), they would see Jesus and worship. -But in the midst of all this Jesus Himself sits solitary. He knows that earth is not the place for all this festivity and keeping of holy day. His spirit muses on death, while their thoughts were full of a kingdom with its attendant honors and pleasures. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone."

Such was the peculiar path of the spirit of Jesus. Resurrection was everything to Rim. It was His relief amid the sorrows of life, and His object amid the promises and prospects of the world. It gave His soul a calm sunshine, when dark and heavy clouds had gathered over Bethany; it moderated and separated His affections, when the brilliant glare of a festive day was lighting up the way from thence to Jerusalem. The thought of it sanctified His mind equally amid grief and enjoyments around. Resurrection was everything to Him. It made Him a perfect pattern of that fine principle of the Spirit of God: " Let him that weepeth be as if he wept not, and he that rejoiceth as though he rejoiced not."

0 for a little more of the same mind in us, beloved! May the faith and hope of the Gospel, through the working of the indwelling Spirit, form the happiness and prospect of our hearts!

J. G. B.

Growth Through the Truth

A person may be honestly delighting in what he hears, and yet not connecting it with Christ, so he does not grow a bit: he knows nothing; for then what he hears is as an object before his mind; whereas when mixed with faith it connects his soul with Christ, and he gets it livingly in Him. Whatever is revealed of Christ, judges something of the old man antagonistic to it, and then there is growth. If I hear and delight in the truth, and yet do not detect and judge the-old man, there is no growth.

Watch and Pray

A RHYTHM FOR THE TIMES, FOR CHRISTIANS.

" Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."-Phil. 4:6.

When sorely tempted by the slayer;

" 'Tis nothing, nothing," doth he say;

But an almost childish pleasure,

Just made to pass the time away.

Watch and pray.

When Christ our Lord was here on earth,

No leisure hour or time had He,

Save for His Father, to show forth

The love that rescued you and me.

Engrossed with what must pass away,

The whirl of business and its cares,

Providing for the comforts of the day,

And laying by for future years,

Watch and pray.

No tinseled roof, no treasured store,

Of this world's pelf were His down here;

But how to help and serve the poor,

And soothe the widow, these His care.

When asked to vote or office fill,

And told that you've as much to say

In politics and governing

As any in the present day,

Watch and pray.

Our Savior's voice was never heard

Adjusting questions of the day '

But, " Bury let the dead their dead,
Take thou thy cross and follow Me."

When loved ones round thee fondly cling,

Their acts, their motives all their own,

And thine, that each new day may bring

Some fresh enjoyment to their home,

Watch and pray.

Set not your heart on things of earth,

But set them on the things of God;

Lest living most the Adam birth,

You prove unworthy of your Lord. R.

Responsibility: Part 2, The First Great Change After the Fall

Our last paper closed with this expression: The Divine will was all-sufficient for him in every respect, while he was occupied therewith, but the moment he lost that as an object, that moment he failed. Like Peter walking on the water.

The Divine will had been expressed. (Matt. 14:28,29.) " Lord if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come." This illustrates the point. While Peter was occupied with the Divine Person, in obedience to the Divine will expressed in the word " Come," he could walk on the water. It was all-sufficient for him. So he could have ascended to Heaven by the power of the same word, if it had been expressed in that direction; as Enoch and Elijah did. Compare Psa. 33:6,9; 2 Peter 3:5,7. I am not speaking of the principle of faith which Enoch and Elijah had, but simply of the all-sufficiency of the word of the Divine will. For we hear nothing of faith until after sin came in.

The creature (man) was in the Divine presence, but did not partake of the Divine nature, and he had not a Divine life; for a Divine life can only spring from a Divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3,4. " According as His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

Faith being the activity, so to speak, of the new or Divine nature, as we shall see hereafter, was not a condition of Adam's standing, but it was of Abel's after sin came in, (Heb. 11:4.) and thence forward. But the condition of Adam's standing was simply one of will, as we have seen: hence obedience. All things on the earth and in the sea were subject to the creature will, but the creature will itself must have no expression outside the Divine will.

Let me repeat: Two wills were there, and the test of the forbidden tree was evidently the key to Adam's position, as raising the question, which will was to be supreme, God's or man's.

In man then in Eden, we have an innocent creature without holiness, without righteousness, without Divine life because without a Divine nature, and without faith, but simply innocent; and yet set in blessing and endowed with power, even the dominion of all under Heaven, but he himself, and through him, all under Heaven is held in dominion under God, by simple obedience to the Divine will expressed in Gen. 2:17. " But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." And the next thing said is, "It is not good that the man should be alone," and a "helpmeet" is given to share his joys and responsibilities. In the inscrutable wisdom of God, this " helpmeet " proved his ruin, but in becoming so, did but give room for the accomplishment of the deeper counsels of God in redemption, and transfer the platform of the dealings of God with man from that of creature responsibility to sovereign purpose in grace; and through this one by whom the fall came, " hope " was to dawn of future blessings, when kin had brought in ruin, and a bondage of corruption.

There was evidently weakness in Adam's position; he stood in his own strength, needed a " helpmeet;" but the side of his peculiar weakness was evidently that through which deeper and fuller blessings than he then possessed, was to come in, viz: his "helpmeet;" and thus was Eve at once the channel for ruin and also of redemption; for cursing and also for blessing; to the fires of Hell, and also to the glories of Heaven; at once the channel for all earthly bliss and onward to eternal glory; or of all earthly sorrow and woe, and onward to eternal despair. How wonderful is this!

This then is Adam's weakest point, and here is where the attack is made. Satan is wiser than Adam; the dominion of God on the earth he will subvert, and Adam's blessing he will spoil, and he does it through the channel of Adam's bliss and joy. Alas! how often is this the case even now! that earthly blessing is the key to our ruin. But God is wiser than Satan, and has laid plans ahead. Glory be to His blessed name! Accordingly with the setting sun of the first man's paradise arises the second Man's glory. Blessed be God! We do not rejoice in the ruin, but in Him who is infinitely above the ruin.

But let us turn again to the man in Eden. We have seen his weakness and the channel through which his ruin came; now let us see if we can find the turning point of that ruin, or rather the point when his innocence ended and his sin began. Gen. 3:1. " The serpent said unto the woman, yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? " Here is the bold insinuation that love and goodness is not perfect which had forbidden anything, and that happiness was not complete while creature appetites and gratifications were in any manner subjected. The woman is beguiled by this sophistry, and though her answer seemingly regards the Divine will; yet it betrays a trifling estimation of it, for she adds to it a thought of her own, for the expression, " neither shall ye touch it," was not in the expression of the Divine will; and if she may add, she may also reject, so that now she is prepared for the second step. " And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." And now the barrier is broken down, the Divine will is set at naught in her heart, and then comes in the full power of her creature appetite. " And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

Here surely is the turning paint. If the Divine will is cast off, the creature will will be then supreme in the earth; and this was to become like Gods sure enough: for if the Divine will is rejected, the creature will is established, and the man was not wise enough to see that the rejection of God's will was the establishment of Satanic will; and that in choosing for himself in opposition to the Divine will, he would become the bond slave of Satan. But so it was. And thus the "image of God" in min, was lost in the fall, and the " likeness " ( in dominion as the head) becomes the expression of self or Satanic will. Hence " the will of the flesh," or " carnal mind, is enmity against God: is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. " And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image." Gen. 5:3. And thus the Divine will is supplanted, and the creature will led on by Satan is brought in, and now the creature has become by his own choice, as to his will, a child of the Devil, and begets his offspring in Ms own likeness and image.

To recapitulate for a little, we have seen that the man's responsibility flowed out from his relationship; that his relationship was that of innocence and blessing in the Divine presence, and the measure of his responsibility was to walk in that relationship in perfect obedience, and this was morality.

To choose for himself outside the Divine will, was to sin, and bring in ruin upon himself and all his dominion, and all his future posterity. To test his loyalty, the forbidden tree is given, which proved that Adam was but a " creature," and could not stand alone. With his fall the deeper counsels of God in redemption come into play, and the ground is cleared for the second Man, " the Lord from Heaven."

And, the fact that the turning point of the first man was in the ascendency of the creature will above the appointed lot, is seen more clearly when we take just a glance at the opposite, as expressed in the second Man. " I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me," and " Lo I come to do Thy will, O God."

Nothing is plainer in the Gospel than this one point, viz: The perfect obedience of the " second Man." He had no will of His own, no choosing for Himself, everything was given from above. Compare John 5:19,20,30, also 8:26, 29, also 12:50, and 14:10. The very place morally, where the first man failed, was the very place where then second. Man triumphed.

And another evidence of the same fact is brought out in the temptation of the wilderness. Satan met Him on the same ground, morally. First, " He was an hungered. ' Something to eat. The very place where Adam went down. But the "second Man" lives by every word of God. No trifling here. No light estimate of the Divine will expressed. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Matt. 4:4. " And He that sent Me is with Me; the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him." John 8:29. " Very good," was all that could be said of the first man, even in his best state, and before he had met Satan at all; and this was God's estimate of him. But God's estimate of the second Man can only be expressed when the Father's heart cries out from the opened Heavens, " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Thus far, and we have seen: First, that responsibility always arises from relationship; that Adam's relationship was that of innocence in the Divine presence; that his responsibility was to walk in the relationship in simple obedience to the Divine will expressed, and this was morality. And to choose for himself, or to have a will of his own, in opposition to the Divine will was to sin, and bring in ruin upon himself and all below him, and that the forbidden tree was the test of obedience; hence the key to his standing was simply a question of will.

Second, that there was weakness in Adam's position, being a creature standing in his own strength; that the peculiar side of his weakness was his "helpmeet," who in the wisdom of God was allowed to become at once the channel of his ruin, and also of his redemption; and that the very point, morally, where he failed, is the very point where the "hope " of future and deeper blessing dawned through the " seed of the woman " that should bruise the serpent's head.

Third, that the creature will, being beguiled by Satan, becomes itself Satanic; and man morally as to his will, becomes a child of the Devil, while he establishes his freedom from God, (a free moral agency, but alway evil,) under the sentence of death.

God willing, our next paper will take up the question of his responsibility in the new state of things.

C. E. H.

Answers to Correspondents: The Judgment Seat of Christ; Satan's Power Over Men; 1TI 5:11-12; MAT 21:44

Q.-Do Christians appear before the judgment of Christ, to have their sentence given, and receive a reward according to the deeds done in the body, or do they enter into glory, having already in this life appeared before the judgment seat of Christ and received pardon, sins having gone before hand to judgment, so that they know what their sentence is before death?

ANS.-The judgment seat of Christ, for the believer, raises no question of a judicial sentence. He is manifested at the judgment seat, not to be judged, but to he rewarded according to what he has done in the body, whether good or bad. What has been the fruit of the Spirit in him will get rewarded; what has been the work of the flesh, his conscience will then recognize according to Christ's estimate, as good for nothing, and he will suffer loss, as a question of reward. He will then, too, see, as to all that has been of evil in the body, how fully Christ, by His work on the cross, has settled the whole matter according to the judgment of God against sin. The believer appears at the judgment seat as a justified person. He knows his sentence judicially now, as having received from the lips of Christ, who is the judge, the forgiveness of sins, and with this, the promise that he shall not come into judgment. John 5:24. The word translated in our version condemnation should be judgment; it is the same word in the original as in verse 30. " Being justified by faith we have peace with God," says the apostle in Rom. 5 There could not be peace with God now, if there were uncertainty as to our judicial sentence.

Q.-Has Satan the same power over the bodies of men now that he had in Christ's day? As he has' the power of death, it is claimed that he is the originator of all our sickness and weakness of body. Do you think people are now " possessed with the devil," as they were in Christ's day? For instance, is epilepsy one of his forms of possession?

ANS.-There is nothing in scripture to lead us to think that there is any limitation in the power of Satan over the bodies of men, different to what he had in Job's case, or in the time of our Lord's earthly ministry. He holds this power entirely subject to Christ, who uses him instrumentally for chastisement in love to His own, or in judgment upon the unconverted. We believe persons are still often " possessed with the devil " as they were in Christ's day, though the outward evidence may be different, taking more a mental form in religious and spiritual delusions. Many spiritualists are undoubtedly so possessed.

Epilepsy is a disease of the nervous system, and not a spiritual possession. A demoniacal possession might accompany such a disease, but this would be distinct from the disease itself.

Q.-Please explain the meaning of the passage in 1st Tim. 5th Chapter 11 and 12 verses. What does "having cast off their first faith," mean?

ANS.-The apostle is here giving directions as to those widows who were not to be supported by the church, or " put upon the free list." The young widows, in whom the pulse of life still ran strong, would be apt to tire of being thus set apart for Christ, and desiring to marry again, while being under prohibition to do so, because supported by the church as widows, they would dislike the restraint of Christ's will in the matter, and feeling rebellious at it, be guilty, as those who had gone back in faith from the ground (" their first faith,") of devotion to Christ, in virtue of which they had been put upon the list to remain as widows. Their hearts unkept by Christ, the activities of an unsubdued nature would find vent in going about gossiping from house to house, thus causing sorrow and shame in the church. The younger widows were therefore to marry, and in the healthful and rightful cares of domestic life, find that path and that occupation which would give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

Q.-What is the meaning of the 44th verse of the xxi. chapter of Matthew?

ANS.-The Lord is here addressing the Pharisees, who as representing the nation of Israel, were glen rejecting Him; they were falling on Him,-stumbling over Him, as the head-stone of the corner, they would be broken by it, -it would be their ruin, as it then was nationally. In a future day, when restored to their land, still in rebellion and unbelief, many of them, as to Christ being the Messiah, this stone would fall upon them, and would grind those upon whom it fell to powder. A judgment complete and final for those of the nation still rebellious in "the last day," when Christ comes again.

What Do You Know?

An aged saint grown gray in his Master's service, for he was a minister of Christ, was once in conversation with a young man who was very full of himself, and of what he had been acquiring at College. " Of course, Mr. you are acquainted with such an author, and familiar with his works." " No," replied the aged man, " I do not know them." Some other subject was started by his companion, and question after question put, to each of which the answer was "I do not know." Teased at length, and forgetting the honor due to gray hairs, the young man asked " And what, sir, do you know?"

"Young man," was the reply, "I know HIM, whom to know is life eternal!" Dear Reader, "what do you know?"

I Know Jesus Died for Me

It was a fine summer's' day when I was told that a youth in a neighboring town was dying of consumption. I took an early opportunity of visiting him. On entering the room, I found him seated by a table. A pillow was laid upon it; and, with his arms folded and his head resting upon them, he thought his breathing was easier in that position. On my entrance he looked up. Disease had made sad inroads in a countenance once handsome and intelligent. My attention was arrested by an indescribable expression about his eyes; there was a bold, self-willed character before me.

I addressed him somewhat abruptly: " You are very ill, my lad, and with little prospect of ever getting better." His reply was, " You are plain spoken, at any rate."

I paused for a moment, when I added, " Do you know, in the event of your death, where you will go?"

He answered immediately, " I expect. to heaven."

I asked him the grounds, of his confidence. He gave me them readily: "I never injured any body. I have always done right between Man and man; and the master worked for would give me a character any day."

His eyes kindled as he spoke, and he looked a sort of defiance. After a short pause I proceeded -to urge him for further reasons for his hopes. He gave them pretty fully; but they were briefly summed up in the fact, that he had injured no one, neither stolen nor lied, and he did not know why he should fear.

I scrutinized his features, and there was unbending decision of purpose. I rose from my seat, as if taking my leave, and said to him, " My poor lad, I am very sorry for you; for though there is unspeakable comfort in -the, gospel, blessed joy for those interested, in it, yet it is not for such as you."

He said to me angrily, " What do you mean?"

I replied, " The 'Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; and, from your own, account, you are not one.—You are seeking to stand before God in the strength of your own character, and it will utterly fail you. If you were honest and true-hearted, you would admit that your conscience accuses you; and that to stifle its cries, you are seeking to prop up a character for goodness; which, so far from serving you, will only shut you out of the blessing the gospel propounds. As a sinner, God presents mercy and forgiveness to you, through faith in Jesus. As having nothing to fear, what want you with the Savior? My poor lad," I proceeded, " hide not your necessity from yourself; you cannot from God. Be open and honest; unburden your heart. Seek to tell the worst you know about yourself; spread it all out before Him; and plead, that for such as you really are, Christ died."

As I spoke, his countenance lighted up with intelligence. He had evidently understood my meaning. He stretched out his hand and exclaimed with some energy, "I've been a rare fool. You have letter t'leet into me. (You have let the light into me.) Now leave me alone a bit, and be, sure and come again soon."

I left him with confidence and hope. His case then called for sympathy and prayer,-ere long, for thanks= giving and praise. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God was revealed to him in the face of Jesus-Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6.) His conscience was purged, through faith in the blood shed upon the cross. (Rom. 3:25.) He saw himself a lost sinner; God gave him to see that Jesus died for such. Poor fellow, the little-time he was spared was hallowed indeed. He spoke of his Savior with raptures; of his great need of Him, and of the grace that found him. I saw him one morning, after a restless night. He was sitting on his bed gasping for breath; yet his spirit was tranquil and calm. "I know," he said, "Jesus died for me." Shortly afterward-he expired.

Jesus lived,—He lived for sinners,

Outcast in the world He made;

Lived, that in His blessed Person.

God's full grace might be displayed.,

Jesus died,—He died for sinners,

On the cross He cried " forgive; "

Died, that lost and ruined rebels,

Through His precious blood, might live.

Jesus rose,—He rose for sinners,.

Proving that the work was done;
Sweet assurance that the Father

Was well pleased with His Son.

Jesus lives,—He lives for sinners;

High upon His Father's throne;
Liveth, evermore to succor

Those who make His love their own.

Full and Eternal Justification

Let me now press upon the reader the one truth which has been prominent throughout these pages, viz: that full and eternal justification is at once the blessed portion of every one who trusts in the death of Christ. There was safety to Israel when destruction was all around them, because the blood of the lamb was upon their door-posts. God saw, in that mere shadow, such a type of His own Son's death, that He gave perfect security to every one who put himself within the shelter of that blood. Shall not, then, Christ's own blood be infinitely precious? Shall it not accomplish entire and eternal safety? Make that death your refuge; hide yourself in that safe covert; trust in JESUS, confide in Hem, make His ()Ross to be the place where you see your sins borne away forever; and, notwithstanding all you feel, eternal life, eternal glory, are yours now and evermore.

Having thus briefly attempted to meet certain difficulties, that frequently hinder the peace of troubled hearts, let me earnestly beseech my reader more carefully and diligently to peruse the word of God; to ask himself, as he reads sentence by sentence, " What does this mean?" and to ask God to help him to understand what it means, Let him deal with it as the word of God-as if he heard the voice of JEHOVAH speaking directly to him from heaven.

If JESUS were on earth, would you not, dear reader, go to Him? would you not ask Him to save you? would you not believe His word, if He said to you, " Thy sins are forgiven thee; thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace"? Thus He speaks to you out of the Bible. Hear His voice. Believe what He says command away every doubt and uncertainty, by the authoritative voice of the mighty Savior. He is now at the right hand of God; but still he speaks-speaks from heaven-speaks in the living Word, the Scriptures of truth. And why is He exalted to the throne of the majesty in the heavens? In order to be a Prince and a Savior-to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. His name, JESUS, given to Him at His birth, and again given to Him by God in resurrection, proclaims the blessed truth that salvation is IN Him. Faith in that name is sufficient.

Two gentlemen were lately conversing together upon this momentous subject. One said to the other, after pointing out to Him the mighty work accomplished by Christ on the cross, " Do you need anything more?" The other replied, "Yes, I think I do. I think I must have some work of my own." His friend answered, " Jesus at the right hand of God, is my title, and my only title to salvation. Here are pen, ink and paper, now write me down a better."

The truth is, that Christ in glory is the proof of the complete and all-sufficient value of His death. If a friend becomes surety for me, and is thrown into prison because of my debt, and I afterward meet that friend walking at liberty, I am sure he must have made satisfaction to the full of my debt, otherwise he could not be out of prison.

So the Lord, at the right hand of power on high, is the proof that HE has answered to the full every demand of God against me a sinner. His death is everything or nothing. It is either the entire blotting out and canceling of every charge that can be made against me by a holy, righteous and all-seeing God, or it avails me nothing.

It is said of John Bunyan, that he, was walking one day in a field, under great trouble of soul at the discovery of his own vileness, and not knowing how to be justified with God, when he heard, as he imagined, a voice saying to him, "Your righteousness is in heaven." He went into his house, and took his Bible, thinking there to find the very words which had thus sounded in his heart. He did not discover the identical expression, but many a passage of Scripture proclaimed the same truth, and showed him that Jesus, at the right band of God is complete righteousness to every one that believeth.

(From " The Soul and its Difficulties.")

Rest

How many poor, wearied hearts are at this moment echoing the words of the Psalmist, " Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest " The cry for rest has been the deepest craving in the human soul ever since the fail. Sin announced its presence, even, ere the wages of sin were reaped in the conscience, by this appeal for rest. Rest left the bosom of our first parents when unsatisfied desire took the place of the innocent enjoyment of God's goodness, and their children, in successive generations, have been echoing that cry from heart to heart.

With deepening tones and increasing intensity did that cry send its appeal to the outraged throne of God, till from the bosom of the Father, according to counsels deep and wise, came forth into this world the Son of His love. Then for the first time, in this sad scene, do we hear of rest proffered to man as a present blessing. Jewish Sabbaths had witnessed to a promised rest, and creation waits for that rest. There is too a "rest that remaineth for the pc ogle of God," when the power of God shall have reduced all things in Heaven and Earth again into ordered beauty under Christ; but this present rest, that amid the toiling, groaning, restless scene around, is open now to the weary heart, is the deepest and sweetest rest of all.

It is not the rest of God,-hope's portion in a day to come; but rest in God,-faith's portion now. It is this rest that Jesus offers the weary soul. It is this rest He came to give. " Come," He says, " unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." As another has observed, " It is now no longer a question of' responsibility to accept or receive; it is free sovereign grace that acts from itself and for itself, finding the weary and burdened that it may rest them. Oh, how blessed all this is! He who spoke these words knew what man was, what the world was, what the most privileged were. He knew that in a scene in which God was not, where His name had been dishonored, and His grace was refused, there were weariness and burdens enough, but rest there was none. He Himself stands here as the only One in whom there is a place for the sole of the foot to rest on; and, looking out over all time since, and poor breaking hearts in it, He says, Come to me.' The invitation is world-wide; those to whom it is addressed are found everywhere."

Yes, indeed, " found everywhere." Wherever throbs a human heart, with life that flows alone from Adam, there an aching void is found that never can he filled till He is found, who says, " Come unto me, and I will give you rest." No transient gift for time is offered here, but rest, eternal and divine. Rest, deep and abiding as the nature and throne of Him who sent His only begotten Son into this toiling sin-stricken scene to speak' these wondrous words. These words of heaven-born sweetness. These words that fall upon the soul and wrap it in their own sweetness with noiseless, undisturbing entrance, as softly and as soothingly as falls the dove's light wing o'er the object of its love. The answer of the heart of God to that piteous cry from the desolate, toiling children of sorrow, " Oh that I had wings like a dove!'' for then would I fly away, and be at rest." Not power given to take a toilsome flight to a land of quietness and joy, but the sweet flight of love to the heart down here to give it, without the straining even of one more thought or feeling, the boon it craves. A boon sent, not by the chiefest amid the unfallen angels of light, but by the hand of the Son of God's love. Yes, the mission of Jesus to this poor world is to give rest, rest now; bye and bye He will bring the glory. A rest of circumstances, then shall be added to the gift be-'fore bestowed, that shall lend it fullness but the sweetness of which we already know, for the heart rests in that which no circumstances can touch or change, rests in Him who is " the same yesterday, to day, and forever.

But for the moment let us inquire what is it that makes man so complete a stranger to rest, though so eagerly craving it, and ceaselessly seeking it. Who is there who cannot give the answer? A guilty conscience and an unsatisfied heart. In the vain hope of quieting the one, man goes through the toilsome routine of religious observances.and legal requirements. In the equally futile effort to gain the other, he gives himself up to the pursuit of pleasure, and in. both cases travels farther and farther away from the source whence either the one or the other can be obtained, and only to find himself, the more eager and earnest in the pursuit of what he seeks he is, the more wearied and heavy laden.

But let us turn from man to that blessed Jesus who canoe into this world to give what man so vainly toils to to attain by his own efforts. To give peace of conscience and rest of heart.

. This consideration brings us to the two great objects of the mission of the blessed Son of God. He came "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,"-to work the work of man's salvation; He came to reveal the Father,—to open out the heart of God before His creatures in the perfection of His nature as love.

The knowledge of the one gives peace of conscience; the enjoyment of the other gives satisfation of heart. It gives rest, complete rest. Rest, so to speak, that leads into rest with ever deepening sweetness. Rest of soul, that leaves conscience and heart equally without one longing unsatisfied.

Dear reader, do you know this rest? If not, turn and drink deep into the blood of Christ,-" He made peace by the blood of His cross," and His " blood is drink indeed," that leaves the conscience stainless as the unsullied light of God. Then sit down at His feet and learn of Him as He reveals the Father's love, uncovers the bosom of divine tenderness and love in which He Himself ever dwelt as man in this scene, and you shall know rest of heart, taste it as He knew who says, " I have declared unto them Thy name, and wilt declare it; that the love wherewith Thou hest loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

This is rest,-rest in God; faith's present portion, as it listens, and abides with Him, who says, " Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."

Fragments

If Christ is ours, He is a living Christ, and He sends messages, and special ones by us. He may put it into the heart to go with the word of truth to sonic heavily burdened sinner, and the person may do it without a thought of having any power, until he finds from the effect that Christ has been using him as a connecting link between Himself and a people on earth. And so He also passes some word of comfort or truth, out of the lips of a saint, to the one who is needing it.

Christ has a special service for each saint. We often want to arrange things before hand; but that is never Christ's plan. He expects us to look to Nina to get the word which He wants us to speak, showing by that, that we believe He is a living person. We cannot see the hearts of those to whom we speak, but Be can. He knows every thought of every heart, and we must look to Him for guidance what to say. If you are walking with Christ as a living Lord, you will find that He guides you in everything. He has all the feelings of a man, and is entering into all of ours.

When I say, " God is love," what do I mean by it? Why this, that God sent His only begotten Son that we might have life in Him. We still carry about the old nature; but, blessed be God, many a time as Satan has caught me, he has never destroyed me; there is the propitiation,-I am inside, sheltered by the blood, and forgiven.

What should I do if I had to carry the burden of last week's failure! What, if only looking at yesterday's failure! It would be like phosphorus eating into the tenderest part of one's body; but I have got One who is able. to restore my soul, One who does continually and entirely. You are finding how different you are from Christ, but He is the propitiation all the way till you see Him, and are like Him. Love in you is very different from love in God, acting in His own eternity, showing love by giving His Son to give you life, and power, and love. Love in God comes out with this thought, of separating us from all that we are, into His own blessedness. S. V. W.

Faith

Faith judges as God judges. I see sin in the light of God's holiness, and learn grace in the heart of my Father. He that believes "sets to his seal that God is true." Faith is the only thing that gives certainty. Reasoning may be all quite well for things of this world; but if God speaks, faith believes. Faith "sets to its seal," not that He may be perhaps, but that "God is true." Abraham "believed God;" (not in God, though that is also true;) he believed that what God said was true. What, then, does God tell me, if I am a believer in His Son? that my sins and iniquities He "remembers no more "-I believe it. That I have "eternal life." I believe that too. It were sin to doubt it; not to believe that of which He assures me, is to wrong God.

If a son, I am in His presence without a spot of sin through the blood of the Lamb. Faith believes this; God hath said it. Were it my own righteousness in which I stood then, it must be torn to shreds; but it is a question about God's estimate of the value of the blood. What has it done-cleansed half my sins? No! It " cleanses from all sins." Again, I read, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." Is this some of my sins? It is "our sins." And then if my soul knows, on the one hand, the value to God of the blood of the Lamb, I know, on the other, that it all results from the love of the Father.

GOD is in the midst of His people in all the fullness of His grace and mercy, in His perfect knowledge of His people's wants, and of the difficulties of their path, in His almighty power and boundless resources, to meet the difficulties and supply the wants.

The Merchantman

"I've found the pearl of greatest price,

My heart doth sing fur joy,"—

Once wrote a Christian poet-but whose, heart is it, dear -reader, that sings for joy?

Think you, is it the heart of him who hath found Christ, and in finding Him hath discovered a jewel of untold wealth and luster,-an ocean of unfathomed depth and boundless limit; a spring of abiding perennial light and joy and sunshine?

No doubt, all this and far, far more is true of such an one. How fully does it become such a heart to " sing for joy "-yea, and make known its gladness far and near. But, be not surprised when I say, that the heart that really sings for joy on the finding of the pearl is not that of the believer, but that of the Savior Himself!

Let me quote in full the passage in Matt. 13:45, of which the above stanza is a paraphrase.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and, sold all that he had, and bought it."

Now, I have no question whatever that the merchantman referred to in this parable, is none 'other than the Lord Jesus Christ-and its object is just to reveal to us " His thirst for our salvation," and the wondrously high estimation in which He held that church of Elis-that pearl of price,-for which He died.

Notice first, " He sought" the pearl. Think you, did ever a sinner, of himself, seek the Savior? Did the word in Rom. 3. ever prove false, "there is none that seeketh after God?" When did the world invoke the love of God, or beseech for the giving of His Son? Nay, did not the world hate God, and throw back His Son upon Him-taking Him and by wicked hands crucifying and slaving Him! It was not the sinner who sought Christ, but, blessed be His name, He sought the sinner. He "came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost."

Secondly. " He sold all that He had." Now tell me -is the sinner. ever asked to give anything for salvation? True, he needs it, for he is lost, but does God sell it to him for the price of tears, or works, or reformation, or penance, or self denial, or for giving up this, that or the other thing? No He need sell nothing, surrender nothing, do nothing for. God's salvation. And why? Because it is free. The purchase price has been paid by. another, and hence the earnest cry, " He every one that thirsted", come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money come ye, buy and eat, yea come buy wine and milk with. out money and without price." Or again, " whosoever will, let him take the water of life FREELY."

. Now there is no contradiction in the Word of God. If salvation be "free" it is clearly not purchasable-not to be bought for money, I therefore say that He who sold all that He had was Christ, that thus He might purchase and redeem from Satan's grasp His precious pearl. Oh I reader, look at Him, laying aside His eternal scepter, entering the manger at Bethlehem, treading our sin-stained earth, lone and weary and spotless, behold Him on the cross giving up His life-His heart's blood-His all! He "sold all that He had."

Thirdly. He " bought the, pearl," and could, therefore, claim it as " His own." How dear to Him! how infinitely valuable. If we pay high for that we value, surely Christ paid high for us! The pearl lies deep down beneath many a fathom of deep and sullen waters-and so the church lay far beneath the heavy tide of sin and disgrace and shame. Peril is in the path of the pearl diver-death lay in that of Jesus. He died-but He rose triumphant, and now the church is " His own "-and in the midst of it-He sings praises to God. (See Heb. H. 12.)

May I say it, 'tis Christ whose heart is singing for joy.

As the Shepherd rejoiced on finding the lost sheep, so does Christ now rejoice! Wondrous truth And the day is fast approaching when Ile shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied—when He shall " present the church to Himself a glorious church "—and see in her the evidence and illustration forever of His power aril His love.

Blessed Savior, we adore Thee, and as knowing the love of Thy heart, we would gladly yield unto Thee all we have.

Praise the Savior ye who know Him,

Think, O think, how much we-owe Him,

Gladly lot us render to Him,

All lye are mid. have." J. W. S.

The Pharisee and the Publican

Numbers speak about the Pharisee and the Publican, who know nothing of the truth that is here revealed. But how is it with ourselves as to this? Have we been brought to take the Publican's place before God? and is that tile ground on which we now stand before _Him? I do not ask whether we are still saying, " God be merciful to me a sinner." The Publican would not say that, when he had gone down to his house justified. But he would still be upon the same ground as that he took, when not daring to lift up his eyes to heaven, he-stood and smote upon his heart and said, "God be merciful to me. a sinner."

The Pharisee took the ground of what he was. He does not take to himself openly the credit of what he was and did. He does not say, I thank myself that I am this and that and the-other. He was quite as orthodox in that respect as numbers. in the present day, who are looking within for their ground of peace, and who say, " we give God the glory of all that we hope He has wrought in us, and own Him as the One who has produced it all."

But if He has produced anything in our souls, it is riot for us to rest upon, or to glory in, or find peace in. We are upon the Pharisee's ground if we found our peace upon anything that we may suppose grace to have wrought, in us. He thanked God, but it was for what he was, what he did, and what lie did not. These formed tile ground on which his soul sought to stand before God. And though he did stand; he was self deceived; Inc was on perfectly good terms with himself. " God, I thank Thee I am not as other men are," &c. And there are numbers in the present day, bearing the name of Christ, professing, in words, to have no confidence but Christ; numbers who would he shocked at the idea of attributing salvation to any but Christ, who are yet practically and really taking the Pharisee's ground before God. Where such persons have any real work of God in their souls, they are destitute of peace. Where there is thorough self-deception, men may thank God that they are not as other men. But supposing there is any idea of what man is before God, and yet the attempt to take this ground, misery must be the result.

It may be the ground. on which some who read this are seeking to stand, who,-if' asked, Do you take the ground of this Pharisee? would say, "Oh, no!" Then what ground do you take? What are you wishing to stand upon before God? is not this the reason you allege for not having peace, that you do not find in yourselves such fruit as would be certain marks of your being God's children? or if sometimes you hope that you see some such marks, you cannot always find. them, and therefore you are so cast down and desponding. Is not this the way in which you explain your own state.?.or perhaps with some examples of rare devotedness before your eyes you say, If I were but such an one And what if you were! Would it do then to say, " God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are?" What are you wishing and seeking? You are wishing and seeking to be something better than you are, in order to stand before God. And you could have your wish and be that, would you stand upon it? Then you would be the Pharisee outright.

But what was the Publican's ground? There was the deepest sense of what he was-a sinner; and he was not even asking to be something better. No doubt he did desire deliverance. He would not have been so troubled about his state if he had been content to be a sinner. He had the deepest sense of what he was; but what was his hope? his resource.? the only door open before him? It was what God is, and what God is to what he knew himself to be. It was, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." When the soul is once brought there, there is no doubt as to the issue. The word of God contains an answer now to such a state of soul as was not found even while our Lord was upon earth. God's perfect, blessed answer is in the fulfillment of the Savior's own prediction of His sufferings and blood-shedding on the cross. There was the answer on Christ's part to God, for all the sin, let it be what it may, upon your conscience. There is also God's answer, on His own part, in the love that gave Christ to take the sinner's place, and stand in the simmer's stead, and die the sinner's death; the answer, on God's part to the cry, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"

Oh! that some who read this, may, through God's own teaching, be led to see how mercy has interposed-how mercy has triumphed-may you see something of the height and length and depth and breadth of mercy, God's mercy, the sinner's only refuge, his only resource. It is not mercy without atonement, without sacrifice, without the full vindication of God's holiness and righteousness. It is not mercy at the expense of these. But as sin has reigned unto death, even so grace now reigns " through righteousness, unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." W. K.

Union With Christ

People have a notion of a mystical union with Christ as an ideal thing. But the word is very explicit. "Ile that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." I am more really united to Christ than my hand is to my body; for the life of the latter union is in my blood, but that of former in the power of the Holy Ghost.

This is an amazing truth-that I am livingly united to Christ at this moment. It is not merely that He has done certain things which suppose that I was in Him as to their value, so that I have peace, but a whole class of affections spring from the realization of this union. I am drawing life from Christ with every affection that Christ has in me.

And as to power-I am in the Lord; and when strong in the Lord, whatever Christ is competent for, I am competent. for; or, as the apostle has it, " I can do all things through Christ which strengthened' me."

In life Christ was God- before man to win man's confidence. Christ on- the cross was man before God bearing the judgment of man's sin, that He might bless him righteously with Himself in Heaven.

My Home Is Not Here

My home 'tis not here, in a region of death, -

Which sin has defiled with its poisonous breath;

Where Christ was rejected, where man is oppressed,

In a world full of groaning, I seek not my rest.

You may spew me its palaces, stately and fair,

Bat the brows of their inmates are furrowed with care;

Its wisdom is folly, and madness its mirth;

For the shadows of death all envelope the earth.

I may gaze on the mountain, and forest and flood,

They speak of their Maker, my Father and God;
His sun enlivens the day with its light,

His moon and His stars give a voice in the night.

His hand paints each flower with its beautiful dye,

His providence watches the sparrows that fly;

I hear Him, I see Him, wherever I roam,

For this earth is His work, hut it is not my home..

My home is in heaven, for Jesus is there,

He's gone His own home for His friends to prepare;

In the land which no evil has ever defiled,.

Where each tear shall be wiped from the eye of the child.

My home is in heaven! yes, there shall we meet;

What joy it will be our companions to greet,

With whom thro' this-desert we journeyed along;

Where the sigh shall Inc changed for the-harp and the song,

Some Objections Answered

A brother in the Lord writes thus:-" While I like Sound Words' much for its earnest proclaiming of Christ crucified, yet it seems to me that some of its contents are objectionable. In the article (in the January No.) "the Lord's Farewell,' I read, 'if we loved Him as we ought, it would be our greatest sorrow that we are not with Jesus yet.' It seems to me that this is the language of a sickly sentimentalism, rather than that of a healthy Christianity. I do not believe that it is sustained by Scripture, or by the experience of Christ's most devoted followers. With a show of love for the Lord it appears to me that it savors of repining at His will, in keeping us here for His service, while true -love to Him expresses itself best in a cheerful acquiescence in His will, and accepting the position He assigns us on earth, as well as in a joyful anticipation of being with Him in glory. The hearts of the disciples were indeed filled with sorrow when Jesus foretold. His departure. But when He was parted from them, and curried up into heaven, they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.' (John 14:51,52,) And with that parting blessing abiding on them, they labored and endured persecutions for Christ's sake joyfully. Realizing the fulfillment of the promise of His presence with them, (John 14:21,23., Matt. 28:20,) neither their history nor their writings give any indication that their 'greatest sorrow ' was that they were not with Jesus. Paul was in a quandary which to choose, it' it were left to himself-to depart and be with Christ, or to remain in His service below. And the' for himself he regarded the former as '.far better,' yet he was quite contented to 'abide in the flesh for his brethren's sake. His greatest grief seems to have been indwelling sin; nothing drew from him such expressions of anguish. (Rom. 7:21.)

I would question also the statement on page 7,—' I can't help having a bad nature, but I can help letting it act.' If by it is meant that, having a sinful nature, we can help sinning,-regarding a specific act-stealing or lying-we may do it or not, well. But who can help the sudden uprisings-of sin in the heart? Paul's experience (Rom. 7) I believe to be-common to christians."

We have given this somewhat lengthy extract, from our Correspondent's letter, because we desire that it may be seen, that the pages of " Sound Words " afford opportunity for the free and unchecked expression of the thoughts and feelings of our fellow members in Christ. We feel too, that the condition of soul that underlies the sentiments expressed,-may find an echo in that of many of our readers, and as our answer will deal with this condition, as the soil out of which the objections made grow, we think it may be helpful to many to -let that which we are dealing with fairly appear on the surface, our desire being, not to answer objections merely, as having any special views of my own to maintain, but to directly profit souls by bringing, as we trust, Christ and His truth into the heart.

In the paper impeached the writer is dealing with the question of the Lord's departure out of this world, or rather with His farewell to His disciples in connection with it. He remarks that one leading thought was at that moment on the mind of Jesus, and that thought, His ABSENCE. It was the thought then, of His absence, that produced the sorrow in the hearts of His own that the Lord so touchingly ministers to in the 14th of John. He tells them that, though hidden from their sight in the flesh, He would not be lost to them, but that they must see Him during the they of His absence by faith; in this same way as they realized and enjoyed the presence of God. He makes them understand, that though away in the Father's house, His heart would be occupied with them, and pre-pairing a house for them in that bright heaven above their heads, instead of giving them then, as the Messiah, the heritage of Abraham on the earth. He promises that when He had reached that Father's house, He would pray for them, and send them the Comforter to abide with them forever. He asks their obedience on the principle of love, and says all that love, such love as His, can say to sustain their hearts during the period of His absence; but the thing which, above everything else, was to steady and stay up their hearts under the sorrow that His departure from them would produce, was the promise that He would come again, and receive them unto Himself, that where He was, there they might be also.

By all this precious ministry the Lord did not intend to take away from the hearts of His disciples the sense of His absence, or the sorrow, that the longing of their hearts after Himself would produce. It was to sustain them under this sorrow, a sorrow that nothing but His personal presence could relieve, as taking away that which caused it. He counted on them to cheerfully acquiesce in His will concerning them, in thus leaving them, and bids them labor for Him during His absence. He-reveals Himself to them repeatedly after His resurrection, that they might know Him in resurrection as the same Jesus they had walked with in the days of His flesh. He allows them to see Him in the plainest way when He goes from them into heaven, and they do indeed worship Him, and return " to Jerusalem with great joy," and, as our correspondent justly observes, " their history and writings " give -evidence of nothing, but how simply and devotedly they served their much loved, though absent Lord. But with all this their sorrow at His absence remained, and what above all characterized them, and marked them off from the world that surrounded them, was that they waited for Him to return, and take them to be with Himself in glory.

We' may illustrate their position, and condition of soul in this way:—wife sees a dearly loved husband hated, and hunted to death by his countrymen. He is killed by them before her eyes, and his lifeless form cast into the sea, and buried there from her sight. Her grief is complete and utterly unrelieved. In the dead of the night, unknown to any hut herself, her husband, having been miraculously restored to life beneath the waves that had entombed him, appears to her; complete joy fills her heart, she has recovered, as she had supposed, her utterly lost husband. He tells her he can no longer stay in that country, and that he most go to another land. Take her with him then he cannot, but says that when he has prepared a home for her in that for off land of beauty, which he describes to her, he will come back for her, and have her forever once more with himself. He promises her that as soon as he has reached his destination, he will send back to her a most intimate friend of his, who shall tell her all about himself, and give her further direction as to his will concerning her, and more, that this friend shall remain and watch over her till he returns himself.

After remaining with her some little time in concealment, he leaves her. Unknown to any but herself, she watches with eager interest, his departure by ship to the distant land he has spoken to her of. With quiet joy, in the knowledge of all her husband is to her, and is gone to prepare for her, she returns to her now desolate home, and with a heart, in which joy and sorrow are strangely mingled, she patiently waits the coming of the promised friend.

The friend comes. She hears from his lips of her husband's safe arrival at his journey's end. With glad surprise she listens, all entranced, to the wondrous story of her husband's greatness and dignity in that distant land. She receives fresh assurances of his love, and of his intentions to come for her very soon. She submits fully and cheerfully to the care and guidance of this friend who has come to watch over her during her husband's absence: Her joy is to know and do the will of the absent one she so loves, but her sorrow at his absence remains, and his personal absence alone can remove that, and so she waits longingly, yet patiently, for his coming.

This may sound like sentimentalism, but we believe, the state. of heart, that we have endeavored to depict, is what was, and should ever be found in those who belong to Christ. The holy affections of the soul, longing after Christ as the Bridegroom of His church, affections that must in themselves entail sorrow, until His personal return gives the heart all it longs for, are fully given us in Scripture, and the Spirit in the Bride's heart can never, as she thinks of Him, say less than, "come Lord Jesus, come quickly."

Such a state of soul is perfectly compatible with, what our correspondent calls, "healthy Christianity," that serves Christ joyfully, and contentedly during His absence. But of such a state of soul he, and we fear very many Christians with him, would seem to know little. Service, rather that Christ Himself, is what occupies the mind, and the thought of going to be with Christ through death, as the end of such service, has taken largely the place of what characterized the early christian, as those who were called out of this world to wait for Christ to come and take them to Himself in glory. To depart and be with Christ, infinitely blessed as this would be, is not being " with Jesus in glory," and therefore all our correspondent's remarks, as to Paul in connection with 'this are wide of the mark. Paul could speak rightfully of such a thing, because the Lord had revealed to him that he would have to die for His name's sake, and Peter, for the like reason, could joyfully talk of putting off " this my tabernacle," but believers in the Lord are, with these two, exceptions, uniformly presented to us in Scripture as expecting the Lord in their life-time.

We may mention here, that exception has also been taken to the paper, " Shall I ever die? " because it teaches this, and the remark is made that, " The secret of the Lord is with thorn that fear Him, and we must not confine the Spirit of God;" to illustrate the meaning of which, the following matter of personal experience is put forward. " My Sunday School teacher, who was the means in God's hands of bringing me to the truth, used often to dwell in her teachings upon the Lord's coming, and the future glory. I asked her one day, if she expected to see Jesus coming?. She answered me, she did not in her life time, but thought it was very possible her children would, (meaning children in the faith). She was then in consumption, which years after removed her by death."

We are very sorry to have to take note of, in one too who knows the truth, such real- infidelity as to the Lord's coming, as the immediate hope of believers, though alas, we fear there is plenty of this kind of thing around. It is in keeping with the saying of the wicked servant, " My Lord delayeth His coming," and should be judged, as such, in the heart that has it. Jesus says, " Behold, I come quickly;" and with death staring. us in the face, we ought, as " abounding, in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost," to be expecting Him to come," that mortality might be swallowed up of life," " The wages of sin is death," save as a question of martyrdom, and the christian is to be looking for the full results of the "grace that reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; and where the conversation is really "in heaven," let earthly circumstances be what they may, "we look for the Savior, the Lord -Jesus, who shall change our body of humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to. -the working whereby He is able even to subdue all according unto Himself."

Feelings and notions are neither faith nor the Spirit, and are not produced by " the sincere milk of the word;" while, as a test of our love for Him, the Lord says, " If a man love Me he will keep My words."

The remark of our correspondent, in connection with this subject; that -" Paul's greatest grief seems to have been indwelling sin," has its spring in the state of soul that takes exception at the statement, " I can't help having a had nature, but I can help letting it act;" and which makes the 7th of Romans proper christian experience.

We reject, as thoroughly unscriptural, that " Paul's greatest grief was indwelling sin," or that the 7th of mans was Paul's abiding experience. Ile had doubtless passed through such an experience, but he thanks "God, through Jesus Christ our Lord," as one delivered from it, and in the 8th of Romans, which was Paul's abiding experience, and thus proper christian experience, we find no trace of such a state of distress. That thousands of God's dear children are in the 7th of Romans we sorrowfully admit, but it is law, and not grace, they are under in their consciences, and hence their distress.

A christian has not only been "forgiven all trespasses," but he "is dead to sin," and his "old man (i. e. his evil nature) has been crucified"' with Christ. A dead man no more thinks and feels, than acts- and speaks. " Sudden uprisings of sin in the heart," show that the evil nature is not by faith kept in the place of death, for if we walked by faith in simple fellowship with Jesus, in the enjoyment of His grace, we should be as much able to help them "as specific acts, such as stealing or lying." We are told to reckon ourselves " dead to sin, (not sins merely) and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." It is not that the root of evil is gone out of the heart, but it is kept dormant there by faith in Christ and His work for us. When a man is soundly asleep he is not dead, but he no More thinks and feels, than he talks and walks. As to walk this is the state the old man should ever be in, and then nothing but the new life, i. e. Christ, is experienced or expressed.

Answers to Correspondents

Q -When does the Lord Jesus take the place of intercessor for His people, and when the place of Advocate, and what is the difference between intercession and advocacy?

A.-As to time, the Lord Jesus took the place of intercessor for His people, immediately upon His ascension to the right hand of God, and His first act as Intercessor, in this new place, was to ask for the Spirit for His people, in fulfillment of the promise in John 14:16. Intercession raises no question of sin or failure, but looks to the wants and weaknesses of saints in their passage through the wilderness as opposed by the power of Satan. It is as beyond condemnation, and made free from the law of sin and death by the law of the stunt of life in Christ Jesus, according to the sovereign election of God, that Christ as Intercessor is set before us in the 8th of Romans. God being for us according to the counsels of His own will; "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Intercession connects itself with what God is for us aside from any question of responsibility in us. It is sovereign grace, and hence no question of government.

Christ became the Advocate of His people as soon as their sinning made His grace needful in that character. Supposing the church had, by faith walked in the power of the 8th of Romans, and as maintained there through Christ's intercession, had never sinned, an advocate would never have been required. " If any man sin," says John, " we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Sinning is looked at as an exceptional position for a saint to be in. A saint always requires Christ intercession, he should never require His advocacy. If he does sin, blessed be God, he has one, but this precious grace surely affords no ground for going on sinning,. "for these things," says the same apostle, "I write unto you that ye sin not." Advocacy connects itself with our responsibility, and thus with God's government as a Father; involves discipline, and not communion. In short, intercession looks to our being maintained above failure, in the enjoyment of divine grace; while advocacy looks to our restoration to that enjoyment, when, through failure, we have lost it. It is a blessed thought to carry in the heart, not only that as sinners Christ has died upon the cross for us, and thus set us beyond the possibility of condemnation, but that directly as saints, or more scripturally as men, we sin, Christ advocates for us, and thus restoration is as surely secured by advocacy, as salvation is already accomplished by the cross.

Q.-What is the meaning of Rom. 7:9, " For I was alive without law once; but when the commandment. came sin revived, and I died?"

A.-We must remember that the apostle is speaking-here of sin, not sins. The conscience of an unconverted person recognizes sins, but as alive in Adam, is unawakened as to sin. The law comes in power spiritually and forbids lust, and the quickened soul at once recognizes sin, as a living thing, and the condemnation that the law pronounces on it comes upon the conscience, and in conscience the person dies. It is when the law thus deals with the nature, calling it into conscious activity in the heart, and then condemns it in the conscience, that the true power of what it is to be under law is felt.

Such a Place as That

Some months ago, while traveling on a steamboat up one of our large rivers, and looking to the Lord for an opportunity to say a word for Him, I paused at the door of the fireman's room. He was, at the time, busy shoveling coals into the huge furnace, whose glowing flame, shooting out its intense heat into his face, suggested to me the thought of the Lake of Fire spoken of in Rev. 20 He must have had something of this in his mind, and a conscience not at rest about it; for when he had finished his work, and a few words had passed between us, coming closer to me he asked this question, " Do you think that we have to go to such a place as that?"

" Why no, my friend, I do not expect to go at all," I answered, " and there is no necessity for you to go."

" How is that?" said he. " Do you really think so?" "I know so," said I. "I have the word of God Himself on the matter, who tells me of One, who, when that was our doom, came forward and said, 'Deliver them from. going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom.' I have just been talking with Him who so loved you and me as to give His Son to die for us, and now sends us word that believing on Him, believing what He says about it, we are saved, delivered from the wrath to come, and are at once Sons of God, looking for glory with Him. Now, I believe Him, and so know that the wrath is past; I can have no fear, because He cannot lie. And you have the same offered to you; and hearing and receiving what He says, you may look into that fire or the fire of hell, without alarm."

" That sounds good," said the poor man, with his whole face brightening.

" Good! indeed it is," said I. "And there is a great deal more to tell that is as good, for it comes from Him who is happy Himself, and wants to make us as happy as He is. We have His heart towards us, and for us. Is not that enough to make us rejoice?"

"Yes indeed, tell me more about it," said he, " how is it?"

" Thus," said I, " we have all sinned against God, and the wages of sin is death,-the second death,-the lake of fire. But Christ was delivered for our offenses. Christ died for sinners, that He might deliver us who through fear of death, were all our lifetime subject to bondage.

Now, if you were going to prison for a heavy debt, and I were to come on purpose to pay it, would not that be at once your sufficient reason for not going to punishment? Even so, when God tells you that Christ Jesus came into the world on purpose to save sinners, is not that reason enough for you to be saved?.Just take Him, His own way of saying it, and rest. He tells us that Christ has made peace through the blood of His cross, and that the blood of Jesus Christ, His son, cleanses us from all sin. How perfect all this is, and how simple. Now tell me, does it not meet all your need?"

But this man had been all his life under religious teachers who had told him that he must do a great many things as penances for his sins, and look to the mediation of a great series of intercessors, and he was naturally suspicious of anything that left out the old delusions. Satan, having bound him for so many years, was not willing to let him go, and now turned his mind to these things in opposition to the grace that was taught to him, so he answered," But you have not said anything about His mother. I must trust to her, too. Why do you leave her out?"

" Oh," I answered, " Mary, the mother of Jesus, was doubtless a very blessed woman. But it is riot said of her that she died for our sins, but Christ did. We are not told that the Lord laid upon her the iniquity of us all, but upon Christ. Mary was never made a curse for us, but Christ was, because He hung upon the tree, and that curse belonged •to us, because of our disobedience. There is none other Name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved, but His, and by Him all who believe are justified from all things. What need you more?"

" But, it seems to me," he answered, " very hard if not wicked, to turn aside from her. Do you not see what an influence she would have with her Son? Now, suppose I want a favor from you, and I go to your wife or mother and tell her of it, and she comes to you and says, Here is such an one, a good, clever fellow, trying to do the best he can, who wants this,' would you not give me for her sake, what you might be very far from giving for my own?"

Let me," I said, " state the matter in another way, more like the truth. Suppose that instead of being a good kind of a fellow, doing your best, you were altogether the worst, and had shown the greatest enmity to me, seeking my life, and this you were now active in,-that there was nothing but what was disgusting and vile and hopeless in you. And suppose that I had from very kindness been as heartily engaged in doing you good all your life, in ten thousand ways that you had not recognized, and at the risk of my life had procured for you the greatest blessing, a rich inheritance, and were to come to you, offering to you everything, treating as though it had never been, all your hatred, and not imputing your evil deeds, because I loved you and meant to make you my companion and take you into partnership in all that I did. Offering, did I say?—nay, beseeching you to receive it for nothing. This does not tell the matter.

God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' The answer of man to all God's goodness, was the death of His Son. But the answer of God to man's slaying His Son, is the exceeding riches of His grace,' abundantly, pardoning all your ways and thoughts, and fully offering all that Christ has and is instead of our asking. It is He pressing upon us everything -righteousness, peace, glory. This is His way of stating it. The only question is, will you receive a gift-the gift of eternal life?"

Here he had to turn away to his work, and I left him to meditate upon the wide difference between God’s thoughts and man's, and to rejoice, if he would, in the precious things of Christ, and the fullness of the offer of God.

Dear reader, if you are not saved, He makes the same offer to you. Is it not wonderful? Think, while man is doing his utmost against God, He is taking occasion to show out the infinite depths of His mercy. Is this the manner of men? And if you are saved, dear reader, you know that all this is true, and yet the half has not been told. May you drink more deeply the fullness of this love. T. P.

The Insensibility of Sin

How little estimate most people have of what sin is in God's sight! You will hear persons talk of being sinners in a general way, little thinking what a tremendous thing sin is before Him-how difficult it was to put it away! so difficult that none but God could put it away-and that only by the death of His Son! You will hear it said that an evil conception is not sin, unless it is carried into action. Mere natural conscience is shocked by an evil act; but men do not ask themselves why Christ had to die. why God gave a law to forbid the evil that was there in their hearts. Thus they do not believe that they are sinful and away from God. When man did go away from God-when God drove him out from the garden-He took care that man should carry a conscience with him. A terrible companion it is too, if it is violated; but still in reality a great mercy, because God works in it to bring him to a sense of his state. This is a mercy.

Paul was a blameless man in a natural conscience till that light shone down into his soul; then the enmity of his heart to God was expose& Yet the light that exposed his heart shone from the face of Him who had borne the judgment of God which was upon that heart.

You hear people say, too, that they expect to go to heaven; they take it for granted they will go; but they don't care about heaven at all. It is easy to say you expect to go, when in reality you don't care about Christ.

If I tell you a man has got an estate in Russia, you say: well I But if I were to say, you have one, see how anxious you will be to make your title and possession of it sure. Is there anything that marks the insensibility of souls more than the carelessness they evince about their state before God; or anything that shows how far they are from God, than the utter indifference they manifest to the things of heaven and Christ? Adam gave up all that God was to him for the sake of eating a fruit; and this is what sinners are doing every day. They are giving up God for the things of the world continually. A ribbon-an amusement, has more power over them than all God's beseeching love-than all the grace of Christ! Like the young man, with great possessions, they go "away sorrowful" when they hear of the reality of their state; but still they "go away." This brings, out the utter ruin of your heart-that there is not one atom of God there!

The Holy Ghost is pleading with sinners, " Be ye reconciled to God," and sinners don't care. But when God is revealed to my soul, I discover that there is sin there, which must, in itself, shut me out from God forever. But when I discover that, that. is the very thing for which He gave Himself-for which He bore the wrath and died; thus accomplishing for me, and revealing to my heart the unsought love of God! God has come in in mercy and dealt with the very sins and state which troubled me, in His own Son in righteousness, in order that He might be free to express His love-to deal with me in grace. He has dealt in holiness against my sin, and that before the day of judgment comes, so that I can say, I have peace with God.

How dreadful then, in the face of all this, to find the sinner going on in sin; with that for which Christ has been delivered-that which caused the death of the Son of God. Think of being the cause of Christ's death, and yet if I was, which is true, He died to put my sins away. Wonderful for a sinner to be able to say, "I believe that this blessed One did drink the cup of wrath and died; and that so surely as He drank it, He is at God's right hand, my Savior!" This is what brings the heart back to confidence in God-the very thing that Adam lost. What He wants you, sinners, to believe is His love. He spared not His Son! That Son gave Himself that you might be with Himself forever. This perfect grace takes guile out of the heart; there is no need for any concealment of your state-no need for guile. You can rest in Divine and perfect favor, and know God better than yourself; and the way you will know yourself best will be to look at God. Can you not then say: I believe unfeigned that He gave His Son for me; and I am at peace with God, and rejoicing in the hope of His glory. There I can boast in God joy in Him through our Lord Jesus. This gives full Christian character.

Oh, what a God we have to do with! One who commends His own love to us as sinners, and desires we should enjoy it, and be at peace with God. One who sheds His love abroad in our hearts by the Holy. Spirit given to us. It is peaceful joy to the heart to think of what He is to us-poor, lost, self-ruined sinners. Rising in the triumph of grace above our wretchedness. 'Tis thus the Holy Ghost ever reasons-downward from what God is in His goodness, to us who are in ourselves nothing but evil. Blessed for those who find in truth that the cross of Christ has answered to all His glory. Solemn the state of those who are satisfied to sit in darkness, and the unbelief and insensibility of sin. F. G. P.

Responsibility: Part 3, In the State of New Things

Our first parents, as we have seen, stood in Eden (the garden of God's delight); and were both of them naked and were not ashamed; now Satan enters, and "by one disobedience" the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked; and ashamed they retire among the trees of the garden (for they are no longer fit for God's delight) and immediately undertake to remedy the evil by sewing fig-leaves to cover their shame.

The new state of things is simply this, Adam has willed himself out of Eden, by willing himself into unfitness to remain in Eden, and can never will himself back again.

He has " become wise" to know good and evil. He knew good before. And now he knows evil also, and this has made him wise. He has attained knowledge, and knowledge puffeth up." He has gained a wisdom and knowledge which he can never lose. He has put himself into a state from which he can never recover himself. He cannot take back his lost innocence; he cannot put away his newly acquired knowledge, he cannot put away his sin, he is no longer fit for God's delight. " So He drove out the man." God had fitted him for blessing in His own presence; he has fitted himself for sorrow, misery and wrath, from which he can never recover himself, and what is more and still worse, it appears that he had no heart to recover himself, for when he found that his eyes had been opened by his act of disobedience, instead of turning to God, his only sure resource for help, he uses his newly acquired wisdom and knowledge to provide for himself in his new state.

This, then, is the new ground of his responsibility, not to recover what he had lost, for he had not power to do that,-and more, God had by "a flaming sword " made it forever impossible,-but to acknowledge God and take his place as a sinner, and thus abide his ruin until God should provide a better thing. Two things, then are here presented. For the man is a sinner, and his true resource is God; in the mercy of God; but since he has become wise he finds a resource in himself.

If God can have mercy, it is with respect to sin, and for a sinner He can provide a better thing, not restoration in Eden, for God never repairs a ruin which man has made, but always provides for Himself a better thing. And this he offers to the man as His own blessed remedy. Meanwhile God provides for the man in his new state, that which is a pledge and a type. of the future blessing. "Unto Adam also and to his wile did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them." Verse 21. It is very blessed to see, and to keep distinctly in mind this fundamental truth, that God alone was the man's resource in innocence, and is none the less so, but all the more, now that man is a sinner.

God was enough, enough, blessedly and forever more, for man in innocence; and is ENOUGH blessedly and forever more for man in sin and ruin. This is a truth everywhere acknowledged in theory, but alas! how sadly ignored in practice.

Man's responsibility in innocence, was, to maintain his place, in proper submission to the Divine will, and thus in absolute acknowledgment of his own dependence on God; and after he has lost that place of innocence, and has brought in an. entirely new state of sin, still God is his only' and absolute resource for blessing; and his responsibility now is, not to recover innocence, nor to recover Eden; but to take his place as a sinner in absolute dependence on God.

It was not a question of what man could do for himself as a sinner:•nor what he could do for God, not in the least; but it' was a question of acknowledging God who could have mercy with' -respect to sin, and do something for a sinner.' In a Word-, man's responsibility as a sinner was not to do for himself, neither' for God, for God had no need of anything from the hands of a sinner; but the sinner-had need of God to do 'something for him, and this is his responsibility, to wait on -God for it, in acknowledgment of his own place as a sinner, and God as the Giver,.

And: this is clear from the fact that no law was given to Adam out of Eden nor to man until twenty-five hundred years after, by Moses to Israel. But this- point will come up again, so we pass it now. Man's responsibility was to take and keep his place as a sinner before God and wait patiently on God for His word and His own appointed deliverance, and this was faith.

And this is very clearly set forth in the next chap., the 4th, in Cain and Abel. The first man "born of the flesh " was also born of " sinful flesh," and yet he does not take his place as such, nor acknowledge it at all.

He desires to acknowledge God; he brings an offering. But the sin-offering was not in it, and God could not ac. knowledge Cain. " Unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect." To reject the offering was to reject the one who offered it. By bringing an offering of the first fruit of the ground, he is willing to acknowledge God in His place, but refuses to identify himself in his own place, and this is clearly the ground on which he was rejected. Verse 7-"if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door," (a sin-offering croucheth at the door) i. e. a sin-offering such as Abel has brought is near at hand, and the way of acceptance is open to you also.

Here, surely, was mercy and forbearance on the part of God towards Cain, but he had no heart for it. There was forgiveness with God; and with Him plenteous redemption; but Cain wanted neither, he was willing to acknowledge God, but he did not want God. Cain may be very devotional, very pleasant in his address, very bland in the presentation of his offering; but it was all of the flesh, which cannot please God; and it was worse than' nothing for sin was there, which he refuses to acknowledge, and thus he insults God's holiness, by presenting the result of his own labor and the fruit of the ground which had been cursed. Thus, in a word, he in self-will presumes to please God with that which had first pleased himself. And this is the spirit of the world. Here is where the world began. 1st John 2:15-17. A willingness to acknowledge God, but an unwillingness to identify itself in its true place and character before God. But the opposite of this we get in Abel, the first man of faith mentioned in the Bible. (Heb. 11:4, Gen. 4:4.) Abel does not bring an offering with a view to please himself, but with a view to please God.

How full of preciousness, to turn away from that which pleases man, to that which pleases God. Hence he comes with the firstling of his flock; and in this we have, first the acknowledgment of God in His place,,(an offering)) second, the firstling of his flock (a sin offering), in this he takes his own place before God; and third, how shall he present it? By the shedding of blood; for " without shedding of blood there is no remission." "And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect."

Dear reader, do you see the difference between Cain's presumption and Abel's faith? Cain's position was one of self-will, self-righteousness, and lawlessness. Abel's. position is exactly the opposite; no confidence in himself or the flesh, no setting up of his own will or preference, no thought of pleasing himself, but as a simmer under judgment he takes his place; he bows before God in complete acknowledgment of what was due to God's holiness, while he takes that which belongs to himself as a sinner; and this is the place of blessing. Here is where he finds God's heart, and how soon is he ushered into the presence of the One whose heart had found so supreme a satisfaction in the faith which had so fully honored Himself. Abel's offering proved Abel's faith. Cain's offering proved his unbelief, and his murder brought out his lawlessness: From this point we see the two things very clearly set forth in the word of God. First, lawlessness, as exemplified in Cain, which is' the spirit of "this present evil -world" and of Satan as the god of this world, for twenty-five hundred years, until the law. Second, faith as exemplified in Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and others.

C. E. H.

The Salvation of the Lord

" And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you to-day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."-Ex. 14:13,14.

Here is the first attitude which faith takes in the presence of a trial. " Stand still." This is impossible to flesh and blood. All who know, in any measure, the restlessness of the human heart, under anticipated trial and difficulty, will be able to form some conception of what is involved in standing still. Nature must be doing something.

It will rush hither and thither. It would fain have some hand in the matter. And although it may attempt to justify and sanctify its worthless doings, by bestowing upon them the imposing and popular title of "a legitimate use of means," yet are they the plain and positive fruits of unbelief which always shuts out God, and sees naught save the dark cloud of its own creation. Unbelief creates or magnifies difficulties, and then sets us about removing them by our own bustling and fruitless activities, which, in reality, do but raise a dust around us, which prevents our seeing God's salvation.

Faith, on the contrary, raises the soul above the difficulty, straight to God Himself, and enables one to " stand still." We gain nothing by our restlessness and anxious efforts. "We cannot make one hair white or black," nor "add one cubit to our stature." What could Israel do at the Red Sea? Could they dry it up? Could they level the mountains? Could they annihilate the hosts of Egypt? Impossible. There they were, enclosed within an impenetrable wall of difficulties, in view of which nature could but tremble and feel its own perfect impotency. But this was just the time for God to act. When unbelief is driven from the scene, then God can enter; and, in order to get a proper view of His actings, we must " stand still." Every movement of nature is, so far as it goes, a positive hindrance to our perception and enjoyment of divine interference on our behalf.

This is true of us in every single stage of our history. it is true of us as sinners when, under the uneasy sense of sin upon the conscience, we are tempted to resort to our own doings, in order to obtain relief. Then, truly, we must " stand still" in order to " see the salvation of God." For what could we do in the matter of making, an atonement for sin? Could we have stood with the Son of God upon the cross? Could we have accompanied Him down into the " horrible pit and the miry clay?" Could we have forced our passage upward to that eternal rock on which, in resurrection, He has taken His stand? Every right mind will at once pronounce the thought to be a daring blasphemy. God is alone in redemption; and as for us, we have but to " stand still and see the salvation of God." The very fact of its being God's salvation proves that man has naught to do in it.

The same is true of us from the moment we have entered upon our christian career. In every fresh difficulty, be it great or small, our wisdom is to stand still-to cease from our own works, and find our sweet repose in God's salvation. Nor can we make any distinction as to difficulties. We cannot say that there are some trifling difficulties which we ourselves can compass; while there are ethers in which naught save the hand of God can avail. No, all are alike beyond us. We are as little able to change the color of a hair as to remove a mountain-to form a blade of grass as to create a world. All are alike, to us, and all are alike to God. We have only, therefore, in confiding faith, to cast ourselves on Him who " humbleth Himself (alike) to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth." We sometimes find ourselves carried triumphantly through the heaviest trials, while at other times, we quail, falter, and break down under the most ordinary dispensations. Why is this? Because, in the former, we are constrained to roll our burden over on the Lord; whereas, in the latter, we foolishly attempt to carry it ourselves. The christian is, in himself, if he only realized it, like an exhausted receiver, in which a guinea and a feather have equal momenta.

" The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." Precious assurance! How eminently calculated to tranquilize the spirit in view of the most appalling difficulties and dangers! The Lord not only places Himself between us and our sins, but also between us and our circumstances. By doing the former, He gives us peace of conscience; by doing the latter, He gives us peace of heart. That the two things are perfectly distinct, every experienced christian knows. Very many have peace of conscience, who have not peace of heart. They have, through grace and by faith, found Christ, in the divine efficacy of His blood, between them and all their sins; but they are not able, in the same simple way, to realize Him as standing, in His divine wisdom, love, and power, between them and their circumstances. This makes a material difference in the practical condition of the soul, as well as in the character of one's testimony. Nothing tends more to glorify the name of Jesus than that. quiet repose of spirit which results from having Him between us and everything that could be a matter of anxiety to our hearts. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."

But some feel disposed to ask the question, "Are we not to do anything?" This may be answered by asking another, namely, what can we do? All who really know themselves must answer, nothing. If, therefore, we can do nothing, had we not better "stand still?" If the Lord is acting for us, had we not better stand back?, Shall we run before Him? Shall we busily intrude ourselves upon His sphere of action? Shall we come in His way? There can be no possible use in two acting when one is so perfectly competent to do all. No one would think of bringing a lighted candle to add brightness to the sun at mid-day; and yet the man who would do so might well be accounted wise, in comparison with hint who attempts to assist God by his bustling officiousness.

There is peculiar force and beauty in the expressions " See the salvation of God." The very fact of our being called to "see" God's salvation, proves that the salvation is a complete one. It teaches that salvation is a thing wrought out and revealed by God, to be seen and enjoyed by us. It is not a thing made up partly of Gads doing, and partly of man's. Were it so, it could not be called God's salvation. In order to be His, it must be wholly divested of everything pertaining to man. The only possible- effect of human efforts is to raise a dust which obscures the view of God's salvation. C. H. M.

Titus 2:12. We should live soberly, as to ourselves; righteously, as to those about us; godly, in His sight, and all this in the present world where we find ourselves, once sinners but now brought to God, " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ."

Self-Deception and Hypocrisy

There is a wide difference between a self-deceiver and a hypocrite. The one may be honest,-the other cannot be, for hypocrisy is the essence of dishonesty. A hypocrite is one who seeks to deceive his neighbor,-a self-deceiver is one who, in all good faith it may be, builds on a foundation, which, though it may perfectly satisfy himself, is nevertheless faulty and truthless in the estimation of God. He deceives himself. He may be, then, thoroughly honest and sincere in his motives and ideas, may seek to defraud no one, and may preserve a conscience that by no means upbraids him.

He walks in the light of his own sincerity, but fails to come beneath the power of the truth. His conscience and not the revelation of the mind of God,-his ideas of right and wrong, and not the divine standard, form the ground of his confidence and therefore the cause of his self-deception. He deceives himself because he refuses to yield to the conviction of the truth when brought to bear upon him-thus he holds honestly and sincerely what he considers the truth, yet disallows the authority over his conscience of revelation. He is a self-deceiver. No true believer deceives himself,-and yet how frequently we hear such an one saying, " May I not be deceiving myself?"

Never does faith enter a soul, without that soul having to pass through spiritual exercises 'both in reference to God, His word, His ways, &c., and also as to its own sincerity,-and in these exercises unbelief may intrude and the soul be led to question whether it be not mere feeling pr imagination or self-deception, after all, and not real divine or effectual work.

Now a believer is one who is, at least, ready to submit himself and his ways to the word of God. He is willing to stand or fall by its ultimatum-to abide by its decision. Like one of old, he exclaims, " Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there he any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." That word has spoken to him, has commanded him, has made itself a final appeal to him. By it he, when a sinner, was measured and proved deficient, weighed and found wanting. And not only so, but in it he has now discovered an answer to his case, a remedy for his disease. If it has wounded it has likewise told of healing, if it has unmasked sin it has also unveiled Christ. Hence he clings to it, it is precious to him. Its every word is of infinite value to him, as the chart to the tempest-tossed mariner. His motives, his ideas, his feelings, his imagination, and his conscience also, are all viewed as untrustworthy. From them he turns to it,-but in so doing gives testimony to the reality of the work in his soul-just as when Peter, finding himself sinking beneath the wave, cried, "Lord save me or I perish," gave evidence of his confidence in the Lord rather than in himself as able to swim back to the ship. So faith ever distrusts self, and never distrusts God.

But not so with the self-deceiver. God is his last resource, and the word of God his last though not final appeal. God is not in his reckonings, or if so, but in name.

Different again is it with the hypocrite. He assumes the name and word of God unblushingly, but does so only to practice deception on those around him. Yet he cannot deceive God! How changed is each aspect when God is brought in! He is for the trembling, doubting believer, seeking to gain his fullest confidence, and thus to elicit his child-like praise; but He is against the hypocrite, and waits the day when all falsehood, all guile, all treachery, shall be shown up and punished. J. W. S.

Alone!

" Jesus said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile."-Mark 6:31.

This, this is rest, Lord Jesus,

Alone with Thyself to be,

The desert is a gladsome place,

With Thy blest company.

Oh! sweet to hear Thy tender voice,

Bidding me " come apart,"

Such rest for throbbing, aching mind—

Quiet for weary heart.

Yes, this is rest, Lord Jesus,

Alone with Thee to be,

And when I sigh for fellowship,

To find it all in Thee.

Thy saints on earth-how dear they are,

Their love is passing sweet,

But I would leave them all to sit

Alone at Thy dear feet.

Such precious rest, Lord Jesus,

Alone with Thee to be,

Thy secret words of love to hear;

Thy look of love to see.

To feel my hand held fast by Thine—

To know Thee always near,

A happy child alone with Thee,

My heart can nothing fear.

This, this is rest, Lord Jesus,

Alone with Thee to be,

The desert is a happy spot,

With Thy blest company.

Amid the throng I might forget

That I am all Thine own,

I bless Thee for the " desert place:"

With Thee, my Lord, alone.

Philippians 3

DEAR BROTHER,-

I follow up a previous paper by sending you some remarks on the third chapter of Philippians.

Salvation, in this epistle, is looked at as before the Christian; not as an uncertainty, but as a thing not yet attained. It is the actual possession of glory, the new estate of man, in actual glory, in Christ ascended on high, which alone is in view. Christ has laid hold of the believer for it, but be is looking to lay hold on it. Christ seen in that glory, and the apostle had so seen Him, in fact, is everything. Being thus found in Him is what Paul looks for, for righteousness, as all else, in that day. When he gets actually before God, laying aside everything Jewish that might exalt him, everything human, his only thought is to be found in Christ.

This puts the new estate of man in a very striking position. The whole christian estate is looked at as future, because in resurrection; it being actually attained, being the whole matter in hand. Hence justification, righteousness itself, is seen as actual acceptance in Christ, when we arrive before God. We come before God in Christ. The apostle unequivocally looks for a resurrection-state and glory. Till he has that he has never attained, is not yet perfect. The present state of man, even supposing he has been quickened of God, is his state as born of the first Adam; not simply because of sin, for the apostle supposes here the Christian to be walking above it, always walking in the Spirit, making progress towards glory, but in no way occupied with sin. But he sees the christian needing to be brought into this new state, identified with Christ in glory.

If he had the whole righteousness which the flesh or the first Adam was capable of, and of which the law was the rule, this was only the first man, not the second; he would not have it. It was not Christ. God's righteousness by faith.

He had seen Christ the second Man, the last Adam, accepted in glory. He had been laid hold of to be conformed to this, this wholly new state and condition of man according to God's righteousness. It had displaced all else in his mind, He could be content with nothing else, nor less. The two were incompatible; and he could not have the old man's place, even if it were righteous, and the new man's too. He counts all these things which honored and accredited the first man, the self, Paul, as loss and dung. The risen glorified Man is before us. It is not, however, here considered as that which has justified us; that inasmuch as we have died with Christ, who made atonement for us, and that we are risen with Him according to the value of that work, in virtue of which, as of His person, He is risen, we are justified, and our acceptance witnessed before God. It is not with this view of judicial acceptance the resurrection is viewed here; but as a new state, into which, in its full result, we are to enter, including of course divine righteousness, but the whole new state of glory. This puts the new estate into which christianity brings us in a very strong light.

The old man, the whole old estate, is done with in the apostle's mind, righteousness and all; and his mind is fixed on the new, that is, on Christ Himself; but this as involving his own place in glory, in having part hereafter, in " the resurrection from among the dead" as Christ was: " That I may win Christ." "If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from among the dead." (Εξαναστασιν)

This leads us directly to the great principle of the chapter: the earnest undistracted following after this glory, after Christ Himself, and heeding nothing else, counting all as worthless for its attainment. The former chapter, we have seen, presented Christ in His humiliation, leading the heart to a like manifestation of graciousness in our path and ways with others here below. This gives that energy of spiritual pursuit, from the second glorified man being set before our eyes, which sets us above the world and every motive in it, and everything which added importance to the old self, so as to give its just and heart enlarging object to the new man, and make us heavenly-minded, and withal undistracted in our Christian course.

It is one of the beauties of christianity, that it gives, through our perfect reconciliation in Christ, the pure peacefulness of affections perfectly happy in an existing relationship, and with it the highest object of hope, which urges to increasing activity. These are the two forming elements of human nature for good; both, in the highest, in a divine way, are found in Christ.

But to pursue our chapter, which takes up the latter of these principles.

We have the fullest element of satisfying glory for ourselves, the prize of our calling above, the resurrection front among the dead; yet all selfishness is taken out of it. What clothed self with honor is, as we have seen, all loss. It helped to set up the old man., The Christian's object is Christ, which implies getting rid of the first altogether. It exalts man, but not self. When modern 'infidelity would exalt man, it simply exalts self. Christianity exalts man, even to heavenly glory and divine excellency, but it sets aside self wholly. "What was gain to me.," says the apostle, "I counted loss for Christ." Learning is gain for self. To be English, French, &c.; to have mine' own righteousness as a reputation in the world, or a title with God, is self. I am what others are not. The 'world wants these motives-of Course it does. It has no other. Energy is produced by-them, but there is no moral advance. Self remains the spring, the center, of human activity.

" Self-love (we hear) but serves the virtuous mind to wake, As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake."

A larger circle may be produced round self, but self remains the center still. We can see this even in religious things. " Master, that thou shouldest give us to sit one on Thy right hand and another on Thy left hand, in Thy kingdom." This was self; a good place which others would not have. None of this is found here. " That I may win Christ," the highest blessing, the blessedest affections, but all transferring the heart from self to Christ.

But see further. It transferred the affections, to what in itself was supremely excellent, to an object which was the adequate object of delight to God the Father. God has given to us to delight in what He finds His sufficient object of delight in, too. What a tale this tells of our true reconciliation to God! Not merely judicial reconciliation to God, which was needed, but of the elevation of our moral nature to the measure of divine delights and fellowship with Him, though, of course, ever recipient, and glad to be so from love. He ever the divine giver: but in Christ the one object of delight. In the creature, though there may be a suited nature, as evidently there must, yet the moral state of the soul is formed and characterized by its objects. Here we are made partakers of the divine nature and have divine objects. But this is not now in rest. That will be an heavenly state. We are living in the midst of a world by which Satan seeks to seduce us by acting on the old man. -While there is thankfulness and courage, because Christ has laid hold on us, yet Christ before us in hope leads out the affections in energy; and while it has begun by delivering us from selfish recurrence to our own importance, leads us now on in superiority to worldly objects by the absorbing attraction of Christ. We are kept humble by the consciousness that we have not attained; energetic in sanctified affections, because we have Christ to attain. Delivered from the world by the absorbing power of a divine object acting on the new man. This gives singleness of purpose, and thus undistracted power, while the judgment is formed solely on the way things bear on Christ. Everything is thus estimated in the highest way by a perfect criterion, and that in the affections, though indeed in moral things, true judgment cannot exist without this.

Further, though it be in no way the chief or highest element, there is, when the world does come before us, the power of contrast. For all this, surely the action of the Holy Ghost is needed; but I speak of the way it operates, not of its gracious source. This gives, moreover, superiority to difficulties. This is the force of " by any means" -not a doubt, but whatever it may cost, Whatever road I may have to take, so as I attain, I am content; yea, I can rejoice in suffering and death-I shall be so much the more like the Christ I am desirous of attaining. Note here, he seeks the power of resurrection first; that, knowing the divine energy of this new life, which takes him in spirit out of the present one, the sufferings or death of the first, as the fruit of devotedness to Christ, were only-conformity to Him. And thus, even if it were by such means as death itself, he should attain to the glory of the new state into which Christ had risen. (Not new indeed to Him personally, but to man, to the human nature, which in grace He had taken and carried back With Him into glory.) This gave its full, character to his walk as to its daily energy. Having this state of resurrection from among the dead in view, he never could count himself to have attained in this life, nor to be perfect; for him to be perfect was to be like Christ in glory. He followed after, that he might attain and apprehend that (lay hold upon and possess it) for which Christ had apprehended him. Two things ensued; he followed nothing else, had no other object.

But this was not all. He did follow this earnestly and undividedly. It was not merely that he disapproved of certain things and was inert, but the absorbing power of one had delivered him from all else. But this, while it took his heart off the others, fixed it on this. But this object on which his mind was fixed was always before him, not attained; every day brighter to his spirit, but not possessed. This kept him looking straight forward, and never occupied with the ground he had passed over. He forgot the things which were behind, and reached for ward to those things which were before, pressing towards those things which were before. The man who would stop to contemplate the ground gone over in a race, would not get on in it, would soon he passed in it. Self would come in; the manna would breed worms; the heart be off its object.

This gives another marked effect of this energy of the single eye. It looks exclusively at what is heavenly. Its calling is on high, its hopes and thoughts fixed on that; not looking, says the apostle, on what is seen, but on what is not seen. This gives a heavenly temperament and habit to the whole man. His conversation is in heaven; his relationships of life are all up there. There is thankfulness and elevation in this. It is c (ανω), and in Christ Jesus. The heart is intelligent as to its source and way. I do not dwell on what the apostle puts in contrast. Minding earthly things, men are fixed on what can cause no progress, on what takes them off from what is heavenly, what is pure and divine. But it goes further; they are enemies of the cross. The cross was death to this world. It marked the place of what was divine and heavenly in this world. The saint glories in dying to the world. He who lives in it, in spirit, is the enemy of that. The end is destruction.

One thing remains, to carry out this hope of the Christian to completion-Christ's coming. We have these hopes, "this treasure in earthen vessels." Christ shall come and change the body of our humiliation and fashion it like to His glorious body. Then what, we have had in hope, in desire, forming our souls after it, will be actually accomplished in glory. We shall be like Christ and with Him.

Such is the character of energy which delivers from, and gives the victory over, all that is in the world, setting our affections on things above, not on things on the earth, making Christ Himself, as He is on high, the bright and blessed object of our souls.

Yours in the Lord, J. N. D.

Answers to Correspondents: Died for All Mankind; Men's Heart Good; Conditional Salvation;

Q.-" Did Christ die to save all mankind, and predicate their salvation individually on their repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ?"

A.-The testimony of Scripture is very plain on this point. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." The love of God, and the cross which is the proof of this love, looks towards the whole world, and all being sinners, excludes none- from the benefits it offers. This is God's side, so to speak. Man's side comes in on the ground of his responsibility to acknowledge his need and believe in what the love of God sets before him as the means of his salvation. Nothing can be simpler than the way in which these two points are put together in the commission to preach the gospel, in Mark. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." This is God's side, and then we have man's side put thus, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." But perhaps the most direct statement as to these points is in 1st Tim. II. The desire of God for the salvation of all men, and the aspect of the cross of Christ with reference to all men, could riot in words be more directly stated, " who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for ail, to be testified in due time." Then salvation comes individually through faith in the testimony rendered. " We are saved by faith." A great many other scriptures might be brought forward in support of these two truths, but these will suffice for any mind willing to be subject to the word of God.

Q.-" Is the heart of men so good that he can of himself exercise that repentance which is unto life, and that faith which brings the pardon of sins and a standing before God in holiness and righteousness?"

A.-God's word says that the heart of man " is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." This does not mean the heart of some men, but of all men, as speaking of the race. The Lord says, " There is none good but God," and that " it is the Spirit that quickened'; the flesh profiteth nothing." The nature of man in the flesh has nothing in it for God. This is what the Lord means to teach, and that it is alone by the direct action of the Spirit, as using His word, that the slightest movement of the soul towards God is produced. Faith, too, is the gift of God to a quickened soul, and repentance is the fruit of faith. A dead sinner has no faith, and cannot of himself repent, and though " repentance and remission of sins" is to be preached in Christ's name, still we read in Acts 5 that He is exalted as a Prince and a Savior, " to give repentance" as much as to give "forgiveness of sins." Grace alone produces anything in the heart of man for God. Without the grace that quickens, and bestows faith, man is simply "dead in trespasses and sins."

Q.-"Can any be saved by a conditional salvation? We are taught generally that if one works hard enough he will get salvation, and when he has attained it, he has to work hard to keep it, is this so?"

A.-Salvation is the pure grace of God to man, and has no condition attached save faith. It is "to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness." Man's salvation in no way depends upon himself; whether before or after conversion. As a question of man, and what he can see, who can't see faith, James asks the question, "Can faith save him?" But this plainly is no question of anything God-ward. " Show me," he says, "thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works." For men to see we are saved we must show them our works, with God all is faith, as simply resting on His word for everything. The Lord says, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." All here depends on what Christ does. He has given His sheep eternal life, and wrought the work that saves them. He says " they shall never perish." If Christ were to let go His sheep all were over, but He says, "none shall pluck them out of My hand." Hence we no more keep ourselves afterward, than we save ourselves at the beginning.

Commuted or Pardoned

I had offered several times to visit a prisoner who had been convicted in the U. S. court, of murder, and who was sentenced to be executed in a few weeks. But from the fact that he had been unjustly dealt with by the judge, he almost savagely refused to see any elm, and stolidly gave up to die, wishing only to be left alone. One morning, however, a despatch was received that the President had pardoned him.. Filled with joy on his account, for there were many grave doubts of his guilt, I hastened to take the news to one who had been particularly active in procuring a petition for a commutation of his sentence to imprisonment for life, hoping that if he did well in prison, in few years he would be released. Here was the announcement of something better than we had looked for. Yet it was only one little paragraph among the telegraphic dispatches to the Associated Press, and not an official document, duly signed and sealed. Might it not be a mistake? We felt sure of one thing, Hath he had been distinguished by some act of mercy, and so hastened to see him. We told him all we had heard and felt, fearing the effect of disappointment, in ease it should be found to be imprisonment for life. As we spoke, it was interesting to notice the struggle going on within him, as betrayed by his countenance. One moment joy covered his face as a halo, and he seemed to be another man; then came the anxious fear of doubt. Dare he be really happy? What difference the two words, pardoned and commuted, would make to him The one meant a new creature, a new life. It would be like a resurrection, for he was as good as dead, with only two weeks, and then the scaffold! In it, were joy and peace, and the fullness of hope. The other kept him under condemnation still. It was only an indefinite reprieve, a dreary, ignominious, aimless living, and in the end, a death of shame; or at best, the uncertain hope that sometime, far away, at last, he might be saved. Receiving the one, he could boldly say, " Who is he that condemneth?" Under the other, be would be all his lifetime subject to bondage. The former was grace, the latter law. We left him hoping that he was saved, but not able to say, "I know."

And this, it seems to me, illustrates the condition of many in regard to their eternal salvation. They are not confident, they only trust they- may be saved, and how ardently do they pray to be saved "at last." Thus many of those who confess the name of Christ, are kept in fear and doubt, by an uncertainty in regard to the message delivered to them. How can such be happy, or have peace of. mind, and what kind of testimony can they give to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? God has made clear and repeated declarations of the ground on which He confers pardon, that the iniquity of which we are guilty. and for which we are condemned, is laid on Jesus. "He hath made Him sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him," " He was wounded for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him," that "He died according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again according to the scriptures." "He rose again for our justification," and "by Him all who believe are justified from all things." " Unto you therefore is preached the forgiveness of sins." This poor prisoner had no such warrant as this, for believing he was pardoned. We that spoke to him, dare not give him such assurance. There were special grounds for doubt, for whatever was done, might have resulted from political reasons, or if he were pardoned it would be upon the thought that the man might possibly be innocent, and how could we know that such had been the thought of the executive? But in the word of God, we learn that God has found the sin laid on another; the punishment has been executed! He. has raised Jesus from the dead, and there is the proof forever, that He is just in pardoning; and the soul is warranted in entering into rest. It is not honoring God to doubt. It is discrediting His word, for He assures us He does not desire our death, He has all He wants in Jesus. Our fear is not humility, but presumption, for it is denying the virtue of Christ's work. Such a feeling is bondage. There is an anxiety yet, and a looking within one's self for something, some work of the Spirit it may be, that shall help, or make one feel more worthy of forgiveness.

Do not those who teach the word, fail oftentimes, to give the "sure" testimony? A lady over ninety years of age, who had long felt her need of salvation, came to one who knew the grace of God, asking him what she should do, for she felt her time was short. "Why, madam," said he, "Christ has done all for God, and for you." "Alt," she replied, "they never told me that," and accepting the truth, she at once received peace. "These things are written that ye may know ye have eternal life," and as those who believe in the Son of God, it is our blessed privilege to say, "we have known and believed the love that God hath to us."

But some may say this case of the prisoner was an individual one, and if a pardon came, he would be assured of it, for his name would be specially mentioned. How can 1 know the assurances of God are for me personally? Well, this same President among the early acts of his administration, issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon to certain rebels, excluding certain classes, and in-chiding all others. Now how should any one of the included class know he was released? Would it not have been sheer folly and infidelity not to have gone forth free as a citizen, fearless of judgment or arrest? And why, but because he belonged to that class, though himself not named. Even so our gracious Lord has named the classes to whom forgiveness is offered on grounds forever settled, and infinitely glorifying to Himself. These classes are "sinners," " the ungodly," those "without strength," those that "labor, and are heavy laden," and " whosoever will." Are you included? Then take the peace He has made, and rejoice that by His grace He has of a rebel made a son God is satisfied with Christ, Christ is satisfied with His own work; are you? T. P.

The Kindness of God

In the dealings of David with Mephibosheth, the only remaining descendant of the house of Saul, we have a most simple and instructive picture of the dealings of God in grace with a sinner. That this touching history also foreshadows, in a special manner, the future dealings of Christ with the remnant of Israel, we quite believe, but with this dispensational aspect of the matter, however deeply interesting and valuable, we shall not now concern ourselves, as our desire is simply to set our reader's soul in the light of the present activities of God's grace in bringing lost sinners to Himself.

David has it in his heart to show "the kindness of God" to one who had no claim whatever on him. To one who indeed, in himself, as linked with the house of Saul, was his enemy, and entitled only to judgment. The spring of goodness is in David's own heart, and it is for the sake of another-of Jonathan, that he seeks this lost one of the house of Saul that he may show him kindness, a kindness not according to human patterns, but divine.

We read of no appeal for mercy or consideration having been sent to David by Mephibosheth that thus stirred David's heart to think of such an one. What kindness could he rightfully expect at the hands of him whom his father's house " had hunted as a partridge on the mountains?" What love could Mephibosheth feel for David whom he regarded as his greatest enemy? Hating him in his own heart, and dreading him as the one now in power as God's anointed king over Israel, he could only hide himself as far as he could from David's presence in Lo-debar, the place of no pasture, as its name reveals. He was a lost and ruined man in Israel, and his circumstances but answered to his personal estate.

It is while in this state, and hidden away in Lo-debar, that David's message of kindness reaches him. A message calculated to gladden his poor, hopeless heart, and one that might well have brought him in quick haste to David's presence, but which for the moment only brought out one more feature of his wretchedness. If the revelation of David's love had touched his heart, and changed his own feelings, so that he could now desire the presence of the one, whom up to now, he had diligently sought to hide from, it did but make him the more fee his misery, for how could one "lame of both feet" do even • the gracious bidding of the one whose clemency he now trusted in.

But David's love had thought of this, and With the revelation of his kind intentions concerning him, he had t' sent the power to bring him to himself concerning read, and "king David sent and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar." On the side of Mephibosheth all was wretchedness and helplessness. On the side of David all was goodness and power, in the sovereign exercise of which he brings Mephibosheth to himself.

How strikingly in all this is the condition of the sinner, and God's ways of dealing with him while in this condition sit before the mind. By nature, as well as by practice, man is simply a lost sinner. He has in his natural condition no link with God save that which entitles him to judgment. "It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment." His conscience tells him this, and he hates and fears God in consequence. The natural mind "is enmity against God," how then can he seek God and desire to be with Him. He never does, but hides himself away in the world as far as he can from God. A place which as to his soul is Lo-debar, and painfully significant of the real absence there of all pasture for man, in all that pertains to God and eternity.

And not only is man a " sinner " and "ungodly," but he is "without strength" and utterly unable to ameliorate his condition, or find his way back to God, even when he may have discovered the need of His mercy. "He is lame of both feet," and can only perish if left to himself. Man's side, like that of Mephibosheth's, has not one ray of hope in it. It is simply one of wretchedness and helplessness. But if on the side of man there be only sin, enmity, ruin and no strength, on the side of God there is love, kindness, mercy and power that can bring him out of that state. H man hide himself away from God in Lo-debar, God can see him there in his misery; He can love him, and He can devise methods to bring him to Himself. Yes, He can send His own Son to seek and save the lost, and by virtue of the atoning death of that Son, He can righteously show man His kindness, and bring him to Himself, far removed from all the misery in which His grace finds him.

"Grace reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," for " Christ has died the just for the unjust to bring us to God," and "God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." The Christ who has died for man's offenses has been raised from the dead for his justification, and without his sins, because left behind at the cross of Christ, God brings man to Himself in a risen Christ in righteousness and peace.

In this way has God "sent and fetched'.' the helpless sinner to Himself out of Lo-debar. Love and power in God thus combine to bless, and the sinner has nothing whatever to do with it, save to leave himself, by simple faith, in the hands of divine love and be "fetched."

All this is the work of God for man, in which he has no part but is simply passive, like. Mephibosheth was when 4' lame of both feet" in the hands of those whom David sent to fetch him.

But the power that works for the sinner in this sovereign way, also works in the sinner, and the effect of this grace upon the heart and conscience produces repentance, and-all those godly feelings that accompany true conversion. All this we find in Mephibosheth. He falls on "his face before David" and "does him reverence." David's way of dealing with him, while taking all fear from his heart, completely humbles him, and all he can say, in the presence of such kindness is, " What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am"

This is just how the saved soul feels in the presence of God's grace. Like the prodigal felt when he found his father on his neck kissing him,-completely unworthy, but very happy.

But not only did the kindness of David bring Mephibosheth out of a state of misery and want into one of happiness and abundance, but David's heart could only be satisfied by having him eating at his own table. He not only blesses Mephibosheth but he must have him with himself as a companion. So God in His love not only saves a sinner from the consequences of his sins, and brings him into happiness with eternal life, and an eternal inheritance, but He makes him His child, and seats him at His own table, to delight in what delights Himself.

The enjoyment of all this grace is our present position, as believers in His Son, and leaves us nothing to do but to proclaim that " the kindness and love of God our Savior towards man has appeared; not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us, by the-washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That, being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life;" and " that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus."

" The kindness of God-" towards us is the exercise of a Sovereign love that satisfies itself in what it does for its Object. "Let us—eat and be merry," says the Father, "For this my son was dead, aid is alive again; He was lost, and is found. And-they began to be merry."

Lawlessness or Faith, Which?

Gen. 4:3. "Arid in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord."

4. "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his-offering."

"But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell."

Heb. 11:4. " By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh."

The question of lawlessness and faith, as exemplified in Cain and Abel, and presented in these scriptures before us, has very much occupied my thoughts at times, for the past three years.

And I desire to press home upon the heart and con-Science of every reader of these lines, the essential difference between these two things. And for this reason. That much that is called faith is simple lawlessness. Let us then dear reader for a few moments look carefully at the two things as now before us.

Lawlessness may be very devotional, very religious, yea, very zealous in religious works; even more zealous, and more religious, in what the world will acknowledge; than faith, and yet be lawlessness still. It is not the profession nor the outward expression that settles the question, but first of all, what is in the heart. Cain had all the outward expression, and who could have judged what was in his heart, but God; until it had its fullest expression in the murder of Abel. So far as zeal and devotedness is an expression, Cain 'excelled; he brought that which had cost him many a day of sweat and toil, and he was ahead of his brother in all this. He believed in God surely, or he would not have attempted- to bring an offering.

He recognized obligation, responsibility, and it may be dependence. Yea, he recognized a first place which belonged to God; for he brought of the " first fruit " and he was not slack nor indifferent in regard to all these things, the acknowledgment of God as Sovereign, Creator, and Upholder of all things; and but for what the Holy Ghost has been pleased to tell us since, we should have been at a loss to understand the real point of difference. But when the Holy Ghost in Heb. 11:4, tell us, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,-the key is dropped which unlocks the whole subject.

It was not Abel's offering, which made his faith of the right kind, but it was his faith being right which expressed itself in an acceptable offering. Mark this dear reader, the right kind of faith will hare the right kind of expression, while a wrong kind of faith will have a wrong expression. It was not Cain's offering which spoiled his faith, but it was his faith which spoiled his offering. God could receive nothing at the hand of Cain, nor aught of his service, until he had taken a sinner's place. The sinoffering must proceed everything, when a sinner is in question. And the faith which ignores this can never be right in anything, that is, to say, Cain's honest sincerity, zeal, devotion, promptness, truthfulness, yea and religiousness could not avail anything while this one point was left out. With this as the 'starting point-like Abel-the heart of God is reached, and grace flows out. Like the almost bursting rock of Meribah it needs but the touch of faith with the hand in which is the sin-offering, obedient to the word of God, and the fountain of His love gushes forth. How refreshing is this thought.

Dear reader, Do you know this? Does your heart respond to it? And does your faith first of all bring you into God's presence with a sin offering, and does it give you a heart for God's way more than for your own, or man's way? With Abel's offering Abel could not be rejected. "And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out " said Jesus, and He is our sin-offering. In His name whosoever cometh to God by Him cannot be rejected, but is received in all the completeness of Christ's own acceptance with the Father. John 17:23,-"And hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me."

God's way was as clear and plain before Cain as before Abel. Why not? And yet he does not come in the same way that Abel does. And why? Let us suppose. He might have said in his heart (as many do now-a-days) I believe man is a free moral agent. God has given me a will, and reason by which to govern it, and I am to choose for myself. This is where my responsibility lies. To choose the right thing, is to honor the God given reason which I have, and how am I to know what is right, unless I use my own judgment? Now I don't believe as my brother Abel does. He is altogether too stiff (Calvinistic) for me. It does not stand to reason that God can be honored in taking the life of an innocent Lamb. My whole being revolts against such a way of worship, and such faith's doctrine. I can suit myself better, far better, as to doctrines, and in a way to worship. I am not going to pin my faith on any man's sleeve. [ And Satan standing-by, says: "You are right. You are my first-born son, I will risk the world in your hands."] And Cain gathers his first fruits, for he is going to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.

But Hark! While I whisper it! Where is God? O, where is He? His face is hid; His ha& is turned; there is much than for Satan; but nothing for God. O, how terrible! This is lawlessness. Dear reader, where are you?

Cain's way, was not God's way. Neither could God accept what Cain had planned in his own deceitful heart. Cain's wisdom was not sufficient to invent a system, first to please himself, and then to please God. And Cain proved, what the Holy Ghost declares, 1 Cor. 3:19, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." For it is written, " He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." And again, " The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain."

God had given doctrine, and a way to worship, and it was not a question of choice, opinion nor conscience for Cain to settle, but simply, What is God's way. Faith knows nothing else. Faith settles first of all, What is God's way, God's choice, God's will. This settled first, and then everything else weighed in these balances. This is what it is, to "walk in the light as He is in the light," and then, "we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

Dear reader, may your heart and conscience take the place of faith henceforth. C. E. H.

I Am One of the Whosoevers

" And who are they?" asks my reader.

If some one said to us "I am one of the white men," or "I am one of the black," we should at once understand that the speaker belonged to the white or to the black race. So again, if some one said "I am one of the rich," or "one of the poor," we should know that he was either rich or' poor.

Or yet again, if some said." I am one of the good," or "one of the bad," we should suppose that he was either good or bad.

But who can these "whosoevers" be? Are they white or black, rich or poor, good or bad? To what nation do they belong-what language do they speak-what dress do they wear?

Well, strange to say, they do not belong to any particular country-nor do they all speak the same language-nor do they all dress alike. And yet though they are all outwardly different, there is one thing that marks them all-they are all the children of God.

And I will tell you how!

Do you remember a verse in the first chapter of John, speaking of the Lord Jesus it says, " He came unto His own and His own received Him not." Who were "His own" who would not receive Him? The Jews-for they were His special people-His chosen nation. And when He came to them as their Messiah-though not in the way they expected their Messiah to come-they would not have Him-but they crucified and slew Him-they "received Him not."

Very well, for this they were cast off as a nation-and, as we know, they were scattered over the face of the whole earth, mixed up with, though quite distinct from, the nations amongst which they dwell.

Seeing then that " His own " would not receive Him, what followed? The next verse tells us-"as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the Sons of God." What wonderful forbearance and grace I Instead of acting as judge, and punishing all because of the treatment He bad received-He opens a wider door-one that would take in not only the Gentiles but even those very Jews who had been directly the cause of His death. "As many as," whether Jew or Gentile, "received Him became Sons of God."

Now "whosoever" is another word for "as many as," from the third chapter and sixteenth verse, we read "God so loved the world, (not the Jews only) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever (whether Jew or Gen- tile) believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

It is no question of nation or language-and, as to nature, they were all bad, all sinners, all undone and helpless-they could not save themselves-yet God in richest, fullest love says, " that whosoever believeth should. not perish, but have eternal life."

" I am one of the whosoevers," said one who was both young in years and young in grace, in a letter she had written to a friend, in which she earnestly and lovingly urged that friend to come to Jesus-to believe in Jesus-to trust in Jesus-and to decide for Jesus. She explained in her own artless way the plan of salvation-and sheaved that "whosoever will may take of the water of life freely" -and then clearly and boldly said that she had found this water of life-the salvation of her soul, and heartily praised the Lord for His love and mercy.

Now are you "one of the whosoevers" my dear friend? No matter what nation-no matter what condition may be yours. Salvation is for whosoever will-Oh! take it. Let whosoever be your name-and doubt no more-but go forth and live for Him who died for you. J. W. S.

The Friar's Confession

It was during the gloomy midnight of Popery, that a convent at Basle, a poor Carthusian friar, named Martin, wrote the following touching confession within his lonely cell:" O most merciful God! I know that I cannot be saved, and satisfy Thy righteousness otherwise than by the merits, by the innocent passion, and by the death of Thy dearly beloved Son ... ... Holy Jesus! all my salvation is in Thy hands Thou canst not turn away from me the hands of Thy love, for they have created. me and redeemed me. Thou host written my name with an iron pen, in great mercy, and in an indelible manner, on Thy side, on Thy hands, and on Thy feet... And if I cannot confess these things with my mouth, I confess them at least with my pen and with My HEART."

Then the good Carthusian friar placed his confession in a wooden box, and enclosed it in a hole in the wall of his cell, where it lay hidden for hundreds of years.

The old convent where, he wrote his living words Lid well nigh crumbled away, and the friar's ashes had mingled with the dust, when, in the month of December, 1776, some workmen in pulling down an old building that had formed part of the same Carthusian convent, stumbled on the box, and thus was brought to light the sweet confession, which no human eye had seen since it had been placed in that wall by the hand of the good man.

He being dead yet speaketh!

A Warning Voice in the Shipwreck of the Steamship "Atlantic" off Prospect, Nova Scotia, 1St. April, 1873

The "Atlantic" left Liverpool for New York, on the 20th of March, with nearly one thousand souls on hoard, men, women and children. When nearly arrived at their destination, it was deemed necessary to bear up for Halifax to obtain a fresh supply of coal. By the statement of the Captain, the night was dark, and the ship running at great speed directly towards the land from which, by his reckoning, she was not distant more than forty-eight miles, in reality, less; on the strength of his supposition, the Captain retired, leaving instructions to be called should anything occur, intending, in a short time, to turn the ship's head to the south and wait, for daylight, she, still throwing the wild waves from her bow in sheets of foam as she plunged onward. It unfortunately was omitted by those in charge to obey the order, and the necessity for his presence on deck, was told him only too plainly by the terrific' crash of the huge vessel on the rock. It woke others also, and all, who could, rushed up at the heart-sickening summons. In about ten minutes she lifted towards the sea, falling so that her decks became perpendicular and under water, thus cutting off egress from the cabins. The violence of the waves was such that, before any intended steps for the preservation of life could he carried into effect, the boats were destroyed, and a few brief sad minutes, it is feared to many concerned, saw more than half the number on board ushered from time into eternity-not a woman was saved.

"Therefore, be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye knew not, the Son of Man cometh."

Hastily, daringly rushing on

In the dead of night;

No soundings nor bearings to go upon,

Nor glimpse of a light.

No thought of danger, no thought of death,

As they calmly sleep,

Believing, they're safe in the briny path,

No watch do they keep.

A sudden and fearful crash and strife,

Frightening, wakes them up;

And madly they make a rush for life,

But the way is shut.

Who can describe their breathings of heart,

Or their thoughts define!

As they, in those few short minutes, part,

Forever, with time

—And—

Such is the world, as it hurries along

In its mad career,

No Christ, nor His love in the giddy throng,
With His light to cheer.

But, seeking their ease, on pleasure bent,

The end, out of sight;

Intending to turn and fully repent,

And so, make all right.

When, come, with surprise their day of doom,

A " shout " wakes them up,

Alas! but too late, the Bridegroom has come

And, " The door is shut."

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."

" But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, hut my Father only."

"As in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be."

"Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

"And He saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the end is at hand."

"And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

Fragment: Happiness

The Christian ought to be the happiest of men; but his happiness consists not in what he has here, but in what he knows he will` have with Christ.

Fragment: Children of God

No matter what His love to His children, God never hides from them, nor makes light of their sins.

The Waiting Ones

Most beautiful and complete is the portrait drawn by the Apostle Paul of the Thessalonian christians. Most effectively are their peculiar lineaments set before us., The mind at once receives. the impression his words are meant to convey. " They themselves show of us," he says, "what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." With what bold and striking clearness are the figures of these early christians struck out into relief upon the dark background of the surrounding idolatry by a few strokes of the divine pencil.

Sunk in sin, serving divers and revolting lusts, while "carried away unto dumb idols," the Apostle had come into their midst with the gospel of the grace of God. He had told them of Jesus the Son of God. Into their ears he had poured the wondrous tale of that life of love which had closed up on the cross, as an atoning sacrifice for man's sin. To their wondering souls be had explained the value and efficiency of that blood through which we have redemption, " the forgiveness of our sins." He had declared to them, how having died and been buried, this Jesus had been raised from the dead by the living God, and how, after having been seen on earth after His resurrection, of many witnesses, He had been carried up into Heaven, and seated at the right hand of God. He had taught them that, if they would "confess with the mouth this Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in their hearts that God had raised Him from the dead," they would be saved from the impending- storm- of divine judgment, which he affirmed was about to -overtake the world. But he assured them, that before this storm burst forth, with its terrible and destructive energy, the Son of God would come again, and receive to Himself in glory, all those that believed in Him. So the Apostle had preached to them, and so they had believed. " For this cause," says he, " thank we God without ceasing, because, when 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." He had not brought them a cumbrous ritualistic system of' -forms and ceremonies, with law keeping as a condition of blessing. He had now taught them a skillfully constructed plan of salvation or an elaborate scheme of theology, which little by little they were to receive, and be saved by. Much less had he gone amongst them to civilize them and instruct them in better morals, by which their present earthly condition might be improved, and in virtue of some moral change in themselves be entitled "to indulge a humble hope of salvation," when they could stay on earth no longer.

No, without any of this kind of thing, and in contrast with much of what prevails in our day, he had brought them the truth of a Person living in heaven at God's right hand who once on earth had died for sinners. This Person and His work, with the announcement of His speedy return to bless those that believed in Him and judge those who did not, formed the sum and substance of the Apostle's preaching to these poor dark idolaters. With this blessed gospel of the grace of God he had not failed to declare most solemnly and faithfully the realities of eternal judgment, escape from which there- was none, save by simple faith in Jesus the Son of God.

They had been left in no uncertainty as to what awaited them as sinners, and they were perfectly assured, upon the authority of God's word, of the blessing they stood possessed of now as believers in Jesus, the full enjoyment of which they would have when He came, for whom they waited. Doubts as to their salvation they had none, for they waited for that very Jesus who, by His work for them on the cross, had already "delivered them from the wrath to come." Once, in common with all others, they had been "appointed to death, and after that the judgment," but new they could say, " God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." They were not looking to die at all, even though by death they might go to be with the Lord. They no more looked for death than for judgment. They waited for God's Son from Heaven, as One who might come in their life-time, and hence they could say, as thinking of those who had died as believers in Jesus, "we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

It was this waiting for Jesus to come, and take them up to heaven that characterized these Thessalonian Christians, and it was this, more than their having ceased to be idolaters, that made the world around talk so much about them. People then, as now, understand a change of religion and morality, but to be waiting and longing for some One to come and take them away from earth to heaven, their neighbors could not understand. Even the religion of the Jews had spoken of no such thing, though they were expecting a Messiah to come, according to certain prophecies that their books spoke of, and bless them on earth by delivering them from all their enemies, but for some One to be coming from heaven to take His followers up to heaven was indeed a strange and new doctrine. Yet, this was the doctrine taught the Thessalonians, and it is the doctrine the whole New Testament teaches, as the proper hope of believers now in the Lord Jesus.

Nothing so tells the tale of where the heart really is as this waiting for " God's Son from Heaven." A faith that has not this marked and characteristic element in it is not properly Christian, and the Apostle contrasts the profession of Christianity without this hope in this way, "For 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 according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself."

The Lord grant that all our readers may be rejoicing in this blessed hope, and assuming clearly before the world the attitude of "the waiting ones."

The All Sufficiency of Christ: Intercession/Advocacy; ROM 7:9;

Notes on an Address from Mark 8:10-28.

What I find in every one's history is this: that first he has to learn that Christ gave Himself for him, and next he has to learn that he must give up everything for Christ. Our history is that double thing; but in one sense we may say the first is readily acquired, though it be a long time before you find that, as a thoroughly ruined one, Christ is absolutely for you. The day will come when we shall have nothing but Christ. In that moment of terror, when you find out the emptiness of everything. He is the One who in the darkness that surrounds you, alone is for you.

In type you see it in Jonah. It was not that Jonah was not converted before, but he had to be brought into the depths where no one but God could save him.

First of all I have Him as the Savior. To be devoted I must find that He is absolutely for me. Now when He taught Peter that in the 5th of Luke, how did He teach him-at what point?

It was when the boat was full of fish-that-most exciting moment to a fisherman-that Peter found himself in the presence of God good for nothing. "I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

. Look at that man fallen down there at Jesus' knees, he who had given his time and his boat to the Lord, like a religious man now who gives his money for the spread of the gospel. One knows what it is to have gone on in that floating way for years.

There is a moment in your history when you must be sensible of the thorough insufficiency of everything. and of the thorough sufficiency of Christ. These disciples at the most trying moment for fishermen, brought their ships to land, and forsook all and followed Him.

What is a death bed? How beautiful it is at times, It is simply that there you have a person saying, " I have tasted the insufficiency of everything, but I have sound the all-sufficiency of Christ." Does not your heart respond? The day is come in that person's history, when Christ is found sufficient. But he must first be known by the soul, and this Peter's history declares.

There is a darker lesson we have to learn. We have to learn that there is death upon everything. lf you consider the Scriptures, you will find it brought out in every history. The Gospels are the school; the Epistles set forth our standing. Christ is now teaching His disciples death and glory.. The point is this, Is He sufficient for everything? He sighed deeply in his Spirit. He sighed deeply at the nation's unbelief.

"Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf." You cannot imagine anything more resource less than their condition, without bread, and in a ship upon the sea. What. the Lord brings out is this-His own sufficiency. He does not make the bread a hit more, but He tests their faith. "Am I sufficient for you when there is a dearth of everything? I have made myself known to you in power, how is it that ye do not understand?"

Do not be pained; mercies are very often given you that you may learn to do without them-that you may learn the Person who gave them, and then find Him sufficient. It is not the gifts that gave a color to Him, but He that gives a color to the gifts. What had Jonah to learn? Not only that there is death in himself, but that there is death in everything here.

I have two things to learn-life in the Son of God, and death down here. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus. might be made manifest in our body." Do not shrink from it-do not be afraid; faith never looks at difficulties, but at-the One who is sufficient for the difficulty.

Men of faith do no end of rash things. Look at Moses.. When he came down from the Mount he confronts 600,000 men, as if they were nothing. He stands for God. He never thought of them; he never took into account-the odds against him. He calculated on God only! The disciples have not rested upon Him. They ought to have-shown skill about Him. What I mean by "skill" is power properly applied-faith's use of power. This is the difference between David and Jonathan; Jonathan-might be the stronger man; David, the -man of skill and not afraid of Goliath.

You will find in your own private history that you have to learn His sufficiency, and not to be a bit disheartened by what. you see around-not a bit disheartened because there is no bread in the ship. The turning point of my history here is, that as I am traveling through this scene I have to do with the risen Christ, no matter what the circumstances that may arise. Practically this is what comes out; I have no resources. I am not a bit disheartened. I have Christ. Like Paul who could say before the greatest tribunal in the world " all men forsook me"-there was no bread in the ship; "nevertheless the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." 2 Tim. 4:16,17. Do not he disheartened. Do not do what people are always trying to do, they are always trying to relieve themselves by change of circumstances. You will never reach a brighter point of strength than saying " Blessed God, make me equal to it, make me rise above it;" instead of saying "alter it, do remove this thing or that thing."

The old era was that everything was greater than man; the new era is that man in Christ is greater than everything.

It your child is ill and you pray for its recovery, and it is given back to you, you have not the same knowledge of God as if you had risen superior to the trial. While I am resting in the Lord, let Him do what He will Christ is sufficient. It is not " resignation." That is a poor thing-only putting up with a thing because I cannot help it.

"The man that walks by faith must be faithful "-nothing truer has been said. I believe if we are walking by faith, in simple dependence on Christ, nothing could be brighter than our faith. There is only one path of life, and if you are walking by faith you are in it.

If we have "skill" we shall not be like the sons of the prophets, bringing the wild gourds into the pot, then death is brought into it.

God cannot demonstrate His love by giving you this thing or that thing. He demonstrates His love in glory, where your destitution is fully met. But I say, practically do not shrink from it. Do not be afraid. We all have a pressure. It is not that I want you to be unfeeling about it. But there is all the difference between the ring of the soul that is dependent on mercies, and the soul that is learning to walk according to God without mercies.

Do you say, " Oh, He would put me to toe much trial 1" I reply; "He loves me ten thousand times more than I love myself, and if you say otherwise you have not learned salvation and the love of His heart."

I know what pressure is. What is it for? It is to bring me to Him, so that "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding," may keep my heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Relief from the thing pressing may not be known, but you have the blessedness of Himself between your soul and the pressure, and " the peace of God that passeth all understanding" keeping your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The Lord lead us to understand this side of our history as walking through the world.

One's heart sometimes trembles seeing people making themselves so happy here. I say " Oh, the gourd will die some day, and you will learn the lesson-death is upon everything, and Christ is all-sufficient." It is- no sorrow at all if you find that you have a better one in place of it all.

I deny that Mary was not satisfied with the presence of Christ, when walking to the grave of Lazarus.

You have to learn the sufficiency of Himself in the wretchedness of a scene like this, and then you will move on cheerfully and faithfully to the praise of His name.

" Jesus! I rest in Thee,

In Thee myself I hide,

Laden with guilt and misery,

Where can I rest beside?
'Tis on Thy meek and lowly breast

My weary soul alone would rest.

" Thou, Holy One of God,

The Father rests in Thee,

And in the savor of that blood,

That speaks to Him for me,

The curse is gone, through Time I'm blest,

God rests in Thee-'in Thee I rest.

The slave of sin and fear,

Thy truth my bondage broke;

My willing spirit loves to bear,

Thy light and easy yoke '

The love that fills any grateful breast,

Makes duty joy, and labor rest.

"Soon the bright, glorious day,
The rest of God shall come,
Sorrow and sin shall pass away,
And I shall reach my home;
Then, of the promised land possessed
My soul shall know eternal rest."

G. V. W.

Answers to Correspondents: Meaning of MAT 12:20; Dead Unto Sin; Faith a Gift; Life vs. Life More Abundantly; Christ as Propitiation;

Q.-What is the meaning of that verse in the 12. of Matthew, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory?"

A.-This verse is often used as expressive of God's tenderness and consideration to a weak believer. No doubt God is tender and considerate towards His feeble children, beyond expression, but this verse conveys no such teaching. It is quoted as marking Christ's character, and mode of dealing, with that which opposes Him, during the present day of grace. The weakest things, which a broken reed and smoking flax symbolize, He will not deal with in destructive energy till the time of judgment. Then, coming in power and glory, He will sweep everything before Him in victorious and righteous power. It is a prophecy therefore concerning Christ, and can't be properly used to express God's tenderness to weak faith, for, blessed be God, that never ceases, whereas the teaching in the passage is, that this present mode of dealing with weak, but evil things, will cease, and end in their complete judgment.

Q.-What is the meaning of reckoning ourselves "dead indeed unto to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord?"

A.-The Apostle in the 6th of Romans, from which this verse is quoted, is showing how the believer is set free from the evil nature he has from Adam, and lives to God in a new nature that he has from Christ. In figure, in baptism, the believer participates in the death and resurrection of Christ, and this being his actual and abiding standing before God, he has, by faith, to practically reckon himself dead to sin in the death of Christ, and alive to God in the life of Christ., Q.-In what way is faith looked upon as a gift in 1 Cor. 12:9?

A.-The faith spoken of here is not the faith which, through grace, all believers' hive equally, and in virtue of which they are saved and justified, but is a distinct, and superadded thing that distinguishes the one that has it from other believers. It is faith in power for overcoming difficulties, and for special service.

Q.-Why does the Lord draw the distinction between life, and life " more abundantly " in John 10:10?

A.-All the saints before the coming of Christ had divine life, but by His coming, in virtue of His death and resurrection for His sheep, they would have life more abundantly, as having it in resurrection with Himself.

Q.-What is the meaning of Christ being a propitiation for " the sins of the whole world" 2 John 2:2?

A.-The translators by putting in " the sins," words not in the original, and as their being in italics indicates, have given room for a very false application of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus. If Christ had been a propitiation for " the sins of the whole world," all the world would necessarily be saved. Christ has only been a propitiation for the sins of those that believe on Him. He has met substitutionally all their personal responsibilities in respect of sins. The teaching of the passage is, that the work of Christ, as a propitiation, did not limit itself to Israel, as the nation that God acknowledged in a special way, but looked towards the whole world, and was available for all that looked to God through that sacrifice, without any question of their being either Jews or Gentiles.

From Calvary to Paradise

Brief and bright was the journey from the place of earth's deepest shame to that of heaven's highest glory, taken, as it was, by One, who, in His own Person, had right and title to be there, and by another who, because of his misdeeds, is known to us as the "dying thief," and who had therefore title, but to the judgment which man had awarded him, and to the farther judgment of God,- a judgment-of which he had the clear, but fearful presentiment, in the rebuke he administered to his fellow-malefactor of, "dost not thou fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation and we indeed justly?" His confessed desert was the just judgment of God on account of his sins. Yet such an one accompanied the Lord Jesus in that bright victorious journey from Calvary to Paradise,-from shame to glory,-from the gibbet to the Throne!

Wondrous contrast, as wondrous as the way was brief, and the means divinely perfect.

Think, beloved reader, of a man in one and the same day standing on the brink of hell, and on the plains of heaven,-(for this is surely true in principle,) going to that cross a sinner, leaving it a saint; transfixed a willing captive of Satan, yet, whilst fastened there, wrenched from his fiend grasp, redeemed, released, and fitted for more than angelic company l-awarded that place by law, delivered from it by grace,-and that too, in a way that law could never dispute.

Think of a man, a thief, a malefactor, a sinner, whose heart, until that time, was set against God, and could revile His Son, casting all kinds of calumny in His teeth, appearing that very day with Christ in Paradise. Think of his demerit; think of God's mercy. Think of his fearful guilt; think of the grace which, on the ground of the expiation made by the sinless One, could take even him to the unsullied courts of glory.

But it is in this expiation, and in it alone, that we can find the ground or reason of this wondrous deliverance.

First, the man was a thief, a sinner, and as such, he merited the judgment of God,-hut Christ "came into the world to save sinners," bearing the judgment due to such.

Secondly, the man was at the point of death, and had no time for self-improvement, or a change of life, or a quantity of penitential good works. He must be saved on the spot, as he was, or be lost forever;-but Christ "came to seek and to save that which was lost."

Thirdly, if saved at all, he must be wholly and completely saved, so that he might be, then and there, fit for heaven-but such was the very kind of salvation he received, for, said the Savior, " To-day shalt thou be with Ale in Paradise."

And lastly, he must have sufficient authority for his hope-inasmuch as reason would that such a man, with innumerable bad works behind, and no chance for good works ahead, must have a warrant, and a title, which in itself should banish every fear, and dispel every doubt,-but this perfect authority he had in the unchallengeable words of the Savior, " Verily I say unto thee."

Glorious answer to every question,-the death of the Savior for the ground, and the words of the Savior for the authority of the salvation, then, there and forever, from the threshold of hell to the center of heaven, of this poor " dying thief."

Glorious achievement, too, on the part of Him, over whose apparent defeat Satan was chuckling with hellish delight, mocking and deriding Him, who, for our sakes, had come from Paradise to Calvary-when He snatched out of the paw of the lion his miserable prey, and not only so, but crowning His work with this trophy of victory, He placed him at His side in Paradise.

Oh! what a glad return to the Home He had vacated, and how rich the prize He carried.

Beloved reader,"

“The dying thief rejoiced to see,
That fountain in his day,
And there may you, the' vile as he,
Wash all your sins away."

"By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Eph. 2:8.

J. W. S.

The Blood Sprinkled Lintel

"And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the boson, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the boson; and none of you shall go out at the door of the house until the morning." (Ex. 12:22.)

Many souls believe God's word, and the great fundamental truths of the gospel, and yet have not peace with God. The reason of this is that there is a want of intelligent application of the truth known to the soul's need, according to the details given of God in His word for the very purpose of making His grace fully known and enjoyed. "The obedience of faith" is in measure lacking, and " the pure milk of the word is not what the heart drinks into. Thoughts, feelings, and actions that flow from our own poor dark hearts are substituted, under Satan's skillful tuition, for those "words" of the living God the entrance of which, "giveth light; and giveth understanding to the simple."

Peace with God, in view of judgment to come, there cannot be until the soul rests simply, and fully on the blood of Christ. Two things enter into this peace. The blood itself, and the way in which the soul appropriates its value. It is the latter of these that the verse quoted above brings before us.

Attention to the details given in the type, and applied by faith, cannot fail, where the blood of Christ is really looked to, to give peace. The Lord by His Spirit enables us to look simply at these.

For a moment let us take note of the verse that precedes, and the one that succeeds. the verse that engages us. In the one, the slain lamb, with its poured out blood in the basin ready for application, is before the eye. Just that which happened at the cross eighteen hundred years ago-" The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" with the shed blood. In the other, the judgment impending over the scene in which the Israelite lived, is presented as about to break forth. Vivid forecasting of the world in which the sinner now lives with " the wrath to come" ready to be revealed from Heaven.

As the Israelite stood between the basin of blood on the one hand, and the sword of the destroying angel on the other, so the sinner stands now between the cross on the one hand, and the coming wrath of God on the other. Safety then, as now, depending upon the "obedience of faith" in the use of the provision that grace has provided as the only means of escape from the impending storm; while peace of heart, as looking on to the day of judgment, is alone to be known in the consciousness that the conditions of application have been observed in all their exactitude.

Let us carefully note that with providing the means of salvation the Israelite had nothing to do. Jehovah who announced the coming judgment, and who, as the One that would execute that judgment, alone knew what would be required to save from it, both planned and provided the means of escape, and all the Israelite, who believed the judgment would come, had to do, was to avail himself of the blood in the basin. So to speak, the blood was Jehovah's work for him, using the blood was his own 'work, by which he personally appropriated the value of the blood, and became sheltered by it from the sword of the destroying angel. The provision was there utterly apart from, and outside himself, as the sovereign act of Jehovah's love to him, and all he could do was to slight that love, neglect to avail himself of it, and thus be lost through unbelief.

In the same way the blood of the cross of Christ is the sovereign act of divine love in providing a means of escape from eternal judgment for any and all sinners who will avail themselves, as believing in that judgment, of its blessed shelter. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life," consequently the gospel goes out "into all the world and to every creature," and " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

The Cross, with the shed blood of the Lamb "foreordained before the foundation of the world," is the standing proof of God's love to men, to all men, and where the testimony to that blood has gone, it is simply a question of rejecting or receiving the value of that blood as God's exclusive means of salvation from wrath to come. Before all men God". sets forth Jesus a propitiation through faith in His blood," and in this way becomes "the just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Thus the great consideration for every soul should be, am I sheltered beneath that blood, so that God Himself, who is the judge, has become my justifier?

As the believing Israelite dipped the piece of hyssop, emblem of repentance or of his judgment of himself as a sinner, in the basin, and carefully struck with blood the lintel and the two side posts of his dwelling, thus covering himself completely in with blood, and abode within his blood bought place of safety till the morning, when the judgment was completely past; so the believing and repentant sinner now covers himself completely with the blood of Jesus in his conscience, and, as a question of salvation from judgment to come, in spirit abides beneath the shelter of the blood of the Lamb until the morning of resurrection and the "wrath to come" is forever past.

Peacefully reposing within his blood-sprinkled dwelling, knowing the sword of the destroying angel could not possibly reach him, the Israelite eat the paschal supper, feasted upon the body of the lamb whose substitutional death had saved him from death, of which the blood on the lintel and two side posts was the token to himself, as well as to the angel, but it added nothing to his security. It fed his heart with sweet memories of the victim's death, deepened the peace he already enjoyed, and strengthened him for the journey across the desert to the promised land, but the destroying angel saw nothing of this, it was not the state of the Israelite inside the house that covered him, he saw the blood on the outside, and he passed by, passed by forever; his sword could have no mission where that blood was. The blood sprinkled lintel settled everything, and he had no further inquiry to make. Come he from above, the blood met him; did he seek to enter by the right, the blood stopped him, or happened he in his destroying pathway tote coming by the left, the blood turned him aside, for he was simply doing the bidding of Him who had said, "when I see the blood I will pass over."

The Israelite might go on his journey, and experience the deliverance of Jehovah from the power of the enemy at the Red Sea, sing songs of triumph on the other side; he might wearisomely travel across the desert, keep and re-keep the paschal supper, pass through many experiences of mercy and of government, and finally pass the Jordan, by Jehovah's strong arm sustained, and find every promise, that had sustained the heart by the way, fulfilled, but sprinkle the lintel he never did again, the God of judgment had once been met, and met forever by the blood, the value and virtue of which never changed.

So is it with the believer now, sprinkled once with the blood of Christ, he is sprinkled forever, and there the conscience divinely taught, rests in peace with God, "justified by His blood," and can always say "in whom we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of sins."

He may take constantly the Lord's supper, pass through many experiences, learn many blessed truths, and finally find himself in glory with Christ, but he knows he is saved from all the wrath to come by the blood of Christ. For him Christ has already met the God of judgment. He has died for him, and that precious blood which at the first he so carefully sprinkled, so to speak, on the lintel and two side posts, abides ever in his conscience as " the token " of his security.

The grace of God is not according to my needs, but beyond them.

In Christ

It is sad to think how few, comparatively, of God's dear children understand, and enjoy the blessedness of their position as " in Christ " before Himself. With many the thought of "in Christ or out of Christ," as it is often put, goes no further than being saved or lost, and, even, as to this question of salvation, many are rather hoping that they are "in Christ," than enjoying the effect of such a standing, in the certainty of salvation. To be " in Christ" is most certainly to be saved beyond the possibility of ever being lost, and most blessed is the knowledge of such salvation, but to be in Christ" involves infinitely more than the being saved out of a state of death and judgment. Salvation carries the heart no farther than the thought of what I am brought out of, it tells me nothing of what L am brought into. Most sweetly does it speak peace to the troubled conscience, and a song of glad praise rises to the lips concerning Him who has thus saved, but there it ends, and, like Israel of old, the murmurings of the wilderness alas, too often, take the place of the song of triumph so freely poured forth on the shores of the Red Sea.

It was one thing for the Israelite to sing his song of salvation as he entered on his wilderness journey, and quite another thing to appear before Jehovah with his " basket of first fruits," and rejoice before him, as enjoying the pro-, duce of the land of Canaan. The one spoke of what he had been brought out of; the other of that into which he had been brought. So it is with the Christian now. To enter into the value of the cross of Christ, as " the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth " is one thing, and to enter into the enjoyment of our place before God in a risen Christ, as " blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," is quite mother.

As a sinner, coming to the cross of Christ, I find a work that has put away all my sins, and which has saved me out of all the condition of wretchedness in which as a sinner I find myself to be. As a believer, looking at Christ risen, I find a Person in whom I am accepted before God. It is as contemplating the double work of God for us in Christ, " who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification, that, being justified by faith we have peace with. God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" but this is not all, the Apostle adds " by whom also we have access by faith in this grace, (properly favor,) wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

It is only as realizing my connection with this risen and glorified Christ that I can adopt the Apostle's language. We cannot, for blessing, separate this work of Christ for us on the cross from Himself as risen before God, but by not sufficiently discriminating between the effects that flow from one, from those that flow from the other, we do not- see clearly the difference between that out of which we are brought by the cross, which is salvation, and that into which we are brought by a risen Christ, which is our standing in blessing.

Having thus shortly noticed the difference between the two let us dwell a little upon what, as scripture sets it before us, it is to be " in Christ." It is only as we look at Christ, as He now is risen at God's right hand, that we can apprehend the blessings, into which, as believers in Him, we are brought.

In the proper sense of the word, to be a Christian, is simply to be " in Christ," and so the Lord when speaking, of what, for his disciples, would be the effect of the coming of the Holy Ghost, says, "In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." All that believe truly in Christ are Christ's. God sees all that are Christ's in Christ " and as Christ. We look at Christ and the testimony of the Holy Ghost to us through word, is that we are in Christ and as Christ.

Are we thinking of the righteousness of God dealing with us as responsible creatures, in the language of Scripture we say, " there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ." Does the day of judgment dawn upon our souls we declare, we have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He (Christ) is, so are we in this world."

Do we think of the ruin in which, as children of Adam, we are involved, it is only to say that, " if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." Our personal history and estate in the first creation being completely blotted out, nothing but Christ and that in which He lives, as head of the new creation, is true of us.

Are the affections of filial relationship stirring our hearts, not only do we say, we " are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus," but we affirm we are " to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein he has made accepted in the- Beloved." Our souls are at home now in the bosom of divine love, as being now in the Son of His love, and if the future glory comes before us, "in' the dispensation of the fullness of times when God will gather in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on earth, even in Him," it is but too add, " In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory."

To be, then, in Christ, is simply to be all that Christ, as man, is, and to be possessed of all that He stands possessed of. This is not to boast of what we are, but it is to set aside all that in which the flesh could glory. " Of Him," says the Apostle, "are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written ' He that glorieth, let him glory hi the Lord.'"

So completely, as the effect of divine grace, is the believer identified with Christ, that all that can be said of Christ can be said of him. To be something lower than Christ is, is the desire of the flesh to be something in itself aside from Christ. It may look like humility to think that I am not so fit for the presence of God as Christ, but it really is to think something of myself, as fit in measure for God's presence, though not so fit as Christ; this is pride of heart and not humility. If I think of myself, not only as guilty of some bad things, but so bad that God can't even look upon me at all, save to damn me, and shut me out from His presence forever,' make my entire boast in Christ and His cross. By the latter my guilt and evil are completely blotted out of God's sight, and in the former I stand before God in another, outside myself altogether, and thus what He is occupies my heart, and I think of myself before God simply as He is, and, outside all condemnation, enjoy all the favor and blessedness in which Christ Himself stands.

" No condemnation? " O my soul,

'Tis God that speaks the word,

Perfect in comeliness art thou

Through Christ the risen Lord..

" No condemnation! " precious word?

Consider it my soul:

Thy sins were all on Jesus laid;

His stripes have made thee whole.

Then teach me God, to fix mine eyes

On Christ, the spotless Lamb,

So shall I love Thy precious will,

And glorify His name.

Sin and Sins

It is of all importance for us, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, to distinguish between sin and sins. The one is the nature of evil in us, and the other is the fruit of that nature in our acts. From the one we want deliverance. For the other we want forgiveness.

The first thing that troubles a divinely quickened soul is sirs -that consciousness of guilt before God that brings on the conscience the fear of condemnation. The more the word of God deals with the conscience the more miserable the person becomes. The thoughts, feelings, words and acts, as seen in the light of God's presence, are all viewed as sins, and the dread of the final judgment of God increases upon the soul as the number and enormity of these sins is recognized by the conscience. The sense of guilt before God becomes complete, and the soul now realizes its utterly lost condition, and cries out for mercy.

God is before the mind as a judge, and the only hope the person has is in His mercy. "God be merciful to me a sinner" is all the soul feels able to say. He pleads guilty-confesses sins, and asks for pardon. Forgiveness of sins is the one, deep need of the soul, for conviction is complete. It is here that the work of Christ for the sinner, as having on the cross borne his sins, comes in. -God has set forth Jesus a mercy-seat through faith in His blood," and Christ being thus accepted before God as the ground of pardon, the Spirit of God seals the conscience in the value of the blood of Christ, and with this, on the authority of God's word, comes the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins. Sins having passed from the conscience, through this application of the blood of Christ, the fear of judgment is completely gone, and the person rejoices in a present salvation. Joy takes the place of the previous misery, and there is peace with God.

The question of sins is settled, and while this joy of salvation continues all goes well; but soon another trouble overtakes the soul, and the joy dies down, at least in measure, and after a while completely. The forgiveness of sins is retained, and there is no fear of ultimate judgment, yet the soul is in misery and distress. Conscience is again at work, but this time not about sins, but about sin. The sins are all seen to be gone in the blood of Christ, but, alas, the sin,-the evil nature, is still felt to be working in the heart, and do what it will the soul finds that nothing keeps it in check. God is before the soul, not now as a judge, but as One to be loved and served. Conscience keeps saying, do this, and don't do that, while at the same time it convicts the soul of doing the very opposite of what ought to be done. The love of God moves in the heart, giving increasingly the desire to please Hint, and yet every attempt to do so fails.

The holiness of God works powerfully in the soul, and the hatred of sin is intense. Every energy is put forth to overcome sin, and develop what is good, until at last the discovery is made that there is nothing but sin there, and together with this the bitter conviction of being helplessly captive under sin takes possession of the soul, and the cry is now, " Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver from the body of this death."

When sins simply were in question, forgiveness seemed the one and only thing required to give complete happiness, but sin is now the trouble, and the sense of forgiveness gives no relief, indeed it only makes the bitterness of sin more felt, because the sense of forgiveness fills the heart with gratitude, and supplies the deepest possible motive not to sin, but this gives no power to rise above sin, it only makes sin as an active thing the more intolerable. Deliverance from the power of sin alone can bring relief now, and under legal efforts to be good, only complete captivity to sin is the state arrived at. During all this process under law to attain holiness self has been looked to, it has been I, I, I, all along until rent with agony the cry for help from another has gone forth.

The Spirit of God answers this cry by presenting Christ to the soul, not now as bearing sins, but as having died for sin, and in Ills death to sin, as having died with Him when He died, the believer finds himself dead to sin; not in experience, but by faith as having died in Christ to it. This knowledge gives relief, and then with the sense of real deliverance, because faith in Christ's work is now carrying the soul, comes the exultant note of praise, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

A deep, calm, joy takes possession of the heart, and the soul now rests in Christ risen from the dead, having learned the truth of its own death and resurrection in Christ. It is no longer, " I am this, and I will do that," but "Christ has done that, and Christ is this." Not only that, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ," but that " The law of the Spirit of life ill Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."

For the continued enjoyment of this deliverance two things are needed: the abiding reckoning of ourselves " dead to sin," as having died with Christ; and the realization of being in Christ in a new life, where sin is not, as being risen with Christ.

May the Lord in His goodness give all our readers to know through the simple testimony of His word, not only the difference between sin and sins, hut with this knowledge, the enjoyment of deliverance from sin, as well as forgiveness of sins.

Chastening

If I am proud in my spirit, and lose the place o humility before God, and some lust breaks out; God may use this particular failure, and even continuance of it, to get at and chasten me for this root of pride, or of self will, which seemed to have no connection with it. So it was with Peter; only in his case there was no continuance in the sin. Peter had confidence in himself, and this led to his fall. The Lord, in his grace, had provided for it beforehand; so He looks upon Peter, and breaks his heart. After this, He does not say one word about the particular failure; but He does deal with Peter in the closest way to bring out this confidence in himself. " Simon, son of Jonas," He says, "lovest thou Me more than these?" A second and a third time He says, "lovest thou Me?" So that at last Peter had to take refuge in the Lord's-omniscience. He who knew all things could see the love which was in Peter's heart, though it might be no one else could.

The soul that knows and owns its wretchedness, and makes no pretension to any claim, yet brings its misery before a God of goodness, is a soul that Jesus can never refuse to comfort. He may be repelled by the claims of a false and pretended righteousness; but He cannot hide Himself from the misery that seeks His aid, and has no plea nor appeal except in mercy's ear. For mercy dwells, as in its proper fountain, in the heart of God; and Jesus is both the expression of that mercy, and the channel through which it flows.

Did you ever notice Paul's rare and beautiful humility? As a sinner, he calls himself the chief; among saints, as less than the least; as an apostle, not worthy of the name.

A Little While

Beyond the smiling and the weeping,

I shall be soon.

Beyond the waking and the sleeping,

Beyond the sowing and the reaping,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home,

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come!

Beyond the blooming and the fading,

I shall be soon.

Beyond the shining and the shading,

Beyond the hoping and the dreading,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home,

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come!

Beyond the rising and the setting,

I shall be soon.

Beyond the soothing and the fretting,

Beyond remembering and forgetting,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home,

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come!

Beyond the gathering and the strowing,

I shall be soon.

Beyond the ebbing and 'the flowing,

Beyond the coming and the going,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home,

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come!

Beyond the parting and the meeting,

I shall be soon.

Beyond the farewell and the greeting,

Hearts fainting now and now high heating,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home.

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come!

Beyond the frost-chain and the fever,

I shall be soon.

Beyond the rock-waste and the river,

Beyond the ever and the never,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home,

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come!

Where Is Your Faith?

UK 8:25{" Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," are the assuring and comforting words of Jesus to His own at the close of the Gospel of Matthew. The assurance of His abiding presence with them, coupled with the statement, "all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." It is this consciousness of the personal presence of Jesus, and the realization that all power is in the hands of Him who is with us, that gives the heart such entire rest during the journey of life to the land of glory.

It is not enough to know, and to know clearly and certainly, that by His death He has saved us; that through Him we have eternal life and /are accepted in righteousness in Him as risen from the dead; that He intercedes for us, and watches Over us at the right hand of God in Heaven; and that at any moment He may come to take us out of the scenes and circumstances of this life to be with Himself in the Father's house; the soul may know all this, and yet be restless and unhappy by reason of what it is passing through down here on the " troubled sea of life." The living presence of Jesus, with the knowledge of the boundless resources of His hand, alone can carry the heart in peaceful repose above this troubled sea.

Christ is, and ever is, all that in His love He declares Himself to be. With Him nothing changes. He is " the same yesterday, to day, and forever." And not only does He Himself never change, but once having taken a place in nearness to us He never leaves it. Nothing in us can alter Him. Nothing we do ever puts Him one hair's breadth distance from us.

Not only does He say, "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you," but "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," is the assurance He gives with it. All this depends upon Himself. Upon Him who alone can say "I will," as being divinely competent to will, and be all His own blessed heart prompts Him to be.

Infinitely blessed for us is it that this is so. But alas, how much our poor hearts live outside His blessed presence. I say, " our poor hearts," for this is all it can be, for actually near Him, or rather He near us, we ever are. We can distrust Him; it is all we can do, but His love and power are ever in activity to bless us, and to recall us to the sense of. His presence, and when recalled, we hear no rebuke from Him save the one that touches our hearts most nearly, "where is your faith?"

Most touching and instructive is that scene on the lake of Galilee, where these memorable and affecting words fell from the lips of Jesus. With wonder and amazement did those loved ones with Him witness the display of power that saved them, as they supposed, from a watery grave; but surely those words should have taught them how groundless were all their fears.

They knew He was with them. They turned to Him in their distress. But, oh! how little they knew the love and fullness of the One they had with them. Could the boat sink in which Jesus was? Could the tempest-tossed waves of the lake of Galilee engulf the Son of God? Could the waters of creation forget their Maker, and cause Him to " perish " whose word had called them into existence? Their eyes were shut to all this, and His words and acts of goodness did but cause their hearts to tremble in another way, as their little bark became still beneath the word of Him who had stilled "the ragings of the water." Outside now all was "calm," and, as to circumstances, cause for fear there was none, and yet we read, " they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, what manner of man is this! for He commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey Him."

Poor disciples I Is this all, as yet, you have learned of Him who journeys with you along “ life's troubled sea?" First to distrust the One who journeys with you, and then to fear and wonder at the answer His love gives to the cry of your distress that has roused Him from His rest?

Is this the only language of our hearts, as we gaze upon these companions of Jesus? Alas! for our hearts if it be so. True we know more of Him than they did, but do we trust Him more? We have seen more of His wonder working power, but are we less taken aback sometimes, when in answer to our cry of distress, He has wrought a deliverance for us?

They ought to have behaved differently, and they were well rebuked by the blessed Lord, who so loved them, in those words of pity and reproach, " Where is your faith?" But do not these words more fitly search our own hearts, than enlighten our eyes about theirs? Are any words more to the point for ourselves than these? With all, we know of Jesus, and We do know infinitely more than they did, for love has fully shown itself to us, so that there is even no more to know, do we honor Him in proportion More? or rather can we not say We honor Him less? and that these words are a standing reproach to us, meeting us at every twist and turning of life down here, as it to keep us in the abiding sense of His presence, who, ever with us, has no path for us with Himself save by faith?

" Where is your faith," as falling on our ears from His own lips, not only recalls us to the sense of His presence, but reveals to us the cause of all our distress. A distress we often attribute to some chantre in the circumstances that surround us, rather than to the change in our hearts concerning Him who is with us in the midst of the circumstances. Circumstances, too, not only in the midst of which He is, but into the midst of which He leads us with Himself, and over which He has the most complete control.

A moment's glance at the scene we have before us will show us this. Not only was Jesus with the disciples in the boat, but He it was who said, " Let us go over unto the other side." They but did His bidding when "they launched forth," and as they thus sailed under His guidance, " He fell asleep." Had He made a mistake in thus taking them on to the lake, and exposing them to this, to them, unlooked for "storm of wind on the lake?" Was it selfishness that made Him fall asleep, and leave them exposed to the dangers that came upon them through His will, as if indifferent to their feats? It would almost seem as if some such thoughts as these were in their minds as they wake Him and exclaim, " Master, Master, We perish!" or, as it is put in Mark, " carest Thou not that we perish?"

And do we never question the love and wisdom of Him who guides our fragile bark over the seas of time? Do we never, as it were, wake our Lord in words implying that He is forgetful of our difficulties?

His love now, as then, is above all our weakness and wretchedness, and in mercy He oftentimes makes for us a calm in our circumstances, while He humbles us by the words, that spew the folly of our fears, " Where is your faith?" Is there more danger when the waves rage, or less when they are calm? Are our hearts tossed upon the raging wave, or quiet only on the still one; if so, it is no question of Christ in the boat with us, our hearts are on the waves, and not on Him who is on the waves with us. Is He disturbed by the raging waves? Had the disciples looked on the sleeping Jesus, and felt who He was, and thought of the love that brought Him to be with them, they would have had no fears, and they would not have waked Him, while at the right moment He would have stilled the waves, and owned the faith that had trusted Him, and rested in Him while circumstances seemed all Against them.

Yes, blessed be His name, Jesus is the author of our journey from shore to shore. He is with us in the boat, and all we have to do is to keep our eye on Him, and then raging waves or smooth waves are all the same. The storms of life we cannot escape, they are part of His wise -ways with us, and, though for the moment He puts forth 'no arm of strength to still the storm, faith rests in the love that travels with us, and orders all things well.

Such should be the abiding condition of our souls, and all else is but sin and unbelief, still do we forget Him, and for the moment lose sight of Him, or even question, in our unbelief, His care of us, all He says to us is, "Where is your faith?" He does not disguise from us the truth. '"In the world ye shall have tribulation," He plainly tells us, but He adds, "In me ye shall have peace."

The blessed Lord, in His grace, keep our eye simply resting by faith upon Himself till we see Him, and are with Him in glory.

Responsibility: Part 4, With Respect to the Law

To see man's responsibility with respect to law, is another very important point, before we can see clearly, and understand intelligently, his relationship and responsibility with respect to the gospel. And here much injury is done to souls from confounding the two things, viz: (the law as given by Moses, and the gospel.)

The two things being so distinctly separate, and we might say opposite, the one to the other; we have only to take heed to the testimony of the word in order to see the difference, and be convinced of the impossibility of knowing both,-the law and the gospel, by mixing them together, as is often done; by claiming justification from the condemnation of the law, through the gospel, and at the same time claiming the law as the rule of life for the daily walk of the justified man.

No man can serve two masters; for he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Matt. 6:24.

The law as given by Moses, is not the same as Jesus Christ; though it was the same God who gave both; and if the law is my master, (and in order to be the rule for my life it must be my master) than Christ cannot be my master.

Or, if Christ be my master, then the law cannot be, for I cannot have two, and hence it cannot be the rule for my life, since Christ who is my master, is also the law and rule for my life. So again, if I am justified by the law, then it is the law which gives the ground of my justification, the ground of my relationship, and the ground of my responsibility; hence the rule for my life. But if, on the other hand, I am "justified by Christ;" then He is the ground of my relationship, and responsibility, hence the rule and law for my life. But again, if I claim justification by the deeds of the law, it must be on the ground that I have perfectly kept it; and in order to have perfectly kept it, I must have begun without sin in the start, for it would be absurd, to claim that I have kept the law while I was all the time a sinner; and if 1 have not kept it, then I am cursed by it, and if cursed, then I am not justified at all. "For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the BOOK of the law to do them." Gal. 3:10. The Book of the law, is clearly the book of Leviticus, and the word does not make any exception, for it is the book of the law, not "the moral law," as many would have us believe; for the Scripture says nothing of a moral law, but it does speak of "a fiery law," and of the law given by Moses. But we will suspend this line of thought for a little, and turn our attention in another direction.

And it is well to remark, first of all, that there are many wrong views entertained upon this subject; of which we have need to disabuse ourselves, before we can look in the right direction. For the color of the medium through which we look, will tinge every object at which we look. For instance; that which has been erroneously misnamed, the moral law, with many, occupies the first place, or is of the chiefest authority; and hence everything in the Bible must be interpreted so as to harmonize with that view.

Now while we would not in the least lower the standard of morality in the mind of any, much less, in the mind of any dear child of God; neither would we detract in the least from the importance, authority and jurisdiction of the law of Moses; yet, we would seek to have the mind of every one, so well informed on the subject as to give it just the place which it occupies in the mind of God, as regards this present dispensation.

For this only, can truly honor God, and that which does most truly honor God, will result in greatest blessing to souls. Now when we speak of law, we would be understood as referring to the law of Sinai as given by Moses, and never to moral law. For we know but little about moral law. All of our ideas, are relative. And God has dealt with us relatively. We know but' little of things in the absolute, when speaking of God and His works. So that, if God should give us what He would be pleased to call a moral law, we have but very little conception of what it would be. We judge relatively as to what is morality, and what immorality, from what God has revealed.

But when God said to Moses, " Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live." Ex. 33;20. It is plain that the absolute is intended; while again it is said in the ninth verse, "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." And Jesus said, " No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him," gives us the only thing possible for us, the relative.

Now then we will note a few points upon which the word is very Clear and plain. And first, The law was not given until Moses, and had no jurisdiction or authority over man, until twenty-five hundred years after Adam went out of Eden. Now the law says, Lev. 24:17, "And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death." But Cain slew his brother, and instead of this law being executed upon him, God said, "Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any one finding him should kill him." Gen. 4:15. Also, Rom. 5:13, " For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no. law." Here the truth is acknowledged which was implied in the case of Cain. "The law was given by Moses." John 1:17. "Did not Moses give you the law." John 7:19.

Second. The law was given to Israel exclusively, and never to the Gentiles, and its jurisdiction and authority applied to Israel only, and never to the nations. Ex. 20:2, "I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." And then follows, what is called the ten commandments, with other statutes and ordinances. The book of Leviticus opens with, "Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them,"-and closes with, " These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai."

And in the 26 chap. 45th verse, " But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord." These are the statutes, and judgments, and laws, which the Lord made between him, and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. And there are scores of just such passages in the Old Testament. These passages, with many like them, show conclusively, when, and to whom, the law was given.

And now as to the nations, we have one passage in the 14th of Acts, which is very clear, Paul says to the men of Lystra, 16th verse, " Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways." But again, we find when Jonah was sent to Ninevah, it was not a question of, law-breaking; and in the prophecies, where Babylon, Egypt, Tire, Sidon, and even Edom, (who was the brother of Israel, and seed of Abraham,) or others,-we find it was never a question of law; God never threatens judgment on them because they have not walked in His commandments, statutes and ordinances; nor does He say, ye have forsaken me, mine ordinances, my law,-but these are common expressions in the word of the Lord to Israel.

Another fact worthy of note, we get in the New Testament, is, that when Jews or Israelites to whom the law was given, came to Jesus with questionings, in many cases He put them upon the law. But when the Roman centurion,-the woman of Samaria,-and of Syrophonecia,- any of the outcasts who could not, or did not, set up a claim on the ground of law,-came to Jesus, He met them in grace, and did not refer them to the law.

How very blessed it is for us Gentiles to see that we can be, and are, received on the ground of grace, pure grace. The law required man to do something for God;, but grace reveals God as doing something for man, while as yet he had no strength and no heart to do anything for God. And this is clearly set forth in the case of the Prodigal. His brother could say, " neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment." But he could not claim anything, and yet he could receive everything. Blessed be God. This is what we need. His brother knew grace only to despise it, while he stood on the ground of having kept his father's commandment. But the Prodigal knew law only in the bitter cup of its judgments which he had tasted in the far country where sin abounded, and he knew grace, now, much more abounding, in the father's kiss, the father's arms, the father's honor and trust; and that grace had given him now a better heart in himself, and a better rule by which to walk. A deeper sense of his father's love, and a lower place of humiliation, from which to receive a correspondingly higher exaltation in his father's presence.

Dear reader, do you know anything of this? On which side of the father do you stand? Are you occupied with what you are doing for God? Or are you occupied with what God has done for you? Are you trying to find in yourself some good doing, good feeling or good experience by which to make a fair estimate of yourself? Or, are you self-emptied, like the Prodigal, adoring the grace that could do such wonderful things for a lost sinner. It may be very comforting to the flesh to say, "all these things have I kept from my youth up." But that thing, " the flesh," God can never save at all, nor any of its works.

C. E. H.

Answers to Correspondents: Already Holy; Everlasting Possession vs. Passed Away

Q.-What does our Lord mean in John 17:19: " And for their sakes I sanctify myself." Surely He was holy?

A.-Sanctify here has, of course, no reference to our blessed Lord becoming personally more holy, or more acceptable to God, but to the position which, for us, Re would occupy in glory. It is not here His work for us on the cross by which, according to Heb. 10:10, we are already sanctified, but His position in glory, as taken for us, the revelation of which to our souls by the word sanctifies us, and sets us apart from earthly things for God's glory, according to the heavenly place that Christ now occupies.

Many persons rejoice in the work of Christ on the cross for them, and know that by that work they are fitted for God's presence, but not having apprehended the place in glory that Christ occupies for them, they, though having peace with God, are earthly minded, and do not see separation from " this present evil world." Occupation of heart with Christ in glory at God's right hand takes the heart off; the earth, and outside the world, and we thus become "sanctified by the truth." It is this blessed effect of the glory of Christ that we have set before us in 2 Cor. 3:18, " We all with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Q.-In Gen. 17:8, we read that Abraham's seed should have the land of Canaan -for an everlasting possession, and in Rev. 21:1, we read of a new heaven and a new earth for the first' heaven and the first earth were passed away. How can these two statements be reconciled?

A.-The force of the word everlasting is always supplied to the mind by the connection in which it is used. In itself the word signifies continuance and uninterruptedness, but its force is modified according as it is used abstractedly, or in connection with some definite idea by which its particular import is supplied to the mind. Thus in the case of the promise to Abraham in the place referred to, " the everlasting possession " would involve the uninterrupted possession of the land of Canaan by his seed as long as the earth continued in the condition to which such a promise would apply, and thus the force of this word everlasting in this instance would fall within the scope of another promise of God made to Noah in the end of Gen. 8, " While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Then in the next chapter we read, " And the bow shall be in the cloud: and I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." As long then as the earth, as it now is, continues " every living creature of all flesh" will be under this " everlasting covenant " of God, and the seed of Abraham will have " the everlasting possession "

of the land promised to them. In the new heavens and new earth it will be no question of " all flesh," or of a special nation enjoying special blessings, but all such conditions and distinctions will have disappeared, and a totally new order of creation have come in, which will be the eternal state abstractedly, a condition of uninterrupted blessedness totally independent of the previous dealings of God with men, and with nothing in the future to bound the thought supplied by the word " everlasting."

Now

There is a " now " in everything, and without that "now " there could be nothing. There is a " now " for birth and a " now " for death. There is a certain point which gives maturity to whatever exists, and that point is expressed in the word " now."

Hence if " now " should bring with it each event, it must be of importance, an importance varying according to the character of the event itself; and yet how many of these " nows" come and go while we have no idea of their value, nor of the consequences of the events which they have produced. There are many " nows " in time, there is but one in eternity. There may be many changes in time, there are none in eternity.

Three times in the word of God does " now " occur; and on each occasion with immense significance, for on each of those occasions to which I refer, do we find an event solemn and deeply important. First, in John 12:31,32, the Lord says, " Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Here we have the " now " of the cross-that event of events-that wonder of wonders-when the sentence of judgment was passed on the entire moral system of the world, and on the devil by whom that system was directed. But not only so, for at the same time there was the lifting up of the Son of Man, the solemn act of His crucifixion when He became a curse for us," and when the wrath of a holy God was displayed against One who had willingly taken that place of shame and suffering, but wherein also the sins for which He suffered were borne, and a foundation was laid for the believing, not of the, Jews only, but for that of all, " all men should be drawn to Him."

Infinitely wondrous was the fruit of that " now." It was then that the character of God was displayed-when, in the cross of Christ, " mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other."

Secondly, in John 5:25, we read, " the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." Here we have the "now" of salvation. The dead, here spoken of, are the "dead in trespasses and sins," and the means of giving them life is the voice of the Son of God, "they that hear shall live."

Precious and long protracted " now!" Eighteen centuries have run their course and told their tale of earth's continued wickedness, and man's unbroken pride; nevertheless the patient, pleading voice of the Son of God may still be heard, so that life and salvation may " now " be obtained.

Pause, dear reader, and, tell me, hast thou yet heard the life giving sound of the voice of the Son of God? Art thou alive in Him, or still dead in sins? Oh but the lingering shadows of this precious and only " now " of salvation, of grace, and of love are in no wise to be disregarded. They speak of a day of mercy nearly closed, but of mercy still, mercy for the vile, for the rebel, for the sinner. The Son of God still says " come," -with the unwithdrawn assurance that the comer shall be in " no wise cast out," and still offers salvation as the fruit of the work of the cross; a present, full, free and everlasting salvation, whereby the blest recipient may be delivered from all the results of sin and brought into the presence and favor of God. " Behold, now is the day of salvation."

Thirdly. In Luke 16:25, as part of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we find the words, "now he is comforted and thou art tormented."

This gives us the "now " of eternity-the eternal, unchanging, unaltering "now." The " now " of comfort for the poor, mourning, despised believer; the " now " of torment for the worldling, the infidel, the godless and the formalist.

Blessed indeed on the one hand is the thought of an eternity of comfort after the sufferings of time shall have passed away from the believer; fearful, on the other, is the truth that an eternity of torment awaits the rejector of Christ, or the man who 'died as he lived. What tongue can describe the dark cloud of despair that settles down on the soul on which falls, the verdict, "now thou art tormented." Oh! what a connection! "now " and "torment." Now, without a moment of intermission or change-" now" for days and years and cycles-yea, for eternity, and only torment.

Unsaved soul, do, do take thought. Be governed by the word of God and by the voice of wisdom. Say, shall thine eternal now be one of comfort or of torment? Hear the voice of the Son of God. See the cross on which He died. Behold His wounded side. Harken to the shout of liberty, "It is finished." Believe and live, so that His "now" of agony on the cross may procure thy " now" of comfort forever. J. W. S.

Some Important Questions Answered: Saved Before Death; Certainty of Forgiveness; Before the Judgment Seat

"Is it not presumptions to say that we are saved before we die? How can we be certain that our sins are forgiven? Have we not all to appear before the judgment seat hereafter "?

In reply to these questions, first let me ask you, whether it is presumptions for a sinner to believe what God says? or, whether it is not the height of presumption to disbelieve his Word? The Lord Jesus in John 5:24, speaks thus: " 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."

Observe-the Lord himself, who is to be the judge, (for a little before he says, " The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,") here pronounces sentence with the authority of One speaking from the everlasting throne of God, and declares with a double Amen, " Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth.... and believeth... hath (not shall have, but hath) everlasting life;" has it already; has it at once, as soon as he believes.

" Shall not come into condemnation," that is, shall not stand to be judged upon any question of salvation, but is actually passed already from death unto life; in fact, has been translated out of death and the power of Satan, into the kingdom of life, of Christ and of glory, just as certainly as Enoch and Elijah were translated or carried away from the earth into heaven.

Again: in John 6:40, the Lord says: " This is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day:" and in verse 54, " Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life."

Passages similar to these might be multiplied, proving that he that hath the Son hath life; that as soon as a sinner believes, be has at once and forever become a new creature, and can never perish, but is in fact everlastingly saved; for by grace we are saved through faith-not we shall be.

As to the forgiveness of sins, it is also stated in God's word, that in his dear Son, " We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," (Col. 1:4.) "You being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses," (Col. 2:13.) " In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace," (Eph. 1:7.)

Forgiveness of sins, therefore, is a present blessing, to be received now, and not to be settled at some future judgment scene. This forgiveness of sins, also, is true to every one that believes, on to the last moment of his life here below. He can say, every day, every hour, In Christ I have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; not I have had, but I hare forgiveness of sins. The value of the preceious blood of Christ goes on and an, cleansing and keeping us clean, till we are presented faultless, on the morning of the resurrection, before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy.

But it may be asked, "Is there no judgment seat before which I shall have to stand?" If you be a believer in Christ, you will never have to appear before a throne of judgment upon any question of salvation. On the contrary, supposing you were to die, you would depart to be with Christ, which is far better.—You would be absent from the body, at home with the Lord. The dying thief heard the glorious words, " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." It would indeed be a strange thing if the believer, after having been at home with Christ above, after having been with Him in Paradise, should at the resurrection day, stand before a throne of judgment upon the question whether he were saved or not-should stand to hear whether he should go to heaven or to hell, after he had been with Christ in heaven for many years.

When the resurrection day comes, " The Laid himself will descend from heaven with a short, with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God; and the dead in Christ, (those believers who have died,) will rise first; then we which are alive and remain, (those of us who are believers in Christ, who may be at that time living on the earth,) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord," (1 Thess. 4:16,17.) Thus instead of being judged, " we shall be ever with the Lord." The change also is instantaneous; " in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," this mortal will put on immortality, this body of dishonor will be changed, or raised in glory. The believer will be glorified immediately he hears the trumpet sound at the Lord's return. He cannot, then, be judged on a question of sin, after he has been glorified and made like Christ.

Again the Lord Himself said, " I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am there ye may be also." He will take us to be forever with Himself, instead of calling us up before a throne of judgment.

There is indeed one passage that may perplex some " We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether good or bad," (2 Cor. 5:10.) This passage has no reference to any question of heaven or hell. Any question of salvation or condemnation. It is the judgment seat of Christ which is here spoken of. Christ is the name of the Lord Jesus with reference to ills church. He will not, as Christ, sit upon a throne of judgment, to judge the world or the wicked; but, because he is the Son of man, God has committed all judgment to him, (John 5:27.) " God has appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world..... by that Man whom he hath ordained," (Acts 7:31.) " Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," (Matt. 27:64. Dan. 7:13.)

Christ, because He is the head of His church, will' call around Him all believers, after they are raised and glorified, and will investigate their works and ways as believers, and will apportion power and dominion to them according to their past faithfulness and diligence. To this the apostle refers when he speaks of all believers appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive according to their works. Lot was saved out of Sodom, and perished not in the burning city; but he was saved like one who had passed through the fire. He lost everything he had. He was as safe as Abraham, but the latter retained all his possessions, and glorified God in his walk of faith.

One believer is just as much saved as another from all condemnation; but the walk and conduct of one may be much more pleasing to Christ than the ways of another, and this difference will be made manifest after both have been raised in equal glory. H. S.

Grace and Truth

" The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," is the brief and weighty way in which the Spirit of God sets before us the change in the dealings, or rather the contrast in the dealings, of God with man, consequent upon the coming of the Son of God in the world. He who was with God and was God, " the Word," " was made flesh and dwelt among us," John says, as announcing the divine and personal glory of Him who had taken His place among men, but, if thus among men, it was as " full of grace and truth " for men.

With Moses came the law. The claim of God on man as His intelligent creature. In this way God announced Himself as a moral governor, and proposed to man to enter into relationship with Him on that footing. A footing that made obedience to the known and detailed will of God the ground of blessing. The law told man what he ought to be, end if he filled up its requirements, according to the righteous government of God, blessing was secured to him, but if he failed in one point that same righteous government condemned him without mercy.

Wherever Moses went he carried with him, in the right hand and in the left, the claims of God as a light by which man might see what he ought to be, and the principles on which, according to the state in which the law found him, God alone could deal with him. In every case the light did but detect evil, more or less, and thus blessing, upon the principle of government, there could be none, and the apostle Paul, as a matter of doctrine, closes up the whole question by saying that, " As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." Hence to be under God as a moral governor leaves man with nothing before him but judgment, and the more the light of the law shines in upon his heart and ways the mare his conscience tells him that judgment is justly his, while way of escape from judgment the law shows none.

The reason of this is manifest upon reflection; for the law setting God before the mind purely in the character of a moral governor only shows what God must be to man founded upon the state mad is in. It tells nothing, absolutely nothing, of what God can be for man, as flowing from what God is in Himself. It was not given to Moses to reveal God outside the footing of human responsibility. The economy, or dealing of God with man, which he represented, went no farther. The light concerning God and man which he carried with him was partial and limited. He brought truth, but only a little truth to man's conscience, and this measure of truth without an atom of grace that could remedy the condition in which the truth he did bring, found the man it acted upon. His was in consequence a ministry of death and condemnation. Where he passed, misery and distress of soul told the path he had trodden over. It is so still; wherever the law makes its voice heard misery and distress are the inevitable consequences.

The dispensation of the law begins and ends with Moses. Whilst he holds the ground all is darkness and gloom, which the measure of light he carries with him, only makes more manifest. The dispensation of the gospel is not a development of that which proceeded it. It begins where the other ends, and is in entire contrast with it in all its features.

Moses and his dispensation pass off the scene, and Christ enters it, and with him the dealings of God with man completely change. But it is not merely a change of dispensation that is in question. Not simply that another person with plenitude of power and different principles has come, as upon God's part, to institute a new ground of relationship for man with God, but He who has come is God Himself manifest in flesh. It is no longer a claim preferred by God on man through a mediator; a claim which man could only own the justice of while he fell under its condemnation, but God Himself come down amongst men according to what He is in Himself, " full of grace and truth" for those to whom He came. Moses and His economy must needs retire before the pressure of One who in the fullness of His own per son comes to deal Himself with man, not upon the principle of what man ought to be for God, but of what God can be for man.

With Moses all is from man to God. With Jesus Christ all is from God to man. The one is law, the other is grace. Grace according to a fullness that has no measure, and which in the nature of things excludes everything but itself. The law claimed everything and gave nothing. Grace claims nothing and gives everything. The law works wrath. Grace works blessing, and only blessing.

It is impossible for man to be in relationship with God upon the mixed principle of law and grace. Can Moses and Jesus Christ -share the glory of a joint economy? Can one who only claims and condemns those who don't meet his demands be found in harmonious working with One who only gives, and has nothing but blessing to bestow? Can wrath and love join hands to deal with the same object?

" The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," is then, not merely the statement, that by one person the law was given, and that by An grace and truth were introduced, but the announcement that one mode of dealing with man had, in the perfection of God's ways, given place to another, and not only this, but as we have already observed, the relative dignity of the Person introducing the one is contrasted with that of him who had introduced the other. As the effect of the presence of this divine Person, come in flesh among men, " grace and truth" had more than come, it subsisted livingly in His person, and those who came to Him found nothing but "grace and truth," so that those who had come could only say, " and of His fullness have all we received, and grace upon grace "

But what is this grace that allows nothing to mingle with it? It is simply divine love amid sinners. Love that sought objects on which to spend itself, it could only be grace in a world like this where all are sinners. The condition of those to whom it came only called forth the exercise of this love in the character of grace. Receive anything, as an answer to itself from those to whom it came, it could not. There was nothing to give save sin, hatred and misery on the side of man, but love could pardon the one, rise above the other and remedy the last. Nay, more, it could give Itself to die and put away everything that stood in the way -of the blessing of Its objects. But as it was " grace " among men it was " truth" too. That which made manifest the true condition of every thins, before God. The true relation of all things with God, and their departure from it is shown at once in the presence of Christ. The light shines, and heaven and earth, time and eternity, God and men are at once disclosed, and the truth of everything, in every respect, is at once set before the soul. The light-the truth, has to be received, and that is all that can be done. The light receives nothing from the scene it comes into. It simply shines upon everything, and shows what it is. The law threw a ray or two of light. It told some truth, but it was not "the truth," as revealing everything that could be revealed. In coating to the law man saw truly some things. He saw himself a transgressor, and the judgment of God hanging over him; it was to his soul death and condemnation. In coming to Jesus man sees everything, because " the light" is that into which he comes, it tells him all the truth. He finds himself not only a transgressor but a sinner in his nature, and at enmity with God, it exposes all the consequences of such a condition before God, and in eternity, but it shows him all this in the presence, of a love that has come down to save him out of everything that the light shines upon. " The light is the life of men," and instead of death and condemnation filling the soul with terror and-distress, peace and joy is what the heart enters into. While truth deals with the conscience thoroughly, grace enters the heart fully and casts out all tear, because divine love is in activity to bless a sinner.

This is what happens when a soul comes simply to Jesus. " Grace and truth" take possession of it, and there is peace with God, and joy in God. " God is love," and “ God is light." He is this in His nature and has ever been such. Revealed in Christ, the Word made flesh, love and light became " grace and truth." They assume this character as adapted to man-not to man as innocent, but to man as a sinner.

The law deals with those who would be righteous and condemns them. Grace and truth deal with sinners and save them.

Dear reader, who are you listening to? To Moses or to Jesus Christ? Which?

If to Moses, he can only give you law and its terrible denunciations. It to Jesus Christ, He has nothing for you but grace and truth, with all the blessing divine love can bestow.

Crucified With Christ

All Christians see, more or less clearly, that Christ has been crucified for them, and that through His work for them on the cross, they are saved and delivered from the consequences of sins. Their consciences, so to speak, have drunk into the blood of Christ. They have peace with God through Him who has "made peace by the blood t)f His cross;" and they adoringly speak of Him " in whom," as they say, "we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of sins."

All this is as it should be, and is the blessed and happy experience of every dear child of God who simply rests by faith upon the blood of God's Son that " cleanseth us from all sin."

But seeing that Christ has been crucified for me is not the same thing as seeing that I have been crucified with Christ. The one aspect of the cross puts away what I have done. The other puts me, myself; away. Where the one only is seen, though sins are felt to be gone, self remains, and remains to be the plague of the Christian's life, and the more really godly the person is, and the more lively the conscience, the more intolerable the company of "self," "horrid self," is felt to be.

How often we hear dear believers in the Lord Jesus exclaim with agonized intensity, "Oh! if I could only get rid of myself, how happy I should be." " It is not my sins that trouble me," they add, " they are all, I know, washed away out of God's sight, in the precious blood of Jesus, but it is this wretched 'self' that I can't rid of, and which makes me long to be in Heaven where there will be no ' self.'"

Yes, "self" is the trouble with most of us, and it was with the apostle Paul till he got to this, " I myself through the law died unto the law that I might live unto God. I have been crucified with Christ: and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me." (Gal. 2 Alford's Translation.)

In the mercy of God the apostle Paul, that he might teach others, was allowed of God to go thoroughly into this question of " self," and how it was to be got rid of. He gives us in the verses quoted the only way of dealing with " self." Practically self and law go together. To be in self is to be under law, and to be under law is to be in self. Paul lets the law have its way with him. The law kills him right out—curses and hangs him up on a tree, but it is in company with another. "I have been crucified with Christ," he says. The law had cursed and hanged Christ on a tree. Christ who in love had come under the law to be thus dealt with for Paul's sake. " He loved me and gave Himself for me," he says, and he just took his place with the One that had loved him, in the place where that love proved itself for Him.

It did not satisfy Paul to know that Christ had been crucified for him, he makes the discovery that he had been crucified with Christ, and thus he himself had died to law that he might live to God, and no longer to himself. In this way he effectually got rid of himself: He could only get back to himself by coming to life again under the law that had killed him. This was impossible, for he was nailed fast to the cross with Christ. Unless Christ, as a living man, came down from the cross, he could not.

To let Christ come off the cross for him was the last thing Paul thought of. " No," he says, " I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me." Christ had died under law for Paul, and Paul had died with Christ. Christ had been crucified for Paul, and Paul had been crucified with Christ. Paul's history had closed on the gibbet with Him, who in love had hung there for him.

He was not ashamed to own this. He says, as it were, "I have been a bad man, and broken the law thoroughly, and the law cursed and crucified me, and that is the end of me. I have died a shameful death. Justly condemned, and I am no longer, a living man, but He who died for me, and with whom I died, lives again, and He lives in me." A risen Christ living in him was all the life that, as a Christian, Paul knew of, and the only person he knew to live for, was this blessed Son of God, who had loved him and given Himself for him.

In all this Paul is not looking into his own heart, and describing his experience, as occupied with the work of the Holy Ghost in him, but he is looking back at the work of Christ for him, and he sees himself as a passed fact, what ever his then inward experience might be, crucified with Christ. When Christ hung on the cross he put away Paul's sins, and that was years ago even before Paul was converted; so when Christ hung on the cross for him and he hung there with him, was years ago. This was how things had been before God all along, and when by faith Paul saw what had been done for him, and happened to him, he applies the fact to himself and says, " I have been crucified with Christ." The fact was long past, the effect continued, and nothing could alter it. For his faith no Paul existed. Such a person no longer lived. Christ lived in him, and "self" was a thing of the past.

What was true of Paul, as a believer in the Lord Jesus, is true of every believer. All believers in Christ have had their sins put away when " He bore them in His own body on the tree," and they have Leen crucified when He was crucified.

When a believer sees that Christ has borne his sins he gets relief in his conscience about his sins; in short, he finds the forgiveness of sins, but his sins were not put away when he believed in the forgiveness of his sins. The putting away of his sins was the work of Christ for him on the cross 1800 years ago. The forgiveness of sins, or the relief in conscience which he gets about his sins by believing in that work, is the work of the Holy Ghost in him, a work possible in him alone because of the previous existence of the work for him. So the crucifixion of the believer is the work of Christ for him, by which he was crucified when Christ was crucified. The deliverance from "self," by the knowledge of this crucifixion, is the work of the Holy Ghost in him; but there could be no such work of the Holy Ghost in him, unless it were true, as a fact outside him, that he was already crucified with Christ.

In every particular, the work of the Holy Ghost in the believer, is merely to make him know, and thus enjoy, what is already true of him in Christ.

If a believer in Jesus says to me, " I am so troubled about my sins," I reply to him "You need not trouble yourself about your sins, Christ put them all away 1800 years ago."

If a believer in Jesus says to me, "I am so troubled with my wretched self," I reply to him, " You need not trouble yourself about yourself, you were crucified with Christ 1800 years ago."

If in the first case what I say is not believed, the forgiveness 'of sins is not entered unto. If in the second case what I say, is not believed, the deliverance from self is not experienced, but the two facts stated are true, only unbelief deprives the person, about whom they are true, of the enjoyment that should flow from them.

It is unintelligible to reason, or common sense, for a believer to say, "I have been dead over 1800 years, I have been crucified over 1800 years ago." But the thing is perfectly simple and intelligible to faith, because God's word says so.

The Lord in His goodness give to all His people, to say, in simple faith, "I have been crucified with Christ," and they will find, that practically, "horrid self" will not trouble them any more than the sins which they know are -washed away in the precious blood of Christ.

Jesus Changeth Not

There's naught on earth to rest on,

All things are changing here,

The smiles of joy we gaze on,

The friend we count most dear;

One friend alone is changeless,

The One too oft forgot,

Whose love has stood for ages;

Our Jesus changeth not.

The sweetest floweret on earth

That sheds its fragrance round,

Ere evening comes has withered,

And lies upon the ground;

The dark and dreary desert,

Has only one green spot,

'Tis found in living pastures,

With Him who changeth not.

And clouds o'ercast our summer sky,

So beautiful, so-bright,

And while we still admire it,

It darkens into night;

One sky alone is cloudless,

There darkness enters riot,

'Tis found alone with Jesus,

And Jesus changeth not.

And friendship's smile avails not

To cheer us here below,

For friends are passing onward,

They quickly ebb and flow;

One smile alone can gladden,

What'er the pilgrim's lot,

It, is the smile of Jesus,

For Jesus changeth not.

And thus our bark moves onward

O'er life's tempestuous sea;

While death's unerring hand

Is stamped on all we see;

But faith has found a living One,

Where hope deceiveth not;

For life is hid with Jesus,

And Jesus changeth not.

There's naught on earth to rest on,

All things are changing here,

The smiles of joy we gaze upon,

The friends we count most dear;

One friend alone is changless,

The One too oft forgot,

Whose love has stood for ages,

Our Jesus changeth not.

The Suffering of Christ

There are two distinct parts in the sufferings of Christ. 1st. That which He suffered from the efforts of Satan-as man in conflict with the power of the enemy who had dominion over death-this, in communion with His Father, presenting His requests to Him; and 2nd, that which He suffered to accomplish expiation for sin, bearing the wrath of God, drinking the cup which His Father had given Him to drink.

At the commencement of His public life, the tempter endeavored to turn Jesus aside by setting before Him the attractiveness of all that which as privilege, belonged to Him, all that might be agreeable to Christ as man.

Satan departed from Him for a season. In Gethsemane he returns, using the fact of death to throw anguish into the heart of the Lord. And He must needs go through death if man was to be delivered from it, for it was man's portion; and He alone by going down into it could break its chains. He had become man, that man might be delivered and even glorified. The distress of His soul was complete. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Thus His soul was that which the soul of a man ought to be in the presence of death, when satin puts forth all his power in it; only He was perfect in it; it was a part of His perfection put to the test in all that was possible to man. But with tears and supplications He makes His request to Him who had power to save Him from death. For the 'moment His agony increases. Presenting it to God makes it more acute, This is the case in our own little conflicts. But thus the thing is settled accordant' to perfection before God. His soul enters into it with God. He prays more fervently, It is now evident that this cup-which He puts before His Father's eyes when Satan presents it to Him as the power of death in the soul—must be drunk. As obedient to His Father, He takes it in peace. To drink it is but per-feet obedience instead of being the power of Satan.

But it must be drunk in reality; and, upon the cross, Jesus, the Savior of our souls, enters into the second phase of His sufferings. He goes under death as the judgment of God, the separation of the soul from the light of His countenance; all that a soul, which enjoyed nothing except communion with God, could suffer in being deprived of it, the Lord suffered, according to the perfect measure of the communion which was interrupted. Yet He gave glory to God,-" But thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." The cup of wrath-for I pass over the outrages and insults of men, we may spare them-the cup of wrath was drunk. Who can tell the horrors of that suffering! The true pains of death, understood as God understands it, felt-according to the value of His presence-divinely, as by a man who depended on that presence as man. But all is accomplished; and that which God required in respect to sin, exhausted, and He is glorified as to it: so that He has only to bless whosoever comes to Him through a Christ who is alive and was dead, and who lives forever a man, forever before God.

The sufferings of Christ in His body, real as they were, the insults and upbraidings of men, were but the preface of His affliction, which, by depriving Him, as man, of all consolation, left Him wholly to His sufferings in connection with the judgment of sin, when the God who would have been His full comfort, Was, as forsaking Him, the source of sorrow, which left all the rest as unfelt and forgotten. J. N. D.

Responsibility: Part 5, Concluded

Third. Another point which should be noticed in this connection is, that when the Holy Ghost set up the church on the day of Pentecost, and thence forward, the law was not brought in as the order by which the church was to be governed; but on the other band, while Jewish disciples and Judaizing teachers from time to time are dragging in the law, the Holy Ghost is, at the same time working to put it out: and we need only refer to one chapter in the Acts, the 15th, (though there are many other portions,) to settle the point to the satisfaction of every candid inquirer after truth. The first verse, " And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small discussion and disputation with them they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question..... And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto -them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a great while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe..... And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?"

Note particularly this last verse, " Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." And James adds his sentence, "That we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: For Moses of old time

Mark this declaration of the word of God dear reader, -a For it SEEMED GOOD TO THE HOLY GHOST, and to us," day the apostles and elders and church, at Jerusalem, " to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." What necessary things!? That though, undo' grace, they were under the law as well? No I For the law was the very yoke, which those to whom it was given, were not able to bear. The conclusion is inevitable, that they as Gentiles Were not to be in bondage to a system, which, those to whom it was given, as Jews, were not _able to bear, And be it remembered, they did not divide the system, by saying, the ceremonial and the civil law are not binding, but the moral law is. And for the simple reason, that the Holy Ghost had never recognized such a distinction.

And still another thought deserves our notice for a moment; as it is often supposed the word " commandment " in the New Testament, is a reference to the law of Moses.

Now this word " commandment" is often used in scripture when it does not refer to the law at all; but simply the word of God, as doctrine, and so of the word " law."

" Thy law is my delight," 119th Psalm. Here °the word translated law, is used 25 times, and in the 19th Psalm 7th verse, (see margin,) so also in the prophets. And in the gospels, John 10;18, " This commandment have I received of my Father." Also, John 12:49-50, " but the Father which hath sent me, He gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should preach. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting." These passages and many more like them, show, of themselves, that it is not a reference to the law of Moses at all. Com. John 14,15,21,23 and 24.

The law is not abrogated, nor set aside. It has its place, and its power; and if I claim to walk by it, its place and power, is to curse me now, just as much as anciently to curse the Jew or Israelite, and instead of honoring the law I am breaking it, and thus dishonoring God.-Rom. 2:25, " Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?" There is, then, but one way to honor the law, and that is, to take the sentence of death which it gives, as Paul says, Gal. 2:19, "1 through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God." What claim has the law upon a dead man?

To recapitulate.. We have seen that the law was not given until Moses,-twenty-five hundred years after Adam went out of Eden; and then, only to Israel, and not to the nations or Gentiles; and that it was never acknowledged by the Holy Ghost and the apostles, as the standard for the church.

We come now to consider three other points, viz., For what was the law. given? Why is not the Christian under it, as a rule of life; and what is the rule of life for the child of God? To the first question this answer comes up first of all: That man having ruined himself, has ruined everything which God has committed to him, i. e., he has failed utterly to meet his responsibilities. Adam first failed, Noah failed, Abraham failed, Moses failed, Israel under the law failed-, the church also has grievously failed.

Not as regards the councils of God,-that-He should present it to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing-for that is the rock against which the gates of hell shall not prevail,-hut as regards its responsibility in the world, it has utterly failed, and, we ourselves have utterly failed, and nothing but ruin surrounds us in this scene here below.

The two grand elements of sin and ruin, lust and self-will," sin in the flesh" are the ruling elements in everything around us. These were born in Eden the first-begotten of Satan, in the first Adam, and are never remedied, but cast out only by the power of the Second Man, the Only-begotten 'of God. Man having thus failed, the law comes in by the way to bring out transgression and make it more apparent, and was thus the last great test of man in responsibility. So that when Christ comes, it is no longer a question of human responsibility, but of the grace of God, for man has been tried every way, and found wanting, no good, no righteousness in him, according to Rom. 3:9-20.

Mark well this passage, dear reader. It is not a question here, of relative good, one man toward another, but of absolute good; that which can stand before God. For man, in order to stand before God must have righteousness; not human righteousness, but divine righteousness. And that is not a thing inherent in sinful flesh at all, and never can be, for it was not in Adam before he sinned, much less after he had sinned. Hence the answer to our first question comes out again, in Rom. 5:20, "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound." The life of sin was there, and it only needed the law to bring out its fruit to perfection. Hence Rom. 7, " I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupicence; for without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." 1 Tim. 1:9, " Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers -of mothers, for man-slayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for man stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." These scriptures are very 'clear, very definite, they need no comment. They show for what and for whom the law was given.

Secondly. 'Why is not the christian under it as a rule of life? And first, because lie is a christian. To be a christian, is to be in a new state altogether. Not in the old first Adam condition, but in the condition of the Second Man, the Lord from heaven. Hence God's reckoning for the child of God, is, " after the image of Him that created him." To be born of God is to be a son of God, which Adam never was. Rom. 8:9, " But ye are not in the flesh, (the first Adam state,)• but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. And if Christ be in you the body (the first Adam state and condition,) is dead, (not going to die, nor yet dying, but dead, Is DEAD) because of sin." When and where did it die? Rom. 6, " Knowing this that our old man, (the first Adam state before God,) is crucified with Him, that the body of sin, (the old state of self-will and lust.) might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we, (as to our old state,) be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died He died unto sin once, but in that He liveth He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves, (as to your old state,) to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

This is all in the reckoning of faith; while as a matter of fact you are still in the body, and the same body of sin, not a whit changed, the old state of self-will and lust are there, but held in subjection by the power of the Second Man, brought in by faith, to wait for His coming to quicken these mortal, or corruptible bodies, as the case may be, "into the likeness of His glorious body." Hence the exhortation which follows, " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead." So that, here in the sixth of Romans it is a crucified, dead, and buried Christ; which gives to faith the ground of death, to the old state, and a risen, living, and ascended Christ which gives to faith a new life, a new path, and a new rule by which to walk. And in the seventh chapter it is the same principle of death and life which gives to faith the ground of deliverance from the law. For the law applied to the old state; it was given to the man in the flesh; it was for the old man not for the the new, as we have seen.

Hence, to faith, the old state-and condition of "sin in the flesh" being dead, as " crucified with Him," the law is honored, yea, " magnified and made honorable," for it has had its claim settled, and its prisoner is discharged through death. Rom. 7:6, " But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were held, (our old state to which the law applied,) that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."

It is not that the law is dead, but that the old state to which the law applied, is dead to faith, and you, (if a believer " in the heart unto righteousness,") are in a new state before God.

It is not that you are discharged from responsibility, but that your responsibility is increased immeasurably, inasmuch as, " He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as he He walked." 1 John 2:6.

Hence the exhortation of the 12th and last five chapters of Romans; the cutting rebukes, and the pungent teaching of first and second Corinthians. The blessed doctrine of acceptance in the Beloved; our standing in Him, yea, raised up together and made sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and, flowing out there from, the practical instruction of last three chaps of Ephs.

In the book of Galatians, we get another effort of the Holy Ghost through the apostles to bring back the church from the spirit of legalism and law, into which they had been beguiled, by Judaizing teachers; and is of itself a complete answer to our second question, Why is not the christian under the law? " Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh "? Gal. 3. To go back to law, was to let the old man loose, which by faith, had been bound in death, in the sixth of Romans, For wherever it is a question of law, it must of necessity be with the old man alive, the old state of the flesh, and sin in the flesh to which the law applied. For I cannot apply the law to " the new man," for he has a far better, higher and more perfect rule, of which the fourth of Ephesians and the third of Colosians form a part only.

But the new man, what has the law to do with him? What had the law to do with Jesus? It was not a rule of life for Him, surely. He kept it perfectly, no doubt, and was the only man who ever did. But He did much more than that, for the law said, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But Jesus said, " resist not evil," and He lived it.

The law said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy." But Jesus said, " love your enemies, bless them that curse you, bless and curse not," and He lived this also.

He loved His enemies and gave Himself to reproach, His face to spitting, and His back to smiting, and His life in death, for the very hands that shed His blood. The law did not require anything like this, and in this also we are to follow His steps, if the will of God be so. And this brings out the answer to our third question, What is the rule of life for the child of God? " He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. C. E. H.

(Concluded from page 54.)

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Q.-What is the meaning of the passage in Matt. 12:43-45?

A.-To be understood this passage must be taken in connection with that which preceeds it. The Lord had just cast a devil out of a blind and dumb man. Jealous of the Lord, and hostile to the testimony of God, the Pharisees, while admitting that real devils were cast out by Him, deliberately attributed the power by which He did this, to Satan. This was not only the rejection of Himself, but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, i.e.. to allow the activity of a power which could only be of God, and then attribute it to Satan. Not only could this sin not be pardoned, but it proved they were "a generation of vipers." To seek further signs of His power, while rejecting the clearest evidence of divine power then in their midst, in the casting out of devils, was the request of "an evil and adulterous generation," that the Lord would not gratify, for it was unbelief and rebellion that prompted the request.

As a nation they despised the Gentiles-a people under the power of Satan, worshipping idols, but Gentiles were better than they were, for the Ninevites had repented at the preaching of Jonah; and a greater than Jonah was there. Dark and ignorant as the Gentiles were, the Queen of the South had come a long distance to see Solomon, attracted by the report of his wisdom, but a greater than Solomon was there, and they would not listen to Him. True they were not idolaters worshipping stocks and stones under Satan's power; outwardly they had been delivered from his power, but at heart they were worse than even Gentiles, they were "an evil and adulterous generation" against whom the Gentiles, they so despised, should testify, but more than that, they should be judged for this rejection of Himself, by being delivered over again to the power of the unclean spirit of idolatry from which they boasted they had been delivered.

The passage we are considering is the pronouncing of this doom on the nation of Israel by the Lord, which He concludes by saying, "even so shall it be also with this generation." The state of Israel in the last days should be worse than that which it was before they had been separated from the nations by the knowledge of the one true God. At the moment when Christ was speaking they were like a house "swept and garnished." They were moral and religious, but that was no security against the unclean spirit re-possessing himself of his old house.

indeed he would come back with sevenfold power, and lead them to their own destruction by inciting them to madness against God, and those who worship Him. This passage, therefore, has no reference to the present ways of God with christians, nor is its application individual.

The Indian Convert: "I Believe in Jesus"

In a wild and mountainous region of India, early one morning, a small band of Indians might have been seen, some years ago, quietly moving along the banks of a lake situated close to a beautiful grove of mango trees. Among the group were two youthful enquirers after eternal life, who had renounced the sinful and heathen practice of idol worship. They had heard about Jesus, their Savior, through the preaching of a missionary, who was spending his life and strength in that foreign land for God; and in true simplicity of heart they believed what they heard, and desired to know more about the God whom the white man worshipped.

On the morning referred to, they were going to listen again while the teacher spoke to them about Him who had sent His only Son Jesus to die for them; and they returned to their mountain homes with joyful, chastened hearts, having "peace and joy in believing." A short time afterward one of them was seized upon by the head man of their village, who roughly questioned him about this "new religion." He replied, " I believe in Jesus Christ, and guats (a lower order of Gods), the images or the pagodas, nor drink spirits; I worship the eternal God." He was ordered to pay a certain number of rupees as a fine, and then to give up the "foreigners' religion " altogether.

Upon another occasion one of his own tribe said, "Come, join our worship again, and feed the gods?" " No," was his unhesitating reply, "I mean to worship the eternal God to the end of my life, and I mean to find out more about Jesus Christ."

And interval of some months elapsed, and the scene was changed. Very late one night, when the faithful, earnest missionary, before mentioned, had retired to rest, wearied with his day's work, a messenger from without woke him from his slumbers, saying " Teacher! you are wanted!"

In a few moments both were hurrying along to the spot where the dying one lay, who had wished the teacher to be fetched.

As they approached the low bamboo house, a wild, wailing noise, proceeding from it, reached their ears, which intimated the presence of death. The missionary passed through a crowd of friends and relatives gathered at the door, and in a moment more he was gazing with much emotion upon the corpse of a native youth, whom he had often seen, and well knew. " He is gone to the golden country, "whispered a voice close to his ear, "to bloom forever among the flowers of paradise." Startled, and suddenly turning, he saw before him a middle-aged woman, holding a palm leaf fan before her face. And, amidst the confused wail of the mourners, she added " He worshiped the true God, and trusted in the Lord, our redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ; he trusted in Him, he called and was answered; he was weary and in pain, and the Lord who loved him took him home to be in His bosom forever."'

"How long, since his soul took its flight?" asked the missionary. " About an hour, teacher "

" Was he conscious?" " Yes, and full of joy."

"What did he talk about?" Only of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose face he seemed to see."

Reader of this little narrative, let me ask the question " Can you say, like this simple hearted Indian, believe in Jesus Christ?' Do you know Him as your Savior, the One who has borne your sins in His 'own body on the cross This poor native youth had been a heathen, who knew nothing of the only true God; he was a worshipper of stocks and stones. But when he heard about Jesus, the Son of God, having come down into this evil world to be a man and die, that through His death and atoning work all who believe and trust in Him might be saved, and possess eternal life," then his poor, ignorant heart was touched by such redeeming love, and he " turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." He gave up as a wicked, worthless thing the so-called religion of his ancestors, with its heathenish rites and practices. He knew himself to be a sinner, but believed that Jesus had died for him, and so had the sense of his sins being all forgiven and with this, that he was made clean through the precious blood of Christ which " cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

Fellow sinner, do you know yourself to be guilty, lost, hell-deserving, by nature unfit for the presence of God? Turn then to Him who is " mighty to save, " believe in the One who came to seek and to save that which was lost, listen to the gracious loving words which fell from a Savior's lips, " He that cometh unto me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst;" " Him that cometh unto me I will no wise cast out;", " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me HATH everlasting life" (John 6:35,37,47).

Head knowledge, or a mere profession of Christianity, will not save you, neither can the observance of certain religious forms and ceremonies fit you for heaven, or make you acceptable in God's sight! They may quiet your conscience for a time, nothing more than, this, and if you place any virtue in cold religious observances then you are one of those who are lulled into a state of insensibility and indifference by this opiate of Satan. 'Be not deceived, that great enemy of mankind and destroyer of souls wishes to retain you forever in his clutches, and would have you eternally sunk in the dark, fathomless depths of perdition.

But, through the wonderful long-suffering and mercy of God, there are yet time and opportunity to be saved from such a dreadful, awful eternity; there is still a way of escape.

By nature we are all ruined and undone, irreparably bad, rebels against a holy, loving God. But, marvelous grace! "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Let me ask, dear reader, do you see in Jesus, the crucified One, the manifestation of God's love to you, as the One who came to seek and to save you? Oh! can you not in your heart say, "I believe He came to seek and to save lost, perishing sinners, and this is just my condition,"

What are your thoughts of Jesus while He was suffering, dying on that terrible cross? Do you see Him there, with the eye of faith, as bearing your multitude of sins, and dying to put them all away forever? It is at that cross upon which the blessed, perfect Son of God hung and was crucified, that we learned the fullness, the reality, and the perfection of God's redeeming love.

Ah! my fellow sinner, it is a wondrous, yet undeniable fact, that the holy, just, and beloved Son of God came down into this wretched, polluted world to save such as you and me from everlasting ruin and condemnation. He has accomplished a mighty work, a great salvation, nothing more remains to be done: " It is finished" were the last life-giving words of the blessed Jesus, ere He "bowed his head and gave up the ghost."

Will you -still disbelieve that the atoning work is complete? Think what a dreadful thing is unbelief. It makes the God of truth a liar! It also dashes from a sinner's lips the cup of everlasting happiness, and closes the door of mercy in his face!

Do you, reader, like the young Indian, "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," and have you " trusted in Him?"

As It Was in the Days of Noe and of Lot

Over 1800 years have rolled by since the Lord spoke these memorable words, and gave this prophetic picture of the state the world would he in at His return. The Son of Man has suffered many things and been rejected of this generation and nothing hut judgment awaits those who form part of that system which, in the word of God, is called "the world." The world has crucified and rejected God's Son. The cross is the standing witness of man's hatred of God. It got rid, as it hoped forever, of the witness for God when it crucified the Son of Man. The nation of Israel, who are specially in view in this discourse of the Lord to His disciples, headed the world in its utter rejection of God's Son come in grace into it, as the Son of Man. " The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy Servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done." Acts 4 This is how matters now stand between God and the world. In God's sight the world is a judged thing, and Christ is simply sitting at God's right hand, " until His enemies be made His footstool."

It is no longer a question of Jew or Gentile, of being moral or immoral, religious or irreligious in the world.

All that was in question up to the cross of Christ, and formed a ground of blessing in the world without raising the question of what should come after this life.

The Holy Ghost has come down from Christ at the right hand of God, and is dealing with the world as a great earthly system that stands in direct opposition to God, of which the cross is the proof. He is here, (we speak not now of His work of grace in individuals to bring them to God,) to bring home to the world three distinct charges upon God's part. " When He is come," says the Lord Jesus, " He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because they -believed not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." There is nothing- here of the testimony of God's grace to save the world, so to speak. It is the ground of the world's judgment. The world is not going to be saved. It is going to be judged, and as a system completely set aside. It is simply full of sin, unrelievedly such, because it does not believe in Christ. It may have its morality and its religion; its civilization and its improvements, but it has all these, good in themselves, without Christ. It had them at the time of the crucifixion of the Lord, hut sin was' at the root of all it was, and thus-was, and is still proved to be so by the rejection of Christ.

The world has no righteousness for God. Nothing that He holds righteousness—as that which will hear the day of judgment, and this is proved by Christ being gone to the Father and no more seen by the world. The one only righteous man in it, like Noah amid the antediluvians, of whom God said, " thee I have seen righteous in this generation," has been turned out of it by man, and righteousness is not in the world at all, last at God's right hand in Christ. If the world were to own Christ righteous, it would acknowledge itself unrighteous, instead of that it laid claim to righteousness in itself, and crucified Christ as a malefactor. Christ is God's righteousness, and the world is without Christ. It has no righteousness for this reason. The world is judged, not executed, as having received its punishment, but morally judged by the cross which proved Satan to be the prince of it. 'Christ was God's anointed king in the world, and Satan proved the World to lie His, by leading men, Jew and Gentile together against Christ. It is this sinful, unrighteous, Satan governed thing, called the world, that Christ, as the Son of Man, is coming to judge.

This testimony, as to what the world is before God, has been borne to it now over 1800 years, and God has been saving people out of the world by simple faith in Christ as the risen one at God's right hand in Heaven.

The testimony to coming judgment to the world, together with the grace that saves from the judgment, have proceeded side by side. As in the days of Noah the ark, with its open door offering salvation to those that would enter it, declared in the clearest way that the flood vats about to overwhelm the then world. So Christ proposed as a Savior, ready to save any and all that will come to Him, announces in the most solemn way that judgment awaits this world. No, the world is not going to be converted. It is but a judged thing going to be executed. The end of all flesh had come before God 120 years before the flood came upon all flesh. The end of this World came before God in the cross, and though 1800 years and more have passed since the world was thus judged in God's sight, its actual end, ha destruction will surely come When the Son of Man comes.

But "As it was in the days-of Noe and of Lot," so indeed is it in the days of the Son of Man. Men are eating and drinking, and Marrying and giving in marriage; building and planting; buying and selling, as if nothing had happened, and as if no judgment was coining.

Those who are getting saved by faith in Christ are as foolish in the eyes of this world, as Noah was building the ark to that before the flood. To speak of coming wrath, and to urge those to flee from it, is as with Lot in his day, to appear unto our friends to mock." But the flood did come. The fire from heaven did descend, and the Son of Man will come. The testimony to coming judgment and the action of those that believed in that judgment, whether in the time of Noah or of Lot, alone gave any indication that either the water or the fire was coming. Doubtless the day was fair, and nature was giving no signs of the mighty storm that was about to burst upon it when " the windows of heaven were opened," and "the fountain of the deep were broken up;" and we read that the sun was shining brightly " when Lot entered into Zoar, and the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire out of heaven."

So when the Son of Man comes there will be nothing external to tell of His coming. Like a flash of lightening, "which shineth from one end of heaven to the other," He will appear, and His coming will be instant and everlasting destruction to those that have rejected Him. When rues are saying, " Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape."

Men may laugh, and say, "Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,"

but most surely, "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,- and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence; of the Lord, and the glory of His power."

lint ''As it was in the days of Noe and of Lot," so will it be with this world, people will know nothing of this coming judgment until it is on them, and they are forever carried away in its waves.

Reader, where will you be then? Where are you now? If of the world and getting on in it, you belong to a judged thing. To a system in sin, without righteousness, and of which Satan is the prince. The Son of Man is coming to judge it. Alas for you, you are of those of whom the Lord speaks in those solemn words that we have quoted from the 17th of Luke. Read them and be warned, ere it be too late.

Feet Washing: Part 1

Very precious and significant is the action of the Lord in the 13th of John, where, at the conclusion of the supper, He washes the disciples feet. To the opened eye of faith it sets Jesus before the heart in the present activities of His love for His own. That which Peter at the moment did not comprehend, but which he should know, as he was told, "hereafter." We do understand by the power and teaching of the Holy Ghost, and according as we enter consciously into this grace of Christ, of which this scripture speaks, do we enjoy our present position, as those who are, His own, in this world.

But let us, by the Spirit's aid, follow this action of the Lord in the simple and touching way in which it unfolds itself before our eyes as John narrates it.

The hour was come for Jesus to " depart out of' this world unto the Father." The work which the Father had given Him to do on earth was, in the spirit of His mind, accomplished. The cross was passed. The touching-memorial of that love, which is stronger than death, and which many waters cannot quench, had just been partaken of by the disciples. The betrayer was about to consummate his dark and dreadful work, and with it would close all connection of Jesus with men, upon the footing on which He then stood. Those He so loved He would have to leave behind Him in the world. He had loved them while in the world Himself, and they, though yet in the world, would still be the objects of His love. "He loved them unto the end." Through all time, and through everything, would they be loved. Separated from them, in person, for a time, He must needs be, but His love would ever be theirs.

So felt the heart of Jesus as He looked upon His disciples as round Him they sat at the paschal board. But not only did He feel how He loved them, but He felt that all their blessing depended on Himself. He knew that " the Father had given all things into His hands."

The work of their redemption had been given to Him by the Father, and He had done it. Done it infinitely well. The labor of His love for then) in this was completed. The supper was the witness of it. But this was only part of the things given into His hands. Another part remained. " He was come from God, and went to God." He must bring them to God also. Bring them into that fellowship and glory into which He was Himself about to enter.

Such were the deep and mighty thoughts of love and divine purpose that filled the heart of Jesus as He looked upon His own. But how should He, when they could not longer see and hear Him, make them understand what His love would yet farther do for them. How make them feel that He was still their own, and that all their blessing hung upon Himself in the activities of a love that could never change.

The abiding memorial of His dying love He had just put before them. Whenever they saw that broken bread and poured out wine, His words, " This is my body which is given you," and "this is my blood which is shed for you," would come softly to their ears, and make them think of that love; but how should He in figure set His living love before them, by an abiding presentation of it, and make them realize their association with Himself in the place He was about to take from them?-"He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bison, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded."

What a sight for their wondering eyes! That the Lord whose power they had witnessed so oft, Whose glory on the Mount of Transfiguration they had seen, the One who they knew to be " the Christ, the Son of the living God," that He should stoop to the lowest of menial service, and wash their soiled feet, might well call out from Peter, as about to wash his feet the Savior knelt, that passionate inquiry, " Lord doss thou wash my feet?" Peter loved his Lord, but little he knew the mystery of that love, which from the height of divine and heavenly glory had come down to serve him. Little did he know the need he had of all that love had done, and would yet do for him. How low that love would have to stoop. How constant the service of that love would have to be.

The Lord tells him- this. " What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." But this was not enough for that ardent heart, and still ignorant, he saw nothing in his Lord's action but that which was degrading to Him, and submit to that, in his own person, he could not, and exclaims, " Thou shalt never wash my feet." The necessity for that humiliation he did not feel or know, and so deprecates it, as once before, with reference to that of which the bread and wine speak, the cross, he had done, in those words which called forth that solemn rebuke of the Savior, " Get thee behind me Satan; thou art an offense unto Me, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." There, as it were, Peter would have stood between the Lord and the work that would glorify God and save sinners; in this Peter was Satan's tool, and it was more than ignorance, and hence the severity of that rebuke. Here Peter, through mistaken zeal for the Lord's own honor, would have stood between the Lord and his own blessing, so the Lord merely tells him, "It I wash thee not, thou has no part with Me." i. e. he would not enjoy communion with Christ in the heavenly blessedness into which He was about to enter.

Only by the exercise of love, in a service such as the washing of their feet was meant to illustrate, could Jesus have' His own, while in the world, enjoy fellowship with Himself in Heaven. From the glory Jesus would serve them ceaselessly in that way, and thus, in company with the supper He gives His disciples, this precious presentation of Himself as the girded servant washing with water their feet.

As they looked upon the bread and wine it would bring to their remembrance Himself upon the cross "bearing their sins in His own body upon the tree." Eating that bread and drinking that wine, they would feed upon His death, and drink in that love which had done all this for them-which had saved them, and brought them to God without one sin remaining to bar their entrance into His holy presence. Looking upon that towel, and that basin with its water, they would have their eyes, through faith, let-in upon Himself in His present love for them. A love that, though exercised from glory, and outside the sight of their natural eye, should travel with them all the way across the wilderness-world, in which for the time, He was leaving them. In realizing His ceaseless service for them, as washing their feet, what ever that washing might mean, they would enjoy His presence and share in His own joys. (To be continued.)

The Dead in Christ

Departed saints have not yet got full blessing, but an immense step onward. The position of believers is not changed by death. They were waiting when down here -they are waiting still in the separate state of glory with the Lord. There never was such a thought in connection with the first Adam, as the soul being in one place arid the body in another. In the case of Stephen, we see how the Lord takes the soul at once to be with Himself; and all beloved departed ones, (if they die in Jesus,) are in the experience of that state. This meets the heart when sorrowing under bereavement, and tasting the bitterness which there is in the removal of such from the earth. It is a bitter thing, and death is humiliating, leaving all plans broken up, and all natural affection's rent in twain by it; but there is something deeper, which saints could not have experienced if they had not passed from earth into the presence of the Lord-and that is the feeling all the sympathy of the Lord, when death came and carried them off.

The Lord Himself shall come to take His people up to Himself. There is something inexpressibly sweet in the Lord Himself being thus brought forward; this Jesus who left the grave putting Himself in connection with the dead in Christ; the Lord' Himself, the Son of men, rising up from the place of glory in which He was before as Son of God. The glory is all infolded in Him now, but soon to be revealed. The Lord Himself shall descend with a shout; the Lord's own voice, a blessed thrilling heard by all His own, whether their bodies are in the'-dust or in life down here.

The dead in Christ shall rise first. I would not let the word " first " be erased for worlds, because it is just what I always observe in the Lord, that is, His love specially going forth where there is the expression of weakness. I want that special love, my heart wants it in my weakness; hut that is just what my Lord is, that is just where His love flows forth.

What a thought, that that Lord Jesus knows where to look for, and to gather up, every one of His own from the dust of death! Making the dust give up that which was laid in it, to make each one a body of glory, fashioned like unto His own, and to set each heart in His own presence and glory. The very highest point you can turn to, is the Son of man in the glory of the Father. Turn from that to the other extreme point, this Son of man rising up and coming down from that height, down to the dust, where Satan has been allowed to separate the component parts of the bodies of those that sleep in Him; each one of whom is to stand up as a witness of the truth that He is the Resurrection and the Life; each one starting up from the dust of death at the first word from Him, the first-born from the dead, the first-born of many brethren, and so shall we be ever with the Lord; that to my soul is so unutterably sweet, so divinely and perfectly gracious. What if God had made His Son head over everything, if He had not formed the hearts of His people for that Lord-Himself! If He had once thrown the gates of Heaven open, and all that is in there would not be the volumes to my soul which I find in this word, " Forever with the Lord."

The thought that I have to meet the Lord Himself to be forever with Him, touches the very quick of my heart. Ah! does that Lord who has loved- me with so patient a love, and kept me with so holy a care, from the time He first gave me life, does lie say, "You shall meet me?" And more than that, that He is coming down to meet me in the air? These eyes of mine shall see Him, (the one who loved and gave Himself for me, putting forth this last expression of His love for those whom His Father gave Him, before the foundation of the world,) and this no transient meeting, but caught up to dwell forever with Him.

What did the dying thief know about Paradise? but he did know it was to be with Him on whom He had leaned his soul for eternity. I don't care where I am if with Him; everything is in that "with Rim;" and it is just what we get in the intermediate state; absent from the body and present with the Lord. If I left the body, it would be to be with Him who is the teeming fountain of all the blessings now flowing down to my soul. If in the new Jerusalem, it would be a poor place without Him, what without Him would be all the brightness of heavenly glory? To me there is only this one thing-I shall be forever with Him.

G. V. W.

The Quiet Mind

The following lines were copied from an old manuscript, supposed to be that of a Missionary.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ." Phil. 4:7.

There is a treasure which I prize,

The like I cannot find;

There's nothing like it in the earth,

It is a quiet mind.

But 'tis not that I'm stupefied,

Or senseless, dull, or blind;

"Tis God's own peace within my soul

Which forms my quiet mind.

I found this treasure at the cross;

For there, to every kind

Of heavy-laden, weary souls,

Christ gives a quiet mind.

My Savior's death and risen life,

To give this were designed;

And that's the root, and that's the branch,

Of this my quiet mind.

The love of God within my heart,

My heart to His cloth bind;

This is the mind of Heaven on earth,

This is my quiet mind.

I've many a cross to take up now,

And many left behind;

But present trials move me not,

Nor shake my quiet mind.

And what may be to-morrow's cross

I never seek to find;

My Savior says-" Leave that to Me,

And keep a quiet mind."

And well I know the Lord hath said,

To make my heart resigned,

That mercy still shall follow such

As have a quiet mind.

I meet with pride of wit and wealth,

And scorn and looks unkind

It matters not-I envy not,

For I've a quiet mind.

I'm waiting now to see the Lord,

Who's been to me so kind;

I want to thank Him lime to face

For this my quiet mind.

Holiness Through Faith: Part 1

The above is the title of a small pamphlet that has obtained some considerable circulation among believers in the Lord Jesus; especially among those who, dissatisfied with the ordinary evangelical experience of our day, are seeking with sincerity of heart to grow "in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Longing, according to the instinct of the divine life within them, to enter more practically into that "kingdom of God which is not meat and drink; but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," they have found, in this little book, and other kindred publications, that spoken of, as known and experienced by others, which they are longing for, and, as they hope too, the way marked out for arriving at it themselves.

Feeling that this longing after Christ and fellowship with Him, for it is that in true souls in whom grace is working, is really a wide-spread movement of God's Spirit among believers, and that this little book, with all its many and marked imperfections, may have in some instances been used of God to help souls, as showing that there is a better state of soul to be reached, we hesitate to condemn it thus publicly in our pages, but having been more than once asked to warn our readers against it, and the teachings that it gives currency to, we believe we should fail in love to souls, and in responsibility to the Lord and His truth, did we longer refrain.

We believe the writer of the book in question to be sincerely desirous of helping his fellow believers, and of glorifying the Lord Jesus. His tone, spirit, and aim we love, and thank God for. All this makes it the more difficult to find fault with it; besides which we have no desire to give our pages the savor of hypercriticism or controversy.

We would mention here, and it is one of our chief reasons for making these remarks, that the little work we are considering has been carefully and thoroughly discussed by a well known and accepted teacher in the church of God, and is advertised on our last page under the title, "A Review of R. Pearsall Smith, on Holiness Through Faith,' by J. N. D." We have read this " Review " with ranch profit ourselves, and have heard of very many instances in which it has been blessed to others. We therefore greatly desire to 'commend it to the attention of our readers, believing that it will, not only give them a true estimate of the real evil of the doctrine that is taught in the book reviewed, but be directly used of God to give them, in a divine way, the blessing their souls are seeking.

The great defect of the teaching of Mr. Smith is, that lie makes a certain state of soul the object before the mind, instead of Christ and His grace. In this way self occupies the heart, and not Christ. In the language of the writer we have named, " It makes a subtle self dominant, which lowers the spiritual state." He goes on to say, " I never saw any one make his experience the object before his mind, or that with which his mind was occupied. that it did not make self a great object to self, whether the experience was ordinary evangelical experience, seventh of Romans, Gal. 5:17, or that of the perfectionists, self holds a large place in the mind's eye, and it cannot be otherwise. And I think this book is a clear example of it. The blessedness and beauty of Christ Himself nowhere appears in it. He tells us that, this doctrine makes more of Christ, and ourselves humble, but, if you examine it, it is what Christ effects and produces in us, not what Christ is. And this makes all the difference."

We believe thoroughly in the state of soul, or experience, Mr. Smith advocates. That is to say, we believe, not only in forgiveness of sins, but in deliverance practically from the power of sin, and in the unclouded and uninterrupted enjoyment of divine power, as living in the consciousness, not merely that by the work of Christ we are set beyond condemnation, but that we are loved by the Father as Jesus is loved. It is not then with this experience we find fault, but with Mr. Smith's teachings with refer-mice to it. Teachings which, however well meant, are fundamentally unsound. The very title of his book is unsound, and if' taken in an exclusive sense, completely sets aside the work of Christ on the cross, as that by which the believer has been sanctified and made holy, according to the teachings of Heb. 10:10, where with reference to the will of God in the sacrifice of Christ, the Spirit of God says: "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once." Tins is not our faith, as practically bringing us into holiness as a state of soul; but the work of Christ on the cross for us, true of course only of believers, but true, of every believer, the moment he believes in Jesus.

This is holiness through sacrifice, and not "holiness through faith," which is a misinterpretation of the expression in Acts, used with reference to the conversion of the Gentiles, "purifying their hearts through faith." In some remarkable way this expression was used for blessing to Mr. Smith's; own soul, as he tells us, and thus became, so to speak, the keystone of his whole system, being made to mean an act of faith whereby, at one leap, the believer attains to purity, and conformity to Christ as He was on earth. It is a mere perversion of scripture, and is a fair sample of the way in which throughout his whole book Mr. Smith misuses scripture to support a false system. All that is taught by it is, that, in contrast with law-keeping and ceremonial ordinances, God was purifying the hearts of the Gentiles in a practical sense, putting no difference between Jews and others. It was the work of grace that was being carried on by God continuously in their souls, and by no means a state of purity reached by a single act of faith, as taught by the author of "Holiness through faith."

The fact is, Mr. Smith confounds purity and holiness with deliverance from the power of sin, i. e. gaining victory of it, as a thing that remains in the believer. This scripture does teach. Blessedly teach. But for the moment we must end our remarks, and the Lord willing, continue them in our next.

Our Title to Glory

That we should know and, now, possess our title to glory, is of the very first importance. Many dear, anxious souls are seeking it in the wrong way and place. They sing with heavy hearts and " weeping eyes " When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,

I bid farewell to every fear

And wipe my weeping. eyes."

My reader, if you are one of these anxious ones, you are without solid peace. Occasional beams of hope break through the thick clouds of uncertainty, and cheer you for awhile; but you find in yourself a corrupt nature which condemns you every hour of your life. You say, " If I could only get rid of this horrible sin, and keep from sinning, if I could only have clearer evidences of a change of heart, and see more fruits of regeneration, and feel a deeper work of grace in me, if I could have more love to God, and the right kind of faith, I would be able to read my title clear to mansions in the skies."

Well, for a time, sin in you ceased to work: you saw nothing in your conduct to condemn you; hope was bright and your title to glory seemed clear. But sin revived; hope disappeared, and you sank down in despair, saying, " O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death," Rom. 7:24. You are occupied with yourself and your conduct; and looking to the work of God in you to furnish you with a title to glory. God's work in you is of the greatest importance; without it you could neither see nor enter the kingdom of God. "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God," John 3:5.

You will understand, without farther remark, that I hold the work of God's Spirit in the soul to be of the first importance. But it neither justifies, gives peace, nor a title to glory. The first act of the Spirit of God in you, was, to impart the divine nature to you-to create the new man after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness. Having the divine nature which is essentially holy, and which hates and judges sin, as God hates and judges it; you also hate it, judge yourself and your ways, and turn to God. Inward holiness is what you long for; in it, you look for freedom from sin and a title to glory.

Now, that the believer should be holy, is perfectly clear from the following text: " Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." " Be ye holy for I am holy," Feb. XII, 14, 1 Peter 1:16. Further, faith purifies the heart and works by love; but our title to glory, is neither found in the purity of our hearts nor in the faith that purifies them. The work of God in you is essential to your seeing, or entering the kingdom of God; but, I repeat, your title to glory is not found in this work in you, but in this work for you. You need divine righteousness as well as a divine life. " The Gospel of God " is most explicit on this point. " For herein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written the just shall live by faith," Rom. 1:17. Now this revealed " righteousness of God is unto all and upon all them that believe," Rom. 3:22. And observe, this righteousness is not the result of God's work in you, but of Christ's death for you. " Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set firth 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 at this time His righteousness; that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus," Rom. 3:24-26.

My reader, is it not clear from these texts, that the righteousness of God for you comes through the death of Christ. The precious work of the Holy Spirit in you; could not satisfy the justice and holiness of God, vindicate His majesty, glory and truth, establish and declare His righteousness, and furnish Him with an adequate motive to justify you a poor lost sinner. But in the death of " His own Son," sin has been judged according to the claims of His nature and character, and put out of His sight. His nature and character have been declared and vindicated, and His truth glorified. In a word, God has been perfectly glorified in the death of " His own Son." O the Cross! The Cross! "There is nothing like the Cross!" It lets God into our world as " the Justifier," and opens the way for Him to take the justified out of the world, and set them in the glory with "His own Son."

Behold, then, my reader, the righteous channel through which grace flows from the heart of God bringing His righteousness " unto all." And note: This righteousness is without the law, or any work done in you. Moreover, let it be distinctly understood that a man must be born again before he can have it. It is put upon all them that believe. God esteems them righteous. They stand before Him in His own character. "The righteousness of God," then, is our title to glory. Blessed, divine title, to the glory into which our glorious, risen Lord of life and glory has entered.

In pursuing our subject I would invite your attention to 1 Cor. 1:30, " But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." The subject of this verse, is not the death of Christ which declares the righteousness of God; but Christ Himself who of God is made unto us righteousness. Christ, far above all the heavens, at the right hand of Majesty on high is our righteousness. We are made the righteousness of God in Him, where He is. " For God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him," 2 Cor. 5:21. The holy Son of God came into this world and, on the cross as our sin-offering, was made all that we were as sinners under the righteous judgment of God against sin. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and exhausted the righteous judgment of God due to us. He stood in our place before God, charged with all our guilt, and bore the judgment due to what we were " in the flesh."

Behold, beloved reader, in the death of Christ, the death of all that you are as a child of Adam:-a man in the flesh under God's judgment. You were crucified with Christ under the eye of God. Your old standing as a man in the flesh-a sinner-is gone; and now, in Christ risen and glorified you are made the righteousness of God and brought into a new standing. Behold, then, in Christ, all that you are before God; eternal glory surrounds His peerless person, and you are made the righteousness of God in Him. Glorious truth! Unfading righteousness! Immortal title to glory. The Son of God, the Second 'Man, victorious over death, glorified at the right hand of Majesty on High, is our righteousness. " We are in Him." Our link with the glory and title to it, is Himself. Reader, Himself. Consider Him-look at Him where He is, and know what you are before God.

As to this new standing before God, you are riot seen at all. There is nothing of yourself or walk there. " Christ is all " in the new creation, "and all things are of God." We belong to this new creation-this new world of unsullied light and holy joy; the-infinite favor of God which rests on " His own Son " rests on us. He has taken us into His favor in the Beloved, Eph. 1:6. His heart, which finds its delight in Christ, finds it in us. " For we are His workmanship in Christ Jesus," Eph. 2:10. Surely it is no marvel for God to delight in His own " workmanship,"-in that which resembles Himself, and is the fruit of His own nature, which is light and love.

Let it be distinctly understood, by my reader, that this glorious position is not confined to a class of believers, who are holier, more devoted and earnest than their fellow believers. Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ occupies the position, we have been looking at, before God. Most freely do I grant that all do not apprehend it; but, the believer's standing before Gad, does not depend on his apprehension of it, but upon the " rich mercy " and " great love" of our God who hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2:1-6. The " little children " are as divinely complete in Christ as the " young men" and " fathers." All are the workmanship of God in Christ. His workmanship is perfect, bears His image and reflects Himself.

Is my reader saying, " How am I to know that I am made the righteousness of God in Christ,' and brought into the place of blessing?" You are to know it because God says it. Believe God and you will know it. We have no authority for saying that we are made the righteousness of God in Christ, but God Himself Is He not enough? Blessed be His holy name, we have in His righteousness our title to glory, and wait for the glory that is due to it. " For we through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith," Gal. 5. Christ in the glory is our righteousness, our title to glory. We have the title, but not the glory due to it, for that we wait through the Spirit by faith; and when Christ comes, and changes these vile bodies, and fashions them like unto His body of glory, we shall have all the glory that is due to our present title in the righteousness of God. Christ is our life, righteousness, hope, mark and prize. Paul, as a good racer, left everything behind him: what he was and did before his conversion, what he was and did, and what was done in him after his conversion, and pursued toward the MARK. Christ filled his eye and heart, and supplied strength for the race.

My reader, we are on the race course, and the " blessed hope " of soon seeing Christ, and being found in Him in the glory that is due to our present title, urges us onward and makes us shout as we run. " One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," Phil. 3:14,14. W. B.

Answers to Correspondents: JOH 1:11-12; Satan Tempting Christ; Reconciling Passages in Deuteronomy

Q.-What is the teaching of John 1:11,12, "He came unto His own, &c."

A.-We have here the rejection of Christ by the Jews, who in a special sense were His own. The world was made by Him, but men, held in moral darkness by the power of Satan, did not know God when present in their midst in love. With the Jews it was snore than this, they would not have their own Jehovah come as their Messiah. Still there were some that did receive Him, and to those who did receive Him, He gave authority to become sons of God. There was no moral capability in the Jews to receive Christ any more than in the Gentiles. The v, ill of man, whether in men generally, or in the Jews specially, would not have God" come in the flesh." By any on the footing of nature Christ is simply rejected, and if any do receive Him, and thus become children of God, it is because a work of grace has already gone on in their souls. This is what is stated in the succeeding verse, very clearly, " They were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," and therefore they received Him. It is so still. Christ being believed on by any proves the existence of a sovereign work of God already in the soul. Receiving Christ, persons consciously enter upon the knowledge of their relation to God as children. They have the authority from Christ to take and enjoy that place.

Q.-Under what form did Satan present himself when tempting Christ? Some say it was only conscience in Christ Himself?

A.-We are told nothing as to the form under which Satan presented himself when tempting the Lord. Satan is a spirit, and Christ felt and recognized his personal presence as a spirit. Distinctly recognized him as a person outside himself. He heard what he had to say, and answered him by word of mouth with scripture, "It is written," thrice over. We are not called upon to say how Satan, as a spirit, could communicate with Christ as man. All we know is, that he did. To make it conscience in Christ is blasphemy, and gives Christ a bad nature, making the temptation to be from within, from Himself through lust. We are tempted in this way, according to James 1:14, because we have a bad nature. Christ never was tempted " in this way. His temptations were always from Satan as a person outside Himself. Of course Christians are tempted in this way too, and in this kind of temptation they have the sympathy of Christ as taught us in Heb. 4:15.

Q.-" How do you reconcile Deut. 21:10- 15, with 7:3 and 4. They seem to be in direct opposition to each other?"

A.-The prohibition as to marriage between Israelites and other nations in Deut. 7, confines itself to the seven nations occupying the land of Canaan proper. The permission to marry a captive woman from a conquered nation given in Deut. 21, refers to nations other than those specially named in Deut. 7 The former were "far off" from the land, and did not occupy the country given to Israel for an inheritance. The different way in which the inhabitants of the one were to be treated, in contrast with those of the other, is clearly stated in Dent. 20:10-18. A little attention to the context of seemingly opposed passages in God's word, would save much misunderstanding.

Come - Depart

One word gives a character to the present ways of God toward the world, and that word issues, in all its unutterable sweetness, from His heart. It is the word " Come."

Oh! how much is conveyed in that precious, monosyllable! Does it not meet a need in the heart of him who has learned by sin his own wretchedness and solitude? does it not tell of a God, who, instead of closing His door against the earnest knockings of a truly anxious soul, the rather throws it wide open and seems to say, " My deepest desire is your welfare? " Does it not scatter to the winds the sin-born fear that really dwells in the heart of every child of him. who fled from the presence of God to hide himself amid the trees of the garden? Does it not speak of a God of infinite mercy, who, unhindered by the crimes that have rendered the prodigal odious, runs forth to embrace, to kiss, to clothe and to receive him? Oh! yes—volumes of such language are contained in the little word before us. It is the grand characteristic word of to-day" COME."

It is contained in the heart of God, in the revelation of God, in the dealings of God, and in the message of God, which still rings its silvery note wherever, in the wide do-. main of sin, the Gospel of His grace is proclaimed, " come," " come," " come," may be heard in its lovely reverberations in those sacred precincts where the angels rejoice when one sinner repenteth-may be read in that precious book by which alone we can learn the will of God: " He, every one that thirsteth, come," " Let him that is athirst, come,"-may be learned in the dealings of God in secret, those personal appeals, the life prolonged, the stroke averted, or even the stroke fallen, when a kindly voice within seemed to whisper " come,"-may be heard to-day -aye, may have been heard for days, for weeks, for months and for years from the lips of the herald, "come." It is Heaven's favorite utterance. It is uttered in love,-it is uttered in earnestness. It is addressed to the old. It is addressed to the young-to the rich, to the poor—to the Jew, to the Gentile-to him who has sinned but little, and, thank God, it is not withheld from Him who has sinned much, " Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden." " All " are addressed who are heavy laden —" all " are welcome. " All things are ready, come."

But how wondrous that God should exhibit such earnestness in inviting the sinner! Wondrous, truly; but " God is love." That is the full and only answer.

Then may we ask " How is God's love met by the sinner? " Alas, let this question be answered by Him who " spake as never man spake," " Ye will not come," Can it be? Can man willfully reject such love—yea, can he despise his own mercy, " Ye will not come."

Oh, reader, it does not say " Ye cannot come," but " Ye will not." Man seals his doom by his own deliberate refusal of mercy. Solemn truth-the door is open, the opportunity is granted and a faithful and loving voice says " come." But man sees fit to refuse.- His life is a refusal, his sins are a refusal, his ways are a refusal. " They made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandize," and the call of heaven died on the breeze, and man was left to what-extinction, obliteration, annihilation? Oh, no—left to hear another word—left to accept, perforce, another alternative,—left to reap his folly, to shrink beneath the sounding of the word DEPART. There can be no " making light" of that word, no saying "I will obey at a more convenient season," no alternative. " Come" may have sounded many " Depart" will sound but once, and then it will be " depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."

Oh! beloved reader, canst thou bear the thought of being spurned from Him who is the only source of love and light and blessedness-and who in tender grace bore with thee, yearned over thee, followed thee, whispered again and again to thee, " come," " come," ". COME?" Canst thou endure the prospect of " everlasting fire," where no relief, no change can be found? Canst thou brave the terror of the word " depart," and face forever the blackness of darkness, the gloom, the solitude, the remorse, the agony? Pause and think-awake to the reality of all this truth and hearken to the voice of mercy as it still calls to thee " come," "come," " COME."

J. W. S.

A Better Country

Though the world is all around us,

Lost in pleasure and in sin;

We have found a better country

And ere long shall enter in.

We've His own sure word of promise,

He for us will come again,

We shall dwell with God's Beloved,
When His flock is gathered in.

'Twas the Father's love that gave Him,

Here to suffer and to die,

That to glory He might bring us,

Where the many mansions lie.

Lost one! Jesus came to save thee;

(There's a table spread for thee,)

Bids the weary, heavy laden,

" Come and find your rest in Me."

Though your sins be great and many,

He'll remember them no more;

He will pardon, cleanse and fit thee

There to dwell when time is o'er.

Can'st thou turn away and grieve Him?

Thou wilt never find such Jove,

Though thou search the wide world over,

As is found in God above.

Eternal Life, What Is It? Part 1

It may seem strange to our readers to raise in their minds such a question as the one above; but we are persuaded that it will not -be without blessing to many that we do raise such a question in their minds. Not to lead them to look into themselves to see whether or not they have it, but the rather, as those who possess it, which all do who truly believe in Jesus, to lead them to contemplate it in its source and nature, as flowing from one who is outside themselves, and through Whom and in Whom they possess it.

It is of all importance not only to possess eternal life, and to be persuaded, on divine testimony, of its possession. as an answer to those who deny its present and known possession by the believer, while in this world; but also to know clearly front Scripture what it is in itself, as a security against those who by false teaching, as to that which eternal life really is, are seeking to overthrow "the faith once delivered to the saints," by making it mean merely endless human life in a body raised from the dead through Christ to enjoy earthly blessings under Him in the kingdom of God. By this it comes to mean simply endless existence, with the denial of endless existence save in those who have eternal life through Christ.

This is the view held by the so-called Annihilationists, hut even with a large mass of true Christians, who are quite free from the errors of the class named, the conception of what eternal life is, scarcely rises much higher, being made to mean a change of heart, and inward feeling, with security from eternal punishment, and consequent eternal blessedness in Heaven. That it involves all this is certain, but this is net in itself eternal life, and where, in those even who possess eternal life, the knowledge of what eternal life really is rises no higher than this the soul is open to the attacks of the adversary, as to whether eternal life is really possessed or no, by which the peace is disturbed, or, what is worse than this, to be taken captive by Satan, and led into error as to the true and eternal condition of both the saved and the lost.

It may perhaps be argued that where eternal life is really possessed, and Christ loved and looked to, as the One through whom it has been received, it is not of so much importance that the mind should be clear as to the doctrine concerning it: But this we believe to be a great mistake, especially in a day when " evil men, and seducers are waxing worse and worse," and " perilous times " have come. That the blessed Shepherd and Bishop of souls will keep from Satan's power simple souls who, with little truth, look to Him to be kept, we are more than persuaded, and that in His mercy He knows how to shelter the ill-taught lambs of His flock from the grievous wolves that are prowling round, we also believe, hut this does not do away with the solemn reality of our having to " stand against the wiles of the devil," and wrestle " with wicked spirits in heavenly places," and exposed to such wiles, and having to enter into such conflicts it is everything to have the " loins girt about with truth," that first and most essential part of the armor of God. The possession of truth is the only real safe-guard against error, and, " it is written," the only weapon against which Satan has no power. To be well armed with Scripture, as to the clues Lion of eternal life, we believe, at the present moment, to be of the very first importance, not only for our own sakes, but for that of others. May the Lord, in His, mercy, guide our pen while we write concerning that of which we read, " and a flaming sword turned everyway to keep the way of the tree of life."

We will first speak of eternal life in its source and mature, and then as possessed by the believer.

The consideration of eternal life in its source at once brings God before the soul, and that not simply as the source and author of that life, but as that which it is in itself; in that it is the being of GA 'Himself, We are not merely looking at life as flowing from God, but at life in God. In looking at God we look at the life, so to speak, but that life, eternal life, might thus be looked at by man, and, as we shall see, be participated in by man, God became man, "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Life was in God eternally, but it was hidden from and unanticipated in by man, as a known thing, till the Son of God became man. The being of God, is life in Himself, as underived and self-subsisting. We read," the Father hath life in Himself," and the Son lath " life in Himself." This is life in independent. Deity. God according to His own eternal existence, in what we Understand as life. This life in itself, and displayed according it nature in moral qualities, came into this world in Jesus Christ. " That," says John, " which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life: for the file was manifested, and we have seen it and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the -Father, and was manifested unto us: that we which we have semi and heard declare we unto you."

In looking then at Jesus Christ we are looking, not only at the source or fountain from whence eternal life for man flows, but at that life itself. God is before us, revealed in His Son Jesus Christ,-" This is the true God, and eternal life." It is divine life, and thus eternal life in man, and, as in Christ, not merely divine life in man, which might look at the life in Christ as a derived life, though entirely divine, but " God manifest in flesh."

"That eternal life which was with the Father," as in tie Son, has been manifested in this world in the man Christ, so that it has been seen," " handled " and " heard," and thus is " the Word of life" for man morally dead, and without life toward God. Hence in receiving Christ. eternal life is received. A life, the source and nature of which is divine, and which is the very life of God in the soul, so that those who receive eternal life are said to be " partakers of the divine nature," 2 Peter 1:4.

In time presence of such a view of eternal life, how are our thoughts raised above the mere fact of endless existence in a state of heavenly blessedness, as having been saved from endless misery, with a mere " change of heart" toward God, as the effect of having been so saved and blessed.

The unfallen angels are in a state of endless existence in happiness, according to the nature and being of angels, but they have not eternal life, as being made " partakers of the divine nature" and thus fitted to enjoy what God -Himself enjoys, according to His own nature and being. We may too think of what it might have been for man to have forever lived amid the delights of the garden of Eden in the nature and being He had before the fall, or we may think of man restored in that nature and being to enjoy earthly- blessings forever in a restored earth, but this is not eternal life.

While, leaving aside time character of blessedness enjoyed, to Make the force of time expression " eternal life, " to simply signify endless existence, and by this to exclude the thought of eternal conscious existence save for those who have eternal life through Christ in this sense, is to deny the true nature and existence of eternal life, as well as to lose sight wholly of any state of punishment in the future for those who do not possess eternal life, and with this the present condition of the unconverted as now "dead in trespasses and sins" towards God, because now without eternal life, is gone, while that the believer is now "alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord," because now actually possessed of eternal life, has no meaning; and the' blessed consequences of such a condition, in present fellowship with the Father and the SOD, are necessarily unknown to those who hold such doctrines.

It is, too, the complete setting aside of all the real work of God in the soul by the Holy Ghost, whether in life-giving or in in-dwelling, while the doctrine carried to its lull result, as it now largely is, destroys Christ Himself, alike in His deity and true humanity.

Christ is eternal life in man, as well as for man,- and it is therefore alone in coming to Christ that eternal life can be obtained, while it is alone as seeing Christ's place with God, as man, that the believer's place, as possessed of eternal life in Him, can be adequately estimated or enjoyed.

The nature, then, and being of God, as displayed in Christ, is what eternal life is in itself, and this, whether we look at Christ as He was in this world or now -is in glory. The one view gives us its moral qualities,—the nature of God in light and love; -the other its state of blessedness in the glory, as Seen in the circumstances that surround Christ as Mall hi a body of glory in heaven. We must reserve. our-consideration of eternal life as possessed by time believer for OUT next number.

Feet-Washing: Part 2

To be in the enjoyment of the presence of Jesus, and share with Him His own joys, is everything to the heart that knows and loves Him. Such it was to Peter, and he readily seized time force of the Lord's words, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me," and in eagerness to possess himself fully of the blessing proposed in the Lord's words, he replies, " Lord not my feet only but my hands and my head." His desire being, that not only his feet might be clean, but his whole person fitted for association with his Savior. He had the consciousness, not merely that his feet needed washing, but that his whole nature and being required cleansing. Occupied with his own feelings, he was in ignorance of the work of grace that had already been wrought in him by the Lord. He was in just the state of souls in which thousands-of Christians are at this moment, i. e., confounding practical sanctification with actual sanctification-the cleansing of the' person with the cleansing of the ways, or, as it is sometimes put, standing with state.

Peter's reply becomes the occasion for the Lord to state plainly this difference, " He that js washed needeth not Save to wash feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean." One whose body is washed all over in the morning or bathed, (a different word in the original being used for this to that which is used for washing the feet,) need; only during the day to cleanse time feet, wirier in Eastern countries, where sandals only are used become defiled, with walking, before partaking of the refreshments provided by the host. The one NV ha entertains provides Water for the washing of, the feet of his guests, but not water for the bath, which would imply uncleanliness of person. The Lord refers to this custom in His rebuke to Simon for treating Him with neglect in this respect, " Thou gavest me no water for my feet."

Time spiritual significance therefore of the Lord's reply to Peter is very plain. As to the washing of the person the disciples were clean—they were regenerate. By the washing of regeneration they were " clean every whit." They were already possessed of a new life and standing before God which nothing could make more perfect. " Born of water and the Spirit" they possessed a "divine nature" which had fitted them once and forever, as to their persons, for God's presence, so they had at all times title to fellowship with God in the holiest, but in order practically to enjoy this fellowship, and to have the consciousness of being in the holiest with Jesus, they needed to have their feet washed from the defilements contracted in their walk through an evil world, and this would be done, not by the application of time word to their persons, but by the application of the word by the Spirit to their hearts and consciences, so that they would practically judge and separate themselves from that in their thoughts and walk which was inconsistent with the nature and character of God, and thus would they be enabled to have part with Jesus in the heavenly blessedness into which, as man, He had entered for them.

' We, would note here, that it is not with blood that either the person or the feet are washed. In both cases it is " the washing of the water by the word." In the one case for standing,—a once completed act that cannot he repeated; in the other, for state which, being a question of communion or enjoyment, would need to be repeated as often as any defilement in the walk was contracted.

A reference to the typical consecration of the priesthood in connection with the laver, of which this is clearly the blessed antitype, will make this clear. We read in Ex. 29, and 4th verse, " And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernable of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water." Then their coats were put on them, and subsequently blood was put upon the tip of the right ear, the right thumb and the right toe-. They were sprinkled with the -holy anointing oil, and the requisite sacrifices having been offered, they were once and forever sanctified "to minister—in the priests office."

Their standing as priests was complete, and thus their title to enter the holy place always valid, but their practical ability to enter the holy place, and minister at the altar before the Lord, depended upon something beside, and that was the daily use of the lacer, as described in Ex. 30;17-21 "Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not: or when they come near to the altar-to' minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: so shall they wash their hands and their feet that they die not." 'Their assumption of time priest's office connected itself with the washing of their persons in the water of the laver at the time of consecration; this ability to practically exercise their office connected itself with the washing of their hands and feet at the laver on every occasion of priestly service.

It is this washing of the feet in the laver for communion and service that the Lord's action in washing His disciple's feet sets before us. The present, living service of Jesus from the glory by which, through the action of the word on their consciences, He separates " His own, that are in the world," from defilement, which as already sanctified ones, they have contracted in it in their walk; so that they may have part with Him in the service and worship of God, as priests with Himself inside the holiest.

All believers, little as they may know it and enjoy it, are perfected priests before God. Their bodies have been washed " with pure water." The blood of Christ has been sprinkled on them, and they have been anointed with the Holy Ghost. Their consecration is a complete and finished act, and they are unchangeable, as Peter says, "a holy priesthood." They are the true sons of Aaron; but to have part with the true Aaron,-with Christ, now in the holiest in heaven, their feet must be washed constantly at the laver.

Christ is the laver. Believers do not wash their own feet. He does it for them. It is according to His knowledge of what suits the presence of God that He washes their feet. This action, in love and intelligence, is all from Himself. Our salvation, and consecration to the priesthood is a simple, sovereign act of Christ's love. We are passive in His hands as to it. We know when it has been done, and bless Him for it on the discovery of what has taken place. So our communion depends on Christ and not on ourselves. It is a simple, sovereign act of love on His part that washes our feet, and restores us to communion. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." Restored to communion, and power for service, when it has been lost through carelessness, we know Who has restored us. We bless Him for it. It is all we can do. " Clean every whit" before God, even when out of communion, we know ourselves to be. Unhappy because out of communion, we feel that our feet want washing; we look at Jesus and find Him at 'our feet washing them; we realize His grace in this action, and again our hearts are happy, as again in conscious association with Himself; we have " part" with Him.

Blessed and precious Savior, ever keep our hearts in the sense of Thy grace and love, while humbled in heart in the sense of all that, as to our hearts and ways, makes Thy service so ceaselessly necessary.

(Continued from page 68.)

Fragment

Do you see by faith that Christ up there? Do you know a Person in heaven with all the feelings and thoughts of a man, with all the glory and beauty of God? And in that beaming forth on you of that face of glory and beauty, is there nothing that addresses itself to your heart? Who can look on the face of that Lord Jesus and not see in Him the forms of eternal life? Will the beauty of that Person not win your adoring love? Will you ever find that you can look on Him as He is, and not trust Him?

Are we not only knowing what we have in that ascended Christ as the one who has put away every spot of sin, the One who is going to take us into the Father's house, but are we letting it be seen, as we pass through the wilderness, in all we do, as Paul did? He died for us, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him. Oh, what a position! not only what we are saved from and put into, but, even now, eternal life to be shown out; even now, present communion with the mind of Christ to be enjoyed; never as we pass through this world, seeking anything save to show out that mind, even as He never seeking out anything but the Father's mind.

One thought pressed on me thirty-five years ago, and that was the thought of reality. Let it be a reality-don’t let me follow a meteor! Is it, I asked, a real fact that God's Christ is mine, and that He is now sitting at God's right hand as my accepted sacrifice, and all God's delight is in Him?

Your heart may have to be brought into all sorts of difficulties to find out what it has in Christ-what it is to be connected with the eternal lover of the soul. Is He known to you as the One who is occupied with all your concerns? Do you realize if daily? The thought of His being occupied about us would prevent our being tried with difficulties that spring up. It would make us say, " What! is Christ on the throne of God mine? I, such a poor feeble thing-is He given to me?" Paul found the love of Christ a personal thing-it is so. It was a personal love that gave John a place on His bosom; personal love that drew to Him the poor woman that washed His feet with her tears; and poor things down here understand the-power of that love as they go on.

When we see saints like Peter and Paul failing, we feel what a poor thing man is at his best estate; but oh, what an unexpected blessing to have to do with a God who cannot fail I And I know that when I pass from earth, I have a God who means to take me up, and make of this poor body, a body of glory like that risen man at His right hand. ' Come what may; this God has His everlasting hand underneath us.

Wilderness Blessings

The Wilderness for me,

However drear it be,

For God is there;

God, and the desert sand,

God, and the feeble band

Beneath His care.

The Wilderness for me,

However drear it be,

Earth's darkest night;

Amid its depths and gloom.

His presence cloth ill lime,

Who is the " light of life."

The Wilderness for me,

However drear it be;

A feast is spread,

By God's own hand each day;

- My " portion " for the way

Is Christ the "living bread."

The Wilderness for me,

However drear it be;

The smitten rock

Sends forth a gushing tide

Of water from its side,

For God's redeemed flock.

The Wilderness for me,

However drear it he;

The desert sand

My weary feet may tread,

The while my heart and head

Are in Emmanuel's land.

The Wilderness for me,

However drear it be,

Since He passed through,

Who suffered, wept, and sighed,

Who loved, and bled, and died,

And all sorrows knew.

The Wilderness for me,

However drear it be,

Till Jesus come-

Then farewell toil and strife,
Then welcome each tried life

In my eternal home.

M. F. W.

Holiness Through Faith: Part 2

It is a poor way of meeting the charge "that such teaching is a lowering of God's standard of holiness, joined to spiritual pride," to say, as Mr. Smith does, we did it ourselves once, because " we did not understand that what was claimed was not ' absolute perfection,' but that up to the measure of to-day's consciousness they were kept by faith, and that all the glory was given to Christ equally and in the same way with that of remission of sins." The question' is this, is the being kept by Christ from practical sinning " up to the measure of to-days consciousness," and Christ having all the glory given to Him equally and in the same way with that of remission of sins, is this holiness according to God's standard of holiness? Is this purity according to God's measure of purity?

We affirm it is not. God's standard of holiness is Himself, and therefore, as a matter of aim, we are exhorted, " as He which hath called God is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy," 1 Peter 1:16-6. God's standard of purity is Christ, and because -we are to be like Him in glory when He comes, we read, " every man who hath this hope in -Him (Christ) purifieth himself even as He (Christ) is pure," (1 John 3. Does Mr. Smith mean to say He is actually as holy as God is, and as pure as Christ. If he does not, and we know He does not, spiritual pride does not go this length with him, though it does in some we have met with who hold similar views, why does he talk of " God's standard of holiness " and then speak of not "claiming absolute," but only something " up to the measure of to-day's consciousness "? Why does he not say, We don't pretend to have a holiness and purity up to the measure of God's standard of holiness and purity, but merely something up to the measure of our to-day's consciousness of holiness and purity.

But the book we are occupied with comes forward to teach " God's way of holiness," " a way taught in the Bible," " a way in Christ," " a way hid from mere intellect, and revealed by the Spirit to the soul hungering for righteousness," and we affirm, Scripture being- the test, that it does not teach God's way of holiness, nor a way taught by the Bible, nor a way in Christ, nor a way revealed by the Spirit, but a way peculiar to Mr. Smith, which does grievously lower God's standard of holiness, and that does induce " spiritual pride," while at the same time it sadly misleads souls who are seeking to find their way out of the experience of the seventh of Romans.

We would press it, as earnestly as Mr. Smith does, that the seventh of Romans is not proper Christian experience, and that those in it are, as to the state of their souls, under law and not under Christ,- or "in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free." But deliverance from the seventh of Romans, and the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, is neither holiness nor purity, in the way in which these two things are presented to us in Scripture.

Holiness is either the believer's standing before God in the perfection of all that Christ has done for him, and is for him before God, or it is the work of the Holy Ghost in him daily making him practically holy, and which implies holiness unattained to perfectly in practice. Purity is either what the believer will he in glory with Christ when actually like Him, or the process of purifying by the way because he is not yet pure as Christ is.

To talk then of our being " holy, and pure, and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ," as a present condition, which is to be attained by one simple act of faith is utterly to mislead souls, both as to their own state and as to Christ Himself. Christ was " holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," as much in nature as in practice. Are we, even when " up to the measure of today's consciousness," we are kept from actual transgression, whether of thought or action? Christ had no sin in him. Have we none in us; even when it is not active? Scripture says, "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is riot in us," 1 John 1:8. In the light of such Scripture, where is Mr. Smith's "inward purity," and present " conformity to Jesus Christ "?

Mr. Smith's doctrine is not in Scripture. It dishonors Christ by lowering Him down to the level of our to-day's consciousness as to not sinning, while it puffs the person who believes in it up in a fancied conformity to Christ, which does not really exist, and to which he supposes he has attained over his fellow believers, even though it be by faith, and Christ gets all the glory of it.

We desire to repeat here, that we believe in freedom from the power of sin, and that the flesh, though in us, is not to be the source of one thought or feeling, much less of word or action. That the believer should ever be "filled with the Spirit," walking in the unclouded light of God's presence, with Christ ever dwelling in his heart by faith, so that he is filled with divine peace and joy, and has nothing on his conscience to trouble him in God's presence. In our next we shall give some instances of how sadly Mr. Smith misapplies Scripture, and thus loses, to his reader its true and blessed import; but in doing this we would say, that our aim is edification and not criticism.

('Continued from page 70.)

Notes and Recollections

Of a Reading Meeting with J. N. D., at Forest Hill, Eng., June 3, 1873.

There is never any light from God without love. Whenever there is a real revelation of God to a soul, you always get the conscience reached, and the heart affected.

I believe we never know anything about God with the mind, save that we cannot know Him. All true knowledge humbles, because it brings something to me of God that I did not know before, and it finds i me something contrary to it; truth perfectly divine and heavenly in its character, yet suited to me,—it brings what is heavenly, and shows me I am not that and humbles me. Take the thief on the cross; light shines in, and see the effect: " Dost not thou fear God seeing thou art in the seine condemnation, and we indeed guilty." Truth is of no use until it is subjective, i. e., until it affects me, otherwise it is only a matter of memory. Thus church truth may be held by one who does not know what it is to he in the- Spirit, it is only a matter of memory. The Holy Ghost does not merely say there is a church, but we are members of His body, of His flesh, of His bones; it is not a mere dogma.

The tendency with us is to make theology, and not to take what Scripture says. You never find election or predestination spoken of in Scripture without our being predestinated to some thing—-" predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son," etc. I take this as an example of the- way truth is brought out hi Scripture. I do not get merely a 'statement, but God connects it, livingly with my heart and affections. Another important thing is how tar the actual condition of a soul is such, that it is able to receive truth. Thus at Corinth the Apostle fed them with milk, they were not able to take strong meat, so also in Hebrews; we need to bear this in mind, if you talk to a person about truth that he is not in a state to receive, you only puff him up. If a Christian walks unfaithfully he may lose even what he knows. All living truth becomes a part of myself like food; thus it is said " if any man thirst," and 'then it speaks of coming out of his belly, that is out of the very inmost part of the man himself. T. do not believe any one has got the truth un. less it has engaged his affections to Christ, and moved his conscience.

As regards preaching the Gospel, I do not think God's right over souls is enough brought out in modern preaching. I remember speaking to a man who was preaching in America, and saying to him, " Now suppose God had not brought in this salvation, do you think Ile has a right to damn people?" He replied " No." The thing came out. We may put the question how are you going to meet God, or how will you meet your Father, but whether bringing in peace or not it owns the title of God. I believe no one ever came to God but through a sense of his need. The mistake is to think because I cannot meet the responsibility, I am absolved from it. A man may owe me £10,000, have spent everything, and be a thorough scamp, he says, " I cannot pay, therefore I am not responsible." It is quite true he cannot pay, but he forgets the rights of the- one to whom he is a debtor. All claim is i-he effect of relationship, as a wife; or child, &c.; God created man and he ought to obey, and God took care he should have a conscience, but that did- not make him responsible, though it makes him feel it. The weakness is that abstract kindness is preached without the tide of God. Law is the expression of this claim,—the maintenance of relationship which existed already, thus: the first commandment is that idols were not to be worshipped, for Jehovah was the one true God; the fifth, parents were to be honored; the seventh, faithfulness to 'the marriage tie; but all these relationships existed before, and the law maintained them, Preaching that the only ground of judgment is the rejection of Christ is false doctrine. It is contrary to Scripture; the Lord Himself says, "If ye believe not that I am He ye shall die in your sins."- In John 16, " convince the world of sin because they believe not' on me." There it is, the whole World in a lump.

But would you not say the rejection of Christ is -the crowning sill? Very true, but if it is a crowning sin, you must have sins to crown. Again, because of these things. (sins) the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience." Scripture is distinct-they shall be judged for their works; it is true unbelief unites all on the sinner, but he is judged for his works. How would this agree with 2 Cor. 5, God not imputing trespasses? That is His manner of dealing; God is not charging your sins on you, but still if you reject his mercy you will be judged for them.

But I would add, I think more of earnestness than mere accuracy, though we ought to be this too.

It is important to distinguish between propitiation and substitution; many are much confused as to them. In Lev. 16, I get the two goats, one was the Lord's lot, its blood was sprinkled before and on the mercy seat, on the other the sins were laid, their' iniquities put on the head of the goat, and it was sent away. The blood is now on the mercy seat and I go and tell the sinner to come in, there is a ground for me to do so. This is propitiation. In substitution my sins are borne and carried away. Faith enters into this; but it is not true for all that sins are put, away. The blood on the mercy seat is propitiation, the goat carrying away the sills is substitution. We have both in the work of Christ; God is glorified in one, my need is met in the other.

The first thing I am brought to own is guilt; I am guilty, but knowledge of guilt is not-knowledge of self. -I have to be broken to learn a second "thing in me, i. e., in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing; the conscience may be reached as to sins, but then there is the consciousness of what we are, i. e., lost people don't know they are lost, they own they would be if' Christ had not taken away their sins, but not that they are. It is what is the end of the whole book of Job, to bring Job to own what he is. The question raised between Job and his friends is this, whether this world was an adequate representation of God's government, they affirmed that it was-" the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,"-you have been doing something Job and now God is punishing you. Job shows that this principle is not true, for wicked men prospered, etc., and though Job was naughty, said some hard things, yet he understood God's ways better than they did, and stood up and vindicated God.

What I see in the modern preaching of forgiveness of sins is, that this side, i. e., forgiveness only being pressed, it is received and enjoyed; but how long does it last?

Perhaps a month; great delight to have such a God forgiving sins; but alas, no holiness, no knowledge of self.

If I have a servant in my house that I cannot trust, I lock up everything—I am suspicious—so if I know what the flesh is, prone to evil, and Satan on the watch, I do no trust Myself. (In reply to a question): We cannot say that Christ has borne the sins of the world, for Scripture does not say so. The passage is, " behold the Lamb of God that beareth away the sin of the world." It is an abstract statement. I do not doubt it reaches to the new heavens and- the new earth as to the result-the effect of it.

On one quoting Heb. 9:26, as, " He has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," it was replied, Nothing of the kind, look at the passage. " Now once in the end of the world He hath appeared to put away sin," &c. He has come to do that work, we 'by faith have entered. into it; the ground is laid on which it will be done, but the full result is not yet. We come into it beforehand by fait '" All fullness was pleased to dwell in Him and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things in heaven or things in earth, mid you that," etc., yet now hath he reconciled." On the day of atonement the people did not knew the result till the high priest came out to bless them; and that is just where Israel, as a people, are now; the work is done that puts away their sin, but they will not know it until He comes forth from Heaven. We have it now; for the Holy Ghost has come down to tell us that the work has been accepted.

But how as to 1 John 2, " Not for oars only, but for the whole world." There it is propitiation, not substitution. If I were to preach that Christ has put away all sins,-a arm might say, I am very glad to hear it, I shall not have to bear them, I shall not trouble myself about them, and shall go and do what I like." Moreover, it all sins are put away every body will be saved, for there is nothing remaining for which they could be judged. When conic to the cross I find Christ with all my sins on Him, and that He has put them away. That is substitution—my sins are forgiven. but sin is not forgiven, but condemned,. Rom. 8,:3. Christ has died and God reckons that I have died in Him, and Scripture tells me that I am-dead, and justified from sin not sins. In this sense Christ would not have been clear, had He not died, but He did, Rom. 4:10. The work is done, but the sin of dm world will not be put away until the new-heavens and new earth; but for us, the Holy Ghost has come out before He (Christ) has, and I say I see I am all clear, and what is more I have a place in heaven.

Col. 2, 11 was quoted, "In whom also ye were circumcised," &c., that is my dying with Christ. 1 am to walk in the faith of it,. but not actual, it will be when I die, that is, lie that is dead is justified or freed from sin." I was explaining it to one in America: supposing a man lying d there, on the floor before us, how could you charge hint with lusts; of course you cannot, he is freed or justified from sin who has died, and in that way only; we have done this in Christ's death. See Col. 2

Heb. 9, " to put away" is the effect, that there is no more sin before God's eye in heaven or earth; that is not yet fulfilled—the work is done which does it, John I, 29. Christ is the putter away, the power is not yet come in which does it.

The law is very useful to convince of sin, but now you must be in the light; the veil is rent, and there is nothing now interposing, God is perfectly revealed, and if I cannot meet the light, it is because I will not; this goes far beyond the law. Two things I notice under the law: God did not come out, and man could not go in. Now both things are changed, God has come out, and man can come in, but lie comes into the presence of God, into the holiest, into the light, as He is in the light, and that is the only proper place for a Christian, in the full result of the infinite value of the work of Christ.

Answers to Correspondents: Led Captivity Captive; The Healing of Sick; Rom. 3:30; Now the Lord is that Spirit; 1st Resurrection

Q.-What is the meaning of led " captivity-captive" in Eph. 1:8, and where did Jesus go while this body was in the grave, and for what," purpose did He go to these lower parts of the earth?

Ans.—Christ by his work upon the Cross has completely annulled Satan's power over man, and taken him captive who held man in captivity, and thus, as to those who are His, He has set them free from Satan's dominion and received gifts for them, thus delivered, by which they become the means of delivering others- In dying, Jesus commended His soul to His Father and went to Paradise, or the third heaven, of which Paul speaks in 2 Cor. 2, and thither he was shortly followed by the thief. Christ is now,in the Paradise, of God in His glorified body, and the souls of saints are with Him there. The lower parts of the earth simply means the grave. Before ascending on high Christ descended into the darkness of the grave and death, and His purpose hi going there was to deliver man from that state, of which till then Satan had the power.

Q.-Do you think the passage in James 5, as to the healing of sick, is still in force?

Ans.—As far as " the prayer of faith " is concerned we believe fully, and doubt not that God does still answer such prayer in healing without means the sick. We have known very marked instances ourselves of this. The directions given the 14th verse are not now practicable, for the simplest of all reasons; " elders of the church" can't be found. The Church here signifies the one assembly of all believers in any given locality, and the divinely appointed elders in such church or assembly. The man-made eiders of some particular religious body, called a church, in any place are not this. The Church is in ruins, through man's unfaithfulness, and elders, in the true, Scriptural sense, are not to be found! We stand in doubt of much that has gone on in Germany under the name of healing the sick by anointing with oil and prayer over them, nut that we doubt, as we have said, the efficacy of prayer in the case of the sick. "The prayer of faith" God always hears and answers.

Q.-What is the meaning of Rom. 3:30?

Ames.—That which the Apostle means to teach here is that God is not limited in His dealings in grace to Jews, and that justification being solely on the principle of faith, whether it was a Jew or a Gentile that was in question, they were equally justified on this principle of faith. There is a shade of difference supplied in the " by " and the " through." One being the principle, and the other the ground. The Jew was to be justified on the principle of faith, and the Gentile, looked as having faith in the case supposed, was justified because of his faith, justification being on that principle.

Q.-What is the meaning of "Now the Lord is that Spirit," in 2 Cor. 3

Ans.—At present the vail is on the heart of the Jews, but in a future day they will turn to the Lord, and the vail being taken away, they will see that Jesus Christ is the Lord, this will be when Christ is manifested in the millennium; but now Christ is not manifested, He is known Spirit, as revealed by the Holy Ghost to faith. The vail is done away in Christ now, for faith, so that those who see Him see the Lord, i. e., Jehovah, and have His glory. revealed to them by the Spirit. Jehovah is the Spirit, and the Spirit is Jehovah. Christ is Jehovah, or the Lord, and thus in the divine unity " the Lord is that Spirit." You can't separate Christ from the Spirit. In seeing one you see the other. It is the mystery of the God-head, and is similar to the truth of the presence of the Father in the Son when on earth. " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," Christ says. Here it is the oneness of Christ with the Spirit, there it was of Christ with the Father.

Q.-Does the first resurrection include those saints that will be slain after the Church has gone to be with Christ? Is there any interval between the first resurrection and the judgment of the world at the coming of Christ; and is Satan cast down from heaven directly the Church is taken up?

Ans.—The first resurrection certainly includes those slain after the Church has gone. " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection," though of course true of all saints, is spoken with special reference to those who have been thus slain. The first resurrection concludes, so to speak, with these; -see Rev. 20;4:5, G. It is the character of the resurrection that is here in question.. There would seem to be an interval of time between the conclusion of the first resurrection and the judgment of the world. An interval during which the marriage of the Lamb takes place, at which such saints, though not in the Bride, will be present as sharing in their Lord's joys, as subsequently they will do in His royal power. I gather from Rev. 12, that it is consequent upon the Church's rapture, as included in that of the man child, that the casting down of Satan takes place, and it would seem to be at once.

Rotten to the Core

In' a plate, on my breakfast table were a number of beautiful pears. They were truly pleasant to the sight," and, if one might have formed a judgment thereby, they would also prove "good for food." Indeed everything about them seemed to promise well.

Accordingly, I took one-the finest and the largest-and began to rob it of its skin, that thus I might enjoy the rich and luscious fruit unalloyed and untainted. No sooner, however, had I made an incision, with the keen edge of my knife, than I found that the fruit was rotten. Still, hoping that the surface only had become affected, I sought to cut off the diseased and corrupted part. Yet deep as my blade penetrated and much of the surface as it thus rolled off I had the disappointment to find that the rottenness lay deeper still. Once more the knife was thrust in only to discover the same sorrowful result. At last, hopeless of the case, I plunged it into the core. And what was the result? Rotten still-yes rotten to the very core!

Ah! Methought-that, is man over again. Man is rotten to the core. Nay, the—cure is the most rotten part! For it is "out of the heart of man that evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, and murders proceed." It is the heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." It is the heart therefore that is the seat of the spiritual corruption and rottenness to which I allude, And may I say it. the more deeply the knife of the word of God is applied the more palpable does the inherent and inborn depravity of the heart appear.

How solemn is the mid) that the " carnal mind is enmity against God," and that therefore " they that are in the flesh cannot please God." The will-the heart of the unrenewed man, " is enmity against God," and "is not subject" to Him..

Hence, when we read the history of man from the fall to the cross we find this truth tearfully verified. Let us think of Cain, or of the antedeluvians and recall the plaintive lamentation of the Spirit of God as He declares that " Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually." And thereupon enters the flood, and rolls its deep, dark wave of judgment over the whole horrid scene. A righteous seed,—yet, one that sprang from the loins of fallen Adam. issues from the Ark. And what of it? Rotten still-is the only confession. Look at the pride of Babel and the token of God's displeasure in the confusion of tongues. And mark likewise the idolatrous abominations of those days. When they changed the glory of God into an image-when they worshipped and served the creature, and when they did not like to retain God in -their knowledge. Rom. 1 "And God gave them up."

But He called out one-Abram, whom He loaded with promises. Forth came Abram obedient to the call. From him sprang a nation favored as none other had been, and what of it? Rotten still. For when their Messiah appeared as the Son of Mary, and spoke of His divine origin in a way that could not be misunderstood they took Him and with wicked hands crucified and slew Him. " They killed the Prince of life." And with them were joined the Gentiles. Herod and Pontius Pilate combined in the rejection of God incarnate.

Man hated Him because in faithfulness He testified that his works were evil. And man could not bear the truth. The knife laid bare the moral pollution and disease of the heart. He was shown to be rotten at the core This is no everdrawn picture, no stretch of the imagination. It is the plain declaration of the word of God that the nature of man is " corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." It is no traduction of man's moral character-no insult-no false witness. Pride may object, hut the truth remains. Happy the man who admits it and who, by divine teaching, in company with Job, and Isaiah, and Paul, has learned to say, " I am vile," " I am undone," " I am the chief of sinners."

Happy the man, who, consciously vile, and undone; and sinful, has received that other truth, " when we were, yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly," and who has found in Him " wisdom and -righteousness and sanctification and redemption." He can then afford to be rotten at the core-to own that in himself dwelleth no good thing, for he has found in Another a completeness, 'a soundness, a moral perfection that gives him a standing before God.

Reader, is Christ your righteousness.? J. W. S.

It Is No Fable

On a Lord's day evening, after preaching the gospel in a public hall, I passed from the platform to the body of tine hall, to gather up the results of the gospel. The first anxious soul I observed, was a young man, whose looks told me that the Holy Ghost had planted in his heart, the incorruptible seed of the word of God. I spoke to him and soon discovered the state of his soul. God had met him, and taught him his lost state. Heaven and hell were before him; how he could escape the latter and gain the former, was his entire object. It is most precious' and delightful to get hold of down right, anxious, earnest souls. Now, my young friend was a down right earnest soul. He wanted salvation on the spot. He was lost, and nothing less than a present Savior could satisfy him. From the word of God, I showed him that Jesus is a present Savior, and that,. "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." John 3:36.

He was astonished to hear from the word of God that be could have everlasting life on the spot. Like the millions of this day, he thought he had to work himself- into a state that would induce God to save him. The love of God, in the gift of His Son, overturned his religious-fabric; and the beautiful story of the thief on the Cross, set aside all his notions of fitness being required, by the sinner before his coming to Christ. After promising to visit him at his address, I parted with him.

On the afternoon of the following Lord's day, I visited him at his address, and found him reading "Notes on Romans." I was rather surprised to find him reading the "Notes;" but, on looking into his face, I saw an expression which is always the result of having peace with God.

He had found the peace that Christ made "through the blood of His cross." He was "washed," "sanctified," "justified," and rejoicing in "hope of the glory of God."

1 Cor. 6:11. Rom. 5:1;2. I read 1st Peter 2:24, and sought-to establish his soul in the truth, by showing him that Christ bore his sins, and that He is now in heaven having nothing more to do with bearing sins.

Fresh joy seemed to flow into his soul as he looked up and said, "He could not bear sins in heaven." "Ah!" said he, "that beautiful fifty-fourth hymn, that was sung at the hall last Lord's day evening, had such power; they sung, it with such expression." For the sake of my readers, I will transcribe the first two verses of this beautiful hymn.

• "God in mercy sent His Son,

To a world by sin undone,

Jesus Christ was crucified'

Twas for sinners Jesus died.

"O the glory of the grace,
Shining in the Savior's face,
Telling sinners from above,
`God is light,' and 'God is love.'"

My reader, look away from yourself to Jesus, the Savior in the glory. He went down into death to accomplish redemption, and now lives, in the glory of God, mighty to save. He shed His precious blood, to purge every stain from your soul, and remove every trace of guilt from your conscience, and now lives and says':-"Peace to you."

On the following Tuesday I saw my young friend, on board the Mail Steamer, before he sailed for England. He was fresh and happy in the love of God, and spoke simply and sweetly of the coming of the Lord Jesus for " ills own." In a few days, the Spirit of God taught this new born babe in Christ, the "blessed hope" of the believer; and I was delighted to open the book, and show him that he was converted to God to wait for His Son from heaven. 1 Thess. 1:9,10. Being anxious that he should rejoice in this "blessed hope," I said, " We are not converted to wait for death; it is neither our hope nor object; God's Son is. both. We are not ' sure of death,' as people say; for God says: 'Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at, the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.' 1 Cor. 15:51,52.

" Jesus, who loved you and gave Himself for you, may come for 'His own' and take you up before you cross the Atlantic. I know you will be glad to see Him as He is, and be like Him and with Him forever." With avidity, he drank in this precious truth and said, "It is no fable." "Oh!" said I, "would to God that this was the language of every child of God under the sun." I grasped the hand of my young friend as he said, "I will meet you there in white." I cannot forget the peaceful, heavenly smile that played on the face of this new born heir of eternal glory. He had found a new home for his heart, and the link with that home was the glorified Jesus, who loved him, and washed him from' his sins in His own blood. We parted for "a little while," until, " Himself, the Lord, shall come," and change these vile bodies and fashion them like unto His body of glory. 1 Thess. 4:16,17. Phil. 3:21.

A word, before I close, to the readers of this paper. It Will fall into the hands of two classes, viz,: the saved and the unsaved. To you who are saved, the coming of the Lord Jesus "is no fable," but a present reality. You were converted to wait for the Son of God from heaven. Death is not your hope; you were not converted to wait for it, but for the Lord Himself who is coming quickly for "His own." To you who are not saved, the corning of the Lord Jesus "is no fable," but an awful, present reality, the closing forever of the door of mercy for you and the fixing of your eternal destiny. If He should come whilst you read this paper, you will be shut out from His presence forever. Hear what He says. "Anh while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut." Matt. 25:10. It will be utterly useless for you to stand outside and say, "Lord, Lord, open to us." He will say, "I know you not."

In the days of your pleasure hunting and enjoyment of your lusts, you did not know Him. He will not know you in that day when He bolts the eternal doors of heaven against you. You lived without Him in the ball room, in the theater, in the billard room, in the hurry and bustle of the business circle, in the domestic circle, in the religious circle, and on the race course, and you will live without Him during the rolling ages of eternity, in the lake of fire, if you are not ready to go in with Him when He comes for "His own." You have denied Him a place in your heart here; He will deny you a place in the Father's house. You have not known Him here in the time of your prosperity; He will not know you in the moment of your greatest extremity, when all hope is gone, and the lake of fire is ready to receive you. He will say, with a voice of thunder that will shake the heavens and earth, "I know you not." "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.

Dream not, my reader, of time for repentance-of "repentance at the eleventh hour." The Lord will come, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." Yes, " in the twinkling of an eye," all hope of escape from the wrath to come will be cut off, and all entrance to the many mansions of the Father's house closed. Flee! 0, flee to Jesus just now; your eternal doom, may be decided in " the twinkling of an eye." To you, then, the coming of the Lord Jesus "is no fable," but an awful reality which will fix your abode for eternity.

Perhaps my reader has always looked at death as that which would close the door of mercy, and cut off all hope of his being saved.. Death will assuredly do this if you die in your sins; but the Lord Jesus may come before you die, close the door of mercy, cause the gospel message to cease, and then you will have a lie to believe that you may be damned. 2 Thess. 2:10-12. Awake! awake! for " the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." Say not, "peace and safety," for " sudden destruction" will come upon you, and you will not escape. 1 Thess. 5:2,3; 2 Thess. 1:7-10.

And observe, the Lord Jesus is not a mere spirit, hut the Son of God, the Son of man, who lived and died here, and who lives again, ordained of God the judge of the quick and dead; and God has appointed a day in which He will judge this world in- righteousness by Him. John 5:27-29. Acts 17:31. Neither is His coming "a spiritual coming." as people say, but a personal coming. This world saw Hint, as the Son of God, the Man of sorrows; it nailed Him to a tree, and had its last look at Him, in that (lay, on the gibbet. He is hidden from it for a little while. It will have its final look at Him when He comes in the clouds of heaven. " Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." Rev. 1:7.

This is not "a spiritual coming," but the Son of man coning to judge the world in righteousness.

This " is no fable" to this poor Christ rejecting world, that has not a moment to think of Him, nor a place for Him in its affections. It will have a moment to look at Him when Ile conies, and an eternity to live without Him, when He commits it to the lake of fire for its sins and rejection of His message of love in the gospel.

Beloved reader, knowing the terror of the Lord, we would persuade you to flee from the wrath to come. Flee with all your sins and guilt to Jesus. Go to Him just now as you are, he will not cast you out. He has pledged Himself to receive you. " Hint that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." You require no goodness or merit to draw out His love and induce Him to save you. He loves you, calls you, and invites you to find rest and a refuge in Himself " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." W. B.

Eternal Life, What Is It? Part 2

The consideration of eternal life as possessed by the believer, necessarily raises the question of the condition of man previous to the reception of eternal life. On this point, the testimony of scripture is most plain and conclusive. He is "dead in trespasses and sins." His moral condition towards God is that of death. Not merely that he is under the penalty of' death, as a future thing, because " the wages of sin is death." This is death in the body, and doubtless includes the second death, as it is termed, when in the body, raised from the (lead, the full results of sin are reaped in the sufferings of the lake of fire: All is most solemnly true, but it is a question of the future, and will most certainly be the portion of those who are found in the day of judgment without eternal life. This is the judicial sentence of God on man in connection with his works, and not the question of his nature.

" Dead in trespasses" is man's present state in his nature; as without one pulse of life towards God. In all his thoughts and feelings towards God, he is morally dead. All men by nature are "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them." This has been true ever since the fall, hut it was not fully proved and brought to light till Christ came into the world. Then the condition of man in his nature was fully dealt with, and what, of course, God always knew as to man, was clearly demonstrated. God was in time world in Christ, "and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Ilium not." " The right shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." Up to the coming of Christ, the dealings-of God with man had reference to what man could do for God, as a question of righteousness; but, in Christ, God presented Himself to man, in perfect grace, and all that came out was that man did not know God, and did not want Him.

Mau was thus proved to be dead to God, in addition to having sins and trespasses, which entailed judgment on him at a future day.

The truth thus came out, that man not only required righteousness, in which to stand before God outside judgment, but life,-another nature, which should enable him to see and know God, so that God might become an object to him for obedience and blessing.. It is this deadness to God that the Lord deals with when He tells Nicodemus, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," nor "enter into the kingdom of God," and then announces the blessed truth, out of which all blessing for man flows, that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We have two things brought together here. The present possession of eternal life; and salvation, or not perishing, as a question of a future state. The one flowing from the person of the Son of God, as the object of faith, and the other from His work on the cross for those who should believe on Him.

" Dead in trespasses and sins " being then that moral condition in which man, by nature, lives outside of God arid blessing, eternal life, as possessed by the believer, is that moral condition in which the believer in Christ lives to God, and enjoys all the blessedness that God bestows on those who are with Him. "This is life eternal," says the Lord, " that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."

Let us again, for the moment, look at eternal life outside the believer. It is Christ Himself. The Son of God" That eternal life which was with the Father." This is what, as we may say, it is objectively. That which it is in itself, in its source and nature.

Looked at in the believer, that is to say subjectively, it is the knowledge of the Father and the Son by faith, to " know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." In corning to Christ the soul comes to eternal life in its source, that blessed fountain of divine life which the Father has sent into this world for man, " dead in trespasses and sins;" but then Christ is, not only the source of this divine, or eternal life, He is also the channel through which it flows, as He says to His Father, "as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him," and so, " the gift of God is eternal life," but only "through Jesus Christ our Lord." Therefore the Lord tells the Jews, " Ye will not 'come to me that ye might have life." They would not believe and therefore life, eternal life, could not be theirs. On the other hand, as to all who did come to Him, the Father's will was this, " That every one which seeth the Son and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise Him up at the last day." .

The absolute and inevitable result of believing on the Son, consequent upon the Father's will concerning faith in Him, is eternal life. It is impossible to believe on the Son, and not have eternal life. God's determinate will is in the matter, and it is no question of the state, as to sinnership, in those that believe; whether they have sinned much or little; whether they have many good works or none at all; whether they love God, or' don't love Him, is not in question, but simply this, that whosoever believeth on the Son may have eternal life. The result, as we have said, is inevitable. " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," and "he that hath the Son hath life." The other side is just as absolute. " He' that believeth not the Son shall not see life." "He that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

Many true believers are distressed with doubts as to whether they have eternal life, because they have not true thoughts about eternal life, whether as a thing outside them, or as a thing in them. That is to say, they; think of eternal life only as something that links them with a state of future and eternal blessedness as to what is outside them, and of a state of happy feeling in the heart as to that which is in them now. As we have said before, it includes all this, but then these things are results that flow from having eternal life, not eternal life itself.

Eternal life is Christ. If I have Christ I have eternal life, and I have Christ if I believe on Him. But I have more than life, I have resurrection too, which is a question of the future, for I have Him who says, " I am the resurrection and the life." As a present thing, in having Christ, I have a nature,-a new nature, in which I know the Father and the Son. A life in which I can and do live to God. The degree in which I live according to that nature is another thing, but the nature I have. As a believer in Christ, I am a " partaker of the divine nature," and have the present relationship to God of a child as born of Him through believing in His Son. " We are all," says the Apostle, "children of God through faith in Christ Jesus."

Beside all this I have the spirit of adoption, and am an heir of God—joint heir with Christ, but keeping simply to the thought of eternal life, as in the believer; I have, through Christ, the nature and. life of God my Father, and know and am known of God according to that nature. Just as simply as in nature I have the life and nature of my father and my elder brother, and act according to that nature, as knowing necessarily who is my father and my brother; so in divine things, "This is life eternal that they might know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." It is only, as having eternal life, that the Father and the Son can be known, and that they are known is the proof that eternal life is possessed. Nothing can be simpler than the Lord's own description of what eternal life, as possessed by the believer, really is, and nothing more absolute and simple as the ground of the believer's certainty as to possessing that life, than His words, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." Faith then in Christ is the proof and evidence that eternal life is truly possessed, and knowledge of God, and of Christ, as sent by Him, is what that life is in him that has it.

The question, " Eternal life, what is it?" is very simple and easily answered by the eye that rests on Christ and listens to His words. It is Christ Himself on the one side, and my knowledge of Him and of the One that sent Him, on the other.

Happy for us is it when our knowledge and our walk are the simple effect of having Him before us who says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life;" and what puzzles those who would be wise is a very simple thing with those who are content to have all their wisdom in this, that they know him, whom to know is life eternal.

(Concluded from page 75.)

A Thought for the Little Ones

How little are any of us able to say, "I know Him in whom I have believed." All christians believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His work and person, but how few ever seek to know Him, how few hearts are really set on learning Him.

Many are seeking to serve Him, and even spending their substance (Or Him, who forget that " to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams," People will give up money and time to "serve the Lord" who have never given up a thought, or restrained a word to please Him; and why is this? Because they do not know Him! The little one who knows Him, whose heart is set on knowing Him, thinks of His feelings, His desires, 'and tries to suit himself to them with a greater carefulness and a brighter devotion than tire most showy services over evince; because such an one is thinking everything of Christ, and nothing of himself.

Our acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ is what forms us as christians, for we are not horn again to' a religion or to a doctrine, hut into eternal. life, and this is life eternal to know Thee, the (oily true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. This life is in God's Son; and its expression in us is according to our knowledge of Him who is its source and supply. If I know Him simply as one who has saved me from eternal judgment, my walk will express only that. If I know Him as the one who has redeemed me from this present evil world unto Himself, I must walk as one not of the world, not my, own but His; and further, if I know Him as one wino has died out of this scene, and passed into another, there may be weakness (and the higher, we go, the mire we shall discover), but I must walk as a heavenly roan, and consequently as a stranger here, as one who likewise has died out of this scene, and lives in another.

If this be true, how deeply important that we should seek to know the Lord Jesus Christ. To set Out from day to day with the simple aim "that I may know Him." Not to do great things, or to feel great things, but to know the greatest thing of all, even Him in whom all fullness dwells. It is the highest aim for tine youngest babe, or the oldest saint, and the little one who starts with it, will find a pathway through this world that angels delight to look on, and where Father and Son find their abode.

As the disciples walked with Jesus through the scene of His rejection, amid confusion, discord, and disease, was not every occasion a new opportunity for them to learn Him? It they met death they might learn Him there, suffering, bereavement, famine, storm, the occasion might be small or great, hut Jesus was there for them to see and learn Him, though their hearts were dull and careless as ours often are.

But now we know that it is the great end of our blessed Lord's own ministry to us by His Spirit, even as it is chief desire for us, that we might be ~ conformed to Him;" and it is only by knowing Him that we can ever be, " when we see Him, we shall he like Him," and if we want to know Him, let us go to the Gospels and linger over His ways and words, and actings there, get into company with Him in Ills weary passage to and fro among rejecting men, as the Son of tine Father, and the servant of His God; and then remember that it is• the same One who says, "Behold I am with you alway," and wino is with us to be learned and recognized and known in every step of our poor little bidden secret paths through this great world which is against us, just as it was against Him -to be known in every occasion, to endear Himself at every turn. Do we look for Him? Are we seeking to know Him in order to be conformed to Him? Is this the work He will find us about when He comes? Many do great works inn His name, but it is only the child who knows Him truly, who can possibly set its true value on the surpassing privilege and blessedness of being counted worthy to serve our -blessed Lord and Savior in this present evil world. F. P. G.

Extract From a Letter on Service

Oh, how little we are like that true servant, who came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him, content to be nothing, so that in all things His Father might be glorified-as man to be unseen that God might alone be seen. In nothing are we so fan. from Him practically as in " that mind " which was in Christ Jesus, who, though every tiring as God, became nothing, "made Himself of no reputation," in taking upon Himself the form of a servant, and that servantship not in angelic nature, but in " fashion as a man," the lowest creature place,—that in that place he might humble Himself to death, "even the dentin of the cross," a death, the character of which is the expression of human shame and degradation. it was not merely that he submitted to the cross as the necessity of the Father's will for man's redemption and deliverance from the curse of the law, but He deliberately sought it in His own free will; he humbled Himself to it, as that in which the Father could be most glorified, and as a lesson to all created intelligences of the true path of the creature. Angels and man had equally falsified their due character by seeking to elevate themselves above the estate in which the Creator had placed them-they left their first estate in the attempt He as God, could alone by His own personal will leave His first estate and not sin in doing so, but it was to go down, and down so low that lower none could go. In this God was glorified by Christ as previously by angels and men Inc had been dishonored. Following Christ, as the servant, can alone make us true servants. "If a man serve me, let him follow me." "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," the Lord says to Simon and Andrew. " What is that to thee? follow thou me," ire repeats to that same Simon when giving him his final commission.

Morally we become like Christ while the eye is fixed on Himself, and Himself alone. The feet under the constraining power. of His own persons glide unconsciously and unaffectedly into his footsteps. The Lord inn His grace keep our eye more simply fixed on himself as the light of God, and then will His " mind" be reproduced in us, and the path will tell what the " mind " is.

Deuteronomy 8:3

And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man cloth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded] out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

No one is led into the place of weeping, without getting some joy. Israel were already God's people. He leads them into the wilderness to humble them; He makes them hunger that He may give them manna; He leads them into trial that lie may give them something better. Some would say, If in the midst of the leeks, onions, and fleshpots of Egypt God ]sad given them the manna, they would have rejected all other things because the manna was better; but it is not so. While the flesh is surrounded by that which suits it, it is fed by it, and will reject the better things. Day by day, hour by hour, God is leading us to that condition of hunger that lie may give us something better, something not discernable by the natural mind, but satisfying. When I have tasted the manna, there is a reality about it; it is not faith any longer. If I am hungry in the wilderness, and am fed and braced up by the food, do I not know it?. Cain power come into my veins and I not know it? It might be a matter of faith that we are to have the manna to-morrow; but it was a matter of feeling and reality that we have eaten it to-day. As we eat and are strengthened, let us say, I know that man doth not live by bread alone. We feed on Jesus the living bread, the gift of the Father, and we may say that we are miraculously fed from heaven every day by supernatural food, that we might know that man cloth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

What think you of possessing, in measure now all that we shall possess in the day of the Lord? Then pain of body and pain. of heart would all appear very light,- and we could say with the Apostle, after enumerating things that would make some people mad, " these light afflictions which are but for a moment." Why de we not thus speak? It is the right of all who have the Spirit. Outside of the sanctuary, until the Lord comes, there will be troubled hearts and diseased souls, but it must not surprise us; it is all alike an opportunity for the display of God's grace which spreads itself abroad to meet the misery. Every want that pressed on the Lord Jesus always gave an occasion in His soul to the cry of faith.

G. O. T.

The Land I Love

My heart is onward bounding,

Home to the land I love;
Its distant vales and fountains

My wishful passions move.

Fain would my thirsty spirit

Its living freshness breathe,

And wearied-soul find resting

Its hallowed shades beneath.

No soil of nature's evil,

No touch of man's rude hand,

Shall e'er disturb around us

That bright and blissful land.

The charms that woo the senses
Shall be as bright, as fair,

For all, while breathing round us,

Shall tell of Jesus there.

What light, when all its beaming

Shall own Him as the Sun!
What music. when its breathing

Shall bear His name along!
No 'pause, no change of pleasure,

No cloud to dim our view,

The draft that lulls our thirsting,

Shall wake our thirst anew.

Ye Ought Also to Wash One Another's Feet

The more we enjoy the grace of Christ towards ourselves, the more are we led out according to that grace, in loving service towards others. We all understand this. Happiness is essentially communicative; selfish abiding nu divine blessing is impossible. The Son of the Father's love could not abide alone in the blessedness of that love. To come to reveal the Father was the necessity, so to speak, of the heart of Him who, knew that Father.." I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them," was the language of that heart to the Father, as He looked upon those whom the Father had given Him out of tine world. It is tine language of that heart still. The secret spring of all the blessed service of love that from the, heights of Heaven He is still carrying on towards His own which are in the world. A language and service that repeats itself in " that disciple- whom Jesus loved" when he says, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these timings write we unto you that your joy may be full."

Whether in the heart of the Master, or in that of the disciple, the motive that leads to activity is that others may have "part with me." Love, from the secret of its own blessedness, delights to serve. A service, the perfection of which presents itself in Him, who rightly called " Master and Lord," says, "If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you." Well may He add, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." What happiness can equal that which flows from fellowship with Jesus in this holy service of His love in washing His disciples feet, that, according to the Holiness of God, they may have part with Himself in heavenly blessedness? It is into this service that He calls us when He says, "Ye ought also to wash one another's feet."

There are two elements that enter into the service that here presents itself for our imitation. The unselfish love that seeks to share all we have, in blessedness with God, with others, and. the lowliness of heart that goes down beneath those we love, that we may be the means of blessing to them. We are only able to assume this service as we realize the grace of Jesus in washing our own feet. The love and lowliness that alone makes such service possible must flow out of His heart into ours through communion with Him. When our souls are enjoying what God is in light and love, which we can only enjoy, as having had our feet washed by Christ, in the. way we have spoken of in previous papers, by the application of the word of God to our hearts and consciences in the power of the Spirit of God, we are morally qualified to discover what in others is inconsistent with what God is in light and love, and which binders their communion with Him. Seeing, in a divine way, what hinders their power for worship and service, love for them, as well as the consideration of God's glory in them, will lead us to seek to wash their feet. This, in the sense of our own nothingness, will take us to Christ for the grace and wisdom that such service needs.

The only thought before the mind, as to them, is their restoration to communion with God. Trembling as to ourselves, and in meekness of heart, we shall find ourselves going after them in Christ's love and strength. Most beautifully is the spirit in which feet-washing is to be carried out set before us by the apostle when be says,. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

This is far enough away from the spirit of fault-finding, and judging of others, that we are so prone to, unless watchful over ourselves when in the presence of others, where-necessarily their faults and failings become known to us. It is net looking for faults in others, but when seeing a fault in another removing it by washing his feet by the word of God, in a way that makes the one I am dealing. with feel that nothing but love and lowliness is in my own heart while doing so. It is not enough to 'know what is wrong in another, and to have the towel and the water ready to wash his feet, I must approach him with that towel and water in such a way as to win his confidence, and set his heart at rest in my. presence, by making him feel that love, and only love, has brought me to his side, and that I am really ready to 'go down at his 'feet to wash them, if only he will let me.

It is a blessed privilege that the Lord has given us of thus washing one another's feet. It is a service we owe to all saints, and we ought indeed to render it, and watch to render it, too, to all that are Christ's. This is not gift in teaching or pasturing but the simple service of love that one believer, according to the Lord's word of exhortation, owes to his fellow believers in the everyday life, so to speak, that we live as christians.

If we are happy in the Lord, and walking with Him, we shall find ourselves constantly 'rendering this service to one another, We believe it is the great need of saints one with another, a need which gift and ministry will net supply. It is, so to speak, a homely service, that has to be done at home,. in the simplicity of home life, like the washing of our hands, in a natural way, only that it is done for us by another, and not by ourselves. The more we know what it is to have Christ washing our own feet in our private walk with Him, the more in our private walk with others, as Christians, shall we be washing one another's feet. May the Lord help us unceasingly- then, in love, to serve one another. It will be a mutual service, and never all on one side, we may be sure.

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

Holiness Through Faith: Part 3

It is wonderful how, when a false theory occupies the mind, the plainest statements of Scripture go for nothing, and what is positively false and opposed to its direct teaching is put in place of the truth. No better instance of this kind of thing could be found than the following extract from Mr. Smith gives us, "When some certain form of Sin, known to your own soul, is presented to you, although you tarp from it, is there not a response down deep in the soul, that contradicts the verdict you have given? and which says of the evil thing, in unmistakable tones, Dove it! ' A h! there is the fatal thing-you love it after all. Now what a man loves, in a certain sense that man himself is in character. His affections show the central powers of his being." Now can anything be more totally contrary to the teaching of the Spirit of God in the seventh of Romans, which gives us the very picture of the state of soul out of which Mr. Smith writes that persons, through his teachings, may be delivered? What the apostle states is that a Christian does hate sin at the very bottom of his heart, even while under its power, and that his 'distress proceeds from the consciousness of doing, in spite of himself, what he does hate. " For that which I do, I allow not, for what I would, that I do not, but what I- hate, that do I." His statement is the clear opposite of Mr. Smith's. Then, that what a man loves he is in character, is just what the apostle denies. He says, "For what I would, (what I love) that I do not." His character is just tire opposite of what he loves, and that's the trouble. And lastly, that " his affections show the central powers of his being," is just what the seventh of Romans, we might al-. Most say, is written to prove is not the case. His affections are all right, he loves holiness and hates sin, but is utterly without power to act according to his affections. That is to say, his affections are the very reverse of being the " power of his being." "I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law Of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." At the center, where his affections are, he is weak, and captive under a power that is in his members, and clearly they are not his affections. It really is wonderful how any one claiming to take Scripture as his guide could make, in one short sentence, three statements so plainly false and contrary to what it teaches. We give Mr. Smith credit for being quite sincere in what he teaches, but believe that the very thing he has taken upon himself to teach others, is just the thing that in his own soul he is unsound upon. The statement we are considering.

and indeed his whole book; plainly shows that he does not distinguish between the flesh and the new man, nor between the new man and the 'power of the Holy Ghost acting on the new man. With him, strength is found in the affections, and if the affections are set straight all will go well. The fact of being born again, and of two natures opposed to one another in the same person, the strength of the one and utter weakness of the other, learned while under law, ending in deliverance from the power of the one, through our Lord Jesus Christ, seem to have no place in the mind. But let us leave this question, and pass on to another where our author asks us " to be honest " and fairly look at the Scripture he is speaking of. We are to beware and not turn its edge, as he himself had often done, to his shame and loss, by the " poor tricks of the intellect." He is dealing with the 6th of Romans, in this instance, and our not serving sin. " When," he asks, " are we not to serve sin? Plainly now. From what 'is this deduced? From the fact of the body of sin being destroyed (' rendered inert, or ineffective, as in suspended life,' might be the more exact translation); when destroyed? Plainly, previously to our not serving sin. When was the old man crucified with Christ? Evidently,- previously to the destruction of the body of sin." What Mr. Smith wants us to be honest and see, is that three distinct acts, one succeeding the other, take place in the believer, by which he gets to the position where he is enabled not to serve sin. That is to say. he puts in place of the work of Christ for us on the cross, to which in figure, by baptism, the believer has been brought, as the expression of his standing before God, a supposed three-fold work of the Holy Ghost in us, by which liberty from the power of sins is attained. By this means, the whole force of the apostle's argument is lost. What the apostle -does teach is that, according to his profession in baptism, every Christian has been crucified with Christ, and is therefore to practically reckon himself dead to sin. In the same way, in Galatians, he says, " They that are Christ's have -crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." It is the Christian standing before God in 'virtue of the cross, he is speaking of. Paul says; "I have been crucified with Christ." Not crucified by the work of the Holy Ghost in him, as Mr. Smith would teach us. He was crucified when Christ was crucified. He came to the knowledge of it when he was converted, or at leak when the Holy Ghost revealed it to him, and his aim was to make his state answer to his actual standing. Certainly we are not to serve sin; and why? because we have been crucified with Christ, and we have been crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed.

The apostle's doctrine puts the firm, ground of the cross of Christ beneath the foot of faith, as that upon which the " walk in newness of life" is to proceed. Mr. Smith's Puts the shifting sands of experience, by a totally false interpretation of the 6th of Romans. Paul's " way of holiness " is very, very different from that of Mr. Smith's, and we don't hesitate to say, that we very much doubt the quality of " the newness of life " that flows from the latter. The doctrine of the standing of the believer in the 6th of Romans does become experience in the 7th of Romans, which is really the setting forth of how the teaching of the 6th of Romans becomes realized experimentally in the soul, so that deliverance from the power of sin is truly experienced, and this is just what Mr. Smith does not see.

We shall close our remarks by noticing just one more instance of the sad misuse of Scripture by Mr. Smith in the book we are considering and this the saddest of all, because it deals with what is of the deepest and most precious moment to the saint. It is that in which he attempts to unfold the doctrine of the atonement from the epistle of Hebrews. We feel the more as to it, because our author tells us he " waited for some weeks in special prayer for enlightenment and guidance on so solemn a subject," and yet it is just here that he goes so terribly astray, and gives the plainest evidence of the working of the human mind outside the guidance of the Spirit.

" Inward purity of heart," and " present salvation from sinning," is the doctrine that Mr. Smith is seeking to establish. It is a purified heart he is in quest of when he turns to the epistle of Hebrews, and he perverts the teaching of the whole epistle in support of the theory he has in his mind on this subject. Now, though we are exhorted to "follow after holiness," the inward sanctification of the Spirit, and the operation of the Spirit in the soul, renewing and cleansing the affections, which is what Mr. Smith is solely occupied with, is exactly that of which the epistle does not treat. Sanctification in Hebrews is by the will of God through " the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." The believer is once and forever sanctified and fitted for the presence of God, as a worshipper, by the blood of Jesus, and the " worshippers once purged " " have no more conscience of sins." The blood is applied once, and only once. We will now listen to what Mr. Smith has to say on the subject.

"In the epistle to the Hebrews, which deals so specially with the scriptural aspect of our Lord's work, we find the various forms of the word " sanctify " more often than in all the other epistles combined_ It was that Jesus, might sanctify the people with His own blood,' that He suffered without the gate.' For if the blood of bulls and of goats,' the epistle argues, 'and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ,'" &c. Sec. Other texts are quoted to the same point, and he continues, "It is because this sanctification, to which we hear testimony, is through tire blood of Jesus, that we feel confidence in casting ourselves upon Christ to receive its accomplishment."

All this has reference to the inward cleansing of the soul as the following passage shows. "'The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin,' was probably more constantly on my lips than any single passage of Scripture for ten years before I saw that its application was not primarily to canceling the record of sin, but to the inward cleansing of the souls of those who walk in the light as He is in the light.'" After more to the same purpose he continues, "A walk in the true light always leads to the blood of cleansing. Thus we find that if we walk in the light as He is in the light, God and ourselves have fellowship one with another, and then we realize that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us inwardly from all sin." The adding to Scripture, and the confusion, not to say perversion, that this last sentence gives evidence of, we need not, we think, point out to our readers. All we want them to see is, how all the blessed import of the true doctrine of the epistle of Hebrews is lost to the souls of those who adopt Mr. Smith's interpretations of it. "Boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," as the blessed privilege of the simplest believer in Jesus, is entirely shut out by such doctrine, and those only who have, according to Mr. Smith's theory, been inwardly and practically cleansed by the blood can avail themselves of that blessed open door.

We think we have given instances enough to show that we do well to warn our readers against the book we have been speaking of.

( Concluded from page. 77.)

Answers to Correspondents: Mortify and Put Off; Old Corn of the Land; John's Baptism; Our Lord a Priest

Q.-What is the distinction, in application, between "mortify," Col. 3:5, and " put off," vs. 8.? Does the former apply to the inherent character of the flesh, and the later to its work?

A.-The christian being dead as to the life of the first Adam he has to " mortify," i. e. pract cally to put to death, the members of the old man, so that according to that life they do not act. This refers to gross and positive sins, as flowing from the lust of the flesh it's works we may say, " Put off," has more reference to the lust itself,-the inside workings of an unbroken will and evil heart, every movement of which is to be disallowed inwardly.

Q.-What is the old corn of the land?

A.-The old corn of the land is the glorified Christ, upon which the soul feeds in heavenly places, and by which it is nourished for conflict with Satan, and for running the christian race. It is the old corn of the land in Phil. 3., just as it is the manna,, or humbled Christ, the food for the wilderness journey, in Phil. 2.

Q.-What is the meaning of John's Baptism; and why was our Lord baptized by him?

A.-,-John's baptism was the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as looking to the coming of Christ as the Messiah. See Acts 19:3 and 4. It had its exclusive application to the Jews, who were baptized in the acknowledgment of a broken law, and hope in the coming of their promised Messiah. It is totally different from christian baptism, and therefore went for nothing, and those who had been so baptized, were baptized again, as taking them off Jewish ground to Christian Our Lord was baptized as fulfilling righteousness. As a godly Jew He did what was right according to Jehovah's will for the ' nation at that time. By this act too He associated Himself with the first right step of the godly Remnant, and took His place before God in connection with them according to Psa. 16

Q.-Was our Lord a priest when on earth?

A -When on earth the Lord Jesus was "That prophet" spoken of in Deut. 18:18. His priesthood began upon His ascension to the right hand of God. Compare Psa. 100 and Heb. 6 and VII., and see Heb. 8:4.

Two Opinions

"There seems to be two opinions, hut the words which the gentleman read made it all clear."

Such was the language of a young colored woman, whom I was requested to visit, as she lay at the point of death.

The first time I called I found her suffering much in mind and body.

I afterward learned that, although she had been visited by several, both of her own color and others, it had only been to her confusion.

Some said, "If she did the best she could, it was all God would expect." "Others told her that she couldn't expect to be saved without great convictions, a severe struggle, and witnessing some remarkable display of God's power and glory.

With a prayer that God's Spirit would give me, as the instrument,. just the words for her case, I said to her, "I fear you have but a short time to live, are you prepared to die?" With a look of despair on her countenance she answered "No." " Poor soul," said 1, " you need something more than man's thoughts." Let us turn to the precious word where we shall find your case described with the all-sufficient remedy.

She waited with eagerness. I first turned to Romans 5th chap. and read 6th, 7th and 8th verses, then to the 30 of John and read from 14th to 18th verse. Having seen front these passages that the sinner was riot only in a lost, but a helpless condition, and by the death and resurrection of Christ, the work was all done, it was simply for her to look, as did the serpent-bitten Israelites, and be saved. Then turning to the 16th of Acts 1 showed her that the terms of salvation were precisely what, the apostle Paul prescribed to the Philippian jailor, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," &c.

After kneeling in prayer, I asked her, " Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior now?" She answered, "I do believe." The next day I asked if she was resting on Christ? She answered, "Yes, and He gives me peace."

Between my two visits one of her anxious friends had cautioned her against resting merely on what the word said, "for there must be a deep work of grace in you before you can have rest." But that she completely rested on the work of Christ may be seen by her dying testimony to her mother, for having told her she wanted to be clearly understood, as it was the last she had to say and might be misrepresented, she uttered the words at the heading of this piece," There seems to be two opinions, but the words which the gentleman read made it clear."

Then with a smile almost heavenly, said, "Now mother I am going into a sweet sleep," and closed her eyes. Her mother seeing it was the sleep of death, asked her again, " Do you think God has forgiven you everything?" She looked up, gazed for a moment into her mother's face, and exclaimed, "I don't think it, I know it."

To one who had for some years been presenting too much of his own thoughts at the expense of God's own living word, it was peculiarly precious, and afforded a beautiful tribute to the power and efficacy of the word. My prayer is that her testimony may have its due weight upon others. G. O. A.

The Difference Between Peace and Joy

It is of all importance, for the comfort of the soul, to distinguish accurately between peace and joy. The confounding of one with the other leads to uncertainty with reference to our standing before God, and, as a consequence, the certainty of salvation is never known. Believers, while in this state of mind, make everything depend upon their joy, and thus their joy becomes the basis of their peace and assurance of salvation. When they are happy they feel at peace with God and assured of salvation. When unhappy they have no peace, and are afraid that they have never been truly converted, and therefore are not saved. Living thus upon the feelings of joy in their own hearts their peace and assurance of salvation rise and fall, though never entirely obliterated, like the mercury in the tube of a barometer. When the mercury is well up the tube inside it is all fair weather outside, and correspondingly when the mercury is down in the tube inside all is gloom and foul weather outside. In other words, when the tide of joy runs high it is all peace and the assurance of salvation, arid when the tide of joy runs low it is all restlessness and gloomy forebodings of judgment to come.

Now, that the tide of joy in the believer should always run high, we fully admit, but then it does not always run high, and yet peace and the assurance of salvation may, abide in the soul, even when the tide of joy has run dry, or, in simpler language, a believer may be really miserable, and yet peace be retained, and not a doubt as to salvation enter the mind. When once this possibility-is accepted it is a great help to an unsettled soul; and when, from scripture, the fact that this can be so is established in the mind the difference between peace and joy is readily perceived.

Peace and joy equally flow from simple faith in Christ, ministered in the heart by the Holy Ghost; the normal state of the believer being to be filled with both. This is very plainly taught us by the apostle in the 15th of Romans. where, after bringing forward Christ as the object of faith, equally for Jew and Gentile, he says, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in. hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Here We have peace and joy equally filling the soul, and at the same time, but it does not necessarily follow that they must always do so simultaneously.

Practically we find believers in four different states of soul, as to peace and joy. Same have neither peace nor joy, and these form by far the largest class. Some have at times much joy and no settled peace. Some unvarying peace, but little or no joy. And, lastly, sonic are Lull of peace and joy, but these, alas, form the smallest class. In all cases Christ and His work are the objects before the soul; faith the means by which these objects are laid hold of; and the Holy Ghost the alone power by which they are ministered. These different states of soul depend upon the difference of degree in which tins: objects of faith are apprehended.

The state of soul being then the effect of the object that couples it, it follows that according to what the object is ordained to produce will be the resulting state of soul, and this, not merely as matter of degree in apprehension. but of character in what is produced-that is to say. where the object that can produce peace is before the soul, peace will be the effect produced, and the peace will be deep according as ibis object is, by faith, fully apprehended; while, where the object that can produce joy is before the soul, joy will be the effect produced, and the joy be Mil according as this object is fully apprehended. The stream, in character, is according to the source from which it flows, and in fullness, according to the depth of the channel by which it flows.

The difference between peace and joy being allowed, and the ground of this difference being seen, we. are prepared for the question; What is the object that 'produces peace, in contrast with that which produces joy? But before answering this question, we would make the remark, in order that the subject before us may he more clearly defined, that when we speak of peace it is the conscience we have in view. and that when we speak of joy it is the heart that we have in view. The conscience is the seat of peace, and the heart is the vessel of joy. 'Our inquiry, then, may now take this form: What is it that gives peace to the awakened conscience; and what is it that gives joy to the unsatisfied heart? We think, too. with this additional light thrown in upon the subject, it can be more readily understood that there may be peace without joy; the one being a question of the conscience; and the other a question of the heart,. and how by not defining between the conscience and the heart, and, consequently. not between that which meets the need of the—one, and that which meets the need of the other, neither peace nor joy are fully known or retained.

That which meets the need of an awakened conscience is the work of Christ for us on the cross, and hence this is the object that the Spirit, in order to produce peace, sets before the soul. The Lord Jesus has "made peace through the blood of His cross." and simple faith in that blood saves the soul, and gives peace in the conscience.

In type, we let this blessed efficacy of the blood very simply set before us in the 12th of Exodus. The destroying angel could enter no house on which the blood was sprinkled, but into every house on which the blood was sot sprinkled. he mast enter. Where the blood was there was salvation and peace. It mattered not what the state of the Israelite was, it the blood was on his house. he was safe. Jehovah had said. "When I see the blood I will pass-over, and the plage shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt."

The Israelite might be happy, or not happy, certain, or uncertain, that the destroying angel could not reach him, it mattered not, his state of heart had nothing to do with the value of the blood or the shelter it afforded. It was not the Israelite Jehovah looked at, but at tire blood On the lintel of the house of the Israelite. And that which alone could give an Israelite the certainty that he was safe, and thus produce peace in his conscience was the blood, for Jehovah had also said, "Tire blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses wherein ye are." What Jehovah looked at as the ground of His salvation for him, was the blue I, and what he looked at, as the assurance of that salvation, was tire blood.

The blood once sprinkled on his house the Israelite was saved. nothing could alter this, and event if he had mot peace in his conscience, through want of simple confidence in the blood, his person was sale, and his pewee depended on his looking at tine token, and nothing, but that token could give peace. 'Thinking of a work of grace in his own soul, real as such a work might be eating the passover, and fully believing that everything that Jehovah had promised to do for him He would accomplish would not increase his peace, though it might make his heart happy. The blood was the exclusive ground of peace.

And so it is with the believer now. 'The blood on the conscience alone gives peace. It speaks of a work done for the believer-a work outside himself, and thus it is, as looking outside himself to that work, of which the blood speaks. that peace of conscience becomes possible. That blood tells of the judgment of God already borne by Another, and of sins forever put away, and while looking at that blood the believer is able to say,

Lord, while our souls in faith repose..

Upon Thy precious blood,

Peace, like an even river flows

And mercy, like a flood.

That which produces joy is the knowledge of Christ in glory ministered in the heart by the Holy Ghost. The unsatisfied soul drinks from this source, and is made happy, according to the Lord's promise in the 7th of John, "If any man thirst, let him come unto tie and drink. Ile that believeth on Me, as the scripture hash said, out of' His belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spike tie of the Spirit. Which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given: because that Jesus was not yet-glorified."

The object that the Spirit sets before the soul to pro-, duce joy, is Jesus Himself, a living man in glory, and from whom, to those who believe in Him, there flows the Holy Ghost. Here the affections (i.e. "his belly") are engaged and thus it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us that leads into joy. Not a work on they cross for us, which was what the blood on the lintel represented, and thus gave peace to the conscience.

Now the work of the Holy Ghost in us varies according to our occupation of heart with Christ, and hence our joy varies, and may at times be quite gone, as is the case when the Holy Ghost is grieved, through our want of watchfulness. The work of Christ for us on the cross never varies. The value of Ills blood never varies, and the blood once looked to by faith, is once and forever sprinkled on the conscience in God's sight, and hence peace, as the effect of the blood, need never vary, nor does it where once the blood is fully accepted.

'Ile blood, and thus peace in the conscience, is the starting point of our christian course, and then joy, fruit of occupation of heart with Jesus in the glory, sustains us in our journey across the wilderness to our, heavenly home. and we Might, if always- walking simply with Jesus be able to say with the apostle Peter, -Whom not having seen we love; in Whom though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy, unspeakable and lull of glory."

Sin in the Flesh, and Sin on the Conscience

It is of the utmost importance that we accurately distinguish between sin in the flesh, and sin on the conscience. It' we confound these two, our souls must, necessarily, be unhinged, and our worship marred. An attentive consideration of 1st John 1:8—10, will throw much light upon this Subject, the understanding of which is so essential.

There is no one who will be so conscious of indwelling sin, as the man who walks in the light. It we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." In the verse immediately recoiling, we read, " the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from sin." Here the distinction between sin in us, and sin on us, is fully brought out and established. To say that there is sin on the believer, in the presence of God. is to call in question the purging efficacy of the blood of Jesus, and to deny- the truth of the divine record. If the blood of Jesus can perfectly purge, then the believer's conscience is perfectly purged. The word of God thus puts the matter; and we must ever remember that it is from God Himself we are to learn what the true condition of tire believer' is, in His sight. We are more disposed to be occupied in telling God what we are in ourselves than to allow Him to tell us what we are in Christ,. In other words, we are more taken nip with our own self-consciousness, than with God's revelation of Himself. God speaks to us on the ground of what lie is in Himself and of what He has accomplished. in Christ. Such is the nature and character of His revelation, of which faith takes hold, and thus fills the soul with perfect peace. God's revelation is one thing; my consciousness is quite another.

But the same word which tells us we have no sin on us, tells us, with equal force and clearness, that we have sin in us. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Every one who has truth" ill him, will know that he has "sin," in him, likewise; for truth reveals everything as it is. What, then, are we to do? It is our privilege so to walk in tine power of the new nature, that the -sin" which dwells in us may not manifest itself' ill the form of "sins," The Christian’s position is one of victory and liberty. He is not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but also from sin as a ruling principle in his lire. " Knowing this, that our old man is crucified- with him, that tire body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin... let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof... For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:6-14.) Sin is there in all its native vileness, but the believer is "dead" to it. How? He died in Christ. By nature he was dead inn. sin. By grace he is dead to it. What claim can anything or any one have upon 'a dead man? None whatever. Christ "died unto sin once," and the believer died in Him. "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no-more, death hath no more dominion. over him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God." What is the result of this, in reference to believers? "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto slit, but alive unto God through Jesus -Christ our Lord." Such is tire believer's unalterable position before God! so that it is his holy privilege to enjoy freedom from sin as a ruler over him, though it be a dweller in him.

But, then, if any man sin," what is to he done? The inspire.] apostle furnishes -a full and most blessed answer: "If We-confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1st John 1:9.) Confession is the "mode in which the conscience is to be kept free. The apostle does not say, It we pray tor pardon, He is gracious and merciful to forgive us." No doubt, it is ever happy for a child to breathe the sense of need into his father's ear-to tell him of feebleness, to confess folly, infirmity and failure. All this is mast true; awl, moreover, it is equally true that our rather is most gracious and merciful to meet His children in all their weakness and ignorance; but, while all this is true the Holy Ghost declares, by the apostle, that, if we confess," God is "faithful just to forgive." Confession, therefore, is the divine mode. A christian, having erred in thought, word, or deed, might pray for pardon, for days and months together, and not have -any assurance, from l John 1:9, that he was forgiven; whereas, the moment he truly confesses his sin, before God, it is a simple matter of faith to know that he is perfectly forgiven and perfectly cleansed.

There is an immense moral difference between praying for forgiveness, and confessing our sins, whether we look at it in reference to the character of God, the sacrifice of Christ, or the condition of' the soul. It is quite possible that a person's -prayer may involve the confession of his sin, whatever it may happen to be, and thus come to the same thing. But then, it is always well to keep close to scripture, in what we think, and say and do. It must be" evident that when the Holy Ghost speaks of confession, He does not mean praying. And it is equally evident that He knows there are moral elements in, and practical results flowing out of, confession, which do not belong to prayer. In point of fact, one has often found that a habit of importuning God for the forgiveness of -sins, displayed ignorance as to the way in which God has revealed Himself m the Person and work of Christ; as to the relation in which the sacrifice of Christ has set the believer displayed ignorance as to the getting the conscience relieved from the burden, and purified from the evil of sin.

God has been perfectly satisfied. as to all the believer's sins, in the cross of Christ. On that cross, a full atonement was presented for every jot and tittle of sin, in the believer's nature and on his conscience. Hence, therefore, God does not need any further propitiation. He does not need aught to draw His heart toward the believer. We do not require to supplicate Him to be "faithful and just," when His faithfulness and justice have been so gloriously displayed, vindicated and answered, in the death of Christ. Our sins can never come into GA's presence, inasmuch as Christ who bore them all, and 'put them away, is there instead. But, if we sin, conscience will feel it, must feel it; yea, the Holy Ghost will make us feel it. He cannot allow so much as a single light thought to pass unjudged. What then? Has our sin made its way into the presence of God? has it found its place in the unsullied light of the inner sanctuary? God forbid! The " Advocate" is there-" Jesus Christ the righteous," to maintain, in unbroken integrity, the relationship in which we stand. But though sin cannot affect God's thoughts in reference—to us, it can and does affect our thoughts in reference to Him.

Though it cannot make its way into God's presence, it can make its way into ours, in a most distressing and humiliating manlier. Though it cannot hide the Advocate from God's view, it can hide Him from ours. It gathers, like a thick dark cloud, on our spiritual, horizon, so that our souls cannot bask in the blessed beams of our Father's countenance. It cannot affect our relationship with God, but it can very seriously affect our enjoyment there of.

What, therefore, are we to do? The word answers, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." By confession, we get our conscience cleared; the sweet sense of our relationship restored; the dark cloud dispersed; the chilling, withering influence removed; our thoughts of God set straight. Such is the divine method; and we may truly say, that the heart that knows what it is to have ever been in the place of confession, will feel the divine ' power of the apostle's words, " My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not." (1st John 2:1.)

Then, again, there is a style of praying for forgiveness. which involves a losing sight of the perfect ground of forgiveness, which has been laid in the sacrifice of the cross. If God forgives sins, lie must be " faithful and just," in so doing. But it is quite clear that our prayers, be they-ever so sincere and earnest, could not form the basis of God's faithfulness and justice, in forgiving us our, sins. Naught save the work of the cross could do this. There the faithfulness and justice of God have had their fullest establishment, and that, too, in immediate reference to our actual sins, as well as to the root thereof, in our nature. God has already judged our sins, in the Person of our Substitute, " on the tree;" awl, in the act of confession, we judge ourselves. This is essential to divine forgiveness and restoration. The very smallest Unconfessed, unjudged sin, on the conscience, will entirely mar our communion with God. Sin in us need not do this, but, if we suffer sin to remain on us, we cannot have fellowship with God. Be has put away our sins in such a manlier as that He can have us in His presence; and, so long as we abide in His presence, sin does not trouble us. But, if we get out of His presence, and commit sin, in thought, our communion must of necessity be suspended, until, by confession, we have got rid of the sin. All this. I need hardly add, is founded exclusively upon the perfect sacrifice and righteous advocacy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, as to the difference between prayer and confession, as respects the condition of the heart before God, and its moral sense of the hatefulness of sin, it cannot possibly be overestimated. It is a much easier thing to ask in a general way for the forgiveness of our sins, than to confess those sins. Confession involves self judgment; asking for forgiveness may not, and in itself does not. This alone would be sufficient to point out the difference. Self judgment is one of the most valuable and healthful exercises of the christian life; and, therefore, anything which produces-it, must be highly esteemed by every earnest Christian.

The difference between asking for pardon, and confessing the sin, is continually exemplified in dealing with children. If a child has done anything wrong, he finds much less difficulty in asking his father to forgive him, than in openly and unreservedly confessing the wrong. In asking for forgiveness, the child may have in his mind a number of things which tend to lessen the sense of the evil; he may be secretly thinking that he was not so much to blame after all, though to be sure it is only proper to ask his father to forgive him; whereas, in confessing the wrong, there is just the one thing, and that is self judgment. Further, ill asking for forgiveness, the child may be influenced mainly by a desire to escape the consequences of his wrong; whereas a judicious parent will seek to produce a just sense of its moral evil, which can only exist in connection with the full confession of the fault in connection with self judgment.

Thus it is in reference to God's dealings with His children, when they do wrong. He must have the whole thing brought out and thoroughly judged. He will make us not only dread the consequences of sin-which are unutterable-but hate the thing itself, because of its hatefulness in His sight. Were it possible for us, when we commit sin, to be forgiven merely for the asking, our sense of sin, and our shrinking from it, would not nearly so intense; and, as a consequence, our estimate of the fellowship with which we are blessed would not be nearly so high. The moral effect of all this upon the general tone of our spiritual Constitution, and also upon our whole character and practical career, must be obvious to every experienced christian. C. H. M.

David's Last Words

SA 23:1-7{Beautiful last words are they too, none more so. Spoken by the dying Psalmist of Israel at the close of an eventful life, they are full of beauty and pathos, coupled with a divine simplicity. They are what we might expect from a man of God, who had in his course tasted much of the bitterness of his own ways, but the glorious grace of God's ways as well.

It is to be noticed that he lays claim to full inspiration. " The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue," and hence his language goes beyond the scenes around his dying pillow, and soars away into the blessed future, where the kingdom of Christ ruleth over all.

But mark his words. First, there are no allusions to his own state. "The God of Israel said; the rock of Israel spoke to me. He that ruled' over men must be just; ruling in the fear of God." lie saw the necessity for this, as in his own case he had not always been just.

Say in the instance of his rebellious son, nor had he ruled in the fear of God in the matter of Uriah. But although he was wanting, and sadly wanting, as man ever is, both in righteousness and the fear of God, he lifts up his eyes, and sees his promised seed, One who was to spring from his loins, and his vision concerning Him is full of blessing and beauty.

" He shall be"-that wonderful He of whom prophets have spoken, and poets sung-" He shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds." When the darkness is past, when the evil birds of night have winged their way to their nests; when sin, sorrow, and corruption, under which this earth has been groaning for a long six thousand years shall all pass away, when 'He, David's Lord, and David's royal son shall take the kingdom and disperse the clouds. When evil shall vanish and its reign be over forever. When Christ the glorious One shall burst upon the astonished view' of His own people, and that, not in a mingled. scene like the present, but in a morning without clouds.

Now the brightest morning has a cloud, and the sunniest day will set in night, and storms arise and overcast the face of God's fair creation, and saints are tried, and the chilling winds of adversity blow, and believers suffer, and call upon their God who is a present help in the time of trouble, and the Lord's own people are a persecuted, oppressed, and a little-thought-of people.

But the day comes when the glorious One appears. No cloud then. Sin and death, with all their black train of horrors, will be done away, and to this epoch, dying David, by the Spirit looked, whatever might be the measure of His own apprehension of those glorious occurrences of which he speaks so beautifully. His heart is full of Christ. His tongue speaks of the glory of the God of Israel, and his language, furnishes a lesson to many who look on death, and going to Christ as the end of their hopes. But there is naught of this in the last utterances of dying David. It is glory fills his heart. It is the glory of Christ; of His reign; of His kingdom. It is His rule; His providence; His giving a new impulse to a sin delivered creation. It is not happiness at death he speaks of, although surely the saint is happy in passing away from-a world of sin and care, to a calm retreat in the presence of Christ, to abide until the resurrection morning. But that he is not occupied with, that he passes over. His faith and his hope overleap the whole distance between his dying bed, in his stately palace at Jerusalem, to a long-wished for day, sung of in Psalms, and spoken of by the prophets, when God's Christ would have it all His own way, and regenerate the creation. It would be a complete renewal, "as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain."

For just as a parched and dried up soil delights in a fertilizing shower, and the grass and herbage all bloom anew, and the dusty and rusty earth becomes green again, so shall it he at the coming of the Lord. Satan will be bound, the curse removed, sin put down by righteousness, the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose. No longer will this be the devil's world, where he made his baleful blighting presence felt in an innumerable variety of ways, but this v, hole scene will he filled with the glory of God. And this Christ, David's Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus, lie will reign who once suffered. He will be just, and men wider His blessed sway will remember their misery no more, nor learn war any more. How delightful, perfectly so, to think of this time, the Sabbath rest of God's creation Arid now the dying saint, having spoken of the glory of Christ to us, and to his posterity, turns a glance at the condition of his own affairs. Here there were blots and blemishes. " His house was not so with God." Amnon, Absalom, Tamar. had told a sorrowful tale of lust, revenge and rebelliousness. How humbling to think what occurrences may take place in the family of a man of God.

He had not ruled in God's fear, and therefore evil broke out in his house. Mighty warrior that he was, he was too easy, too lenient within the precincts of his own dwelling. He could take towns and cities, fight battles and conquer kingdoms, but he had not planted the rule of God in his house. Hence the failure. Hence the sad fact that his house was " not so with God." Like Eli, of an earlier day, who saw his sons making themselves vile and he restrained them hot, so David, king as he was, was unable to get his children to follow in his footsteps. Sad recital, but such is man. Lenient where he ought to be severe. Rough and oppressive where he should be gentle and mild. Casting aside the fear of God on account of the fear of man, or the love of a woman, and then looking back, and having to mourn bitterly over the terrible ruin caused by his own pride and folly.

But yet God had made with David " an everlasting^ covenant, ordered in all things and sure." This covenant,' ordered of God, David's heart falls back upon in the day of his need. He feels its certainty, he adores, because, however much he may have failed and transgressed, he knew that God's covenant, God's truth would stand forever, and the God of truth had spoken certain things of David which involved a world of blessing, and these in his dying day his heart sweetly reposed upon.

So now can we, however tossed and tried, fall back on, the everlasting love of God through Christ Jesus. "Although my house be not so with God," although things are crooked in the church, or there have been dark flaws in ones own private history, yet who can separate us " from the love of Christ. Shall trials or famine, or distress" none; and then, as if that were not enough, the apostle, he goes on to challenge heaven and earth to show anything that could separate from the love of God in Christ, Jesus the Lord. Oh earth; oh hell I what can you do against a christian. His salvation is bound up with Christ. His Lord and Savior will never let him go. Ye may hurl your most fiery darts; ye may pour contempt upon his head, but he is safe in spite of all, because of the love. of God, and the precious atoning blood of Jesus.

This everlasting covenant was all David's salvation. But he turns now to the wicked ones in Israel whom he-describes as " thorns thrust away," " Sons of Belial.". And who are the sons of Belial now-a-days, but those who reject the gospel of God? They must perish. All must,, perish who do so. None can escape who neglect the salvation provided by God. Rejecting Christ fastens, a man's wickedness upon him, and he sinks into that hell which was "prepared for the devil and his angels."

Thus does David in these last words go over the bright, morning when Christ will appear, and toughies on his own, hopes; this own failures and sorrows, and the judgment of the rejecters of God in Israel. May my reader have looked into this with profit. W. G.

Those Who Sleep in Jesus

" I am the resurrection!"

The grave its charge may keep,

And our loved ones crumble into dust,

While in the dust they sleep.

We count them still living,

As living unto God;

Our hearts have no misgiving,

Ever resting on that word:-

" I am the resurrection!"

Sad is our heart and home,

Most desolate the broken band,

Where the stroke of death has come.

Still are our lost ones living,

They are living unto God;

Waiting with us His bidding.

To arise, and meet the Lord.

Oh Thou', " The Resurrection,"

When, when will Thou appear,

To turn to joy our sorrow,

And stay the falling tear?

In this earth, where, death is sweeping

Its myriads to the tomb,

Into this scene of weeping,

O Lord, when wilt Thou come?

E. D.

In the life of Christ, I see God drawing nigh to man's, and in His death, man brought nigh to God.

Christ as Our Food

" And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in tile plank of Jericho. And they dui eat• of the old corn of the land on the morrow alter the passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the sell-same nay. And the manna ceased on the morrow alter they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any Inure; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."

Josh. 5:10-12.

I would say a Word as to the way in which Christ may be considered as our food. He may be looked at as the food of the christian in three ways.

Firsts, as a redeemed sinner; secondly, in connection With sitting in heavenly places in Christ; and thirdly, as a pilgrim and stranger down here. But this last is merely accessory and not the proper portion of the christian. The Lord said to Israel that the lie had come down to deliver them from Egypt and bring them into the land of Canaan. De did not say a word about the wilderness when Ile came to deliver them from Egypt, because His interference; for them there was in the power of redemption and for the accomplishment of His promises. However, there was the wilderness as well as redemption from Egypt and the entrance into Canaan; and Christ answers as our food to these three things. Two of them are permanent; for we are nourished by Christ in two ways permanently, that is, in redemption and glory. The third way is as the manna which we have all along the road. It is in these three ways that Christ meets His people and nourishes them all the way. Two tit them remain, as we have seen, but the third ceases when the circumstances it was to meet have passed away. They did eat the passover and the manna until they got into the land, then the manna ceased; but they continued to cat of the passover.

Now there are two ways in which it is proper for us ever to be feeding oil Christ. first as the passover, for they ate the paschal lamb when the wilderness had ceased, I and Egypt had been long left behind. When in Egypt the blood was on the lintel and the doorposts, and we Israelite ate of' the lamb inside the house. The thought they had while they were eating it was, that God was going through the land as an avenging judge; and the effect of the blood on the doorposts was to keep God out, which was a great thing to do, for if brought into God -s presence as a judge, woe be to him in whom sin is found. The state of the one that now eats of Christ is just according as he estimates the value of the cross, through fear of what sin actually merits. When we have got into the effect of the blood of the paschal Lamb, we have, got into Canaan, and enjoy the peace of the land as a delivered people, having crossed the Jordan- not only the Red Sea. That is, no have passed. through death and resurrection; not as knowing Christ dead and risen for us Merely, as presented in the Red Sea, but as being dead with Him and entered into heavenly 'laces with him, as in Jordan.. Then the character of God is known as their God, that is, the accomplisher of all that which he purposed towards them. It is not keeping God out now, but. it is enjoying His love; not looking at God as in the cross pouring out wrath in judgment against sin. In Jesus on the cross thefts was perfect justice and perfect love. What -devotedness to the Father, and what tender love to us! And this is the way the saint who is in peace feeds on the I cross. It is not feeding on it as knowing that lie is sate; for Israel's keeping the passover after they get into Canaan was very different from their keeping it when judgment was passing over. In Carman they were in peace, and they were able to glorify God in this way, in the remembrance of their -redemption from Egypt. in this we see presented, not the sinner that feels lie is safe, but the saint that can glorify God in his affections; his heart confidently flowing out to Him, and feeding on Christ us the old corn of the land-the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. un e see Christ now by faith at the right baud of God as the glorified man, not merely as son of God, but as Son of man; as Stephen, when the heavens were opened to him, beheld Jesus at the right hand of God. We also see Him up there, We do not see Him as He is represented in the Revelation, seated on a white horse, coming forth out of heaven. He will indeed come forth and receive us up were He is, and we shall be like Him and be forever with Him. But we shall teed on Him as the old corn of the land when we are there, and this is our proper portion now; manna is not our portion, though it is our provision by the way. Joshua sees the Lord as the Captain of the Lord's! lost, and Israel feeds in the-land before they fight. And our portion is to sit down in it before we light, because God has given it to us. They do out eat the manna in Canaan, that is for the wilderness. The manila is not Christ in the heavens; it is Christ down here. It is not our portion; our portion is the old corn of the land... is, the whole thing, according to God's counsels is redemption and glory. But all our life is exercise down here, or sin, (excepting that God does give us moments of joy) because, while here, there is nothing but what acts on the flesh, or gives occasion for service to God. We may tail, and then Christ conies mat feeds us with manna. that is, His sympathy with us down here, and shows how his grace is applied to all the circumstances of our daily life. And that is a happy thing. For most of our time, the far greater part of our lift, we are occupied in these things, necessary and lawful things no doubt, but not occupied with heavenly joy in Christ. And these things are apt to turn away the heart front the Lord and hinder our joy. But if we would have our appetites feed on Him as the old corn of the land, we must have the habit of feeding on Him as the manna. For instance, something may make Inc impatient during the day, well then, t lyrist is my patience, and thus He is the Lumina to sustain me in patience. He is the source of grace; not merely the example which I am to copy. He is more than this, for I am to draw strength from Him, to feed upon Him daily: for we need Him, and it is impossible to enjoy Him as the paschal Lamb unless we are also feeding on Him as the manna. We know that God delights in Christ and He gives us a capacity to enjoy Him too. To have such affections is the highest possible privilege, but to enjoy Him, we must feed on Him every day. It is to know Christ come down to bring the needed grace and turn the dangerous circumstances with which we are surrounded to the occasion of our feeding on Himself, as the manna to sustain us and strengthen us in our trial. G. O. T.

A Letter: With Reference to the Article on Responsibility

MY DEAR Brother: In the number of " Sound Words" for last August, there is an article on responsibility, in which, I think, there are some statements hardly supported by Scripture. They may not he noticed by many of your readers, and they may be noticed by some and Satan may use them to confuse souls and hinder the usefulness of " Sound Words." Believe me, my dear brother, I do not write in a spirit of fault finding. I thank God for " Sound Words;" and my earnest desire that it may be widely circulated and much used of God, urges me to notice the objectionable statements in the article from which I will now make some extracts.

And first, as to the law: " Man having thus failed, the law comes in by the by to bring out transgression and make it more apparent, and was thus the last great test of man in responsibility."

The two points to be noticed in this statement, are, " transgression," and the law being " the last great test of man in responsibility."

" The law comes in by the by to bring out transgression and make it more apparent." By this I understand that there was transgression prior to the introduction of the law—that it was "apparent," and that the law came in " to make it more apparent." Transgression must exist, and he "apparent," or it could not he made " more apparent" by the introduction of the law. God gave Adam a law, he transgressed it. This is the first law and the first transgression we read of in Scripture. From Adam to Moses there was no law, and consequently no transgression. A law may exist in the mind of the legislator, but it can not be transgressed until it is enacted by his authority. There can be no transgression until there is a given law embodying the claims of the legislator accompanied by his authority. Such a system, I need hardly say, did not exist, on God's part until the law was given by Moses." Death reigned from Adam to Moses over, them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. They hail no given law to transgress as Adam had. You are too familiar with the whole body of Scripture which proves this truth, for me to quote texts or make any further remark.

I turn to the second point. " The law was thus the last great test of man in responsibility." The law was a test of man in responsibility; but not " the last great test." The Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, on the earth, among men for their acceptance, was " the last great test." The law was the perfect measure of what man it, the flesh ought to be for God; it was not in any way, what God is for man; Christ is that. It was added because of transgression—came between the promise and the Seed, to raise the question of righteousness in man's conscience by requiring righteousness from him. He was responsible to have a righteousness for God and to walk in it before Him. It I would use familiar language, I would say, the law was the plummet applied to the crooked wall to demonstrate its crookedness. This it did perfectly. It showed man's impotency to meet its claims, carried the sentence of death to his conscience. cursed him, and opened no way of escape, but shut him up to death. It is the ministration of death. Such, a system could not possibly be " the last great test," because it was not the revelation of what God is in grace for man as he is. God manifest in flesh, among men, in perfect grace was the final test. To see the place the law holds in the ways of God with man in the flesh, is of the greatest importance.

In 2 Cor. V. 19, we read that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Here, God is not seen in the splendor of His majesty, on a fiery mount giving a fiery law to "a peculiar people," but in the world in grace, above all dispensation and failure, reconciling it unto Himself. This made an entire change in man's responsibility—a change which the Gospel by St. John sets forth; for in that Gospel we see God acting above all dispensation—God in the world reconciling it to Himself, and gathering to Himself His elect from among the Jews. Perfect goodness was presented in God to man, and he was responsible to accept it. This goodness was not only presented to Israel, the beloved nation, but to the world. In John's Gospel it is presented to the world. but not exclusively; in Matt. 21 it is presented to the Jews, the husbandmen, 'exclusively. Now the law was not " the last great test" for Israel. much less was it the final test. for the world. Chap. 3:17, For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world through Him might be saved." Here is the final test. He that believed on Hun was not judged; he that believed not was already judged. He did not accept the grace, salvation, and eternal life in the person of the Son; he was judged. He was responsible to receive grace and eternal life in the Son—not to give a righteousness. Poor man in the flesh, would neither give the law its demands, nor accept perfect goodness in the Son of God on earth. Moreover the light was there and judgment; it manifested the character of their deeds and object of their affections. Light, the effulgence of emitted from the person of the Son, tested men in a way that law could not.

Before I close my remarks on this point, I would look at John 12. Here we have the final test, and the world's judgment for refusing perfect love, without reference to its condition, manifested in the Son of God. "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out." The world as a system, never was judged for the transgression of the law; it was judged for the rejection of the Son of God who is God over all blessed for evermore; and the Holy Ghost on the earth is the witness to this, John 16:3-11. The coming of Christ did not close up man's responsibility; His death did. Man's history of trial whether Jew or gentile, did not close with Christ's appearing, but with His death. The parable of the three years trial of the barren fig tree proves this in Israel's case. Perfect love in the Son of God, was presented to man; he refused it, killed Christ and closed up his probationary life. There was no extinction of this life before God, until the murder of God's Son proved man incorrigible, and consummated his guilt. It was not in his breaking the law that his probationary existence was terminated; for he was alive in the flesh when Christ came, and up to His Cross, The law addressed him as alive, and said," This do and thou shalt live.'' Luke 10:28. We have nothing like this now; for the death of Christ—' not transgression of law—is the judgment of the world, the death of man in the flesh, the total extinction before God, of his probationary life. Now if the law had been the last great. test of man in responsibility " it must have closed up his life of trial; but the very fact that it did not do this, but addressed him as alive before God up to the Cross, proves beyond all controversy that it wits not " the last great test of man in responsibility." To make the law "the last great test." clouds a very solemn way the glory of the grace that shone in Jesus the Son of God among men in this world. I am sure the writer of the article desires the shining forth of the glory of that grace, in all its own precious fullness and power; but his statements unwittingly cloud it.

I pass on to another statement which I extract. Rom. 8:9, " But ye are not in the flesh (the first Adam state), but ill the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you, and if Christ be in you the body (the first Adam state and condition), is dead (not going to die, nor yet dying, hut dead, is dead). because of sm." W hen and where did it die? Rom. 6:6, " Knowing this that our old man (the first Adam state before God) is crucified, that the body of sin (the old state of self-will and lust) might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." The writer confounds the natural body with" the body of sin." Scripture never does this. The natural body was created by God and existed by His will prior to the introduction of " the body of sin "—" the flesh "—by Satan through Adam's transgression. " The body of sin " is no part of God's creation; neither is it called in Scripture " the natural body; " nor is the natural body ever called " the body of sin." These two bodies are very distinct in the word of God, and it is well for us to keep them distinct. Rom. 6:6, " Our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin." Here, " the body of sin "is not the natural body at all, but a principle of will which is opposed to God, introduced into the natural body by Satan. " We," Christians, are not to serve it; it is not to move or govern the natural body. " Let not sin reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." Here sin and the natural body are distinct. Sin is in the body but it is not the body itself. It is not to reign in the body and use it against God. The body and its members are to be yielded up to God as instruments of righteousness. We could not yield the " body of sin " up to God, because He has judged it.

In regard to the passage quoted by the writer from Rom. 8, his mistake lies in separating verses 10 and 11. The Holy Ghost dwells in the natural body and is the power to quicken it when the Lord comes. He does not quicken " the body of sin," but " our mortal bodies." He could not quicken the body of sin and present it with Christ in new creation glory. I thank God, not an atom of it will be there; but our mortal bodies quickened and changed into the image of God's Son, will be there. The writer has not apprehended the true meaning of, "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin." He applies death in a judicial sense to the body here. That is, he applies death to the natural body in this verse in the same way that it is applied to the" body of sin" in Rom. 6:6. There it is judicial death; the annulling of the body of sin; here it is not that, but the result of Christ being in me. My body is dead to the will of the flesh; it is no linger energized by the life of the first man; he is not the spring of my life before God; Christ is that; and here it is not Christ in the glory, as in Col., hut Christ in me, in my body on the earth. His being in me renders my body 'dead to sin, i.e., to the will of the flesh, but alive to God. He lives to God in me. So it is Christ in us, living to God and using our bodies for Him that we have here. See Gal. 2:20. As those alive to God in the life of a victorious Christ, we are to present our bodies living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God. The body then is to be given up to God, as a holy thing. in the power of the life in which we now live before Him. Precious and deeply important truth! Let us hold it fast, and not neutralize it by confounding the natural body with the body of sin. If these bodies are identical, and I read in one Scripture that the body of sin is " destroyed " and in another that the body is to be presented to God, I must either get into endless confusion, or adopt the notion of presenting the natural body and " the body of sin," as one and the same thing, to God. Sure I am, the writer has not the slightest desire to do this, I know him too well, and I believe he is pretty clear upon the points I am writing on. How he came to make the mistakes I do not know, but one thing I do know, viz., they are before the readers of " Sound Words," and I think they ought to be corrected as God gives grace and wisdom.

1 Thess. 5:23 will be well read in connection with the verses alluded to in Rom. 12. Here the whole man is to be wholly sanctified and presented blameless until the coining of Christ. And note: what the whole. man—the Christian, consists of. There is nothing said of " the body of sin " here. Spirit, soul, and body, compose the Christian before God. " The body of in "—" the flesh," is no part of the Christian before God. He does not recognize it. He has judged it and forever put it aside. He could not recognize the thing He has crucified, as alive and forming part of His children. But the flesh is in the Christian and if it is allowed to live God will judge it in En own way for His own glory and the blessing of His child. If the body of sin and the natural body are identical, both are to be sanctified. If the body of sin even forms a part of the natural body, it is to be sanctified; but it forms no part of natural body. Nevertheless, its true character is declared in the action of the body of the sinner, as the body is but its instrument opposed to God. I do not touch the question of the mortality of the body. Mortality shall be swallowed up of life, and our bodies glorified when Christ comes. Our bodies are for the Lord, and the Lord for them; they are members of Christ; but again, every thought of the body of sin is distinctly excluded.

To follow out God's thoughts of His people's bodies, is not my object; my object's simply to show that the body of sin and the natural body are always distinct in Scripture. I have found a great deal of confusion among saints on this precious truth. Have you not heard some say, " my poor body of sin," meaning the natural body, the temple of the Holy Ghost and the holy instrument of God for service here? I am sure 2 Cor. 4, is another precious Scripture that sets aside all such unscriptural expressions.

W.B.

Notice for 1874

If the Lord tarry, and so will, "SOUND WORDS" will be continued through the year 1874. Its in price will still be 25 cents a year, but in future, except by special arrangement, all parties must pay their own postage at their respective Post Offices. It will be supplied gratuitously to any who may not be able to purchase it themselves, and a reduction be made on quantities for gratuitous distribution.

We again earnestly invite the children of God to aid us in circulating His truth, by obtaining subscribers for " SOUND WORDS," as well as by sending us the addresses of persons to whom it may be sent free, and donations for extending its free circulation will be thankfully received in the Lord's name. We again, too, ask their prayers and co-operation, that it may be increasingly adapted to meet the actual need of souls, by giving only such presentations of truth, as may give settled pence in the conscience, and attract the heart livingly to Christ, the blessed head of the church.

All communications for the Editor to be sent to the care of Martin Cathcart, 47 Bible House, New York; to whom also all orders for. the Magazine, and remittances must be sent. P.O. Orders should all be made payable at Station D, New York.

It is particularly requested that orders, and subscriptions for the coming year, may be sent in as soon as possible.

Subscribers in Canada will be kind enough to send their orders and subscriptions to S. W. Hal-low's Gospel Tract Depot, 364 1-2 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario.

Sound Words - 1873

Table of Contents

Our Aim

Fragment: What I've Done, What Christ Has Done

Faith or Politics: Which Can Give Contentment?

Under Grace

The Lord's Farewell

The Two Great Phases of the Cross

Shall I Ever Die?

Fragment: The Love of Christ

Answers to Correspondents: Sin(s); Crucified with Christ When I Still Feel Sin in Me?

His Sent Ones

It Is God That Justifieth

Substance of a Letter to a Relative Who Had Not Peace

Responsibility: Part 1, In Eden

A Man After God's Own Heart

Roots and Fruits

An Aphorism

The Watchers

Philippians 2 and 3

Answers to Correspondents: Believers Failing; Quickened Souls; The Preaching of the Gospel?

God's Way of Rest for Those Who Want It

Oh! for Some Foundation

How Christ Thinks of His Own

Simplicity of the Gospel

Fragment: Greater Is He That Is in Us

His Own Son

The Lord Jesus in John 11 and 12

Growth Through the Truth

Watch and Pray

Responsibility: Part 2, The First Great Change After the Fall

Answers to Correspondents: The Judgment Seat of Christ; Satan's Power Over Men; 1TI 5:11-12; MAT 21:44

What Do You Know?

I Know Jesus Died for Me

Full and Eternal Justification

Rest

Fragments

Faith

The Merchantman

The Pharisee and the Publican

Union With Christ

My Home Is Not Here

Some Objections Answered

Answers to Correspondents

Such a Place as That

The Insensibility of Sin

Responsibility: Part 3, In the State of New Things

The Salvation of the Lord

Self-Deception and Hypocrisy

Alone!

Philippians 3

Answers to Correspondents: Died for All Mankind; Men's Heart Good; Conditional Salvation;

Commuted or Pardoned

The Kindness of God

Lawlessness or Faith, Which?

I Am One of the Whosoevers

The Friar's Confession

A Warning Voice in the Shipwreck of the Steamship "Atlantic" off Prospect, Nova Scotia, 1St. April, 1873

Fragment: Happiness

Fragment: Children of God

The Waiting Ones

The All Sufficiency of Christ: Intercession/Advocacy; ROM 7:9;

Answers to Correspondents: Meaning of MAT 12:20; Dead Unto Sin; Faith a Gift; Life vs. Life More Abundantly; Christ as Propitiation;

From Calvary to Paradise

The Blood Sprinkled Lintel

In Christ

Sin and Sins

Chastening

A Little While

Where Is Your Faith?

Responsibility: Part 4, With Respect to the Law

Answers to Correspondents: Already Holy; Everlasting Possession vs. Passed Away

Now

Some Important Questions Answered: Saved Before Death; Certainty of Forgiveness; Before the Judgment Seat

Grace and Truth

Crucified With Christ

Jesus Changeth Not

The Suffering of Christ

Responsibility: Part 5, Concluded

The Indian Convert: "I Believe in Jesus"