The Remembrancer: 1910

Often have we sung these familiar lines of a well-known hymn, reflecting, it may be, how much more happily they raise the question than adequately answer it. Nor do we by any means assume to do this in the following pages; nevertheless, as Isaac appears to have prayerfully meditated at eventide in the fields of Canaan, anticipating the home coming of the bride, so may we fittingly indulge in spiritual anticipations of the blessedness of those things which God has prepared for them that love Him, and which He has revealed unto us by His Spirit. Let us, then, very simply pass in review some at least of "the things which God hath prepared " for us, not necessarily observing any consecutive order, but freely noting what comes to mind.

First, let us observe what will be preliminary to our dwelling above. We shall hear the Lord's shout; a loud assembling summons, as of a leader calling together his company. " The voice of the archangel and the trump of God " shall peal aloud; and what a moment that will be, beloved of God, when these ears of ours, which have hitherto received only sounds natural and artificial, shall actually hear the shout, the voice, the trump which shall break forth together from an open heaven, resounding in the divinely opened ears of every saint of God, whether living or dead!

All "in Christ," awake or asleep—i.e., whether on earth and at sea or under the earth and in the sea—in the self same moment thrilled in every fiber, and receiving the mighty impulse of a divine afflatus as rapturous as profound. What an experience, fellow saint, when these dull ears of ours shall be fitted and furbished, even while yet here on earth, to hear the majestic tones which shall summon us to the presence of God and of Christ. Now, the Holy Ghost seeks for an ear open to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Then, no such quest is made, but the ear of every saint is divinely opened, as a precious act of grace, to the accents and melodies of heaven,—yea, to the very voice of God in the scene which His presence fills.

Observe next, that we shall see the Lord as He is, even "face to face." As the ear for such hearing, so the eye for such seeing must needs be specially adapted: we conclude, then, that in that moment of moments our spiritual sensibilities will acquire an unwonted ability and competency for these new and marvelous impressions. And, oh! beloved saints, what a crowning joy will this be. actually to look with unintercepted gaze upon the face of JESUS our Lord! In the same instant that we hear His voice we see His face. Precious Savior! Oh! what, what can compare with this—that every ransomed saint of God shall see Thee in such peerless beauty and with such ravished vision as none of Thine have ever seen Thee yet? Oh! bliss ecstatic and beyond compare!!

But yet another element in the blessedness that is to be ours then, is that "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." This also is included in the program of that super-magnificent moment measured by " the twinkling of an eye." Between the eye dropping upon every earthly object and its opening upon the Person of the glorified Man, will not only our ears and our eyes, but our bodies of humiliation be changed under the fashioning of His mighty hand into the likeness of His body of glory.

Meeting the Lord in the air, and thus glorified together, we enter the Father's house and fill the prepared place which the Lord has ordained for us in glory. We are thus and henceforth with Him where Be is. We have now entered upon everlasting habitations; we have attained to the rest of God, the rest that remaineth; we are at home at last, saved to the uttermost, beatified in heaven; grace is crowned with glory.

But " what will it be to dwell above? " The question recurs. Nevertheless we have got thus far. Hearing as we have never heard before, we shall hear His voice. Seeing as we never saw before, we shall see His face. Caught up to meet Him in the air, we shall be like Him. We shall be at home in the Father's house, filling the place prepared by Christ, and enjoying the rest of God.

If we turn to the Revelation, we shall find that chapters 1.-3. contain many luminous notices casting a flood of light upon the subject before us. There meets us the Person of Christ, which to the Church of God must, and always will be, the first feature of heaven. As in the world illustrious personages are entitled to invest themselves with robes of rank or office, and to wear costumes decked with the insignia of orders of distinction, and from time to time assume these as occasion requires, so may we conclude that the glories of Christ as Son of Man, whether as Faithful Witness, First-begotten of the dead, Prince of the

Kings of the earth, etc., though He be no longer exercising precisely the same functions, shall each be displayed to our enraptured gaze. Nor shall we ever overlook the eternity and immutability of His being, who is " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come," (chap. 1.). In the next two chapters are promises to the over-comers, which having been then fulfilled, supply us with distinct features of our blessing on high. The first of these is the eating of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. The world has for by-words " The Fool's Paradise," as expressing what has no reality, and " Mahommed's Paradise," as expressing the dream of a sensualist, but the Holy Ghost has introduced us to the Paradise of God, the characteristic of which is the Tree of life in the midst. The dying robber on the cross was promised that the same day he should be with the Lord in paradise—for with Him is paradise to the heart that has learned His value. As a man approaches a tree to pluck its fruit whensoever he desires, so also shall we in God's Paradise find our adorable Lord accessible to His glorified saints, the eternal food of their souls. Then we read of a crown of life, as elsewhere of a crown incorruptible, a crown of righteousness, and a crown of glory—distinctions conferred as reward to the saints, doubtless, at the judgment seat; but from Rev. 4:4, where the twenty-four elders are seen in white raiment and enthroned, and wearing crowns of gold, we safely infer that each saint of God in heaven will before Him wear a golden crown.

It may be well here, however, to guard our readers against an unscriptural literality. Our brows will not be decked with an actual piece of metal wrought into forms of beauty as by a workman's hand. Such things are of the earth, earthy. But only by means of figures with which the human mind is conversant could the Spirit of God convey to us what had to be revealed, and what is spiritually revealed needs to be spiritually discerned. Thus the crown of gold implies the dignity of kings and priests displayed before God in excellency, in beauty, and in glory. We have also in the same chapter the eating of the hidden Manna and the new name engraved on the white stone, or the communion of personal intimacy and affection, as to which we have often joyfully sung in the language of a revered saint:

There on the hidden bread

Of Christ—once humbled here—

God's treasured store—forever fed,

His love my soul shall cheer.

Called by that secret name

Of undisclosed delight,

(Blest answer to reproach and shame)

Graved on the stone of white.

The hidden Manna doubtless refers to that which was enshrined in the golden pot, and laid up before the Lord in the ark of testimony. When the Manna fell morning by morning it whitened all the wilderness as far as the eye could range. Nothing could have been more publicly displayed, beautifying as it did every hill and every valley. But the one omer of Manna that was in the golden pot was within the ark— truly the hidden Manna, for no eye but that of God beheld it. Thus it was not there the expression of what the Lord Jesus was as manifested to the eyes of men but what He was in the unerring estimate of God His Father. To eat of the hidden Manna, then, is to have communion with the Father in the outgoing of His affections to the person of Christ, to have fellowship with Him in the joy and delight of His heart in the One who from all eternity has dwelt in His bosom; entering, so far as a creature can, into His own estimate of the attractions and perfections which center in the Son of His love! The new name we suggest, denotes the nearest and dearest confidences between the Lord and him who receives it from Him. It is His personal token of favor and approval. Mine shall not be another's, nor another's mine. Each has distinctly and characteristically that which is his own, into which none other shall pry, and with which none else shall intermeddle, -a name given him by the Lord and engraved on the white stone, token of a recognized personal intimacy and affectionate interest. Oh, precious pledge of individual attachment and eternal favor! Then, further, we have " He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, etc., and I will give him the morning star (Rev. 2:28). Here we have conferred authority; rule delegated to the saints as associated with the Lord in the day of His power; manifested public glory in connection with the subjugation of His enemies (Gentile Nations) when He is about to be displayed as King of kings and Lord of lords. But to us He will never lose the character of " the Morning Star," as our hearts knew Him when we watched for His corning. Following this, we have His open recognition of His saints in full communion with Himself, the overcomers of the church period, walking with Him in white and confessed by name before His Father and His holy angels.

" Oh! for the robe of whiteness,
To walk with Christ in light;
Oh! for the glorious brightness
Of day without a night."

Then comes the blessed disclosure of the promises given to Philadelphia. Wondrous indeed are these. A pillar in the temple of my God, " The name of my God," " The name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, and my new name." These may point to priesthood—the temple, and to kingship—the city which we have already referred to. But that we are constituted dignitaries in the kingdom is not all that is disclosed here. There is " The name of my God " and " My new name "—the name stands for the person, and indicates the closest character of association. More closely associated with God and with Christ we could not be, even as the signet upon His hand upon which His Name is indelibly engraved. And last of these disclosures is the promise of a seat on the throne of Christ together with Him, as He who is God over all, blessed forever, is now seated with His Father upon His throne. It is as the Glorified Man that He is thus seated now, and it is as such that He will seat us together with Himself, and we shall reign with Him. Nor do we need here to draw a comparison as to which of these things is greatest, or highest, or best. In the domain of Eden were flowers and fruits, every one of which was worthy of Him who had planted the lovely scene, and that which ought to have enhanced it to Adam and to Eve was the knowledge that the Lord God had Himself arranged the garden in bounty and beauty for their delight. Thus also in surveying the varied glories and the multiplied joys which await His saints, what should, beyond a challenge, confer the crowning charm on each is the reflection, as we contemplate one after another, that this, and this, and this; yea, each and every one, is a token before all intelligences of His exhaustless love to His own; that love of His which is equaled only by the infinitude of those divine resources which are laid under tribute for its eternal display.

But it is to be feared that, in the case of many, the future of the saint is marred in its anticipations by a vague uncertainty as to its actual character and an apprehended monotony in its enjoyment. Neither of these two things, however, can be attributed either to what is or what is not said in Scripture. Such feelings are formed by natural considerations or natural experiences. Scripture teems with suggestive indications and pregnant intimations in divine imagery of what will characterize our heavenly abode, and its unwearied engagements and enjoyments. Nor could there be any apprehension of monotony in these did we really compare the multitudinous variety prevailing in the Scriptural statements and allusions on this subject.

Let it be remembered that as this world now proceeds it is marked by persistent and ceaseless change; physical, moral, political and religious changes are incessant. The law of change permeates it from its center to its circumference. Its mutations and consequent uncertainties have become so utterly baffling that the moderns have invented a new proverb, viz., It is the unexpected that happens," indicating that its changes have become so constant and so complicated that experience is outwitted, and a sound judgment frequently at fault. But in the house and home of the Father, in the unveiled presence of our Savior and Lord, we shall not possess the restless excitability which craves for change and wearies without it. This element will not be found in our glorified bodies, vehicles as they will be for the delighted appreciation of all that is Spiritual and Exalted, and for the enjoyment in unbroken communion of all that is of God.

There shall we serve without exhaustion; there shall we worship without weariness; there shall we enjoy without satiety; and our rest in the rest of God shall to the ages of ages know no monotony.

But, beloved, what wondrous scenes we shall soon behold! Do I say behold! Nay, rather, shall ourselves take part in. Take for instance, those of Rev. 4 and v. The prostration of the heavenly saints in one simultaneous act before Him who fills the throne; then the accumulating volume of praise reverberating throughout the vault of heaven culminating in the casting of the millions upon millions of golden crowns before the throne, as they exclaim, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for Thou hest created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created." And then in chapter v., the new 'song sung by the redeemed, and the voices of the host of heaven, yea, the voice of every creature in the universe, giving " Blessing and honor, and glory, and power unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." In this scene also, as the last verse marks, the heavenly saints fill a special part, as intelligently entering into this magnificent celebration of universal worship and praise.

Following these inaugural celebrations, we shall witness the opening of the seven-sealed scroll held in the hand of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the Lamb of God!—seal after seal broken by Him who is alone able to unfold the counsels of God and display His eternal purposes—and we shall in His presence witness the majestic effects which follow the opening of each consecutive seal. What wondrous sights Rev. 6 briefly notes, and the successive development of these upon the earth we shall behold from the heavenly platform. Marvelously blessed, too, that which follows in chapter 7., the sealing in the foreheads of twelve thousand saints from each of the twelve tribes, and beyond these the forecast of the countless multitude of Gentile believers who shall emerge from the great tribulation, who shall stand before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes, having palms in their hands, and who shall raise aloud their voices, saying, Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." This shall be succeeded by the angelic host who stand around the throne prostrating themselves on their faces before it, worshiping God and saying, "Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen." We shall witness the 144,000 of Rev. 14, a Jewish remnant redeemed upon the earth, stand with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, and we shall hear the rapturous melody when they are harping with their harps and singing before us their new song, which none can learn but they. We shall also behold the apocalyptic company who, having been victorious over the beast, and his image, and his mark, and the number of his name, shall "stand upon the sea of glass, having the harps of God,' singing " the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb," etc.

Beloved of God, these are only some of the felicities which the heavenly saints shall experience when everlasting joy shall be Upon their heads. Incomparably blessed will it be that we shall constitute an essential part of all that is organized for the glory of Christ in the counsels of God. And one matter that may here be noticed is that the movements of nations and of armies upon earth working out, as they will, the development of God's cherished purposes, will proceed under our eyes, and will then fittingly possess an interest for our souls altogether surpassing any which we take in them now.

After the heavenly saints are caught up to be forever with the Lord, a period of carnal peace and worldly prosperity will probably ensue (1 Thess. 5:3), to be quickly followed by gathering judgments.

"Nation, too, shall rise against nation,"—as it might be, the United States against Canada, or France against Switzerland,—"and kingdom against kingdom "—as it might be Spain against Portugal, or Belgium against Holland, or Italy against Turkey. The seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven thunders, the seven vials must all be fulfilled. The two witnesses must also fulfill their testimony, be martyred, and ascend to heaven. The Roman Empire having been reconstituted in its ten kingdoms, and the Jews having in unbelief returned to their own land and rebuilt their temple in self-will, the Beast and the False Prophet, the Man of Sin, must fill up their cup of iniquity, and be, cast alive into the lake of fire. Mystical Babylon, ecclesiastical and secular, must meet their final doom while Alleluias are sounding in heaven; the great whore and wicked city giving place to the true Bride and the New Jerusalem then to be displayed at the celebration of the marriage of the Lamb. The Devil having previously been cast down from heaven, must be bound and cast into the bottomless pit.

The Lord, having left heaven followed by His heavenly saints, after bestowing rewards at the judgment seat, is now manifested in glory with them and appears for the deliverance of the chosen remnant of His earthly people, at that time dwelling safely (Ezek. 38;39), from the gigantic forces of the Russian Gog. He shall establish His throne in righteousness and reign before His ancients gloriously. Then shall we specially enjoy the grace which is to be brought unto us as Peter speaks, at the revelation of Jesus Christ when He shall appear, and we shall appear with Him in glory. Then shall the glory be revealed in us; for this is the time of the manifestation of the sons of God. Jerusalem, re-established as the city of the Great King, the city of solemnities, shall welcome all the restored tribes to the solemn services of the temple, now rebuilt after Ezekiel's model. The Gentile nations yielding of their abundance to exalted Israel, shall come up to her metropolis to worship annually the King, the Lord of hosts, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord thus covering the earth as the waters cover the sea.

What more need be said? Peace and prosperity, bounty and blessing shall characterize the millennial earth. Righteousness shall reign; evil shall be kept in check; there shall be a new heart and a right spirit, the Lord shall be in the midst of Israel, and will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, and all of them shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest. There shall be a return to the fruitfulness of Eden and to the simplicity of patriarchal life. " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." More beautiful than Canaan's lovely land, as seen by Israel's lawgiver from the top of Pisgah, on the mountain of Nebo, shall be to our enraptured eyes the millennial earth over which Christ shall reign in righteousness and in glory.

Then, also, the church shall reign with Him, the twelve apostles sitting upon twelve thrones as His vicegerents, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And when, after the thousand years of blessedness for the earth the final lesson shall have been given, demonstrating the incorrigibility of the human heart apart from divine grace personally received; when the Devil, loosed from his prison, shall have succeeded in making a final rebellion, and with his votaries is utterly over-whelmed and eternally imprisoned, to be tormented day and night forever; when the great white throne has received its Occupant, from whose lips the eternal doom of the wicked dead has been pronounced; when the new heaven and the new earth with no more sea shall be established by the fiat of God, and the tabernacle of God shall be with men and He shall dwell with them,-then shall we have known and be able to express, not in stumbling incoherence, but by qualifications derived from happy and continued experience, what it is to dwell above and with the Lord of glory reign!

In conclusion we would remark—that but a few pregnant words have been given to the Church of God as to the character of the eternal state; but let us be assured that not. one nor many millenniums will exhaust the fertility or versatility of divine resources, yea, eternity alone will give scope for the manifestation of what God hath prepared for them that love Him?

May these meditations serve to elevate the heart, to refresh the spirit, and to strengthen the faith of the reader in " the things which are not seen—eternal," though, haply, we may feel rebuked the while that our hearts are not more deeply and more habitually stirred with the contemplation of the coming glories of our adorable Savior and Lord!

"O pardon us, Lord, that our love to Thy name,
Is so faint, with so much our affections to move!
Our coldness might fill us with grief and with shame,
So much to be loved, and so little to love.
O kindle within us a holy desire,
Like that which was found in Thy people of old,
Who tasted Thy love and whose hearts were on fire,
While they waited in patience Thy face to behold."

Fragment

In regard to God's dealings with man since the fall, or rather the flood, there have been three great epochs: first, the period before Christ came, died and rose; secondly, the present interval; and thirdly, the age, after He comes again. There were many subdivisions during the first period, when God tried man in unwearied patience, to see if good could be got from him. The cross of Christ closed this. Not that God did not know the result; but it was for His glory that man should be thoroughly put to the proof. The rejection of Christ was, in a very real and solemn sense, the world's judgment (John 12:31), its judgment morally, however God may delay the execution of it. Therefore is the believer, the Christian, said not to be of the world, as Christ is not (John 17:14-16), and is called to go out to meet the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:6).

"A Word Fitly Spoken"

... As to Eph. 4 (gifts, &c.), we must remember that it does not treat of ornaments before the world, but of the tender and precious care of Christ for that which He loves as His own flesh. In result, man cannot frustrate this care; he may know very little how to profit by it; the appreciable result down here may be but small, but the thought of God in blessing will be always accomplished, because our folly, though culpable (Matt. 18:7), gives room for His wisdom. If Israel had not courage to go up the mountain of the Amorites, and as to the then present circumstance lost, and lost what they did not find again, they learned—at least, Joshua and Caleb and others, and we ourselves likewise—much as to themselves, which set them in a relationship much more real, more true with God, according to what Israel was, and what God was, and gave God an opportunity for the display of His grace and power, taking care of even the nap of their coats, and not allowing their feet to swell; for a manifestation much more remarkable of His power and of His ways in the crossing of Jordan dryshod, and in all the details of their entrance into Canaan, from the testimony of Balaam after the long passage of the desert—all these things being necessary to the full revelation of the ways and counsels of God.

Was it then that the sin of Israel was the work of God? By no means. This unbelief was already in their heart; the arrival at the mountain was but the opportunity for its manifestation. God may permit and arrange events for the manifestation of sin—never in order to produce it—and the manifestation (being under grace) brings all into the light, and is a means of progress.

Then, to say that because the church has failed, it gets necessarily into a worse condition, is true and false at the same time. As a public vessel of testimony to the truth on the earth, to its shame, that is true; but it is impossible that God or Christ should be unfaithful, and the fact of the manifest and general failure gives room for a concentration of energy and of light, which gives so much the more clearness, as the space it illumines is small. Israel, when the precious Savior was there, was always going on worse, was tending to its ruin, but He shines with a light ever brighter, as it is concentrated in what He was Himself, instead of lending itself to His relations, true but temporary and obligatory, with the Jews. This is the reason why, though all is so beautiful, the Lord appears in John with a light and perfection infinitely more touching and striking—why we see Him better than in the other gospels. We are more entirely with Him, with Him alone, with what He was in Himself. There the Jews are set aside. Who in the history of Israel shines in the midst of darkness like Elijah? The only one in testimony, the only one, save the hidden remnant, whom the eye of God recognized and whom the faith of the prophet ought to have known, if he had been near enough to God to have His thoughts.. I find in the Psalms, that faith is much more simple and calm when the remnant is driven away.

It is the same, I believe, with the church, at least, one may look for it; not that the vessel should be repaired and set right, but that the true church, those at least who in heart are waiting for the Lord, will be always more true in their position, will understand the Lord's heart better, will be more united amongst themselves, a " little flock," but who will know much better the voice and the heart and the thoughts of the Good Shepherd. The ground which the enemy gains can only be over the flesh and over the general testimony: it is sad, but understood by the faithful one, and, after Sardis, the manifest general condition. If I find Laodicea to be spued out, I find Philadelphia, which has the ear and heart of the Savior, little strength, but which has not denied His name, but which has kept His word. We are working for the most part with those, the half of whom do not know the immense principles in. question; but if there is faithfulness, a single eye, God keeps them. But to be always waiting for the Lord, that is our strength. " There are many called, but few chosen." Alas! decline is the continual tendency, but the Savior never declines. Keeping close to Him, one will have, not perhaps a public testimony common to the masses—they are always rather the fruit of a testimony—but still, the testimony oh His part in the fullness of His power, according to the need of the church; for His power and His love never change. This is a subject that goes to the heart, and I know that I can trust Him, though I have often been cast down at the sight of the determination of the church to put aside grace and blessing, and the power which the enemy puts forth in deceiving her.

I have lost much time at—, through failing to follow sufficiently closely the leadings of the Holy Ghost, and I am suffering for it now, having to do through greater difficulty that which, having been done much more easily before, would have left me free to do what I cannot now accomplish as I should desire, but now I put myself again in His loving hands; I must learn my lesson of the mountain and the Jordan. We are in sorrowful times; let us not be surprised at it, only let us be near Him, in order to make shine clearly, without obscuring it, what He gives.

You are entering I think upon that period of activity which makes a life of reflection a far more hidden life than before. This is a very real progress in Christian life. I liked divine philosophy, it is still to my taste. As long as the external life is composed of this, we have the appearance of being far more spiritual and deep. Thus, the steam which escapes from the engine, appears to have much more force than that which draws the heavy train, which only appears to offer resistance to the movement that it is sought to give it; but it is when hidden for the most part, that the force really acts. In this way its reality also is put to the proof. And why do I say that it is real progress? It is because, it makes less appearance before men, because it is more entirely before God, with whose approval we must be satisfied. We must be content to possess the thing with Him, nay —to find it in Him; but that is to possess it in reality. It is the principle of moral perfection, to enjoy things instead of accrediting oneself with them in the eyes of others. Active Christian life is a common life of service, in contact with human passions, faults and weaknesses, in a word, in contact with the flesh. But to act in it, to introduce God in it (and this is what Christ was) there must be power, we must be really in communion with Him—participating thus in that nature that nothing encroaches on, and which shines in its own perfection in the midst of all—to be above all that we meet with.

Divine philosophy, supposing it to be real, and to meet with no opposition when displayed before others, is an easy enjoyment; and, as I have said, one may clothe oneself with it, and display it to admiring eyes. To walk in Christian life, we must be what we admire: that is another thing. We must be divine, in the sense of being made partakers of His nature. And this is why JESUS was the most isolated of men, and at the same time, the most accessible, the most gracious; the most isolated, because He lived in absolute communion with His Father, and found no echo, no sympathy answering to the perfect love which was in Him; the most accessible, the most gracious. because He was that love towards others. Speaking of the ineffable work which was to open up a way for that love through all the sin, He says: "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened until it is accomplished." That baptism of bitterness and death, which made an end of sin, even in its last stronghold and its last title of destruction, through the righteousness of God against us, gave free course to that love in its infinite designs of grace; for love is infinite in its inventions for the happiness of that which is loved, and the love of God purposes that which is beyond all our thoughts. It is the spring of the thoughts of the Infinite God. And again, when towards the end of His course the opportunity presents itself, at the moment when the unbelief of His own makes Him say: " How long shall I be with you, and suffer you?" (for—and this is what he expects from us in this poor world—there was not, even in His own, faith or capacity to make use of the resources of grace and power which were in Him) He adds, without even a moment's interval, Bring thy son hither " (Luke 9:41). The consciousness of being isolated in His love, so that others did not even understand how to profit by it, does not, for a moment, arrest His energy and activity. The same sentence which contains the " how long," says also " bring thy son hither."

What was then the life of this JESUS, the Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief? A life of activity in obscurity, causing the love of God to penetrate the most hidden corners of society, wherever needs were greatest; among those whom human pride repelled, in order to maintain its own reputation, but whom the love of God sought, because He needed not to establish for Himself a reputation, or to preserve one. He was always the same: and the more He apparently compromised Himself, the more He manifested Himself in a perfection which never belied itself. The love of God needed not, like human society, to protect itself from that which laid it too bare. It was always itself. The arduous life of JESUS was passed in seeking souls in all circumstances. It went through everything that could put it to the proof, but we see in it a divine reality which never failed; then—in presence of self-righteousness and pride, and the tyrannical boldness of the contra diction of sinners, or in favor of some poor crushed soul, or, lastly, to justify the ways of God in their favor—we discover in it from time to time a divine mine of touching, exquisite thoughts, a depth of truth which disclosed its perfection by its simplicity, showing a soul always fed with the most intimate communion with infinite love and perfect holiness. He was the One who could say, " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; " the One who weighed evil by the perfection of good which was in Himself, and who found in the fearful discoveries (if we may speak of discoveries where all was laid bare) which the holiness of His soul made, opportunities for the manifestation of infinite love. Rather, it was the love, of a holy Being which made these discoveries, a love which clothed itself with a grace which, by its very humiliation, placed itself within the reach of all the needs of the heart, and which, at the same time, in presence of the pride of man, showed itself at the height of the dignity and the majesty of God.

How beautiful to see this Person (these divine qualities piercing through the humiliation) place Himself within the reach of these whom the world despised, and find" being wearied with His journey " and becoming a debtor for a cup of cold water to a woman who hardly dare show herself with others—meat to eat which the world, and even His disciples, knew nothing of; and that in the deliverance of a poor heart, crushed by the weight of a bad conscience and the contempt of her fellow creatures to whom He had given back (or rather, given) the spring of life and joy. What a perspective of blessing for poor sinners this opened to His soul! For He did not despise such consolation in the midst of a world which drove Him from its bosom. Thus love comforts itself: the heart which loves the sinner needs such consolation in such a world. But where is it to be found? In retirement, in the labors of a life which had to do with the common need of souls, but still abiding in the truth; for this life did not shelter itself from the misery of the world, to walk in the midst of that which has an appearance only (" a vain show ") but it brought into it—precious grace!—the love of God. He was that of which others could write.

How many needs, hidden even in the most degraded souls, would be confessed, would come to light, if a love, a goodness which could give them confidence, were presented to them: but for this, one must be content, often to find oneself in the midst of such degradation, being preserved from it only by what is within: and this was the life of the Lord. How many souls are whirling in pleasure, in order to silence the moral griefs which devour them? Divine love not only answers needs, it makes them speak. It is delightful to see the opening out of a soul, and, at the same time, the entrance of spiritual intelligence. One may not exactly seek the degradation I speak of, but one finds the world knowing that is the truth as to what is found there, and its outward forms do not stop it. But it is a life of labor, of patience and of blessedness, which has no equal. Christ could say through all, " That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves." Without doubt " there are diversities of gifts," but even when God opens this path before us in His grace, how slow we are to follow the track of the One who would draw us there. But let us take courage, grace is there in the path He opens to us; we find it day by day as we go onward; and what glory, when all the principles have been formed in the heart by faith, blossom in heaven, and are reproduced in the fullness of their results according to the heart of God. Meanwhile "we walk by faith and not by sight." " And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." " Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry."

"How will recompense His smile

The sufferings of this `little while.'

The Passage of the Jordan

We often lose a good deal of the practical value of the teaching that is given in this book, from thoughts that we have probably received from the days of childhood. Thus, the passing of the Jordan is often thought to mean passing the boundary that divides us from earth into heaven when we die—that it is entering into the heavenly Canaan through death. I do not doubt that it is passing over the boundary of death, and entering into Canaan; but it is not when we leave this world, but while we are still in the body. It is that which God has given us in the resurrection of Christ, and in His present taking possession of the heavenly places for us. And what will make this plain to all is, that when we get to heaven, we have not got to fight with the Canaanites, nor with anything answering to them. Fighting is not the business of heaven; but it was the special business of the people who passed over Jordan. It was more their business than any other thing. It was not so much the work before them in the wilderness. There, the great lesson was dependence upon the living God, and, in the next place, the learning of self. There, God was proving what the hearts of His people were; and, what was infinitely better, the people were proving, or ought to have been proving, what the living God was who had taken His place in their midst. But conflict with enemies was not the great thought of the wilderness. And therefore we only find them meeting with the Amalekites, at one time, or with the Midianites at another. The wars that they had in the wilderness were comparatively few; whereas, when they passed the Jordan, for a time there was nothing but war. The passing of the Jordan, therefore, does not mean the literal death of the body, but the death of Christ, and our union with Him; whereby we are even now planted in heavenly places—and that too for the purpose of our wrestling not with flesh and blood; for, as the apostle Paul tells us, "we wrestle riot against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness (or wicked spirits ') in heavenly places."

Now there is a great deal of the meaning and power of this lost by the children of God, from the idea that the main part of our conflict is with ourselves. That is not at all the case. Self-judgment is a different thing from conflict. Daily self-judgment is most right and needful—the constant review of our ways and judgment of self, and of the flesh. But there is a restless, indefatigable, subtle enemy, that makes it his main business, not merely to entice the Christian into sin through the flesh, but, by darkening the truth, to hinder souls from enjoying the fullness of the blessings of God's grace and God's glory in His beloved Son. That is the main work of the devil, as far as the people of God are concerned, and that is the special thing we have to watch against. We may examine and judge ourselves day by day, and it is a very right thing. But if the soul is ever so jealous about that, it is not enough. It may, at the same time, be hindered from the full enjoyment of the Lord Jesus. One main reason is this: the Lord has put before us an inheritance of blessing-" all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." But we are slow to take advantage of it. We think, perhaps, that it is presumption; or some may fancy that, instead of venturing on such a subject, it would be more practical to be dwelling upon our ordinary duties in life. But this -would not be enough, because it is not, of itself, Christianity. It is not the measure of what the Lord has called us to now. There are certain things that all saints from the beginning of the world have walked in. It never was right at any time for a saint to lie, or to be dishonest, or to do anything immoral. In all dispensations there are certain moral duties that necessarily are inseparable from life in God. But Christianity is much more than this. A believer now may do all that, and yet not enjoy what is characteristic of true Christianity. To be thoroughly Christian is to enter into the calling that is now ours through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what is represented by the passing of the Jordan. It presents the same death and resurrection of Christ that had been previously given us in the passage of the Red Sea, though in a different point of view. The death and resurrection of Christ as seen there is Christ separating us from the world—Christ bringing us out of Egypt. But all that may be, and we may not have the least enjoyment of our heavenly blessings.

We may thank God that we are delivered, that we are not going to be cast into hell. But is that enough? It is not. If we stop short there, if we do not enter further into our blessings, Satan will be sure, at one time or another, to gain a complete victory over us, as he did over the Israelites. For instead of their conquering and driving out their enemies, we read of Canaanites, Perizzites, Jebusites, &c., who kept their possessions in peace, in spite of Israel. And so it is with many a child of God. They are kept in evil that does not appear to be such, and is not considered so, because it is not moral evil. For even a mere man is bound not to sin morally. But a Christian is a person that has his eyes upon the Lord. Any one can judge an outwardly immoral thing, but very few know that what even godly people are doing is entirely contrary to the Holy Ghost—to God Himself. There are many so called religious practices that are sins, and these are what the Christian ought to have his eyes open to. The Lord works this in us by giving us to know that we have got a heavenly inheritance. The Lord Jesus, by His death and resurrection, not only has brought us out of Egypt and into the wilderness, but into heaven itself in spirit. We are even now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have got now the stamp of heaven upon us, and God is looking that we may walk in the sense of this great privilege, making advances, gaining victories, and wresting what Christ has given us out of the hands of the enemy. Supposing a person truly converted to God, and made happy in the knowledge of his sin being forever put away, the next thing is—he does not know what to do to please God, or how to worship God. If he simply goes on as he was before, assuming that what he did when he was unconverted as to these things, is what he is to do now (save only, of course, with a new aim and power) he cannot make any progress; and it is thus that the devil keeps possession of the place of blessing, and shuts out the heir of glory from his calling and inheritance. Of course, I only speak of the matter of practical enjoyment. The enemies are still undisturbed in the land. But we ought to be seeing what the inheritance is that the Lord has assigned to us, and whether our worship and our walk are really according to God, and suitable to the place in which He has set us. If you make morality your standard, you will be sure to fall below what you propose. Whatever we put before us as our criterion, there will always be a falling short. If we have Christ risen and Christ in heaven as our Object, we shall prove the power of His resurrection, not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding shortcoming, but in strengthening us "to press forward towards the mark for the prize of the high calling (or 'calling on high') of God in Christ Jesus,"

In the beautiful scene before us, we find that the people passed dry shod over Jordan. And what made it so remarkable was, its being the very time when the river was overflowing its banks: it was fuller then than at any other season. So in the death of Christ there was the fullest possible outpouring of God's wrath and upon His beloved Son, sin-our sin has been judged to the uttermost. And, as in, the type, they passed over as if there had been no Jordan at all, so, in the reality for us, there remains no judgment, but fullness of blessing. We are passed from death unto life, and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

And now, when they have entered the land, what do we find? The manna ceases—they must eat of the old corn of the land. The food that had sustained them in the wilderness does not any longer suffice. And what is the old corn of the land? It is Christ, as manna also was; but Christ in another way: it is the food of resurrection. The corn of the land was the fruit of the seed that had been sown in the land, and that had died and sprung up again. It was Christ in resurrection. The Lord grant that our souls may feed upon Him thus! To say that Christ thus known is too high for us—to be content without enjoying Him thus—is thus far to be content without Christ.

Waiting for Christ

That which should characterize the saints is, not merely holding the doctrine of the Lord's coming as that which they believe, but their souls should be in daily attitude of waiting, expecting and desiring His coming. But why? That they may see Himself, and be with Him and like Him forever! Not because the world which has been so hostile to them is going to be judged, though God will smite the wicked. It is true there will be mercy to those who are spared. But we have obtained mercy now, and are therefore waiting for Himself—for what He is in Himself to us, and not because of judgment. That would not be joy to me, though it will be to some on the earth; for "in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps," etc. (Isa. 30:32). This is not our hope, but simply waiting for Himself. The whole walk and character of a saint depends upon this—on his waiting for the Lord. Every one should be able to read us by this, as having nothing to do in this world but to get through it, and not as having any portion in it—" Turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven." (1 Thess. 1:9-10.)

What I desire to press upon you all, and myself too, is the individual waiting for the Lord; not as a doctrine merely, but as a daily waiting for Himself. Whatever the Lord's will may be, I should like Him to find me doing it when He comes. But that is not the question; but, Am I waiting for Himself day by day? In 1 Thess. 2 the hope is connected with ministry: " What is our hope or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" Then Paul would get the reward of his service to the saints. Then-in the third chapter the hope is connected with our walk, as a motive for holiness: "Unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." Then in the fourth chapter the doctrine of the hope is unfolded, the manner of it comes out: " 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." Thus we see what a present expectation the coming of the Lord was; therefore Paul says, " WE which are alive and remain." Why does he say " WE "? Because he expected it then. This was Paul's character then, that of waiting for the Lord. And does he lose that character because he died before He came? No, not at all. Though Peter had a revelation that he should put off the tabernacle of his body, yet did he daily wait for the Lord's coming then. And this will be Peter's character when the Lord does come; he will lose nothing by his death. "Be ye like unto men that wait for their Lord." (Luke 12:36.)

The character of their waiting was to be like servants at the hall-door, that, when the Master knocked, they were ready to open to Him immediately. It is a figure, of course, here; but it is the present power of the expectation that is alluded to. And the ruin of the church has come in by practically saying: " My Lord delayeth His corning." " Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching."

" Let your loins be, girded about, and your lights burning "—" your loins girt about with truth " for service. You must not let your garments flow loose; that is, you must not let your thoughts and affections spread abroad, but be ready with your garments well girt up, and your lights burning. This is not rest, for it is an exceedingly tiring thing to have to sit up and watch through a long dark night. But in the spirit of service the heart, affections, thoughts, feelings and desires must be all girt up. And this requires real painstaking not to let the flesh go its own way; for it is a great comfort sometimes to do this, if but for a moment; but if we do we shall surely fall asleep like the virgins. For as the virgins went to sleep with their oil in their lamps, so we may go asleep with the Holy Ghost indwelling us. But blessed are those servants who are found watching. The Lord says this is the time for you to be girded, to take your turn in love to serve and watch; but when I come again, and have things my own way, then will I take my turn in love; ungird you and gird myself, and come forth and serve you. You must be well girt up and watchful in the midst of evil; but when the evil is done with, then you may take your rest. When in the Father's house you may lie down and be at ease; and then your robes may flow down without any fear of their being soiled. In that blessed place of holiness and purity, you may let your affections, thoughts and desires flow out without the fear of their being defiled.

When Thou shalt come, for Whom we wait,

We then shall see and know how great

The gain that faith hath stored.

With joyful hearts our songs we raise,

Our God and Father now to praise,

While waiting for Thee, Lord.

A Meditation on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself

Beloved fellow believer, is there not a tendency at this time of ours to overlook the Person of the Lord, what He is in Himself, in the common testimony that is now borne so extendedly to His work? Would it not be for His glory, and very highly edifying for us, His people, if we were acquainting ourselves more really with a living personal JESUS? We need His work surely for the conscience, we need HIMSELF for the heart. The region of doctrine may be surveyed, as by a measuring line and a level, instead of being eyed as the place of the glories of the Son of God with an admiring, worshipping, heart. And yet, it is this He prizes in us. He has made us personally His objects, and He looks for it, that we make Him ours.

There are surely doctrines to learn, lines of conduct to make ourselves acquainted with; but, in doing so, we need to guard against learning doctrines as bare doctrines, or acquainting ourselves with lines of conduct in an abstract way. Rather let us be found, as to the attitude of our hearts when reading the word, sitting like Mary of old, at the feet of JESUS hearing His word (Luke 10:39), having Himself a living Person (whose love we know) consciously before us and finding in Him the living embodiment of the doctrines learned, and the practical expression of the line of conduct enjoined: then are we truly learning of Him (Matt. 11:29). Truth so learned has the effect of producing in us meekness and lowliness of heart (Matt. 11:29), instead of puffing us up (1 Cor. 8:1.). And the line of conduct learned thus guards against legality, as the affections are brought into play and the " love of Christ " becomes the constraining motive.

The Holy Spirit delights to tell of the work of Christ, and to bear it in its preciousness and sufficiency to the heart and conscience. Nothing could stand us for a moment, had not the work been just what it was, and so counseled and ordered of God. But still the work of the Lord Jesus Christ may be the great subject, where He Himself is but a faint Object, and the soul will then be a great loser.

When considering the deeper and more distant parts of God's ways, we sometimes feel as though they were too much for us; and we seek relief from the weight of them by going back to earlier and simpler truths. This, however, need not be. If we rightly entertained these further mysteries, we should know that we need not retire from them for relief; because they are really only other and deeper expressions of the same grace and love which we were learning at the very beginning. They are but a more abundant flow, or a wider channel, of the same river, just because they lie somewhat more distant from the source.

Till this assurance be laid up in the soul, we are ill-prepared to think of them. If we have a fear, that when we are looking at glories, we have left the place of affections, we wrong the truth and our own souls. It is not so by any means. The more fully the glories unfold themselves, the more are the riches of grace revealed. The rising of a river at its birthplace, where we took in the whole object at once, without effort or amazement, has, as we know, its own peculiar charm; but when it becomes, under our eye, a mighty stream, with its diversified banks and currents, we only the rather learn why it ever began to flow. It is the same water still; and we may pass up and down from its source and along its channels, with various but still constant delight. And is it not so with " the river of God "? But knowing, as we do, its source, we can survey it in its course, along and through the ages and dispensations. When in spirit (in the way of meditation) we reach " the new heavens and the new earth," we are only in company with the same glorious Person, and in fellowship with the same boundless grace, whom we knew, and which we learned, at the very beginning.

The same One made real to the soul, and brought near, is what one would desire, in God's grace, to be the fruit of this meditation: " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever "-so He is, both in His own glory and to us.

In earlier days there were manifestations of Him, the Son of God, sometimes in veiled, sometimes in unveiled glory. To Abraham at the tent-door, to Jacob at Peniel, to Joshua under the walls of Jericho, to Gideon and to Manoah, the manifestations were veiled, and faith, in more or less vigor, through the Spirit, removed the covering, and reached the glory that was underneath. To Isaiah, to Ezekiel, and to Daniel, the Son of God appeared in unveiled glory, and He had, by a certain gracious process, to make the brightness of the glory tolerable to them see Isa. 6; Ezek. 1; Dan. 10).

The Person, however, was one and the same, whether veiled or unveiled. So, hr the days when He had, really (and not as in those earlier days) assumed flesh and blood, the glory was veiled, and faith was set to discover it, as in the time of Abraham, or of Joshua; and after He had ascended, He appeared to John in such brightness of unveiled glory, that something had to be done by Him in grace, as in the case of Isaiah or of Daniel, ere His presence could be sustained (Rev. 1).

Times and seasons in this respect made no difference. Of course, till the fullness of time came, the Son was not " made of a woman." Then it was that " the Sanctifier," as we read, " took part in the same " flesh and blood with the children (Heb. 2:14). For flesh and blood indeed He took then, and not till then; very Kinsman of the seed of Abraham He then indeed became. " It behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren." And all this waited for its due season, " the fullness of the time," the days of the Virgin of Nazareth. But these manifestations of the Son of God in earlier days were pledges of this great mystery, that in due time God would send forth His Son made of a woman. They were, If I may so express it, the shadows of the forthcoming substance. And what I have been observing has this in it-and which is of interest to our souls—that those foreshadowings were beautifully exact. They forecast, in forms both of glory and of grace, the ways of Him who afterward traveled and sojourned here on earth in humble, serving, sympathizing love, and is now set as glorified in heaven, the Son of man, the Virgin's Seed, forever.

It is delightful to the soul to trace these exact resemblances and forecasting’s. If we have a veiled glory at the threshing-floor at Ophrah, so have we at the well of Sychar; if we have the brightness of the unveiled glory on the banks of the Hiddekel, so have we the same in the isle of Patmos. The Son of God was a traveling Man in the sight of Abraham in the heat of that day, and so was He to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, as the day was fast spending itself. He ate of Abraham's calf " tender and good," as He did of " the broiled fish and of the honeycomb," in the midst of the disciples at Jerusalem. In His risen days, He assumed different forms to suit (in divine grace) the need or demand of the moment, as He had done of old, whether as a Stranger, or a Visitor, whether as " a Man of God " simply to Manoah and his wife in the field, or as an armed Soldier at Jericho to Joshua.

And it is this, I think I can say again, which I value specially in following this meditation upon Himself, to see JESUS one throughout, and that, too, near and real to us. We need, if one may speak for others, the purged eye that is practiced to see, and delight in, such a heaven as the heaven of JESUS must be. Will it be nothing, we may ask our hearts, will it be nothing to spend eternity with Him who looked up, and caught the eye of Zacchaeus in the sycamore-tree, and then, to the thrilling joy of his soul, let his name fall on his ear from His own lips? With Him, who without one upbraiding word, filled the convicted quickened heart of a poor sinner of Samaria with joy, and a spirit of liberty that far more than abounded? Surely we want nothing but the child-like, simple, believing mind. For we are not straitened in Him, and there is nothing to Him, like this believing mind. It glorifies Him.

Nature, it is indeed true, is not equal to this. It must come from the in-working and witness of the Holy Ghost. Nature finds itself overwhelmed. It always betrays itself as that which has " come short of the glory of God.' When Isaiah, on the occasion already referred to, was called into the presence of that glory, he could not stand it. He remembered his uncleanness, and cried out that he was undone. All that he apprehended was the glory, and all that he felt and knew in himself was his unfitness to stand before it.

This was nature. This was the action of the conscience which, as in Adam in the garden, seeks relief from the presence of God. Nature in the prophet did not discover the altar which, equally with the glory, lay in the scene before him. He did not perceive that which was perfectly equal to give him perfect ease and assurance, to link him (though still a sinner in himself) with the presence of the glory in all its brightness. Nature could not make this discovery. But the messenger of the Lord of hosts not only discovers but applies it; and the prophet is at ease, in the possession of a cleanness or a holiness which can measure the very "holy of holies itself, and the brightness of the throne of the Lord of hosts.

The Spirit acts above nature, yea, in contradiction of nature. Nature in Isaiah, in us all, stands apart, and is abashed, unable to look up—the Spirit draws us right inward and upward in liberty. When Simeon is led by the Spirit into the presence of the glory, he goes up at once in all confidence and joy. He takes the child JESUS in his arms. He makes no request of the mother to suffer it to be so; he feels no debt to any one for the blessed privilege of embracing " the salvation of God," which his eyes then saw. He through the Spirit had discovered the altar; and the glory, therefore, was not beyond him (see Isa. 6; Luke 2).

And true still, as true as ever, as true as in the days of Isaiah and of Simeon, are these things now. The Spirit leads in a path which nature never treads. Nature stands apart and is afraid; yea, will rebuke where faith is full of liberty. And these diverse ways of nature and of faith we may well remember for our comfort and strengthening, as we look at the Son of God, and meditate on mysteries and counsels of God connected with Him.

The Offerings: The Burnt Offering

The Book of Leviticus opens with Jehovah calling to Moses out of the Tabernacle. It is a question of approach to Himself, the offerings being the means of typifying the work of Christ by which we are brought to God.

There is a very definite distinction between the first two sacrifices, to which the third is an appendix, and those for sin. The burnt-offering and the meat-offering stand alone, and dependent on them the peace (or communion) offering; and then those of another character, the sin and trespass offerings. Such are the two classes.

Wherever we meet the actual use and application of the offerings, it is in the opposite order to the revelation of them here. In the revelation we get them as God presents them, looking at Christ: but in the use of them, man's need comes first. Here, it is God's side, and the burnt-offering, like the meat and peace offerings, is a sacrifice by fire of a sweet savor to the Lord: that expression is never used of the sin-offering, except in one single verse.

It gives a very definite character to these first two, that it is their aspect towards God, His character and nature. When we come as sinners, it is in respect of what our sins are; but our apprehension of the meaning and value of Christ's death is greatly enhanced by seeing God's part in it. I must confess my sins—it is the only true way of coining, hut there is propitiation through faith in His blood; and then I find all that is essential in these sacrifices as regards God in their proper nature and value.

There is no particular sin here: it is for sin of course, but it was not an individual confessing some particular sin. It is striking enough, that until the institution of the law, you never get sin-offerings; except in the case of Cain, of which I do not doubt myself (though I know it is a question of interpretation), that it is, " a sin-offering lieth at the door," sin and sin-offering being the same word. But the word is never used again in that way, till the law. We have burnt-offerings and peace-offerings often.

The burnt-offering is the great basis, because it is God's glory in what has been done for sin. We must come, as has been said, by the sin-offering. " He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." But it is another thing when I look at Christ's offering arid sacrifice, as glorifying God perfectly in all that He is, and that in respect of sin. He said, " Therefore Both my Father love me, because I lay down my life;" a very remarkable word, for none could give a " therefore " to God for His love but Christ. The difference between divine love and human love is, that God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If man gets sufficient motive, he will sacrifice his life; but without any motive, Christ gave Himself, God gave His Son: it characterizes the love. In John 10:11, He lays down His life " for the sheep;" but in verse 17, He does not say it is for the sheep. He has glorified God in death, in the place of sin; and he is glorified as man at the right hand of God. He goes up into that place where we get morally what the sacrifice was in God's sight.

There is nothing about sins in this chapter, though sin was there, blood-shedding, death, showing sin was the thing in question; and yet the sacrifice was absolutely a sweet savor, that blessed character of the sacrifice of Christ, which settles every question of good and evil in God's sight. The terrible fact was that in the creature of God's predilection sin had come in. People say that Adam learned to know evil, whereas he had only known good before; but that is not at all the point. "The man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil." It is knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Man was the one in whom God was going to be perfectly glorified; His delights were with the sons of men. He did not take up angels, but the seed of Abraham. We are to be eternally conformed to the image of God's Son. In the mean time, Satan had prevailed over the first man; after lust came transgression, and all was over as regards his responsibility.

His state was made to depend on one single thing that required obedience. He might have eaten of all the trees in the garden, if God had not forbidden one; it was not a question of any positive sin, but the claim of obedience. It was a thing to put angels to confusion, God's beautiful creature ruined! Lust and violence came in, till God had to to destroy it all. Everybody knows what the evil is: you cannot go into a great city like this, without knowing that the evil is such, that none but God Himself could have patience with it. It has been truly said, if trusted to one of us, we should destroy it in an hour. Man, in the hand of Satan, degraded himself and turned everything to confusion.

Another thing, is to be observed, God tried man in every way. The question was raised, was there any remedy for this? In the first place He destroyed them with a judgment; then He called Abraham; then came the test of the law. All the things required by the law were duties already. The law did not make them duties; but it was God's statement of the obligation of those duties and God's claim upon man to fulfill them. The sacrifices were introduced consequent upon that. As to the state of man's heart, nothing could have been more decided, than when he cast God off for the one thing he was told not to do. Then came a totally distinct thing. Man being, not only a sinner but a transgressor, God was here in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing trespasses. He came in perfect goodness close to man; He touched man, so to speak—holiness in all His walk, but divine love in everything He did. Made flesh He dwelt among us; not visiting merely as with Abraham, but He was down here as a Man, manifesting what He is towards men. This was the last trial to which God put man, to see whether there was anything He could awaken in man towards God. Come in goodness from His Father, walking amongst men in grace, so that there was no sorrow He did not meet, and we know how it ended for the time: He was totally rejected, and this closed man's history, his moral history. Not only had he sinned so that he had to be turned out of an innocent paradise, because he was not innocent, but he had rejected God's Son, come in love.

But now came the accomplishment of the divine work of redemption; there was a sacrifice! I get the blessed Son of God giving Himself, made sin in God's sight, totally alone, and, as to the suffering of His soul, forsaken of God. The sin is dealt with: I must come by my guilt; but this presents it from God's side and view. Absolute evil is in man; and God met man with the 'perfect revelation of good. But it drew out hatred—such was the effect: the carnal mind, enmity against God, hatred against Him manifested in goodness. Satan's power is complete over man: Christ's own disciples forsaking Him, the rest wagging their heads at Him, glad to get rid of God and good. He had gone so low for our guilt and God's glory, that even the thief hung with Him could insult Him!

With the blessed Lord Himself is just the opposite: Man in perfect goodness, love to the Father, and obedience at all cost, " That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." Perfect in the place of sin, where this question had been brought to an issue, made sin in God's sight in perfect love to His Father and perfect obedience. But further, in the cross, I see God in absolute righteousness against sin, in perfect love to the sinner; man in absolute badness, Satan's power complete, but in Christ man in absolute obedience.

This laid the basis of it all; it brought angels desiring to look into it, to see the Just suffering for the unjust! It was not weak mercy giving up holiness and righteousness, but the absolute expression of majesty and righteousness. " It became Him," that if God's Son were made sin, He must be dealt with as such. There was no escape! He gave Himself for it; " a body halt thou prepared me." Totally alone there, with none to comfort Him, and strong bulls of Bashan around, He says, " Be not thou far from me, 0 LORD," and He had to be forsaken of God.

Such was the condition man was in that it was his delight to get rid of God—and God too, not come to judge man, but to reconcile him to Himself!

But God's eternal counsels were in it (Acts 4:28), and Christ gave Himself. All that God is, was brought out and made good there, when man under Satan's power had succeeded in getting rid of Christ. He giving up Himself, God was glorified in Him. There was the secret work of God, who used it to accomplish the very thing by which Satan sought to frustrate it. Satan's power seemed to have its way when he got rid of Christ from the world; but all was then brought to an issue before God. And this gives the immutability of the blessing. All was finished on which everlasting righteousness is founded. It was not a state of innocence whose preservation hung on yet unsatisfied responsibility: the unchanging blessing of the new heavens and the new earth depends on that the worth of which cannot change.

Morally speaking, the cross maintains it all. The question of good and evil, raised in the garden of Eden, was settled in the cross. We see the blessed Son of God never using His divine power to screen Himself from suffering, not using it to hinder the suffering, but to sustain Him in it, enabling Him to bear what none could have gone through without it. When I come to God in this way, I apprehend what.sin is, not merely my actual sins, but that in me dwelleth no good thing.

There is One hanging upon the cross, made sin before God at the very moment when the full character of sin was manifested in the rejection of Christ. And there, where man was wholly a sinner, and Christ stood in that place for him, all that God is was brought out. Where could you find full righteousness against sin? In no place but the cross, which gives perfect righteousness against sin and love to the sinner in that same blessed work, and that in a Man, and when sin was brought out in its worst character.

Look at Him at the grave of Lazarus, a wonderful scene! The Lord was there in perfect obedience, for when they sent the tenderest message to Him; (" Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick "), He abode still two days where He was. Death was weighing upon their spirits: what made Him weep? He was not weeping for Lazarus. Death was there, and it seemed all over; but no, " I am the resurrection and the life "—I am come into this scene where death is lying on your hearts; I am the resurrection and the life in the midst of it. And when that was shown, which even Thomas saw was on His path, He goes out Himself to die! There did not remain a slur or stain upon what God is. IN of only was His righteous judgment against sin shown, as it could be nowhere else, but His love in that He spared not His own Son. That work and act of Christ, went up as a sweet savor to God; He gives Himself in perfect devoted love to His Father. Perfect love was manifested, and all that God is. " Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him." Outward dishonor, but moral glory; what was in the nature of God, and what was in man as hatred against God, all brought out, Christ giving Himself up wholly and totally, that God should be perfectly glorified; so that in that sense of the word, God was a debtor to Man for the infinite glory brought to Him, and this where sin and death had come in! He hung there as made sin, and God is more glorified than if sin had never come in. It is a wonderful thing-nothing like it! He does bear our sins, blessed be His Name, but when we see the blessed Son of God made sin, is there anything like that? None of us can speak of it properly, but I trust your hearts will look at it and feed upon it.

But what I have not yet referred to is, that the offerer was to do it (not exactly " of his own voluntary will," but) for his acceptance. I leave the offering now, for the man who comes by it. "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." Coming by that sacrifice-it is important our hearts should get hold of it—I am accepted in the Beloved; I go to God in the sweet savor of all that Christ is. It is not simply that my sins are put away—there I can stand in righteousness as to my sins before God—but, coming by that in which God delights, He delights in me as in it, and I am loved as Christ is loved. It brings into fellowship with God, as to the value of Christ's place. I know He takes perfect delight in me. I am a worthless creature in myself (and the more I know it the better) but there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. I go to God in faith, in the perfect sweet savor of Christ. It is not a question of any particular sin, but I go to God with the consciousness of being received and delighted in; I go, as the fruit of the travail of His soul. God sees in me, the perfection of Christ's work, and it is forever and ever; but it rests upon our hearts now.

We must come by the sin-offering, but we have in the burnt-offering a great deal more; no actual sin is spoken of, but the sense of what His glory requires, accomplished in Christ, where sin was; that there is nothing also in the character of God not perfectly glorified, and this in love to us. It is not merely that my sins are put away, but I go offering Christ, so to speak. I present Christ, and God testifies of the gift. I say, what is the measure of my righteousness? Christ; and therefore we are received to the glory of God. And now, in weakness and infirmity here, speaking of our standing before God, it is in all the delight He had, not merely in Christ as a living Man, but in all the perfection of His work in the place of sin, where all that He is was glorified—obedient unto death.

One may not like saying, Where are your hearts about it? but—what I do desire for us all—Does my soul go to God, owning that righteousness of God, that love of God; the sift of God in it, and that He testifies of the gifts?

May He give us to see, though we never can fathom it, what it was to that Holy One who was the delight of the Father's bosom, to be made sin; that our souls may feed on Him, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and not only know that we are washed from our sins.

(To be continued.)

A Meditation on the Lord Jesus Christ: Part 2

All the circumstances of human life, as the Lord Jesus passed through them, change as they might, or be they as minute as they might, were ever adorned by something of the moral glory that was ever brightening the path of His sacred wearied feet. The eye of man was incapable of tracking it; but to God it was all incense, a sacrifice of sweet savor, a sacrifice of rest, the meat-offering of the sanctuary.

The Lord did not judge of persons in relation to Himself, a common fault with us all. We naturally judge of others according as they treat ourselves, and we make our interest in them the measure of their character and worth. But this was not the Lord. God is "a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed " (1 Sam. 2:3). He understands every action fully. In all its moral meaning He understands it, and according to that He weighs it. And, as the image of the God of knowledge, we see our Lord Jesus Christ, in the days of His ministry here again and again. I may refer to Luke 11. There was the air of courtesy and good feeling towards Him in the Pharisee that invited Him to dine. But the Lord was the God of knowledge, and as such He weighed this action in its full moral character.

The honey of courtesy, which is the best ingredient in social life in this world, should not pervert His taste or judgment. He " approved things that are excellent." The civility which invited Him to dinner was not to determine the judgment of Him who carried the weights and measures of the sanctuary of God. It is the God of knowledge that this civility has on this occasion to confront, and it does not stand, it will not do. 0 how the tracing of this may rebuke us! The invitation covered a purpose. As soon as the Lord entered the house, the host acts the Pharisee, and not the host. He marvels that his Guest had not washed before dinner. And the character he thus assumes at the beginning shows itself in full force at the end. And the Lord deals with the whole scene accordingly; for He weighed it as the God of knowledge. Some may say, that the courtesy He had received might have kept Him silent. But He could not look on this man simply as in relation to Himself. He was not to be flattered out of a just judgment. He exposes and rebukes, and the end of the scene justifies Him. "And as He said these things unto them, the scribes and Pharisees began to urge Him vehemently, and to provoke Him to speak of many things, laying wait for Him, and seeking to catch something out of His mouth, that they might accuse Him."

Very different, however, was His way in the house of another Pharisee, who in like manner had asked Him to dine. (See Luke 7) For Simon had no covered purpose in the invitation quite otherwise. He seemed to act the Pharisee too, silently accusing the poor sinner of the city, and his Guest for admitting her approach. But appearances are not the ground of righteous judgments. Often the very same words, on different lips, have a very different mind in them. And therefore, the Lord, the perfect Weigh master according to God, though He may rebuke Simon, and expose him to himself, knows him by name, and leaves his house as a guest should leave it. He distinguishes the Pharisee of Luke 7, from the Pharisee Luke 11, though He dined with both of them. So we may look at the Lord with Peter in Matt. 16. Peter expresses fond and considerate attachment to his; Master: " This be far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee." But JESUS judged Peter's words only in their moral place. Hard indeed we find it to do this when we are personally gratified. " Get thee behind me, Satan," was not the answer which a merely amiable nature would have suggested to such Words. But again, I say, our Lord did not listen to Peter's words simply as they expressed personal kindness and good will to Himself. He judged them, He weighed them, as in the presence of God, and at once found that the enemy had moved them; for he that can transform himself into an angel of light is very often lurking in words of courtesy and kindness. And in the same way the Lord dealt with Thomas in John 20 Thomas had just worshipped Him " My Lord and my God," he had said. But JESUS was not to be drawn from the high moral elevation that He filled, and from whence He heard and saw everything, even by words like these. They were genuine words, words of a mind which, enlightened of God, had repented toward the risen Savior, and instead of doubting any longer, worshipped. But Thomas had stood out as long as he could. He had exceeded. They had all been unbelieving as to the resurrection, but he had insisted that he would be still in unbelief till sense and sight came to deliver him. All this had been his moral condition; and JESUS has this before Him, and puts Thomas in his right moral place, as He had put Peter. " Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Our hearts in such cases as these would have been taken by surprise. They could not have kept their ground in the face of these assaults, which the good will of Peter and the worship of Thomas would have made upon them. But our perfect Master stood for God and His truth and not for Himself. The ark of old was not to be flattered. Israel may honor it, and bring it down to the battle, telling it, as it were, that now in its presence all must be well with them. But this will not do for the God of Israel. Israel falls before the Philistines, though the ark be thus in the battle (1 Sam. 4); and Peter and Thomas shall be rebuked, though Jesus, still the God of Israel, be honored by them.

Fragment: While Gazing on Christ

Whilst the eye is gazing with delight on Christ in glory, the Holy Spirit is engraving the Christ we delight in on our hearts.

The Offerings: The Meat Offering

In the burnt-offering we had the way in which Christ, sin being in the world, offered Himself without spot to God. Here we have more His perfectness in detail brought down to us. The priests ate part of the meat-offering, they ate nothing of the burnt-offering. We have what Christ was in His perfectness down here, all the characters and traits of that perfectness, but brought to us. The burnt-offering was not brought to us, but was burned entirely before God. Sin was there, atonement made —not sins, but sin—and it was a perfect sweet savor to God. Here it is more the detail of what He was as a man, but burned with tire—the test of His perfectness.

Verse 1. Here we have the general character of the Lord: fine flour, perfect humanity—" this man hath done nothing amiss," as the poor thief said on the cross; then the oil (the Spirit) and frankincense put upon it. Without sin, perfect in Himself, in every sense, He was given the Holy Ghost, sent in bodily shape like a dove, and abiding on Him. He could not join Himself with Israel, for they were sinners and unbelieving; but there was a remnant called out of God by the ministry of John the Baptist, and He goes with them in their first right step. When He thus came out publicly, the Holy Ghost came upon Him. He takes His place, in a public way, among this remnant who were going right, under the testimony of John the Baptist; and so, blessed be His Name, He does with us in our first right step. We need redemption to bring us into the place where He stood by reason of His own perfectness. He was sealed with the Holy Ghost; we are sealed because of the blood. The leper was first washed, then sprinkled with blood and then anointed with oil. Christ made the place into which we are brought by redemption. Heaven opened on the Man on earth, upon whom the Holy Ghost descends and abides; and the Father's voice came, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" but He must die to bring us into it. The gift of the Holy Ghost was confined to Him until redemption was accomplished. He had to finish the work and take His place on high for us to receive the Holy Spirit.

Here we see the fine flour, and the oil, and the frankincense upon it, the perfect sweet savor of His life to God; the sweet savor, not of the sacrifice, but of all His life, His words and works: a sinless Man, passing through this world, all He said and did was by the Holy Ghost. He was the Anointed Man, which is what the name Messiah or Christ means. " He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure."

Verse 2. Here we have what was very sweet as to the path of Christ, in which we have to seek to follow Him. The handful was all burned to God: Christ, looked at as Man, was offered to God; " the flour thereof, the oil thereof, and all the frankincense thereof." Here I find the perfectness of Christ in His path—that He never did anything to be seen of men; it all went entirely up to God. The savor of it was sweet to the priests; but it all was addressed to God. Serving man, the Holy Ghost was in all His ways; but all the effect of the grace that was in Him was in His own mind always toward God; even if for man, it was to God. And so with us; nothing should come in, no motive, except what is to God. We see in Ephesians (4:32; 5:1, 2) the grace towards man, and the perfectness of man towards God as the object, " Be ye imitators of God as dear children." In all our service as following Christ here we get these two principles: our affections towards God and our Father, and the operation of His love in our hearts towards those in need. The more wretched the object of service in the latter case, the truer the love and the more simply the motive is to God. We may love down and love up; and the more wretched and unworthy the persons are, for whom I lay myself out for blessing, the more grace there is in it. " God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." But while this is true, yet as to the state of my heart, the higher the object the more elevated the affection. With Christ it was perfect. How can a poor creature like me be an imitator of God? Was not Christ an, example, God seen in a man? And we are to " walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God." He gave Himself for us, but to God; it was God's grace towards poor wretched sinners.

If we look at ourselves, we shall soon see how motives get mixed up, and things come in, even where there is right true-hearted purpose; and that is where we have to watch. In Christ all was perfect; all, every bit of it, as to spring and motive, was for God's glory in this world. No thought of men, as to pleasing them, but that singleness of eye which looked to God alone, though full of kindness to man—loving down, in that sense, but ever looking up, with His God and Father ever before His eye, which made Him perfect in everything. He was perfect of course, He could not be anything else.

Now, it is not that the priests could not smell the sweet savor of the sacrifice; but it was not offered to them, it was all burned to God. As regards His own path, not a feeling that was not entirely to God-for us, but to God. It was that which was perfectly acceptable to God.

Verse 3. Here is where we are brought, looked at as priests, our eye opened. It was the food of the offering of Jehovah, but it is our food too. We must be priests to have it: it is most holy to the Lord. I may see external beauties in Christ, I might write a book on the beautiful traits in His character, but that is not Christ's life. It is an entirely different thing when the priest gets it as God's food. (I am bold to use the word, for Scripture does so.) The priests ate it, while as to the frankincense everything was burned wholly to God. In the burnt-offering the priest did not eat anything; it was the absolute offering of Himself to God. There was a sustaining power, a perfectly holy power, and all perfectly acceptable to God; but then at the same time, it is what we feed upon as priests. We get our souls formed into delighting in Christ, by realizing in our spirits what God Himself, the Father, takes such delight in. It is a blessed place; we need and have to seek spiritual apprehension to find what it is that makes Christ the delight of the Father—what was the expression of that grace, always well pleasing to Him.

We follow His path in the Gospels, and we see always perfect love to us poor things, but everything perfectly and absolutely done to the Father. Turn to Matt. 17, where we have a bright example of the condescending grace with which He associates us with Himself, while showing Himself to be the Son of the Father, in divine knowledge and power. It was just after the transfiguration, where the heavenly glory of the kingdom was revealed: His ministry as come into the midst of Israel, according to promise, closed, so that He strictly forbad them to say that He was the Christ. But what does. He give them instead, if not yet in the glory revealed on the mount? This tribute was not to the heathen emperors, but what had been ordained in Ezra's time for the expenses of the temple services. They come and ask Peter, Does not his Mast er pay it? —in fact, was He a good Jew? Peter says, Yes, he does not look farther. But when he comes into the house, the Lord anticipates him. He shows who He is, He knows all divinely, the Son of the great King, Jehovah, and He joins Peter with Himself; children of the great King of the temple. Then He shows His divine power over creation, and makes the fish bring Him the money, even the exact sum, and again puts Peter with Himself; "that take and give them for Me and thee.”

We find the place He took in lowliness down here; but, while taking the low place, bringing us into the high place with Himself. We are changed from glory to glory as we gaze upon Him there; but it is the humiliation side, as in Phil. 2, which wins our affections.

Satan sought to take Him out of that absolute singleness of eye, in which He was perfect: " command that these stones be made bread;" but He had no orders to do it, no word out of the mouth of God: that was His manna and He came as a Servant. In Phil. 3, you see the other side—Christ glorified, and Paul running after to win Christ; the energy which hinders other things getting possession of the heart. But it is the humiliation side we have here —Christ humbling Himself, making Himself of no reputation, that I may run in the same path and spirit, for the glory of the Father. Was He ever impatient? Did He ever do a single thing for Himself? It was always God His Father, in one sense; His disciples and the poor world, in another. And where the affections are drawn out, it is always on this humbled side. It is touching to go through the Gospels, and to become sufficiently intimate with Christ, to see His motives in everything; yet this is much to say, and requires to live much with Him; but this is blessing. When I hear " Me and thee," what a strange putting together that is! And He does it with us too; knowing who He is, the Son of the Father down here, He says, "Me and thee." If you get to trace Him through all the path, you never get anything but perfectness.

When I think of the death of Christ, His love to the Father, taking the cup the Father gave Him to drink, I find my delight, my soul bowed down at the thought of all the love and obedience that was in it. And He says, "Therefore doth my Father love Me." It is God's food too! We shall soon see how far He is beyond our thoughts.

Now (ver. 4) we get some details to bring out Christ more perfectly—" Un Leavened cakes." The general truth was there before, but here we find no trace or form of sin in Him, nor indeed employment of mere amiability of nature, or what refreshes nature (neither can be in a sacrifice), unleavened cakes with no honey in them. Leaven is not found in an offering except on the day of Pentecost, when we come in; then consequently there is, and whilst those cakes were offered to God, they were not burnt on the altar for a sweet savor, and a sin-offering was offered with them. There are two characters here: Christ, looked at as Man, was born of the Holy Ghost, no sin in Him; we are born in sin, and get a new nature. But He was personally perfect, no leaven in Him at all. Instead of leaven, it was fine flour mingled with oil—as to His flesh, He, was born of the Spirit. Then it is added, "unleavened wafers anointed with oil: " Christ received the Spirit as Man, down here, to walk as Man, in the power of the Holy Ghost, in obedience; and then, having gone up on high to the Father, He sends the Spirit down upon us. The Father (John 14) sends Him, that we may cry Abba; and on the other hand, Christ sends Him from the Father, as the testimony to what He is at the right hand of God. We cannot get the anointing and the sealing, that is, the Holy Ghost, till we are washed with water and have faith in the efficacy of Christ's blood.

Verse 6. " Thou shalt part it in pieces; " every bit of Christ (in figure), every word He said, everything He did, all was perfect, the expression of what was divine in a Man down here. Not only did His general life express the fruits of the Spirit, but every word, every work, was all absolutely perfect. Now we may in a general way walk in the Spirit, but we often fail. But I can follow Him any day, and every day, and find " nothing amiss.' It is a wonderful thing to look round this world of sin and wretchedness, and be able to trace One Person everywhere and every when, and find nothing but what was perfect. No matter what it was-obedience, love, grace, firmness-all that came out was the expression of what was perfect in and for the place where He was. Beloved friends, I am sure I trust you do, but I would exhort you in that way, to feed on Christ; " he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." In studying Him down here, the soul gets intimate with Him; we feed on that on which God our Father feeds.

Verses 7-9. Here I get another element. When the fire of God's judgment tested Christ, there was only a sweet savor. Now, if we get tested, alas! often the flesh comes out-I do not say always. He got tested by the evil of man, the terribleness of death, the power of Satan, and finally by the judgment of God (the proper meaning of fire as a figure), and nothing came out but what was absolutely a sweet savor. God says He is the elect and precious Stone, and to the believer He is precious too!

Verse 11. " Brought to the Lord," that is the point. I must have a Christ, wholly and entirely giving Himself up to God. " Nor any honey." Mere sweetness of nature cannot come in. There are sweet things which God Himself has established; but Christ was entirely outside all these things, not as condemning them; for when His work was over, He could commit His mother to John. There are things which God graciously gives us here, but you cannot offer them as a sacrifice. They are of God in themselves: only sin has come in and spoiled the whole thing. The honey itself was not wrong. The coming of Titus, comforted Paul; he got in the conflict, like Jonathan, a little honey on the top of his rod, so to speak. And the comfort was of God, who comforts them that are cast down. The poor woman at the well, the thief on the cross, were Christ's comforters. Honey cannot come into the sacrifice neither the sin of nature, nor mere natural joy, can come into the sacrifice of Christ, The condemning it is all a mistake: Christ carefully maintained what God had originally established. But now we get a drunken husband beating his wife, children who are a torture to their parents, etc.; for sin has come in, though the relationships are of God. But when you come to what is for God, there can be no more honey than leaven.

Verse 13 shows another principle. I get " salt," which is not sweetness, but complete separation of heart to God-the salt of the covenant of our God. God in sovereign grace has taken me up, arid separated me to Himself. It is the positive side, which preserves me for God and with God; and that, beloved friends, is what we are to desire. It is not merely no leaven and no honey; which is the negative side. There is no separation by ourselves in us; we cannot make holiness. It is holiness to the Lord, the heart separated to God in everything, -a separation of heart and spirit with no pretention in it; " for ye were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body." Through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the everlasting covenant, we are brought to God. Do I go and leave God to go to some vanity?—I do not say sin; nor do I care what it is:—the savor of Christ, of God, is gone! But in Christ, and walking with Him in the heart, I see a man always separated in heart to God; it stamped -everything " Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." (1 Peter 3:15.)

It is not that we are to be heroes every day. I may see a person energetic in His service, but it may not come directly from God; it is a totally different thing, as regards our service, when it does. Look at 1 Thess. 1:3; Rev. 2:1-7. You get here the three things spoken of in 1 Cor. 13, faith, hope, love. In 1 Thess. 1 there is t he principle of direct association with God, in each operation of grace, which gives it its power and character. It is work, patience, and labor; work of faith, patience of hope, labor of love. I may go and serve the poor—very right and sweet; but is God's love in it? Patience is a very good thing; but am waiting for Christ to come? In Rev. 2 there was Work and labor and patience; but they had left their first love. The freshness and spring was not as it had been, not coming forth from and in immediate intercourse with God, so as to carry it in the power of God to the person's soul.

There should be the salt of the covenant of our God; it is obligatory to have our service right through sovereign grace; always serving in immediate intercourse with God. It is not merely that there is no sin, leaven, or honey, but positive spiritual energy that associates my heart with God in all that I do. Only remember, that with us there is no holiness without an object, " changed into the same image from glory to glory." We cannot have holiness in ourselves; that is God's prerogative. We cannot do without that which is perfectly blessed. before us. Only God has so bound us up with Christ, that while He is the power of the life in which we walk in it, He is the expression of that divine life in a Man down here; and, beholding Him in glory, we are delivered from the motives which would have hindered our walking thus, and are furnished with those which form us into His likeness.

Verse 14. Here we see Christ as the first-fruits to God. But there is another thing He has been in the fire. All this blessed grace in His life has been fully and perfectly tried, even to death and judgment (not looking at Christ's death as atonement, but) looking at Him in His trials to see whether nothing but a sweet savor would come out. The only time when He asked that the cup might pass from Him, it was piety. When it was the terrible cup of God's wrath, He could not go through it without feeling what it was; it was piety which shrank from the forsaking of God, it was the thing that tested His obedience absolutely. He had been tried by man's hatred, by Satan's power in death and the terror of judgment; but it was a very different thing, when He had to drink that cup, the Holy One of God to be made sin and be before God as such—the One eternally in the bosom of the Father having to say, " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But here was His perfectness: "The cup that my Father hath given me shall I not drink it?" He was tested, and was always perfect. Supposing it had been possible He had not gone on, it would have shown all. His obedience to be imperfect, that, when perfectly tested, it would not stand. But there was not a single thing but His own absolute divine perfectness that stood! His disciples forsook Him; all else were against Him; and when He turned to God, it was, " Why hast Thou forsaken me? " There was absolute testing, and He went through the fire as a sweet savor. " Therefore doth My Father love Me." Sin, death had come in, Satan's power; and He goes through it all in the power of absolute obedience and love to His Father—the testing to the end. There is the perfection of the thing which we have seen; perfect in its origin, perfect as sealed by the Holy Ghost, and now perfect when tested to the utmost, obedient unto death. Therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name. He has gone back there as Man in virtue of what He was down here.

And here, beloved brethren, is what we have got to think of: all Christ's perfectness in His life, and on the other side, perfectness according to the covenant of salt in His death. Not then saying, " I know that Thou hearest me always," but, though doing that which perfectly pleased the Father, of which He could say, "Therefore doth my Father love me," yet as to relief and comfort at the time, none from man, could be none from Satan—none from God! The basis of eternal blessing Was laid then according to the glory of God.

I have got Him, in all His life through as the meat-offering, to feed upon, study, get acquainted with—to feed upon that which was perfectly offered to God.

The Lord only give us to do it, and then shall we be found growing in grace and in knowledge of HIMSELF.

(Continued from page 60.)

(To be continued.)

If here on earth the thoughts of Jesu's love,

Lift our poor hearts this weary world above,

If even here the taste of heavenly springs

So cheers the spirit, that the pilgrim sings,

What will the sunshine of His glory prove?

What the unmingled fullness of His love?

What hallelujahs will His presence raise?

What but one loud eternal burst of praise?

Himself

More of Christ, His greatness, beauty,

More of Him to know:

In the knowledge of the Father

And His love to grow.

In the comfort of the Spirit,

Nurtured day by day,

Fitted more and more to strengthen

Others in the way.

In God's company delighting,

Waiting for His Son;

Heavenward hopes and Heavenward

stepping,

Thus His will be done.

O what joy it is assembling,

Gathered to His Name,

Walking in subjection to Him,

Owning every claim.

"Hold That Fast Which Thou Hast"

EV 3:11{As those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and who have before us the prize of our calling on high of God in Christ Jesus, we are but little concerned with the rapid flitting by of the times and seasons. If it has any voice for us, it is only to remind us that "the night is far spent, and the day is at hand;" and that it behooves us to have our "loins girded about and lights burning," in the prospect of the speedy return of our Lord.

One special aspect of our responsibility in view of this prospect is brought before us in the Scripture at the head of this paper: it is found in the message to Philadelphia. It is important to notice that overcoming in this church is different from that in the other six. In the five previous churches—with the exception perhaps of Smyrna—it is overcoming by separation, or preservation from the evil in their respective spheres of responsibility. In Laodicea it is getting out of one state into another in a word, by acquisition of what is lacking. But overcoming in Philadelphia is simply maintaining-maintaining that which is already possessed. Thus, " Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh "

(i. e. by holding fast) " will I make a pillar in the temple of my God," &c. The encouragement to hold fast, the reader will mark, is the Lord's coming. " Behold I come quickly, hold fast that which thou hast," &c.

Another thing is obvious. The need of the exhortation sprung and springs from the fact that there was a danger of losing the precious heritage which had been entrusted to them. Hence to retain the truth would involve conflict, as it has ever done all down the line of the history of the church until the present moment, and as it will increasingly do until the Lord comes.

Is not then the conviction forced upon us, and deepening daily, that the one important thing, the one incumbent responsibility at the present moment, is to "hold fast that which we have." Whilst those gathered to t he Lord's name have for the most part been preserved from the different, forms of rationalistic infidelity and of Romish superstitions now so prevalent around us—have we not a danger of a subtler kind confronting us? It is not open enemies we have to dread; every true soldier of the faith delights in warfare with such. Our foes are rather they of our own household—foes therefore in the garb of friends—those who stand by and permit the truth to be frittered away. It cannot indeed be denied that truths which, when first recovered and proclaimed, were used of God to rouse thousands of His people out of their slumbers, and which encouraged many to forsake all they held dear for the joy of fuller communion with the mind of the Lord, and for the still deeper joy of a more intimate knowledge of Himself, are now either loosely held—held in a way that involves no reproach, no cross —or being tacitly surrendered.

If this tendency increases, the question of Pilate may again be heard, " What is truth?" The truth is Christ, every part of it being but a ray of the glory that shines from His glorified face at the right hand of God. To hold fast that which we have therefore is to hold fast the truth of all that is in His person, in His work, in His union with His people, in His headship of the body, His Lordship, yea all the relationships into which He, in grace, has entered with His own in all the offices which He condescends to fill, and, in a word, in all His divine unfoldings in the precepts He has given to His people. Well then may He challenge us to hold that fast which we have, because it is in reality fidelity to Himself which is thus enjoined. Who of us is willing, by the grace of God, to respond to His appeal? To do so must, as previously stated, involve conflict. Take for example, the truest Philadelphian the church has ever seen—the apostle Paul. Was there ever a moment in his history after His conversion when he could rest from warfare, and from warfare for the truth with those who bore the name of Christ equally with himself? At Antioch he contended with Barnabas, who left him. At the same place he had to withstand Peter to the face (Gal. 2). What a temptation it must have been to a tender heart like that of Paul's to have yielded the point in charity for the sake of peace! If he had, what would have been the consequence? This we cannot tell: but it is certain that at that moment the maintenance of the truth of God depended entirely (humanly speaking) on the fidelity of Paul. He was the only one in the church at Antioch who held that fast which he had.

Not that controversy is here advocated, for, as usually understood, it is withering to the soul. No, what is pleaded for is a full ministration of Christ, and faithfulness in the defense of the whole truth of Christ. But even the holding and defending truth apart from Christ, is of no value, but rather an immense danger to the soul. Hence none but those who are walking in dependence upon, and communion with, a living Christ can hold that fast which they have, in the sense of this Scripture. No keenness of intellect, no argumentative power, will avail in this battle; nothing but the word of God held and wielded in the power of the Holy Ghost (cf. 2 Tim. 1:14; 2 Cor. 10:3, 4). On this account the exhortation is prefaced by the announcement, " Behold, I come quickly." The Lord would thus have His soldiers fight as momentarily expecting to see HIM face to face.

" Shall we of the way be weary,
When we see the Master's face?"

In like manner, who would tire in the conflict for Christ and His truth, when our hearts are cheered and warmed by the expectation of being caught away from the midst of the strife to meet the Lord in the air?

One caution is necessary. If as the days grow darker, and the characteristics of the perilous times are more and more manifested, conflict for the truth should, as it must, become hotter and hotter, let us with all the more diligence keep our hearts. (cf. Prov. 4:23: Jude 20-25). We must cherish constant and tender affection for all the saints of God, and this can only be done so long as our hearts are in communion with the heart of Christ. If conflict makes us hard and severe, we must unsparingly judge ourselves. Like Israel in the land under Joshua, after every battle we must return to Gilgal, so that in all our warfare only the weapons of the Spirit of God may be employed, remembering, " If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.... Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding " (2 Tim. 2:5, 7).

On the Authority of Christ as Lord

" For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is My body, which is for you; this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament of My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation [ judgment ] to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not he judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." (1 Cor. 11:23-32.)

The frequent recurrence in the above passage of the term Lord, the special title of authority, directs the mind to the specialty of the instruction it presents.

All the names and titles of the Lord Jesus are distinctive; and they cannot be employed indiscriminately or interchangeably without losing their force, and without injury to the truth. For example, the apostle Peter says (Acts 2:36), " Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God bath made that same JESUS. whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." In this passage it is plain shat, while the name "JESUS" points out the Person of our Lord, as known to the Jews and crucified by them, the terms "Lord" and "Christ" mark out the official positions to which God had advanced Him in spite of His rejection by the nation.

The name of "JESUS" never lost before God, and never will lose, its import of "Jehovah the Savior," nor indeed to us who believe, though it was used as a mere appellative by the Jews; and too often now by those who do not know its worth. But in the titles "Lord" and "Christ," the attention of those whom Peter addressed is especially called to the import of those terms as employed in the prophetic Scriptures on which he was arguing and is an illustration, amongst ninny other Scriptures, of the designative character of the names and titles of our Lord, and much may be lost by failing to mark their force and distinctiveness.

" JESUS," then, is more especially the personal name of our Lord, still retaining its original import of Savior. "Christ," or the Anointed, marks Him out after His ascension as especially in connection with His Church, as Head of the body (Eph. 4:7,12,13,15;5. 23, 24, 25, 32; Col. 1:24). It likewise gives its true designative force to the term Christian: "If any man suffer as a Christian." Moreover as to the table of the Lord, "Christ" is connected with the communion there: " The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ? " Well may the heart linger over the wondrous words, "the communion of the blood of Christ,"

" the communion of the body of Christ!" What thoughts do they open out to the soul! What worship do they awaken in the heart! But the more such is the case, the more deeply are the affections drawn out to Him who alone is worthy of homage and of praise, worthy by all to be adored, and the more readily does the heart delight to own Him Lord in this the day and scene of His rejection and acknowledge His claim to our allegiance as such'.

With the title Lord the apostle commences his immensely interesting and important instructions concerning the Lord's supper in the passage before us; and he carries it through to the close. He begins by saying, " For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you." And he closes by the declaration that, " When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." As to the title itself, it expresses much more than master. And its correlative implies much more than we, at any rate now, understand by servant. It is a term that claims for its possessor the position of absolute, unquestionable authority over those by whom the title is acknowledged (Luke 6:46). Nay, whether acknowledged or not, the authority which it marks will eventually be vindicated to its Possessor by the almighty power of God, even over those who do not now acknowledge it. For " God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord " [this is the point of their confession, that sovereign, universal authority is, by the fiat of God, in the hands of JESUS] "to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2). But JESUS to us is Lord now, in all the absolute and unrestricted authority which the title expresses. It is true that this title rises much higher than is expressed by it in its most ordinary application in the New Testament: for here unquestionably it presents to the mind the relative position of owner and slave. I do not mean, of course, that there attaches to its application our notions of arbitary and capricious power, on the one hand, and of oppression and degradation on the other. But I do mean that the claim of authority is absolute, and that it is met only by absolute and willing subjection. For example, in the Colossians, where the apostle is treating of the relative obligations of masters and servants [owners and slaves], he says, " Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh.... and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men.... for ye serve the Lord Christ." In other words, he shows that the authority, I might say ownership, remains, but it has passed on into other hands. The call to subjection is equally absolute and binding; but it is to another and very different Lord. It may be authority of grace, but it is not the less authority, nor the less obligatory on that account.

It is indeed in redemption and grace that this title of Lord is founded, as we learn especially from Rom. 14, and in many other Scriptures. In the passage referred to, the apostle says, " None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died, and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and living " (Rev. Vers. and New Trans.). Nothing can be more absolute than this language of the apostle. One sees at a glance that there is no room for " playing fast and loose " with this authority of Christ; an authority that is binding upon us at all times and in all places; and the foundation of which is laid as deeply as the foundation of the eternal redemption in which we all rejoice.

Now, I confess that I delight to contemplate the supremacy of my Lord; though I know how poorly His grace is met in the daily practical subjection of my soul to Him. Still it is my delight to think that I am emancipated from the tyranny of every other Lord, to be henceforth and forever subject alone to Him. And so far as it appears, it is a relationship that will never be laid aside. At least it is found in " the holy Jerusalem" that is seen "descending out of heaven from God,” of which it is said, " the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him " (Rev. 21;22). They are in this scene servants (douloi) still; and openly and with honor they wear the badge of their subjection: for it is added, " they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." At any rate now, before the kingdom of our Lord is established in glory, amidst the "gods many and the lords many" that seek to rule the minds of men in this world, it is the mercy and blessing of our souls to know that " To us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him" (1 Cor. 8:6). And what is there so right, as that He who has delivered us from death, from sin, from the power of Satan, from " this present evil world," and from self, the worst of tyrants, should be owned by us as our sole and only Lord? And this especially, if we reflect that we belong to " the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood:" for that which is true of the whole is also true of each of its parts!

However, in the church, as presented in the Epistle to the Corinthians, what was in requisition amongst them was the practical acknowledgment of the relation in which they stood to God, the Lord, and the Spirit. For these are presented not only as the source of heavenly blessing to them, so far as they could be viewed as a body redeemed by the Lord. but as imparting its essential character to their position and witness in the world. Their gifts were the gifts of the Spirit; their ministries or services were to be in subjection to one Lord; and their energies were to be known as the result of the power and energy of God (See 1 Cor. 12). It was alone by the recognition of these fundamental truths, which give its essential character to the church of God, that their walk could be steadied, and the disorders, which had so large a place amongst them, were capable of correction. Now it is in the midst of these characteristic and controlling thoughts that the injunctions concerning the table and the supper of the Lord take their place. And it is of deep significance that the one institution which is left to us, by Him who is everything to our souls, and which was to be in perpetual recurrence, should have this especial bearing that, with all the grace it exhibits and the depth of love which it calls to mind, and the efficacy of the work accomplished on the cross which it declares, it is His special claim on our souls to acknowledge Him as Lord. "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord's death till He come." His claim is thus perpetually enforced. It is not to lapse until He comes. It is the most striking living demonstrative witness to the truth of Christianity. It is a monument which has already outlived the lapse of more than eighteen hundred years. And when I look back through this dim vista, I reach that sacred company in which its institution was marked by the bodily presence of my Lord, the echo of whose voice has reached us in the touching words, "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance, of me." His claim is thus, at least, weekly enforced. And if it has faded from our thoughts amidst the din and drudgery of this world's affairs, or amidst its ease and comforts, it is on the recurrence of every first day of the week designed to be recalled. For surely a dead remembrance of accomplished redemption, in which my conscience can take repose, or in which the indolence of my heart is ministered to, is not to meet the design of the Lord's supper. No. But if I understand its import aright, it is on my part the acknowledgment of His claim to the utmost fealty of any heart, made in the most affecting manner it is possible that it could be made, by a loving and present Lord.

For if He is not present, it may be dismissed as an idle formality, and all further reasoning upon it may be closed.

Moreover, it has been insisted on that the peculiar construction of the passage, " Do this in remembrance of Me," which occurs here and in Luke's gospel, has the signification of " Do this for My remembrance;' and is rather the Lord Jesus Christ's reminder of His claims, in infinite grace, upon us, than that we should bring our best thoughts and remembrances in the supper to Him. And the predominant title under which He is presented in the institution as already noticed, seems to give its sanction to this. For it is not right to call it the Father's table, as is sometimes done; though it is true that none but His children are entitled to be there. It is the Lord's supper and the Lord's table. It is the Lord's death that in it is proclaimed. Unworthily eating and drinking renders one guilty in respect of the body and blood of the Lord. And the discipline that is carried on in connection with it is expressly declared to be the discipline of the Lord. " When we are judged we are chastened of the lord, that we should not be condemned with

the world."

Ordinances and institutions are for this world. The witness of the Lord's supper is not to the church's heavenly character and portion as risen into the heavenly places and there seated in Christ. It is rather the witness of each believer's connection with a rejected, though risen and ascended, Lord. It is the balancing truth to the church's heavenly position, as the cross is the path way to the glory. "If we be dead with Him we shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." It does not contradict the truth of the church's position as risen with Christ, far from it; but it presents altogether another aspect of redemption. It is my Lord's death that has bound me to Him as His bondsman. His cross was the separating point between the world and Hint and all His claims. His cross is the point of union between my soul and Him who hung upon it; and its moral power is to crucify the world to me, and me to the world. The standing witness of the church's allegiance to Christ is that in heart and purpose it shows " the Lord's death till He come "

The Epistle to the Corinthians presents the church's position and witness on earth in relation with Christ's title as Lord. It is addressed, in the universality of its bearing, "to all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." Moreover, the Epistle to the Ephesians, which so specially unfolds the relationship of the church with Christ as His body, participating, in the infinitude of God's grace, in all that characterizes the position of its risen Head, does not omit to present also Christ's title as Lord. For if " there is one body and one Spirit," there is also "one Lord and one faith." Christians are not gathered together by God's Spirit to be in subjection to a dogma; but to yield a willing and due obedience to a living Lord. A profession of speculative truths, though of the highest possible character, may leave the soul at fault in this most essential point, the witness of a good confession. The truth of the church, in conjunction with the mystery, does not in, itself furnish us with the grounds of this. It gives the true formative power to the affections, and links the soul in living association with God and Christ. But to Christ personally, as rejected in the world and coming again in glory, I am to show my loyalty here in the world through which I am passing to the heavenly kingdom. It is a principle that binds me to Him at all times and in all circumstances. It is the substance of the witness I am to bear to Him, " whose I am and whom I serve." I am to confess His name and paramount claims where they have been rejected. The truth of the church in its association and union with Christ is for the church. Knit up with it are God's counsels of grace, by which its heavenly character and heavenly hopes are formed. But my confession of Christ as Lord is the bond of my fellowship here in this world with those who by the cross are separated from its course and judgment. We own allegiance here to a. common Lord, whatever the heavenly portion and hopes we have in Him, and which will be realized at His appearing.

I may talk of the heavenly calling, and rightly, too, but I ought to remember that the earthly part of the heavenly calling is the cross and the denial of self. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." I may delight to think of the certainty of my position before God, as being in possession of Christ's risen life, &c. But I ought to remember that there is the other side of this truth, even the bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. I may see with admiration and rapture how everything of man's thoughts about the church is thrown into the shade and utter insignificance before that blessed revelation of its portion as the body and Bride of Christ; and withal, of its possession of the present Spirit of God to tell her of the worth and glories of Him to whom, as a chaste virgin, she is espoused. But I want another principle, which is not speculative but practical, in order to give stability to my course through the conflicting elements of the world, and which will produce a practical conformity to Christ. It is the principle of subjection (Matt. 11:29; 1 Peter 5:5). That principle which is in itself the reason for what I do, as well as my authority for doing it. Christ has not redeemed us and set us loose to follow our own will. He has said with infinite grace, "If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." We are sanctified unto obedience, as well as unto the "sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." And what is there in my whole course through the world, whether in heavenly association with the children of God, or in the every day pursuits and business of life, that ought not to be brought into direct contact with that question, and under its governance, "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10). Love, the love of Christ, is the constraining principle of all true Christian action and suffering; but then the will of that Lord who has loved is as necessary to guide the outgoings of affection.

Thus while this principle of subjection to the Lord leaves the heavenly portion of the believer and of the church untouched, it furnishes the only bridle of restraint for the manifold operation of self-will, which, as the evil of the world advances, becomes more and more the temptation of the children of God. It gives the whole rule and guide for that walk on earth which ought to result from the church's heavenly character. Moreover, it is especially the regulating principle of Christian fellowship. For we are not only members of one another, but we are mutually servants of the same Lord. I see no reason for Christians being gathered together at all, apart from the acknowledgment of the will of the Lord. And it is to be carefully noted, in days like these, that all that was heavenly in Christ, all that connected itself with His conscious unbroken communion with the Father and His knowledge of the heavenly glory; all, in a word, that is contained in His declaration, " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen,' so far as seen on earth, was in loving subjection to the Father's will. In result and embodiment here in this world it is expressed in the sentence, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me " (John 6:38). But who is there of us who duly lays to heart the import of that word, "As (kathos) Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world " (John 17:18).

" 0 Lord! Thy boundless love to me—
No thought can reach, no tongue declare,
Then bend my wayward heart to Thee,
And reign without a rival there;
From Thee, my Lord, I all receive;
Thine, wholly Thine, alone I'd live."

" Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in [eis] my name, there am I in the midst of them " (Matt. 18:20).

" Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Sam. 16:22, 23).

A Solemn Lesson as to the Principle of Metropolitanism

" And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms. And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe; and he burnt Hazor with fire. And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. But as for the cities that stood still in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn " (Josh. 11:10-13).

A new and important principle is set before us in the above Scripture. God will in nowise allow the world's seat of power to become that of His people; for His people depend exclusively on Him. The natural consequence of taking Hazor would have been to make it the seat of government, and a center of influence in the government of God; so that this city should be that for God which it had before been for the world: "for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms." But it was just the contrary. Hazor is totally destroyed. God will not leave a vestige of former power; He will make all things new. The center and the source of power must be His, entirely and exclusively His; a very important lesson for His children, if they would preserve their integrity.

Observe, My Soul, Thy Blessed Lord

Observe, my soul, thy blessed Lord:

Whither He beckons—Go.

Does He lead on? Then hasten forth:

Does He hold back?- Stand thou.

When He commends thee, stoop thou low

While absent, in Him rest;

When He chastises, then say thou—

" I need it, Lord, 'tis best.'

When He, His truth, in blessed grace,

Now here, now there displays,

Rejoice in this, that others learn

His mercy and His ways

If He thy services demands,

Spring up with glad delight:

Or, if He give thee not a word,

Be still as in His sight.

In short, O Lord, with my whole heart,

From this day to the end,

In scorn, or want, or sorrow deep,

On Thee I would attend!

God's Way in a Time of Difficult

DO 33:13{In the above Scripture Moses does not ask for a way out of the difficulties of the Position in which he finds himself, but, pray thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, etc.” There is one, and Only one, right way every, thing of God; while the shades of right (which in reality are paths of error) are countless. Now the errant soul, or bad guide, is sure always to engage my soul with an inquiry about some of the shades of right; asking me, "Where is the wrong?" " Are there not exemplary men there? " He does not say to me, " Are you seeking the only one narrow path in this evil day (more and more narrow, as the day becomes more evil); are you seeking Christ pre-eminently? Another Mary Magdalene, only with more intelligence, and not less love. It was a dark hour of true regard for Him on the earth, when He Himself, and He alone could satisfy her. It was not companions, or good men, or anything but that true, deep, personal interest, which love alone understands, and confers; and this is what we want in this day. If we have true personal interest for the Lord, we shall assuredly care for all that are His on the earth; but we must begin with Him.

It is about Himself He speaks to the angels of the seven churches. The moment I love Him, He says to me, " Feed my sheep " (John 21:16.). All interest for others must spring from this, as welt as all instruction for myself, If I am seeking the Lord with a pure heart, I am sure to find: myself (because it is the one Spirit which is leading us) in company " with them who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." (2 Tim. 2:23). If it be the meeting, or the ministry, or the brethren, I am on a poor foundation.

The more evil the time, the more pointed, though less open, is the attempt to set aside the plan and rule of Christ. It has been-done openly in Christendom, and now the malice of Satan would have it done among those who profess to stand apart from the growing apostasy in the world. If I am seeking a place to worship in, I am sure to go wrong; for I am looking for what suits my taste, and I am not guided by principle. But if I am seeking to worship my Lord (then it is a Person, not a place, that is before my soul), I am sure to be led rightly, for the Spirit of light as in the blind man (John 9), always leads the soul that is morally outside the place of worship (as this man was, on account of his new light), to worship Him who is the light of the world (John 8:12). One faithful one, like this self-same man, confounds the most learned theologian.

Let us be like Mary Magdalene in true devotion of heart to our Lord; and like the once blind man, maintaining our light, its reality, and its source, against all comers, and in the way. We shall surely be rewarded as they were, with the assured presence of our Lord.

"Continue Thou in the Things Which Thou Hast Learned"

TI 3:10{TI 3:14{The truths unfolded and warnings given in the Epistles of Paul, invaluable at all times, are of incalculable value at a day like the present. The seeds and first symptoms of all that which is now seen in well developed character around us had their existence thus early in the history of the church; and divine wisdom, foreseeing the results of them all, has not only foreseen but provided for the difficulties and exigencies of such an evil day. This is one of the blessed characters of the living and ever-abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:23). It proves, as the difficulties arise and complicate themselves, how matchlessly full of divine and unerring wisdom it is. One is not surprised at anything that has arisen. Scripture has prepared us to expect that the evils would arise and the truth would be surrendered, and falsehood glossed over with an appearance of the truth, as we are painfully experiencing. Still the unerring and unfailing manner in which it meets, and guides, and directs, the Christian who is subjest to it, in every difficulty of his path, in a labyrinth of evil, and unfolds its varied and wondrous beauty and resources for the church's need, elicits a note of praise, often silent, but deep, to Him who is its Author, and whose perfect wisdom shines in that which is so worthy of Him!

One is struck with the wisdom and beauty of the style in which Paul, when writing to the Colossians, unfolds before their eyes the glories and magnificence of Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. (Chapter 1.) The work of the Father for them and in them, in making them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light; translating them into the kingdom of the Son of His love, the Center of all His counsels. Their danger lay in " not holding the Head; " and thus they were allowing themselves to be deceived by the craft of Satan, under the pretense of humility and lowliness, and were turning ordinances into a means of gaining a standing before God, instead of using them as a memorial of their having been introduced into a standing known, and enjoyed, and possessed before Him.

Before one word of warning or upbraiding falls from his pen, he discloses the glories of the Son, the Center of the Father's counsels; by whom, through sin-bearing, and death and judgment, the fullness of the Godhead had cleared the ground for the reconciliation of "all things " in the new creation, of which He was the Center, and through whom believers had been reconciled to God.

What a rebuke to the state of things which we find touched upon in the second chapter of the epistle!—" philosophy," " vain deceit," " traditions of men," "elements of the world,' " meats," " drinks," " keeping of holy-days," "new moons," "sabbaths " (which were shadows which had vanished into their nothingness, when the substance, Christ, had come), " voluntary humility," and such like. Things with which a natural mind could occupy itself, and which had a " show of wisdom " and worship devised by the human will, so gratifying to the flesh.

The apostle ranges as it were through the region of creation, providence, redemption, and glory (chap. 1:15-22), as if he said, "There is not a spot in the wide universe of these things that I will not fill with Christ. I will so unfold and expand Him before your eyes, that 1 will only have to mention the follies of chapter 2. which have occupied your minds, to make you blush about them; and this is the very One in

whom all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell, and who dwells in you (chap. 1:27), and ye are complete (or filled full ') in Him (chap. 2:10). Foolish people, see what you have been doing. Is not that a more touching rebuke for you, than if I had charged you with the infantile follies of which I have heard?

I desire to put before my readers a line of truth which has struck me much of late in chapter 1. of this epistle, coupled with 2 Tim. 3; and to bring before their minds certain truths of great importance which the apostle presses, when the seeds of the evil had begun to show themselves, and which in this day have grown up and ripened into such a harvest. It seems to me that he has them specially in his mind as the grand preservatives which would guard the faithful against all that was coming. This is the more remarkable when we find that he presses the very same things on the consciences of the faithful in the perilous times of the last days. So that whether in the beginning or the ending of the church's sojourn here, the truths which would preserve and gird the loins of God's people would be the same.

I gather from the general teaching of the epistle that the apostle; who had never seen the Colossians (chap. 2:1), had heard of them through Epaphras, whose ministry of the gospel had evidently been blessed to them. He had brought tidings of them to the apostle (chap. 1:8), of their fruit-bearing reception of the gospel. The apostle contemplates a double condition of soul: first, that of the knowledge of the glad tidings; and secondly, a condition produced by being filled with the knowledge of God's will, for which he prayed (vs. 9, 10), in order that, through it, they might walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, and be fruitful in every good work, and thus grow through the knowledge of God. In a word, it is the knowledge of the mystery of Christ and the church.

Consequently, he contemplates his own ministry under these two heads: first, that of the gospel to every creature under heaven (ver. 23); and secondly, that of the church, which completed all the counsels of God (vs. 22-26). Revelation, up to the point of Paul's ministry, had embraced creation, the law, redemption, the person of Christ, the ways of God, His government, etc. There was but one thing now, and that was the revelation of the mystery of the church, which, when given completed or filled up the word of God.

Christ—the Son of David and Heir of his throne—rejected by the Jews and by the world; crucified and slain; raised up again by the power of God, and by the glory of the Father; seated in the Heavens in the righteousness of God, having answered God's righteous judgment against sin, death, judgment, wrath, the curse of a broken law, all borne and passed through to the glory of god; sins borne; sin in the flesh condemned; the "old man" judicially dealt with, and set aside forever; a Man—the Second Man—the last Adam—in heaven in divine righteousness. The Holy Ghost personally on earth witnesses to the righteousness of God, and to the justification of the believer according to its full display. Eternal

life by and in the Spirit, and its conscious possession, communicated to the believer by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, acting as the power of this life in his walk, guiding, directing, controlling, and rebuking him. The believer sealed with the Spirit, his body a temple for His indwelling, uniting him to Christ—a Man in glory; and thus the bond of union between all those who are His, one with another, and with Christ. His presence and baptism constituting "one body," composed of such, here in this world (1 Cor. 12:12,13). God dwelling amongst His saints here, as a habitation, in Spirit (Eph. 2:22). The Holy Ghost, the lower for the exercise of the gifts that Christ, when He rose and ascended up on high, received as Man, and bestowed on men-members of His body-thus "dividing to every man severally as He will;" reproducing, too, " Christ," the "life of Jesus," in the mortal bodies of the saints. The power also of worship, communion, joy, love, rejoicing and prayer. Teaching them to await the hope of righteousness by faith, even the glory itself. Leading them to wait for Christ, and producing the longing "Come" in the "Bride " (and inviting "him that heareth " to say so, too), while her lord still continues, the Object of her hope, as the "Bright and Morning Star." Meanwhile transforming them into Christ's image by unfolding, in the liberty of grace, the glories of Him in whose face shines all the glory of God!

Such are some of the features of the " doctrine " of Paul.

We find then a condition of soul in the Colossians for which the apostle can give thanks (vs. 3-6). They had received the gospel, and it was bringing forth fruit in them since the day they knew the grace of God in truth. But he well knew that the knowledge of the gospel alone, blessed even as it is, would not enable them to " walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." It needed something more than the mere acceptance of the glad tidings to guide the steps of the Lord's people in a walk worthy of Him; and hence, while he can give thanks for the first condition of soul produced by the glad tidings, he ceased not to pray for them that they might have the second.

How many of the Lord's people are in the first state in the present day rejoicing in the grace of the gospel, and yet who are ignorant of the second; and some even think that anything beyond the mere knowledge of the gospel is but speculation, or opinions of men, without power or value for the practical walk of the saints! I think I am warranted in saying, that after Epaphras saw Paul, and learned the deep and paramount importance of that knowledge for which Paul prayed that they might know, that Epaphras was fully convinced of the value and importance of their learning the second character of the apostle's ministry, that he, likewise, labored earnestly in prayer for them that they might "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." (Compare Paul's prayer in chap. 1:9, 10, with Epaphras' prayer in chap. 4:12.)

We see, therefore, three prominent and important matters which the apostle presses in chapter 1.

First. The importance that the saints should be instructed in the second character of his ministry: that of the Church—the body of Christ, its Head. So that, understanding the deep responsibility which flowed from membership of such, they might bold fast the Head, and walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.

Secondly. That the Scriptures were now filled up, or completed, by the revelation of this mystery. No room was left consequently for tradition or development of any kind.

It was the grand summing up of all the revealed counsels and purposes of God the Father, for the glory of the Son. They had, up to this, embraced and treated of creation, law, government, the kingdom, the Person of Christ—the Son, redemption, etc. There might be, and doubtless was, a further development of the details of these subjects, as by John in the Apocalypse, etc., but still it would only be the unfolding, and the summing up of the details of what had been the subject of inspiration. Paul's ministry it was then, revealing the mystery concerning Christ and the Church, which completed the word of God (chap. 1:25).

Thirdly. The glory of the Person of the Son, who is the image of the invisible God. No man had seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, had declared Him (John 1:18). He had created all things. By Him all things were upheld. He was the First-begotten from among the dead, and as such the Head of His body, the church. All fullness was pleased to dwell in Him, and to reconcile all things to Himself; and He had reconciled the saints, who before had been aliens, and enemies in their minds by wicked works, in the body of His flesh through death. Thus the regions of creation, providence, redemption, and glory, are ranged through by the apostle, and Christ unfolded as filling all things. It is the glory of the Person of the Son.

To repeat them, that the mind may recall them simply, they are three, viz.: 1st. The doctrine of Paul; 2ndly. The Scriptures, which had been now completed by his ministry; and, 3rdly, The Person of Christ.

These were the truths on which so much hung and flowed from, which would be the safeguards for those who would be faithful in an evil day.

I do not here enter into more detail, but notice them as those truths to which he directs special attention to meet the dangers he foresaw in the beginning of the history of the church.

I now turn to the instruction which he gives in the Second Epistle to Timothy, which would afford an unerring guide to the faithful at the closing of the history of the church in the last days. The mournful heart of the apostle unbosoms itself to one whom he loved, and to whom he could communicate his thoughts freely; he unfolds to him the irreparable ruin into which the church was fast drifting in her outward, responsible condition. He does not look for any restoration-not even the ability on the part of the faithful to leave the outward professing mass. He does not in the Epistles to Timothy speak of the inward graces and Christian affections, which are to be the more cultivated than ever in such a state of things, as he does in the Epistle to the Philippians. He does not speak in them of the church as the body of Christ or Bride, nor of the relationships of father and children, as elsewhere. What he treats of is the outward thing before the world, in the character (as in 1 Tim. 3:14-16) of what it had been set in the world to be for God. It was His house, the assembly of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth, the vessel in which the truth was to be displayed; and the mystery of Godliness — the manifestation of God in Christ, and the surrounding truths—was to be her testimony in the world. She was as a light-bearer to reflect Him as His epistle, and respond to God's purposes in this place, In the second epistle the apostle sees that all was now hopelessly and irrevocably gone. The house of God had become a great house in which iniquity was rife, and vessels to dishonor had found a lodgment and were at home in it. Paul had been " turned away from " by all in Asia. He is here, I doubt not, a representative man, one through whom the Holy Ghost can say, " Be ye followers together of me" (Phil. 3); and one who walked in the power of his own doctrine. He marks out in a clear line the pathway of the faithful in such a state of things: they were to depart from iniquity. " Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord (corrected reading), depart from iniquity" (chap. 2:19). Every one who owned Him as Lord. Whatever form it would take, the simple and primary step should be to depart from iniquity.. From vessels which were not honoring: Christ in their walk, one was to purge oneself, and thus that one might become a vessel unto honor, fitted and meet for the Master's use. Fleeing from youthful lusts (i.e., inward personal holiness) was to be the character of one's walk. And then (all before-this being negative) the positive following of righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who were calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. (See chap. 2:19-22.)

But the question now comes, When the saints had done this, when they had departed from iniquity, purged themselves from the vessels to dishonor, were walking in holiness and following these things together, is there anything provided for them, when corruption surrounds them on all sides, to keep them together after a divine fashion in the midst of it all? Would they not be open to the admission of evil amongst them again, and thus find that separation from it was of no avail? In the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul had shown an Epaphras the necessity of having the saints instructed in the second part of his ministry when they had been established in the first-that is, when, they had received the grace of the Gospel, that they might know the full counsels of God in the doctrine of Paul, in order to walk worthily of the Lord. Yea, that he ceased not in all earnestness and in the Holy Ghost, to pray that they might be thus instructed. Would this now be that to which he would again point them? Here then comes the grand truth, he recalls the very same three things as those which at the beginning he had pressed upon the Colossians as the safeguards for the faithful in the perilous times—times when the profession of Christianity is described in words so nearly like those by which he had described the corruptions of the heathen world, when sunk down into the lowest ebb of degradation and departure from God. If the closing verses of Rom. 1 are compared with the first four verses of Timothy 3., this will at once be seen. In describing the various manifestations of evil in these verses, three prominent features will be found in them, viz.: 1st, Self-predominating (Christianity is the denial of self); 2nd, A form of Godliness, while the power would be denied; and 3rd, Active opposition to the truth by the most subtle device of the enemy —that of imitation—the device of Satan in Egypt by the magicians, by copying Moses miracles performed by the power, of God, and thus Satan's power practically nullifying that of God. To counterbalance those characteristic features and keep the faithful after a divine fashion, the apostle names the same things as before we noticed to the Colossians: 1st, " My doctrine;" 2nd, " The Scriptures;" and 3rd, The Person of Christ as an Object of faith. These he unfolds in the remaining portions of the chapter (vs, 10-17).

The doctrine of Paul (see also the manner of life which flowed from it) is that which is to keep divinely together those who would call on the Lord out of a pure heart. It embraces all the principles and truths connected with it, as when first revealed. Ruin and failure could not affect it, nor hinder the practice flowing from it. Nor would it ever be impracticable for the faithful few to exercise the godly discipline and exclusion of evil from their midst, inculcated by him. (See 1st Cor.) Outward unity, seen to such a beautiful degree at the first (Acts 2; 4), might be gone forever. The unity of the Spirit in the body of Christ would never fail, and this the Christian was exhorted to endeavor to keep (Eph. 4:3, 4). Come what would, there never would be a time while the church would sojourn here, when Paul's doctrine would be a nullity or impracticable to the veriest handful of the faithful who sought to call on the Lord out of a pure heart, and live godly in Christ Jesus.

Such is then the prominent and first-named point in the chapter. " But thou hast fully known my doctrine," etc. The resource—the safeguard—the ground or principle of action of the saints in an evil day. Without Paul's doctrine they had nothing stable to preserve them and keep them together on divine ground in the midst of corruption; with it, they would find that under their feet which would never fail.

Have we then Paul's doctrine? We may boast, as all do, that we have the Scriptures—surely it is well. We may have confidence that an ever faithful Lord will never leave nor forsake His people, and that He knows them that are His, and will keep them unto the end: But can we say that we have Paul's doctrine of the Church—the body of Christ on earth formed by the presence and baptism of the Holy Ghost? Having it, can we say that we are as living members, acting upon the truth of it through the never-failing supply of grace He gives? Or, do we come, under the character of those who are described as " ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth?"—those whose mind and intellect the truth has reached, but without faith, and hence without practical value in our lives? Of the truth we can say as of faith: " What profit, my brethren, if a man say he have the truth?" if he have not shown that he has faith in it, and thus has learned to act upon it as some, thing in which he believes? It is always a sign that a man has faith in the truth which he knows, when it has had its corresponding effect upon his life—when it has been acted upon in practice. No man has ever had the joy and power of a divine truth till he has accepted it, and walked therein. Many are thus ever learning and never able to come to a divinely confirmed knowledge of it, because the practice is wanting. It is learned in the intellect; the natural mind is touched, perhaps, with the beauty and divine excellence of it; it cannot be denied, but there is no faith in it. It has not been learned in the conscience and in the soul; and when tribulation or persecution arises because of it, he is offended—deems it non-essential perhaps—and surrenders that to which he has never come to a divinely-given knowledge. If ever there was a day when there was such a thing as" salt which had lost its savor," it is the present. The most touching—the very highest truths of God have become the topic of the world's conversation. They are held by many after a fashion in which the edge and power of them are lost. A worldly talk and conversation are coupled with the intellectual knowledge of the highest truths of God; and like salt that has lost its saltness, one can but ask of it, " Wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but (even) men cast it out," (Luke 14:34, 35).

"But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured; but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things that thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." (2 Tim. 3:10-14.)

May the Lord open the understanding of His beloved people, that in the midst of the confusion and corruption of such an evil day -Ashen men are saying, " What is truth? ' and yet not caring for the reply, they may find there are such principles in the word of God as no amount of man's failure can ever touch, and which are ever practicable to those who desire humbly to walk with God, and to keep the word of the patience of Jesus, till He comes. May they learn to walk together in unity, and peace, and love in the truth, for His name's sake.—Amen;

NOTE—Scripture does not say, " There was one body," nor, "There will be one body," but "There is one body."

The Mother of Moses and the Reward of Faith

XO 2:1-10{What a volume of instruction the Holy Ghost presents to us in a few words! The crowded events of a life are compressed in the compass of a few verses, and when most concise, so beautifully distinct that the soul, in communion by the power of the Holy Ghost, has the picture delineated as vividly before him as if an eye—witness of all that occurred. The portion of Scripture under consideration is a striking illustration of this. A mother's cares and a mother's joys, her faith in God and the reward of her faith, are presented to us—" Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son. And when she saw him that he was a proper child, she hid him three months." We read (Heb. 11.), " By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw that he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." We also read ( Acts 7), " In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding ( margin, to God) fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months." The judgment passed upon Satan in the garden, that the "Seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent," became at the same time the promise of God to our first parents, upon which they founded their hopes. The commandment of Pharaoh to the midwives, that, if a son was born, " they should kill him," directly subverted the purpose of God in the promised Seed. The hearts of the faithful expected a Deliverer; and each mother in Israel might be the channel of blessing in giving birth to Messiah. Faith in the parents of Moses appreciated the promise; and apart from the instinctive desire for the preservation of their offspring, we read, it was " by faith " they were urged to conceal the birth of Moses. Scripture is silent as to any direct revelation to them, that Moses should be a deliverer. We have the clue to their conduct in the knowledge " that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent." To destroy their children would be a death-blow to their hopes, and frustrate the grace of God to them. Doubtless this stimulated their faith in His present help. Their love to their child and the promise of God were blended together. And he whose tenderness is developed in Jesus, did not withhold His blessing from those whose natural instinct was His own precious gift, and who hoped in His mercy. The Scriptures abound with testimony to His surpassing grace. Creation bears witness to His love: the birds of the air, the fishes in the sea, and the wild beasts of the desert. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God; "not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice." " Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have store-house nor barn; and God feedeth them." But it is not only as the God of creation we have to contemplate Jehovah. We know him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We measure His gifts by the gift of His Son. " He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things," and are persuaded that neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. JESUS was the brightness of God's glory, the express Image of His Person—" In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." The perfect knowledge of God is in the face of Christ; yet, in the revelation of His ways, as in the Old Testament, how distinct the features of His grace, how discernible the traces of His character—" the God of all grace "! The care of Jehovah for the mother of Moses furnishes a blessed subject for meditation. His grace in awakening her faith in His love; His grace in meeting the confidence He had awakened. The eye of Jehovah rests upon the fond wishes of the mother; the heart of the mother unburdens her sorrows to Him. The child is born—she " had gotten a man from the Lord." Yet at what a time was her lot cast—a king had arisen over Egypt "which knew not Joseph." " And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor; and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor."

But this was not all. The king of Egypt had issued an edict for the destruction of every male child that should be born of the Hebrews. And at such a time Moses is given to his parents. " And when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months." Alas, what a time for a mother! The delight of her eyes must be hid in the darkness, the affection of a full heart must be stifled. The charms of her infant forgotten in solicitude for its existence, " she hid her child." How difficult her task is apparent from the nature of her avocation. The daily toil imposed upon her, her relative duties, the diligent search of the destroyers, the suspicions aroused about her, all added to the difficulty of the concealment of her babe. And then for its nourishment. How stealthy her tread to the spot, how vigilant her eye! What searching before what looking behind; how wildly her poor heart throbbed! She has reached it; and the God of her fathers has preserved the babe from the reptiles; which abounded in Egypt. Her eye is lifted up in gratitude to Him, her bosom is open for her child. How eager the infant; how hard to hush its cry of delight. What fear lest its noise should attract; lest the evidence of its life, such joy to her heart, should prove the occasion of its death. And the young sister mentioned in the fourth verse would be the mother's confidant in this. It might be, on the watch, peradventure an enemy was near. The heart of the mother was around her child; the sister's affections aroused for her baby-brother. And in this scene of emotion, this tumult of affection, confidence in God was as oil on the troubled waters. In the morning they cried unto Him; in the evening commended the babe unto Him. Blessed picture of God, the center of attraction, where alone the pangs of humanity could unburden themselves. The parents believed in His love; His love solaced the parents. All was hostile around them. Evil passions had snapped the chords of affection betwixt man and man. The ties of nature were severed, its sympathies obliterated. The mother of Moses reposed her heart on the love of her God—and she hid her child three months. But the enemy has discovered it; "she could no longer hide him." What agony of soul! Still it is but for a moment. She cannot trust man, she will then confide in her God. The poor babe unconscious of the agonies it gave birth to, is removed. She made an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. What confidence of faith. The wickedness upon earth forbade her to nourish her own. Cruel world; conduct answerable to that in after-years, when the tenderest of hearts, the truest love, was repaid with ignominy, scorn, and the cross. Her child, exposed to the dangers of the Nile, was safer than in the abode of humanity. The offspring God had given her she could no longer sustain. Faith commits it to His care. Dead indeed were the earthly hopes of the poor mother; fit coffin for them was the ark of bulrushes; fitter emblem still the water, the waters of death.

But faith saw beyond things around. " It is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for." Help below there was none; God alone could help her, and on His arm she relied. His ear is ever open to the cry of His children. He who would be one day "manifest in the flesh" and " born of a woman," how perfectly could He sympathize with the sorrows of the heart of one. The three months' trial of her faith was before Him. Her steady confidence in His love, her maternal solicitude, the anxious care,, all were known to Him (Psa. 139:1-3). And this last confiding act, this "casting of her burden on the Lord," would He nut meet it? He loves to be relied upon. His object in redeeming us when fallen was to rejoice in His love to us, and in our love to Him. He who gave us sympathies, which, even in the degradation of our fallen nature ever and anon gleam of heaven, could best appreciate them when aroused. It is not enough for " the God of all grace" to dispense of His bounty, wondrous grace though it be; He seeks beyond that, the confidence of children in the love which dictates it.

"And his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him..... And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river." "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." Surely this truth was fulfilled in the directing of the daughter of Pharaoh. "And her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark, among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children." " Who is a God like unto our God," "gracious and full of compassion?" The child was entrusted to Him, and He ensures its safety. The prayers of the mother were heard of the God of Abraham. He had sent deliverance, and after such manner as became Him. The little outcast from earth and from home, found a welcome, by the providence of God, in the heart of the princess. The edict of her father had doomed it to death. The compassion of his daughter decrees its life. The sympathies of nature were kindled in her breast for one of a despised people. "The babe wept;" she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." How wonderful the ways of God! How rich the possessor of His "favor which is life," and "His loving kindness better than life." Every circumstance on earth was opposed to the poor Hebrew mother. God in heaven was for her. " The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him (Nah. 1:7). She gave up her child to His keeping. He will show Himself worthy of the trust.

The sister was no unmoved spectator of this scene. The mother was pouring out her heart in prayer —the answer was ready at the door. The sister, with discernment, doubtless of God, had read in the face of the princess, beaming with compassion, the safety of her brother. " Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother." Surely her cup overflowed! Whilst she was praying, her child is restored, and in such a manner!- The palace of the foe to her race, should be the sanctuary of her babe; and she, happy mother, should nourish her own! "And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take the child away and nurse it for me and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it, and the child grew; and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter. And she called his name Moses, and she said, because I drew him out of the WATER. In poverty and trial the babe was born; in fear and dread it had been nourished. But now how altered the circumstances! The mother had wages from the daughter of Pharaoh for nursing her own. The protection of his power secured its life. There existed no occasion for concealment. She could embrace her child in her arms, she could clasp it openly to her bosom. How her heart would rejoice in the God of her salvation, her child's salvation. " He giveth liberally." They had trusted Him with their child-see how their faith is rewarded. Surely she received him back as from the dead, God's gift to her in resurrection. " He was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found." What stimulus to confidence in God is here. Well might our Lord say, " Have faith in God." Well does our God deserve our confidence. " My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad."

The Offerings: The Peace Offering

This portion is different in character from what we had before, and closes this particular class of offerings.

The burnt-offering was not for particular sins, but it was atonement—Christ made sin for us (the difference may be clearly seen in Heb. 9 compare John 1), but offering Himself entirely to God, so that in the fact of being made sin, the highest perfection of love and obedience were found: all the perfectness of Christ Himself towards God, and surely of love to us; but more-all that God is, perfectly glorified.

Chapter 2 takes up Christ as a man upon the earth, the character of Christ as thus come; burned in the fire, that is, tested by the perfectness of divine judgment, and nothing but a sweet savor: all the frankincense went up to God. It is a wonderful description in detail of what Christ was in all His path: no leaven, no honey, no earthly affection, or comfort in His sacrifice (He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief), but salt and a sweet savor to the Lord. In one case the cake was parted in pieces, and every piece was anointed, to show that everything He did or word He spoke was by the power of the Spirit.

Chapter 3 gives us not only the offering, but the fellowship of the saints in the offering. While in the previous ones Christ Himself was presented, He is here presented along with our partaking of it; they ate it: the blood and the fat were offered to the Lord, and then the offerer partook in what was offered. Other elements were connected with it; but in all this there was nothing to say to sin-an immensely important principle as to what is properly worship.

In the burnt-offering, there was nothing of positive acts of sin, but we get the thought of sin being in the world, and approach to God referring to its presence there, and Christ glorifying God as a victim for it, doing such a service that He could say, " therefore cloth my Father love me;" but the work in itself was a perfect glorifying of God, as He could not have been glorified otherwise. "That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father hath given me commandment, even so I do." There was perfect love to the Father, besides the question of our sins, and perfect obedience; perfect love when He was forsaken, and the obedience was perfected when it cost Him that forsaking.

His motives were too perfect—love to us surely, but love to His Father, obedient when God was forsaking Him. The more terrible the suffering, the more dreadful the cup, the greater the sacrifice. It is such a comfort for us that the question of sin before God has been perfectly gone into and settled. That solemn question, Christ takes up and puts Himself forward in grace to glorify God in it and by it, where man was against Him, the devil against Him, all the world against Him, the disciples ran away, comfort He had none, and in death God Himself forsook Him. When everything outward, human and devilish was against Him, and He cried to God, then He was forsaken of God: it was the righteous judgment of God against Him, because He was made sin for us. Then He goes up as man to sit down on the right hand of God. Thus is all settled, and I can look at Christ as the sweet savor, in the absolute perfectness in which He offered Himself to God and was tested in His obedience.

Then in chapter 2 all the blessed perfectness of Christ in His life (tested, tried, parted in pieces) comes out.

In chapter 3 we get worship: they fed upon what God fed on. In our association with God, our intercourse with God (in worship) there is nothing about sin—it is treated as all gone, through Christ's offering Himself for us; and then I come to God with Christ in my hand, so to speak, and present Him to God and feed upon Him. I come with that which is perfectly acceptable to God. It is not that there are not faults and failings in us; but here I dwell on the offering itself—it was a perfect burnt-offering made by fire unto the Lord. All that was in the inwards, everything that is in Christ, was absolutely offered to God. There was the blood which is the life; the fat, the sign of the energy of nature, all given to God—no thought nor act with Christ, no object, but His Father: it was for us, thank God! but still absolutely to God. There was no infirmity, no listlessness of heart, but all given to God entirely, all the inward fat burned to God. Mark, it was not bearing our sins—that is never called a sweet savor except in one particular case. He was made sin, and that was not a sweet savor, though He was never so holy and perfect as then.

When we come worshipping, it is not even about Christ as the One who put away our sins; I can approach to worship because of that, my conscience being purged; but worship is in the sense that the thing I am feeding upon is a sweet savor to God, what my soul feeds on and nourishes itself by. The worshipper is connected with the sacrifice, and the question of sin is not touched in it, though blood always supposes it to have been there: it is the food of God become my food. It is a blessed thing to see Christ's perfectness: that every thought, feeling, motive, everything He was, every movement of His heart was absolutely to God. In that he liveth, he liveth unto God." (I take the principle merely.) In everything in which there was energy, there was no energy of self-will: it was a perfect giving of Himself to God—the only One in whom it ever was in that perfectness. " Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us " (1 John 3:16.) We ought to walk like Him, to love the brethren, lay down our lives for them; but then it should be to God.

I bless God, that in His sovereign grace, His blessed Son took my sins and bore them upon the cross; but when I go to God to worship, it is as occupied with that One who is perfectly acceptable to God. Abel came with the fat of His lambs, and God gave testimony to his gifts. Here, the worshipper comes and feeds upon it, and the Lord had His food of the offering: it was what characterized it. And see how close it brings us to God. Why, so to speak, I am sitting at the same table with God, feeding on the same thing He is feeding on (only all was offered to Him, and so I eat it)—the Lord's food of the offering! I sit down and eat; there is no question of my sins, but of the sweetness of Christ. I am talking to God about it; our true intercourse with God is that. " He that eateth me," &c. Here I find that the very thing my soul is feeding on arid delighting in is the food and the delight of God; we have this nearness to God, the soul enjoying what God Himself is delighting in; the offerer comes to God by it, has intercourse with God about it. It is not prayer: the peace offering was never prayer. When I pray, I go to God about my wants, and prayer will occur even in the highest place; for when I think of the blessedness of Christ, I say, Would to God I were like Him! and it turns to prayer. But still this is a different thing from worship, though it may and will accompany it. I pray as regards my need; I worship in the sense of what I have got. God delights in what Christ is-inexpressibly of course; my soul draws near with Him in my hand, and I find I am going on with God. It was put upon the burnt-offering, identified with it. Now there is communion; and I eat.

But all this worship of God supposes no more conscience of sins: "Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more." (Heb. 10:17.) It is no question whether I can be accepted or not; but coming with Christ in my hand I come by Him, as having offered Himself, in the consciousness that my soul is occupied with that which is God's highest delight. A wonderful thought! it shows what we ought to be and what our worship ought to be; and what we eat turns to be part of ourselves.

The character of the peace-offering was participation in Christ presented to the Lord. It is not as bearing our sins; for all true worship of God supposes the question of sin to be totally settled forever. Chastening we may get in passing through the wilderness; but the question of imputation, of having sins on us before God, is done with forever. Sin is a dreadful thing-but it was all settled between God and Christ, when He was made sin for us.

But the heart is apt to stay there in thinking of sin bearing. Now, without it, we could not get into heaven; but the proper worship of heaven consists in delighting in what God is, what Christ is, when He offered Himself a sweet savor to God. We cannot come at all except by that sacrifice; we turn to God and we find Christ bore our sins. But what I press now is, that as regards our sins the whole thing is settled " Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." " When He had by Himself purged our sins He sat down." (Heb. 10:18; 1:3.) We are not like the poor Jews, we enter into the holiest; but is there not more than that? Have I nothing to bring? Has my heart no offering to bring to God? Yes, in Christ there is that in which God delights, and I come to God presenting Him.

In chapter 7:13, we see that, besides the unleavened cakes, leavened bread was offered; here we have ourselves. I come with the offering that has been slain, with Christ in my hand, and I find too all the blessed perfectness of the meat-offering, His perfection as Man, the fine flour, no leaven at all: God delighted in Him as a living Man. I get it anointed with oil, mingled with oil, the perfectness of His manhood; and, besides, there is now leavened bread; there am I, the worshipper. If I come to God, I own the sin, the leaven, in me; but this cannot be burned as a sweet savor. I come with the leaven, I cannot say I am sinless, as Christ; I cannot be " that Holy thing," but I come with Christ in my hand. I come with the knowledge of my imperfection, but with that in which I am most perfectly accepted. God takes knowledge of that by which I come; all my sins are blotted out and forgiven. But I cannot say I have no sin, that is all a mistake; it is leavened bread, the leaven within, and we cannot escape or deny its being there, though not allowing it to act. The point is, I go with the sense in my soul that I have leaven; if I say I have no sin (as a present thing) I deceive myself, and the truth is not in me.

There is no forgiveness for sin-for sins there is; but " what the law could not do,.... God.... condemned sin in the flesh." (Rom. 8:2.) I get deliverance from any thought of this leaven hindering me, for I find God condemned it when Christ died. I do not talk of His forgiving it; it was all gone when Christ died. I cannot say I have none in me, but I can say I died wit h Christ, and I am not in it.

"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. ' (1 John 2:12.) There is no such thing in Scripture as an unforgiven Christian. It is very interesting to see the work of God in a soul on the road towards peace; all has its place. But that is before I have got the knowledge of the blood which cleanses it all, of the blessed truth that the blow, which rent the veil and opened the holiness of God upon me, presented me there without a veil, but fit to stand in it. A Christian is a forgiven person, but I cannot say sin is not there. When I see the sin, I say why God must condemn me for it! and in one sense it is quite true: He must; but why condemn you when He has condemned it in Christ already? I do not come denying that I am leavened; I own it. But what I present to God is not myself (it could not be burnt for a sweet savor) and I have a title, in that sense, to forget it, because God. has dealt with it in Christ, and then I come with unleavened bread to keep the feast.

When the offering was a vow, they could eat it for two days; when a thanksgiving, for one day only. H my heart is full of Christ in the power of the Spirit of God, it connects all my worship with the value of Christ's offering to God, it is associated with that before God, I have fellowship with God as to it. But supposing I go on, and sing (say) a hymn, and instead of thinking of the blessedness of Christ and of the Father's love, I get enjoying the singing; I disconnect the worship from Christ. Take our common worship: is it connected with Christ's acceptableness to God? If not, it has lost its savor; apart from that sacrifice, what is it worth? There may be enjoyment of the ideas, it may go as far as that; but it has lost its savor, and this is a thing that creeps in very easily. I cannot be with God to know the blessedness of what I have, unless it is connected with the sacrifice to God. And what a thought, beloved friends! that when I do go, it is with the acceptableness of Christ, with what God finds His delight in! If I go to pray—all perfectly right—it is as a poor needy creature, who wants everything from God. But worship is another thing; I go with that in my hand which I know to be God's delight. I go, Christ having died for me, my soul having the consciousness of God's positive delight in the sacrifice of Christ; and if my worship in any part gets separated from that, it has lost its sweet savor.

One other thing. The priest who offered it, ate part of it. It was joy to all, but Christ takes His part, His joy is in it too. God has His food in it, I have my food; but the priest has his part too. It is the fullest association of God with Christ and the worshipper. It was for all who were invited too, love to all saints; the heart takes in love to all. It shows what true worship is, when I get there: it is not merely my sins are borne, but I get my delight in what I know is God's delight, and must be. It is what the whole community of the saints must delight in; and He says, "In the midst of the church will I sing praises unto thee."

It connects all with the glory in blessedness. Being such in ourselves, we anticipate (in the weakness we are in now) the worship of the saints in eternal ages.

"I desire that the two great principles and substance of the blessing may rest upon our hearts—that I am there with God, the heart giving itself up to God in thanksgiving. I go to God with this offering of Christ, and I know He does not impute anything to me when I look up to God, I know He cannot.

Here, God has found in Christ what His soul feeds on—what He delights in— we may say it reverently. I delight in it, a poor weak creature, and I know God delights in it. He receives me in worship according to His judgment of Christ.

How far do our souls so enter into God's thoughts that, when we come to God in worship (all our lives ought to be in the spirit of worship), it is in the spirit of our minds, as connected with God's value for the offering of Christ? In our every-day walk, never to lose sight of what the sweet savor of that offering was to God?

The Lord only give us that it may be thus associated in our hearts with what Christ was towards His Father!

(Continued from page 80.)

(To be continued, D. V.)

"And Having Done All, to Stand"

Thou gav'st Thyself for me:

Then may I stand

Steadfastly, true to Thee,

In the foe's land.

For surely Thou art worth

The standing for;

Thou who this hostile earth

Hast trod before,

Finding no help or friend

To be Thy stay;

Yet faithful to the end

Of the dark way.

So may it be with me,

In these dark days—

Looking alone to Thee,

Seeking Thy praise;

Standing for Thee alone,

Held by Thine hand;

And having all things done,

Yet still, to stand.

" Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, hut against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places (margin). Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." Eph. 6:10-18.

Leaven

There is a tendency in all our minds "to savor the things that be of men " (Matt. 16:23), so as to draw human conclusions from the direct revelation of God. The affection of Peter, as well as his understanding, forbad the thought that "the Son of the living God " should suffer. It is well for us to profit by the Lord's rebuke to Peter. The thoughts of God are not as our thoughts. And that which has originally been matter of direct revelation from God, is only really apprehended by revelation. The Holy Ghost, "the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13), is " the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" (Eph. 1:17); and His direct teaching is needed by us to perceive the bearing of that which He Himself has inspired others to write. Now the way of man is to regard that which God has revealed in the inspired writings, as subject matter for him to speculate on, and from which he may safely draw his own inferences. Hence he stumbles at the very threshold; and, instead of " obeying the truth," he makes truth subject to his own understanding. But God is pleased " to hide from the wise and prudent that which He reveals to babes." They having an unction from the Holy One, depend on the teaching of that anointing, and which is the truth, even in Him, who is the truth, Jesus Christ, the true God and eternal life. But in those who have the unction, the savoring of the things of man in the things of God, is often found. Christians have tried to make out an orderly narrative from the four gospels, by harmonizing them, and thus the varied aspects in which the Holy Ghost presents JESUS to our souls is reduced to the level of human biography. But it is not the way of the Holy Ghost to present scenes to us after the manner of man's history; His way is not as our way, neither His thoughts as our thoughts. The object He has to hold up to us cannot be so touched, without disparagement to the person and glory of the Lord Jesus, and His way is not to gratify a prying curiosity, and to satisfy the mind with a readily received theory; but so to exhibit JESUS in the glory of His person and the depth of His grace, that whether it be our wants as sinners or the desires of the renewed heart, they may be fully met in Him in whom is centered the manifold wisdom and manifold grace of God. The attempt at an orderly biography entirely hinders this.

That there is precision and accuracy in the terms used by the Holy Ghost dare not be questioned. But it is His precision and accuracy, and not according to man's thoughts; and the attempt at human accuracy in that which God has revealed will hinder instead of helping our instruction. We make definitions of the terms used by the Spirit of God, instead of leaving it to Himself to define these terms. " The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." (1 Cor. 2:11-13.) The Scripture is emphatically the word of God; and if it be received as the word of God, it will ever be in the character of little children, in dependence on the immediate and direct teaching of the Holy Ghost Himself. Many Christians who apprehend doctrinally, as well as by experience their own vileness, so as to find the need of habitual living on Christ as their sanctification, do riot so readily acknowledge their own ignorance, so as to lead to habitual dependence on the Spirit of Truth to guide them into all truth. Systematic theology often (if not always) leads real Christians into a measure of self-complacency, and tends to make them measure the knowledge of others by their own. The teaching of the Spirit ever humbles; and in this line also we find the apparent paradox that growth in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is accompanied with a deeper sense of our own ignorance. But so it must be when we really study HIM who is the wisdom of God.

The foregoing thoughts have arisen in reflecting on the hearing of the word "leaven," as used by the Holy Ghost. In the law, that teaching-shadow of good things to come, leaven was forbidden. " Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven," Again, "No meat-offering, which ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire." (Ex. 34:25; Lev. 2:11). Both these are shadows, of which the substance and reality is Christ Himself. In the blood of His sacrifice there was only to be found His own singular perfectness; even the very rendering it was the perfection of obedience; and, while it was a sacrifice of bloodshed-ding, it was, at the same time, an offering of a sweet-smelling savor unto God. And so of the meat-offering, the expression of that perfection of character in which God Himself could take complacency; it was singular; nothing could be added to it; nothing taken from it; whilst, even in "His own" (John 13), as to character, how much is wanting, how many flaws need to be removed.

But there are two remarkable exceptions in the law, in favor of leaven. Thus, we read: " And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete; even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat-offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord" (Lev. 23:15-17). The substance of this shadow, the reality of this feast, was manifested when the Day of Pentecost was fully come; and the Church was formally set up on earth by the coming down of the Holy Ghost from heaven. This is the real new meat-offering unto the Lord; even those who have the " first-fruits of the Spirit," and are, thereby, " a kind of first-fruits of His creatures." Whilst our hearts rejoice in the knowledge of what the Church is as presented in Christ and through Christ "holy and unblameable, and unrebukable " before God in heaven; we know, also, full well what it actually is; but even as it is actually with the divine recognition of leaven in it, it is a new meat-offering unto the Lord. In the world, though it be sorely tempted and tried as it is, mourning over its own declension, ashamed and confounded and self-loathing, it is still the Church, the gift of the Father to the Son; the object of the Son's perfect love, and inhabited by the Holy Ghost. It is regarded here, whilst the leaven is in it, with the same love as that with which it is regarded in heaven, where it is only seen in virtue of Christ's sacrifice in the unleavened perfectness of Christ. Soul cheering truth in such a day as this, " brethren beloved of God! " It is the one object on the earth of present divine complacency, because it is "accepted in the beloved; " and, regarded in this light, "rebuke, discipline, and chastening," are only proofs of divine love.

The law of the peace-offering is remarkable. " This is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a thanksgiving. then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace-offerings " (Lev. 7:11-13). " Christ is our peace;" the joy of a believer is in Him, from Him, and through Him. In its highest aspect it is unaccompanied with leaven, " in whom, though now ye see Him not,... ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." But there are many occasions in which, although Christ be the source of our joy, natural susceptibilities may enter. Such might have been raised in the bosom of the apostle, when he says to the Philippians, " But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again."

When the tear trickles down the cheek on witnessing any manifestation of the grate of God in converting a soul—in answering prayer—or sending an unexpected deliverance—there is frequently found the leaven of the peace-offering. In many cases, too, when anguish of spirit has brought on bodily malady, and the soul is set at liberty through the reception of the truth, so that joy and thanksgiving take the place of mourning and depression, it can hardly be denied that the feelings of nature enter into the expression of gladness for deliverance. The source and cause of the joy is unleavened: it is Christ Himself; but there is that which accompanies the joy, partaking of the character of leaven, because natural feelings almost necessarily find their entrance. There is danger of only regarding natural emotion; and that danger has been so manifest in the downward road of the great professing body, that Christians, in avoiding that path, almost seem t o forget that they have any peace-offerings. Even in the days of allowed shadows, the very shadow was perverted. The harlot can say (too faithful picture of the corrupt Church), " I have peace-offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee" (Prov. 7:6-23). It is thus, too, in later days, that the prophet rebukes Israel: "Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgressions; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings; for this liketh you, 0 ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God" (Amos 4:4, 5). There lacked the liking for such ordinances in which the worshipper took no part himself, but was either wholly rendered to God or the portion of the priest. But where the chief part belonged to the worshipper, there they liked to seem religious. And so, in the history of the Church, the great realities centered in the precious work and offices of Christ. The food of the quickened soul, and the ground of its joy, have been passed over, to make way for a form of godliness into which nature can readily enter, such as in the christening and wedding. Here it liketh men well to be religious; the leaven so entirely predominates, that there is no remembrance of " the unleavened cakes with oil;" no spiritual thought whatever relative to Christ; so that persons who despise Christ's work, and hate the doctrines of grace, would be grievously scandalized if they were not married, or their children baptized, after a christian fashion. The popular meaning of the word " holiday" most significantly proves that God's permission of leaven, in the peace-offerings, has been perverted by men into the denial of the doctrine of the cross of Christ.

But this abuse ought not to hinder real Christians from having their peace offerings. The word still remains, "Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." There is and there ought to be, a holy jealousy in our souls lest we only like " sacrifices with leaven; but we have to watch against a morbid feeling arising from this very jealousy. It is "the oil of gladness " with which JESUS anoints His fellows. There is joy in the Holy Ghost, joy from above brought into the sorrow here below; and whilst one who loves the Lord Jesus Christ cannot but be sorrowful at witnessing the joy of the world, so soon to be turned into sorrow, he is still to be " always rejoicing " (2 Cor. 6:10), whether we look back to the cross, at present circumstances, or onward to the future, or upward to God. The Holy Ghost glorifies JESUS; and, taking of His things and showing them unto us, turns everything to profit. And if we find it hard to distinguish between the flesh and and the Spirit, JESUS above can separate the precious froth the vile, and we must not deprive ourselves of the sober, holy joy of the Holy Ghost, because we cannot exactly analyze our feelings. There was leaven in the peace-offerings. The Characteristic of real Christian joy would be equable cheerfulness, so distinct from mere temporary excitement often followed by depression. Hence the word, " Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess; but be ye filled with the Spirit. " Joy" is one of "the fruits of the Spirit." (Gal. 5:22).

When we turn to the teaching of the Lord Jesus and His apostles, we find very interesting instruction from the use of the word leaven; whether used figuratively of doctrine or practice, or as representing the process of the "little leaven which leaveneth the whole lump" (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9); or as embracing both thoughts.

It is the first used by our Lord in the remarkable series of parables in Matt. 13 " The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." It is the process of leavening which is prominent here-resulting in a leavened mass. The Lord had previously given the reason of His teaching in this way. " Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." The truth concealed under the parable will alone be elicited by the spiritual, and conclusions of the most opposite moral bearing will be drawn from the same parable by the acuteness of intellect, and by the spiritual mind. The same parable is like the pillar of the cloud in the night time, darkness to the Egyptians and light to Israel; it blinds the acutest intellect, but it gives deep instruction to the humble, who depend upon the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Before our eyes Christendom stands out as a leavened mass, the leavening process has gone on and is still proceeding; a result has been produced, and that result is by common consent called Christianity. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened." There are two principal modes of corruption traceable both in the history of Israel and that of the Church; but both involving the same principle, the loss of their separateness, which was in fact their glory and their strength. Israel would be as the nations; when " to dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations" (Num. 23:9) was their real glory. Israel leaned on an, arm of flesh, on Egypt or Assyria, their house of bondage or prison-house, when the " arm of the Lord " (see Isa. 51:9.) was their strength and salvation. Thus also Israel "changed their glory for that which doth not profit," adopting the idolatry of the nations into the worship of the true God. " Be astonished, 0 ye heavens, at this, be horribly afraid, by ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." (Jer. 2:11-13.)

It may be difficult practically to separate the two evils one from the other either in the case of Israel, or the Church. But with respect to the Church, there is an intended distinction in the figure of the woman putting leaven in the mass, and "the harlot with the golden cup in her hands, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." It is the difference between what the woman does with that which is committed to her charge, and what the woman receives for the favors she bestows; for, " they give gifts to all whores" (Ezek. 16:33). Both the household woman and the harlot help on to the rearing of Babylon, but in different ways; and the quiet plausible way of the housekeeper is less suspected, but not less dangerous, than the barefacedness of the harlot. In plain words. the gradual way in which the church has insinuated itself into the world, is by no means so transparent an evil, as the open manner in which the Church has received the world into itself. Men are sharp-sighted enough as to the latter, and constantly inveigh against ecclesiastical cupidity, because they have, almost by common consent, made the Church to consist of ecclesiastics; and feel themselves justified in doing, for their own selfish ends, that which they condemn in an accredited ecclesiastic. Men judge their clergy by a higher standard than that by which they measure themselves; and there is but retributive justice in this. For, if the position claimed by clergy, be opposed to the whole tone of Christ's teaching and that of His apostles—if they are in principle a usurpation of Christ's prerogatives—they necessarily lay themselves open to such a partial judgment; for they have deluded men into the notion that they are a distinct class. But whilst no eye is so discerning as that of the men of the world, as to the inconsistencies of even real Christians, especially in their pursuit of the honors of the world, they themselves are glorying in the leavened mass which they call Christianity. They speak of the Christian world with commendation; they regard such, Christianity; not as a corrupt system prophetically announced, but as though it were the proper fruit of the Gospel of the grace of God. Ignorant of what the Church of the living God is, they believe the outward likeness of the kingdom of heaven to be that reality, which is the Church of the living God. The manner of the leavening process is to be discovered by attending to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Himself. If we once receive the truth, that separateness unto God is the real blessing of the true Church; we can readily conceive how that the attempt to incorporate its privileges with the world (whatever might be its influence on the world) would mar that separateness. The result produced would be something spurious, in the midst of which the real Church would be hidden; but the effect would be, that to the eyes of men the real Church would be overlooked, and the corrupt mass become invested wit h its privileges. When we read the solemn admonition of the Lord, spoken to His disciples in the audience of the multitude, " Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you; " we get at once a clue to the mode of the leavening process, which has produced that anomaly, a Christian world. If we cannot state exactly the commencement, we know that the mystery of iniquity was at work in the apostle's days, and that the germ of every false doctrine had then its rise in the Church. This also we know, that it is by the power of the Holy Ghost alone accompanying the preaching of the pure word of God that souls can be really converted to God, and become living stones of the temple of God. Now to such a power the Church could not openly pretend; and therefore it became necessary for the Church to make a way of investing men with all her privileges, by leading them to the external observance of things which real Christians did, but which they did because they knew the power of redemption in their own souls. It was in the power of man to change one outward form for another: and his own native powers of mind might be convinced of the folly of idolatry. He might be turned "from idols," without being turned, "to God"; he might observe Christian ordinances without any spiritual understanding. He might worship with those who worshipped God in the Spirit, and yet himself not know what he worshipped. And where does the responsibility rest? Surely with those who had given that which was holy to the dogs, for the " dogs" are those " without." It was the mistaken way of doing good by those who would try to persuade themselves that they were conferring a benefit, when they knew, after all, that there was no reality in it. At best it was a pious fraud. And now when men are told that they are only Christians in name, and that their profession only enhances their responsibility, and will issue in more awful condemnation, they turn on them who thus speak the truth and "rend" them. Their very profession is the greatest possible hindrance to the preaching of the Gospel. And with respect to the precious pearls (all the doctrines of grace, and privileges of true believers), they are trodden under foot as worthless. What is the death and resurrection of Christ but mere history to the mind of the great professing body? What t he privileges of sonship—so marvelous in the eyes of a believer—but a mere unmeaning name to one who has been taught it by rote in his childhood, so that he would scoff at its avowal? Esau, the profane one, is the just type of the great professing body, desiring to inherit the blessing, and yet despising the birthright. The Lord further teaches by two homely yet remarkable figures. "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." Here we are taught that the attempt at uniting new and old will end in disaster. The " new may be good, intrinsically good in itself, which is the case here supposed, but it will neither fit in nor amalgamate with the old. The attempt to add on Christ to John the Baptist, instead of regarding their missions and ministries as in direct contrast the one with the other—in other words, the attempt to apply the way of grace as exhibited in Christ to the way of righteousness as exhibited by John, would end in thorough disregard of the righteousness and holiness of God, and fritter away the Gospel into the notion of a remedial law. The popular idea of the Gospel too plainly illustrates the result of putting the new piece to the old garment. The immutable justice and holiness of God-the effectual finished work of Christ in atonement for everlasting salvation-the total depravity of man, and the necessity of his being born again by the quickening power of the Holy Ghost are alike neutralized by the attempt at putting the new piece to the old garment " The rent is worse." There is " a form [or outline] of knowledge and truth in the law." It tended to show man the inapproachableness of God, and his distance from God; it tended to produce a fear of God, although a slavish one. But when the breach of the law was attempted to be healed by making grace supplementary to the law, thus casting contempt upon the riches of God's grace, both law and grace perished together; and the result is that conventional righteousness which makes the will of man and not the will of God to be the arbiter of right and wrong. The other attempt at forcing men who know not Christ to act on the principles of Christ, being necessarily modified by the desire to produce a present result, has issued in that anomaly—a Christian world: the wine lost, because the reality and power of Christian principle is entirely lost; " the bottles perish," for the world is ignorant of its condemnation by the very fact of its being recognized as Christian. How entirely the mass is leavened, has ever been forced on the conscience of those, who, in their endeavor to maintain "a conscience void of offense towards God and towards men," have, through this strange entanglement, found fealty to Christ regarded as turbulence to the state or society; and obedience to constituted authority implicating them with falsehood and superstition. Religious acts have been enforced by civil authority; and civil acts, the most foreign to the Spirit of Christ, stamped with His Name. The end of all this confusion is fearful judgment; as it is written, that thou " shouldest destroy them which destroy [or corrupt the earth."

We find another force of the word leaven (Matt. 16:6). In this passage it is that which leavens, rather than the process of leavening, which appears most prominent. " Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." The ignorance of the disciples has furnished us with the sense in which the word leaven is here used. " Then understood they how He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." This doctrine is at the root of all false religion. It is the demand of man's mind to subject God to his mind, by asking other credentials of Himself, than those He is pleased at the time to give. Thus JESUS Himself, the actual " sign" so long since predicted, even Emanuel, proving His mission by the most astounding miracles, is asked for a sign from heaven. The Pharisaic formalist and intellectual Sadducee alike agree in this, to have a God according to their own thoughts—a God who shall uphold them in their good opinion of themselves. The Lord draws not the line between them, but classes both under one phrase, " a wicked and adulterous generation," to whom no further sign should be given than that of Jonas the prophet, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Himself. " He left them and departed." But the leaven is still the same, working in persons apparently the most opposite—it is the grand prevalent doctrine of unbelief, that the will of man, and not the will of God, is to decide what God is and what God ought to do, even when it is a question of the salvation of a sinner.

" A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" is applied to morals (in 1 Cor. 5), and to doctrine (Gal. 5:9): and solemn is the warning. In a congregation of Christians there can be hardly such a thing as the sin of an individual only affecting himself. "Looking diligently, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." And so of false doctrine. All are liable to mistakes and errors, and even to intellectual difficulties: but these will not amount to false doctrine, until in the pride of his mind, a person thinks he is going to set others right; or in the spirit of party, seeks to draw away disciples after him, then " their word Both eat as a canker."

The passage, 1 Cor. 5:6-8, is of instructive interest, because it so fully recognizes the two aspects of the Church: its unleavened aspect, " as ye are unleavened," in its presentation in Christ before God; and its actual aspect, as that wherein leaven is recognized as being, " Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump." In the one aspect, it can ever be said, " God bath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither bath He seen perverseness in Israel;" in the other, " You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." To the understanding of man it appears a strange thing, that perfect acceptance with God should be compatible with the idea of the Lord Himself trying the heart and searching the reins. But it is all plain to faith (and the righteous live only by faith) of what Christ is, and what he is in Christ. In Christ he sees the Church as "unleavened," and the holy discipline of God is ever unto this one object—that the actual condition of believers may more correspond to their true condition as accepted in the Beloved. " Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

There is such a thing as Christian attainment, but is not the attainment of a standing before God; that is given to us in Christ Jesus. " By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." But there is attainment in the soul's progress in conformity to this standing so wondrously given to us. This attainment was the desire of the apostle (Phil. 3), and in this his language must ever have been so long as he was in the body—" not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect "—for nothing would satisfy the cravings of his soul until he actually was in that perfect conformity to Christ. for which he had been apprehended of Christ. In this respect, the way of God is so different from our way, and so pre-eminently above it. It is objective. He holds out to us what He by His grace has already made us to be in Christ; and whilst thus comely in the comeliness which He has put upon us, there is ever the danger of our trusting in our beauty, as though we had anything out of Christ. In His infinite wisdom, whilst perfectly knowing the inward craving of the soul after that perfectness which is ours in Christ. He Himself by the searching probe of His word, discovers to us all that we are in ourselves—our folly, vileness and ignorance. In doing this, He makes us, in peaceful calmness, increasingly value the word, " as ye are unleavened "—at the very time He addresses to us the word, " Purge out, therefore, the old leaven."

"Christ Loved the Church"

PH 5:22-23{Remark, beloved brethren, how the grace of God has associated us with Himself and with Christ, though of course remaining Himself meanwhile in the supremacy of infinite Godhead, in which none can be associated with Him; but He has made us partakers of the divine nature, and given us His Spirit to dwell in us, so that we realize what He is, and become one with Christ through being united to Him.

We find in the early part of Eph. 5, that we are called to be " imitators of God, as dear children, and to walk in love." Love is His nature; and we see this exemplified in a Man, if we take Christ as the pattern of it. " Walk in love, as Christ also hath laved us."

Besides this we get another word brought before us, which also expresses God's nature: that is light; and it is said, " Ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." And, here too, Christ is given as the perfect expression of what is put before us, " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." As a Man in the world, He was the expression and pattern of light.

But after this he adds, " Be filled with the Spirit; " for, though we are made partakers of this divine nature, which is light, and we are called to love after the pattern of God in Christ, yet after all we are but poor human creatures, powerless in ourselves; and the Spirit is the only power we have for everything.

In God's mind it is everything for us to have fellowship with Himself. He has put us before Himself in love; He has made us His sons and daughters-the objects of His delight; and He should be the Object of our delight. So much for the first relationship that we find here. It is with the Father as sons, and in this Christ is the " Firstborn among many brethren."

The second is union with Christ now glorified: "We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." We are livingly united to Him, as members to a head. I cannot get closer to Him than being a member of His body, and in the same glory with Himself. This relationship gives us the indissoluble union of Christ and the church. "Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it... and let the wife see that she reverence her husband." Though quite true as regards husband and wife, it is a figure of Christ and the church. (See ver. 32).

But, though we are united to Him, He is ever pre-eminent, and what even gives its value to this relationship is the necessary pre-eminence in it, as in everything, of Christ. When Moses and Elias were on the mount with the Lord, they were in the same glory as He was, and talking with Him of what was nearest His heart, and nearest His Father's heart too; they were in familiar intercourse with Him. But, even then, the moment Peter talks about making three tabernacles, one for each, thus putting them on an equality, the Father's voice comes in and owns His Son; and Moses and Elias at once disappear. I only use this to illustrate what I mean; and so it must always be. There must always be the eternal blessedness and pre-eminence of His person, and the nearer we get to Him the more conscious we shall be of this. If I know a man indeed intimately, I shall surely get to know his foibles. In Christ, the more I know of Him, the more I shall only get to know deeper, and divine, excellence. There is no fear at near acquaintance diminishing respect towards Him: the more I feel His love, the more I shall feel that He is supreme in it. Intimacy with His love only shows out its excellence, and produces more adoration and love in me.

God is supreme in love. It is not said in chapter v., that we are to be love; we cannot be free and supreme in it; we are said to be light, because the new man partakes in the purity of His nature. And in the love of Christ we find the working of this supreme goodness, and in a Man, so that following Him we can walk in it, though we cannot say we are love, as we say we are light.

But, in the case of the church, at the close of chapter 5, we have a love of special relationship, not simply the goodness and sovereign love of God; yet the spring and source of all is in the unsought love of Christ, in which He acts in the thought of His own grace, when there was nothing to draw it out. He has to purchase what He loves, and form it for Himself. He "gave Himself for it: and when He gets it, He cleanses it for Himself.

But there is yet another point of view. He presents it " to Himself." When God had made Eve, He presented her to Adam; but here we get the glory of Christ's person. Being a divine person He presents the church to Himself, having formed it and perfected it, so as to be suited to Himself. He does all for the church. Let us now see a little of the way in which He does it.

The first thing of all is His own unmotived love. " He loved the Church," perfectly, divinely, infinitely; we here find the utterness of His love. " He gave HIMSELF!" He did not only do something for it: " He gave Himself!" And this is constantly repeated in the word; it is even said that " He gave Himself for our sins," our sins being that which was in the way between us and God. As I look at Christ's love, I see that it had no motive but in itself, and it gives ITSELF: nothing is held back. HE is wholly and altogether mine; He has given Himself, and all is lumped up in that. The self-sacrifice of Christ was absolute: it was Himself, all He is, and all He was in His perfection. The whole motive of His nature was engaged in it: " He gave Himself." And this a wonderful thought, if our hearts could only get hold of it. It is not that He gave His blood, and gave His life, though that is true, and we may speak of it distinctively, for Scripture does; but the point here is the character of His love; so it says, " He gave Himself." The motive was Self giving.

Mark here how, as regards the process of fitting the church for Christ, loving it and giving Himself for it goes first. It does not say, He cleansed and washed it so that He might have it, and then loved it because it was cleansed and fit to be loved. No. He gives Himself for it, and possesses it with a perfect title: Himself given for it, in the absolute completeness of His whole heart, according to which He has taken it to Himself. He gives Himself for it because He loved it; and now, He says, it must be cleansed and made fit for ME. Not, It must be happy—happy it is, no doubt—but not only so; it must be made fit for Himself. I cannot be satisfied if a person I love is not what I like him to be-my children or wife, for example. It is not a feeling of discontent—I do not mean that—but a want of full satisfaction. So Christ sets about making the church what He would like it to be. He cleanses it by " the washing of water by the word." As He said before: " Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

As the word comes from God, it judges all that is contrary to God, by the revelation of what is in God, so that it may make me like what it reveals. " For their sakes," He says, "I sanctify Myself." As Man, He set Himself apart as the perfect expression of what is divine in man, or Man according to God. So it is not that I ant what I ought to be, but that I am connected with Christ, who is the expression of what I ought to be, and forms me into His likeness. " 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." That is the way it cleanses: it purifies our motives, thoughts, and apprehensions, thus changing us into the same image from glory to glory. But He is the Doer; He redeems us, cleanses us, sanctifies us, and presents us.

There is also a thought here which is full of the deepest interest; and that is, that we cannot separate the cleansing from the glory. The cleansing is according to the glory, and, when the body is changed, the state of holiness is according to the glory revealed; see 1 Thess. 3:13, where we should have said " unblameable in holiness " in our walk; but we read, in the presence " of God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." We cannot really get on without looking at Christ in glory. It is said that " He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish." That is the cleansing. Practical cleansing is by the power of the revelation of the glory of Christ. But let us always remember that this cleansing is not in order that we may belong to Him, but that it is " Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might cleanse it."

Another thing that we find as regards the church, and this ought to comfort us in these dark days, and in the darker ones which we see coming. He goes on to say: " No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church." It is not only that He fits it for Himself—makes it according to His mind; but the same love that fits it, watches over it in the circumstances of weakness in which it is found, as it passes through the world. Why, He says, a man's flesh is Himself: Christ takes care of Himself in taking care of the church. As He said to Saul: " Why persecutest thou Me?" You are touching Me in persecuting them. Christ does not separate the saints down here from Himself. He is interested in them, cares for them, nourishes and cherishes them as a man does the flesh of his own body. And in this He can never fail. The darkness may be great, and the power of evil strong, and growing stronger (not that God is not working, for He is: and when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him, and is doing so, and preparing the coming of the Lord), but no more than a man can hate himself, can Christ fail in doing the—nourishing and cherishing the church.

The Lord has long patience with all this growing evil (we may pray that things may go quicker, that He would bring the end on more rapidly, calling in His own; but, if so, it will bring evil out more rapidly too, and the judgments that are coming on the earth, but yet we may desire it); but all through, the faith of the saint can reckon on the care and love of Christ. You cannot put me in any circumstances where the love of Christ cannot suit me.

Nor even does the working of unbelief hinder. For, when those who are believers cannot use the power that has been brought in against evil, what is to be done? We read, that when they brought one possessed of a demon to the disciples, and they could not cast him out, the Lord says: " How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?" If you cannot use the power I have brought in, what is the use of staying with you? But He adds, " Bring him hither to Me." Even if the faith of the church fail, and one were alone in the trial, individual faith will always find grace in the Lord Jesus Christ for its want. Just as the father of the child cried out with tears: " Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Christ cannot fail; and we on our side must not be like Elijah, saying " Lord, they have thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only am left: and they seek my life to take it away " (and mark at the moment he had thrown down their altars and slain their prophets), and then run away. What we want to say is: Well, Christ never fails, and there cannot be a want in Christ's church without there being an answer to it in Christ's heart.

All we want, beloved friends, is to have the eye fixed on Christ, from whom all grace and love flow, and to be sanctified in heart and spirit thereby, while waiting for Him, who has given HIMSELF for us, so that we might be like Him even now, while walking through this world.

Conflict in Heavenly Places

PH 6:10-18{The very blessings of the church (as in Eph. 1:3) set us into a sort of conflict, which, without such blessings, we should not have. So the church is subject to more failures than either Jews or Gentiles were, because they were not called to the same blessings. A Jew might do many things which would be monstrous in a Christian, and yet find no defilement in his conscience. The veil that was over the knowledge of God being rent, the light shines out; and the consequence is that this light which has come out of the holy place cannot tolerate evil. Christians are in a more dangerous position, if not " walking as children of light " (Eph. 5:8), than Jews. Satan may draw and entice me with many things, which would have no power against me if I were not so favored. " Be strong in the Lord:" here is the place of strength. There is no strength but in Christ—I have none at any time, except as my soul is in secret communion with Him, and through Him with God the Father. The direct power of Satan is towards this point, to keep our souls from living on Christ. Put on the whole armor of God: there is no standing against Satan without this. Strength is always the effect of having to do with God in the spirit of dependence.

We see in 1 Sam. 14, the contrast between Saul and Jonathan; between confidence in God overcoming all obstacles, and self failing with all the resources of royalty. Jonathan clambered up on his hands and feet, confident in God, and the enemies were overcome. Saul, when he saw the work going on, not knowing the Lord's mind, calls for the priest. He had a right intention, but not a simplicity of dependence on God, when inquiring what he should do, and spoils all by his foolish oath. It is said of Jonathan that " he wrought with God." God was with him, and he had strength and liberty (not a humiliation we have often felt) because he wrought with God. When we are walking in dependence on God, there will always be liberty before God. Jonathan knew what he should do and took some honey, because he went on in liberty, for God was with him; whilst Saul in legality had put himself and the people into bondage.

The word then, after grace in Christ has been fully shown throughout the epistle, is, " Be strong in the Lord." (Ver. 10.) We have the privilege here of individual dependence on God. Everything may be dark, but the Lord tells us to be strong. This is always accompanied with lowliness of heart; come what will, when the Lord is rested on, we are strong.

We are called to put on the panoply of God, to take it to us. (Vs. 11-13.) And no wonder: the conflict is not with men out with evil spirits. (Ver 12.) Who but an unbeliever can overlook or despise them? They are principalities and authorities; they are the universal lords of this darkness; they are spiritual wickednesses in the heavenly places. Truly to withstand such we need the whole armor of God; which, remember, is not a question of standing but of practical power, and this is in entire dependence.

If we pray, be it observed, without searching the word, or read the word without prayer, we may get no guidance, for JESUS said, " If my words abide in you, ask what ye will," etc.; without this I may be asking some foolish thing that would not be given. We are to stand against the wiles of the devil, not his power. It is not the knowing Satan that enables us to discover his wiles, but the keeping in God's presence. It was always so with Christ, because He was always dependent on God. Stand, having your loins girt about with truth. Truth is never really ours but as the affections are ordered by it. If the soul of the hearer be not in communion with God in the truth he hears, his loins are not girt with it. The breastplate of righteousness supposes not merely this, but that we have nothing on the conscience. (Ver. 14.) Christ's blood made it good; and walking in the Spirit keeps it so.

Verse 15. The gospel of peace is ours in Christ: but I must have the spirit of peace in my heart, and be sanctified by the God of peace, the soul in communion with God, with Him in the spirit of peace; and with-out this how can the saint walk as always having peace? He is thus prepared to walk by the gospel.

Verse 16. Whether I look at the sin that made grace necessary, or at the power which caused me to enjoy it, I may walk in perfect peace against every source of sorrow. Every fiery dart is quenched by confidence in God-the shield of faith. Faith is as essential for the conflict as for saving the soul. We need to cherish confidence in the grace of God all through.

Verse 17. I hold up my head because I know I am safe: salvation is mine. I must first get that which is internal: that which is wrought in me is power. Before I use the sword of the Spirit, I must first have the loins girded about with truth, the heart covered with righteousness, the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and then (the shield of faith being up and the helmet of salvation on). I can take the sword of the Spirit. Nothing is more dangerous than to use the word if it has not touched my conscience. I put myself in Satan's hands if I go beyond what I have from God, or what is in possession of my soul. To talk with saints on the things of God, beyond what I hold in communion, is most pernicious; to fight without it is fatal.

Verse 18. The word always must deal with ourselves before others, but prayer is the expression and exercise of dependence. If a person asks me a question, and I answer without speaking to God about it—going direct, it will be more likely to lead from God than to God. When a question or the difficulty comes, do we turn to God? We may have turned to God before, and the thing is answered, and we ought to have such power of prayer, that there would be no difficulty when any circumstance arises. If supplication be thus continual, there would be no occasion to ask Him about particular things when they come before us.

" Supplication in the Spirit." All acceptable prayer is not, I think, prayer in the Spirit. A wish or desire expressed to God, in all the confidence of a child to his father is heard, but this is not necessarily " prayer in the Spirit." It is the power of the Spirit in us looking for blessing as walking in the Spirit of God—that is such prayer; not even a difficulty here when living really in the power of communion. We have that energy of supplication which looks for answers—for all answers, and for myself too—watching thereunto with all perseverance. Suppose you begin the day with a sweet spirit of prayer and confidence in God: in the course of the day, in this wretched world you find a thousand cares and agitations; but if you are spiritually exercised, alive to see the things of God, everything will be a matter of prayer and intercession, according to the mind of God. Thus humbleness and dependence should mark all a saint's actions.

Instead of being full of regret at what we may meet with, if we are walking with Christ we shall see His interests in a brother —in the church. What a blessed thing to carry everything to God! the word in verse 18 refers to a man walking in the whole armor.

The apostle took the love of the saints for granted. We also, if walking in the Spirit, can always count on others being interested in our affairs.

Strength Made Perfect in Weakness

It is a natural thought, the first thought perhaps even for a godly soul, to desire an answer of the Lord in the removal of that which is trying and painful. But it i to remember the word, " My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and 8, my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:9.) We know the Lord's great compassion—that He cares for His own—that He feels for them and with them; and we are prone to gather from this that He must appear speedily for us when any blow, humiliation, or sorrow comes upon us, specially that which would seem to make the Lord's glory to be questioned and thwarted in various ways. And this was most plainly so in the case before us. The enemy was taking advantage of this thorn in the apostle's flesh to lower the apostle and his work. We are disposed to expect an immediate answer from the Lord in the way of the removal of the trial. It was so with the apostle himself. He cried to the Lord about it; he besought Him thrice that it might depart from him. But he mistook the Lord. It was not so that He heard. The Lord did hear him. But the apostle had this great truth to learn: the Lord's way of answering is much better than our way of beseeching. Even were it the apostle Paul—a man with such an amazing knowledge of what was most suitable to God and most to be desired by His children—even he had to learn that he was not the Lord—an apostle had to learn that the Lord's ways are above our ways. I believe that this desire of an answer from the Lord coming at once in the way of meeting us in our difficulty and sorrow, is rat her one that was taught, and that God acted upon in His ways of old, in dealing with His ancient people Israel.

When they were in any difficulty or trial, they cried to the Lord, and He heard and delivered them out of their troubles. But it is not so necessarily now. It is not always in removing the distress that God acts. This is not the characteristic way now with Christians. I do not say that He does it not in many a case; for He pities the weakness of His children, and does not lay the same burden upon all.

But there is something more blessed than the mere setting aside of the trial, and that is, the power of divine grace which enters into it, and lifts us above it: the distress, it may be, continuing, the sorrow going on, the thorn not removed, but ourselves raised entirely above it. And I believe that this heavenly way of meeting sorrow and trouble, is specially the one in which God triumphs in His dealings with the Church. Because it is not power coming into the tribulation, and preserving saints through it, that is the characteristic of the church, any more than it will be a mighty deliverance at the end of the surrounding ad the execution of judgment on enemies.

That is not the manner of the Christian's deliverance. And as it does not answer to the way in which the church will be dealt with at the end, so it is not the principle of the Lord's dealings with us all through. It is a higher thing, the lifting us in spirit above even while the sorrow may still be adhering to us. Perhaps there ay is sharp trial, difficulty, and that which is heartbreaking, even in the church of God itself. The apostle must know this in a way that seemed to frustrate all his desires for the blessing of the church. For the thorn given him was something that made him to be scorned in the eyes of others, and that was an immense trial to himself and to every one that loved him, appearing to be a hindrance even to the work of the Lord through him. What a thing it looked that the Lord should have sent upon him something that he even had not before, that which made him an object of contempt to others; for that is what the thorn in the flesh was. So that, in some unexplained way carnal persons who looked to the outward app were in danger of losing their respect for him. It was not that the thorn was a sin, or something evil he did. It was nothing that people commonly call an infirmity, which as thus applied, is really a sin; but it was something that was entirely beyond the apostle's control, and that made him an object of contempt to others. We can readily conceive more than one thing that would have such an effect; but we are not told what it was, and we ought not to go beyond the word of the Lord. We do know that both the Galatians and Corinthians were affected by it, and even reasoned from it that he was not called to be an apostle. Paul himself was exceedingly tried by it, and brings out this to the Corinthians themselves. He shows them that it had been an immense exercise to his own mind, the more so as he had had special revelations from the Lord; and that, along with this greater honor which had been put upon him by God, but which was unseen by men, there was the thorn given to him in the flesh, producing what men could see and feel, and naturally tending to destroy his influence. But the apostle had a deeper lesson to learn than he had ever entered into before, God giving such a sight of Christ, and such a present knowledge of His love, not by removing the trial, nor by a present answer, it may be, but by lifting him in spirit completely above it, so that he should realize the full weight of it, might even know what it was to die daily, because of the sorrowful circumstances of the church, and now also by reason of what he felt in himself; for there was this that was so painful to bear, and so apparently undesirable, because of its effect upon the minds of others. Thus he learns that the was something still better: " My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness." Oh for faith to rest in this, to believe it about ourselves, to apply it to present circumstances of the church of God, to rest with unhesitating certainty in the assurance that, whatever appearances may be, however plain the impossibility for us to set things right where they are wrong, we may have our confidence unshaken in the Lord, just as one can rest in His salvation and know that it is perfect, so should we be calm in the certainty that Christ is Son over His own house, and that His love to the saints now is as perfect as in the matter of bearing their, sins. But as individuals may not enjoy the salvation of Christ; so, too, shall I be weak and cast down if feeble in my in ray faith as to the Lord's care for His church, and His entrance into its sorrows, or if burdened about it, as though the whole blessing of the church rested upon me. It is plain that this resting upon Christ as the Head of His church would not make the members less feeling and watchful. On the contrary: where we realize that Christ is identified with everything, the sorrow will be intensely, known; but there will be confidence in the Lord when we can confide in nothing else, and our faith will not be disappointed. The Lord is coming soon Himself, but ere He comes, He never ceases to be Head of His > own church, nor fails to nourish and cherish it.

"Between the Two Evenings"

Matthew 26:17-27:61; Mark 14:12- 15:47; Luke 22:7-23:56; John 13- 19:42.

AT 26:17-75{AT 27:1-61{AR 14:12-72{AR 15:1-47{UK 22:7-71{UK 23:1-56{ OH 13-19{" The evening and the morning were the first day," Gen. 1:5, tells us; and this mode of reckoning time prevails throughout the Old Testament, and retains its place in the New also, as the above passages plainly indicate to us. From 12 to 12 our time ranges. The Jewish day was from 6 to 6 of our time, and commenced at 6 p. m.

This prefatory observation is the key to the order of events that took place on the most eventfully day that this world ever saw or will see.

It was " the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the Passover," that "Christ our Passover " sat down " when the even was come," with His disciples. The day, had commenced, and the memorial of Israel's redemption from Egypt was partaken of by Him who effected that redemption, and was, ere many hours were over, in His own person, to fulfill the act which that redemption had so long and plainly pointed to. It doubtless took some time to prepare the meal; and it was during supper (John 13:2, R. V. and New Trans.) that the washing of the disciples feet took place. We are therefore not surprised to find that "night " had set in when Judas left the supper room. (Ver. 30.)

The blessed instruction of John 13:31-14:31 follows and then, "Arise, let us go hence," tells us that the supper room is left by all, and on the way the precious truths of chaps. 15.-17. are unfolded. Thus the night wore on, and now the Mount of Olives is reached, and JESUS prays while the sorrowful disciples sleep. " What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matt. 26:40) gives us a clue to the duration of "the prince of this world's " temptation, though those words were uttered after the Lord's first return to His disciples; and presently the " lanterns and torches" (John 18:3) tell us that darkness still prevailed.

He takes the martyr's place now, presently to exchange it for the victim's, and, as a lamb to the slaughter, He is led into the high priest's house. Here He was for sometime detained, for " about the space of one hour" elapsed between the last two occasions that Peter's faith was tested (Luke 22:59), but at length the crow of the cock that awakened poor Peter's conscience bears its testimony that the morning was approaching. "As soon as it was day " (Luke 22:66) He was arraigned before chief priests and elders. Brief indeed was their mock trial, for " when the morning was come " (Matt. 27:1) He is brought before Pontius Pilate, the governor. With sad rapidity He is tried, sent to Herod, returned, tried again, and condemned to death; for at the " third hour" (Mark 15:25)—9 a. m. of our time—He is nailed to the accursed tree. Till 12 noon, by our reckoning, He occupies the Martyr's place (How blessedly able thus to sympathize with those who are made conformable to His death!), and then becomes the Victim. " When the sixth hour was come there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour" (Noon to 3 pr m. according to our reckoning). Nature veiled her face in sympathy. GOD and JESUS must go into the question of sin alone. The doom of this world was sealed (John 12:31).

" And at the ninth hour JESUS cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? ' which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ' " All was now over. The cup of wrath was drained to the dregs, and JESUS passed into Paradise, to be with His Father until the moment of His resurrection arrived.

Yet three hour of this eventful day remained for the interment of His body: and when the even was come " (Mark 15:42), Joseph of Arisnathæa begged the body from the governor, and laid Him in the sepulcher; and these four-and-twenty hours of unequaled and unsurpassable importance closed.

Well may we pause and worship as again and again we trace its eventful history!!!

The Offerings: The Sin Offering

The offerings in this chapter differ in character from the preceding, being sacrifices made for actual transgressions. Before, we had the offering of Christ as a sweet savor, and the communion of the believer upon it; but here there is altogether a new revelation. The three former were delivered under one revelation, which is marked by the words, "The Lord spake unto Moses," (chap. 1:1), which are repeated at the beginning of this chapter. Accordingly we find, that instead of the Lord Jesus being manifested to us as a sacrifice for a sweet savor unto God, we have Him here typified as bearing our sins in His own body-the sin-offering; the Lord bruising Him on our account.

The SIN-OFFERINGS were consequent upon positive transgression; the accumulation of guilt was laid upon the head of the victim. We shall find under this class all the forms of transgression provided for. There are four different characters of sin-offerings. In chapter v. to verse 13, sins are mentioned analogous in nature, but different in circumstance, and a trespass-offering commanded for them. In trerse 14 of chapter v. begins another revelation from God concerning the trespass-offering for anything done against the Lord; and chapter 6. mentions trespass against a neighbor.

In the chapter before us (the fourth) we have instances of defilements of conscience concerning things which ought not to be done, being against the commandments of the Lord. The natural conscience shrinks from murder and open sins; but there are other things which, though of a different character, nevertheless, if committed, bring on us defilement before the Lord. There are things of positive requirement about which a soul may be ignorant, but neglect of which brings defilement; and, again, there are things which we know to be wrong, by means of the spiritual perception God has given us. We learn from these details, that trespass against the Lord, and wrongs clone to our neighbor, though not all of the same importance, yet all require a sin-offering; all recall Christ to us, as taking upon Him our sins. He is our sin and trespass-offering.

The first two cases are, " If the priest that is anointed do sin; " and, " if the whole congregation sin: " in either case the directions for the offering are the same. Some of the blood must be sprinkled " seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation." This was done, that there might be no interruption to the general communion; for, the whole congregation being identified with the high priest, his worship in the sanctuary at the altar of incense would be interrupted by their collective defilement. And again, the priest being the representative of the whole congregation before the Lord, their exclusion was involved in his. Their sin is charged upon the bullock that is slain, which (the fat being burnt upon the altar) is burnt without the camp, and this is the ground of their renewed communion with God. Here is shown to us, not the perfectness of JESUS as presented to God but, JESUS bearing the defilement of our sin; yet we see the fat is still burnt on the altar (vs. 8, 10), and that has in it the character of the burnt-offering, showing that, though made sin for us, yet His offering to God therein was intrinsically perfect; but the whole bullock is burnt without the camp, pointing out to us JESUS as cast out and bruised, on account of His having taken upon Him our sin, as in 2 Cor. 5:21: " He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." Having presented Himself in perfectness to God, He is then made sin for us, and it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Marvelous word! JESUS, the Holy One, who knew no sin, is cast out, and numbered with the transgressors.

If it was merely an individual that sinned, the order of the service could still be carried on, because the communion of the congregation was not thereby interrupted. In this instance, the blood was then only sprinkled on the altar of burnt-offering, because that was the place where God met an individual; for he must be reconciled, that he might have his place in the congregation, to hold communion with God. It is only because JESUS bore our sins individually, that we have communion. But He did it once for all.

Of this sacrifice we find the priest is commanded to take a portion (chap. 6:25, 26); the fat and blood only being presented to the Lord on the altar of burnt-offering. We shall see in this the character of the work of JESUS for us, and find the blessedness of it.

In many things we all offend, not only having sin in our nature, but doing things which conscience tells us ought not to be done; and in this state we could have no access to God for communion. These offenses render the offender unfit for communion, and while in this state he could not approach God. Observe in this chapter, it is not merely sin, but sins that are mentioned. And here, for a moment, I would speak of the importance of not misquoting (as is often done) the passage, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," (John 1:24). It is not said sins of the world, for if that were true, God would have nothing to charge it with.

It is indeed true, that the world as a system shall be restored to God: that place over which Satan has now gained such power shall be redeemed, as it is said in Col. 1:20, " By him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven." In the hands of the " last Adam," the sacrifice is the ground of the restoration of all that was alienated in the first Adam: so that His atonement not only forms a ground upon which every sinner may be addressed, but through it the world shall be restored to blessing. This result, however, is entirely future, as we know from the present dominion of Satan in this evil world; and, in the mean time, many despise and reject the blessing, for whom judgment is reserved; but to the believer present peace comes, though his be not a portion in the result yet.

In the offerings before us, there is not merely this general atonement, but the bearing of sins, the actual transfer of sins to JESUS, the free gift of many offenses unto justification of life. As in Isa. 53, it is said, " He bare the iniquities of many " (ver. 11), as well as " made his soul an offering for sin " (ver. 10); and here we not only see JESUS presented as an offering to God, by virtue of which any sinner may be addressed, but the believer also finds that his sins were laid upon Him. And the church, in anticipating the great result, finds that it is a saved body, and is brought into the know ledge of that which the apostle declares (Col. 1:21), " And you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled," &c. Thus we get full settled peace, for we know that JESUS has borne not merely some of our sins, but we get at this great general truth, that all our sins were laid upon Him and are blotted out, and we know that all our sins are gone from the presence of God, for He has said, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more " (Heb. 10:17). JESUS has endured the penalty. " He bath saved us, and called us with an holy calling;" and faith is able to look at JESUS as the Bearer of all sin for us, and the sin having been charged upon Him, the church is raised out of all the evil it had been in, being by one offering perfected forever.

We can look at the work of JESUS in no other light than as thus complete; and we must, therefore, see all our sins laid upon Him, and consequently all put away, and God righteous and just in forgiving, because JESUS had already borne them. There can be no enfeebling of this-it would be doing it away altogether. If I say they are not completely taken away, then which of them remain, and where are the sins from which I am not justified? When is each sin to be separately atoned for? If we are brought, by our sense of the need of this blood-shedding, to see the value of it, then we not only come to the mercy seat, but find all our sins have been put away, and that He suffered the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. It is, of course, only by the Spirit we are brought to know and value this, even that JESUS was our substitute, that " He bore our sins in His own body on the tree;" and that having done so, God is righteous to forgive. Nothing can be more plain than that, if JESUS did indeed bear our sins, then every believer is justified from all things.

We may look at it in all its breadth and compass; JESUS confessed our sins, bore them, and was bruised on their account. If He has opened your heart to believe in Him as bearing sins at all, then all your sins are put away; you must either deny that He was bearing sins at all, or you are justified. Here is the certainty of peace; and we stand justified from all things, and JESUS looks at us in this character, not at any particular time, but in order that He may present us to God. There is no question of past or future transgression, but He bore our sins. Hold fast this. There is, indeed, the frequent consciousness of faults. While faith says our sins are put away, still in looking at ourselves we see evil; and now we find how graciously the Lord provides for this defilement. The priest that offered the sin-offering was to eat it (6:26). As the worshipper and the priest ate the peace-offering together, representing JESUS as being identified with the joy of communion; so the priest takes part of the sin-offering, showing that JESUS is identified with the sin which hinders communion. Only priests ate it in the holy place specially, the priest who offered it was to eat his portion: JESUS is this Priest; that on which the sin was confessed the priest ate, and identified himself thus with the defilement.

Now, in passing through the world we get disqualified by sin for communion; even though we know it not, we cannot take our blindness as the measure of God's holy requirements. The blindness of our consciences is not the blindness of God's eye, as man is apt to think; but the riches of divine mercy has provided a way, in which, although God sees it all, yet He sees us free from it, because He sees the sin all upon JESUS, " who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." But in His resurrection we see they were actually and effectually put away; so that we are "justified from all things,' "perfected forever." (Acts 13:39; Heb. 10:14.) He rose again, God having accepted His work, and thus bearing testimony to it. There are things which our consciences tell us ought not to be done; but of the sins of ignorance it is said, " Though he wilt it not, he is guilty, he shall bear his iniquity." There is no folly like that of taking the blindness of our hearts as God's estimate of sin; but let evil and defilement be what they may, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, and grace restores communion.

In Num. 19, we have a special case of a sin-offering. There is this difference between Leviticus and Numbers. In Leviticus, we have the sacrifices in their great distinguishing characters; in Numbers, we have the particular application in the trials of a walk of faith, meeting the case of individuals falling into evil, or contracting defilement. In Num. 19, there was a red heifer taken, and burnt as a sin-offering, according to the description in the chapter now before us; " the ashes were kept for a water of separation, a purification for sin.'' Any man unclean by touching death was sprinkled with it. This shows the power of the sin-offering, as brought by the Spirit to the conscience; it is not a fresh sacrifice, there is no shedding of blood, but merely the "water of separation" sprinkled.

There are but three instances of blood being sprinkled on individuals, which are these: Aaron and his sons on the day of their consecration (Lev. 8:23-30); the leper on the day of his cleansing (Lev. 14:7); and the people on the giving of the covenant from Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:8). There needed, in fact, but one sprinkling, for, looked at in its whole character, " the worshippers being once purged, had no more conscience of sins " (Heb. 10:2); but for the daily defilements there was the water of separation, the application of a past thing with present power to the conscience, as the case required. The sacrifice of JESUS is an act done long since. But when the believer, once cleansed by faith in His blood, contracts defilement in walking in this world, for this there is no fresh offering, but the sacrifice is brought to his remembrance by the Spirit. It is the blood that cleanses us from sin, and gives us our portion as sons by adoption; but, as regards the conscience in communion, it is the Spirit of God bringing to recollection what JESUS has done, as the ashes of the red heifer, so as to lead to confession and restore communion.

The perception that JESUS has taken the defilement maintains the standard of holiness in spite of our sin. Nothing but JESUS charging the sin upon Himself could do this; and if we do not see the holiness maintained we shall be making excuses for our sin, and thinking we can still have communion with God in it; and our estimate and standard of sin must of necessity be lowered. If my conscience cannot know the sin absolutely put away, I must give up communion, or seek it on some other and lower ground; but seeing JESUS a burnt-offering and a sin-offering, we see Him made sin, and ourselves made the righteousness of God in Him. We also see that He loved us, and gave Himself for us, not for anything in us, but because of the prevalence of His love over all. What blessed thoughts must we have in this knowledge of the perfectness of His love and what must be the blindness of those who count God to be such an one as themselves, seeing that He has given JESUS.

" My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world."

(Concluded from page 140.)

Confounding Authority With Infallibility in the Maintenance of Scriptural Discipline

Dear ****

I think the person who answered the question was frightened by the word " Infallibility," which I am not. It is simply the poor and transparent piece of sophistry of confounding authority with infallibility.

In many instances obedience may be obligatory where there is no infallibility. Were it not so, as you can easily see, there could be no order in the world at all. There is no infallibility in it, but a great deal of self-will; and if there is to be no obedience when there is not infallibility—no acquiescence in what has been decided—there is no end to self-will and no existence of common order. The question is of competency, not infallibility. A father is not infallible, but he has divinely given authority, and acquiescence is a duty. A police magistrate is not infallible, but he has competent authority in the cases submitted to his jurisdiction. There may be resources against abuses of authority, or, in certain cases, a refusal of obedience, when a higher obliges us, as a conscience directed by God's word. We ought to obey God rather than man: but there is never, in Scripture, liberty given to the human will, as such: we are sanctified to the obedience of Christ. And this principle, our doing God's will in simple obedience, without solving every abstract question that may be raised, is a path of peace which many heads, who think themselves wiser, miss, because it is the path of God's wisdom.

The question, therefore, is a mere—and poor—sophistry, which betrays the desire to have the will free, and a confidence that the person's judgment is superior to all that has been already judged. There is judicial authority in the church of God: and if there were not, it would be the most horrible iniquity on earth; because it would put the sanction of Christ's name on every iniquity. And that is what was sought and pleaded for by those with whom these questions originated, that whatever iniquity or leaven was allowed, it could not leaven an assembly. Such views have done good. They have the cordial rejection and abhorrence of every honest mind, and of every one who does not seek to satisfy evil. It is possible you may think, or say, That is not the question I am asking. Forgive me for saying, I know that it is, and that only; though you do not, I am well assured.

But the judicial authority of the church of God is in obedience to the word, " Do not ye judge them that are within P them that are without God judgeth. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person." And I repeat it, if it be not done, the church of God becomes the accrediting of every vileness of sin. And I affirm distinctly that, when this is done, other Christians are bound to respect it. There are remedies for fleshly action in it, in the presence of the Spirit of God amongst the saints and in the supreme authority of the Lord Jesus Christ; but that remedy is not the totally unscriptural and miserable one proposed by the question-the pretention of competency in every one who takes it into his head to judge for himself, independently of what God has instituted. It is, taken in its most favorable aspect (not as individual pretention which is its real character), the well-known and unscriptural system which has been known since Cromwell's time, that is, Independency-one body of Christians being independent of every other as a voluntary association. This is a simple denial of the unity of the body, and the presence and action of the Holy Ghost in it.

Now I openly reject in the most absolute way the pretended competency of one church or assembly to judge the other, as the question proposes. But what is more important—it is an unscriptural denial of the whole structure of the church of God. It is Independency—a system I knew forty years ago, and would never join. If people like that system let them go there. It is vain to say it is not that. Independency merely means that each church judges for itself, independently of another; and that is all that is claimed here. I have no quarrel with those who, liking to judge for themselves, prefer the system. Only I am perfectly satisfied that in every respect it is wholly unscriptural. The church is not a voluntary system. It is not formed—or rather unformed—of a number of independent bodies, each acting for itself.

It was never dreamed, whatever the remedy, that Antioch could let in Gentiles and Jerusalem not, and all go on according to the order of the church of God. There is not a trace of such independency and disorder in the word. There is every possible evidence, in fact, and doctrinal insistence on there being one body on earth, whose unity was the foundation of blessing, and its maintenance the du ty of every Christian. Self-will may wish it otherwise, but certainly not grace, and not obedience to the word. Difficulties may arise. We have not an apostolic center, as there was at Jerusalem! Quite true; but we have a resource in the action of the Spirit in the unity of the body—the action of healing grace and helpful gift, and the faithfulness of a gracious Lord who has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.

But the case of Jerusalem, in Acts 15, is a proof that the scriptural church never thought of, and did not accept the independent action insisted upon. The action of the Holy Ghost was in the unity of the body, and is always so. The action directed by the apostle at Corinth (and which binds us as the word of God) was operative in respect of the whole church of God; and all are contemplated in the opening of the Epistle. Does anyone mean to pretend that if the evil-doer was to be put out at Corinth judicially, that each church was to judge for itself whether he was to be received—that judicial act pass for nothing—or be operative only at Corinth, and Ephesus or Cenchrea do as it liked afterward? Where, then, was the solemn act or direction of the apostle? Well, that authority and that direction are the word of God for us now. I am quite aware it will be said, Yes, but you may not follow it rightly, as the flesh may act. It is possible. There is possibility that the flesh may act. But I am quite certain that what denies the unity of the church, sets up for itself and dissolves it into independent bodies, is the dissolution of the church of God—unscriptural—nothing but flesh. It is therefore judged for me before I go any further. There is a remedy; a blessed, gracious remedy of humble minds, in the help of God's Spirit in the unity of the body, and the Lord's faithful love and care, as I have said; but not in the pretentious will, which sets up for itself, and denies the church of God. My answer to the question is then—That the plea is a miserable sophistry, confounding infallibility, and divinely-ordained authority met by lowly grace: and the system sought by the question, the pretentious spirit of Independence-a rejection of the whole authority of Scripture in its teaching on the subject of the church, a setting up of man instead of God.

I am not very careful or anxious to answer the second question. It is clear that if two or three are gathered together it is an assembly; and, if scripturally assembled, an assembly of God. And, if not, what else? If the only one in a place, it is the assembly of God in the place. Yet I do object, practically, to taking the title; because the assembly of God in any place, properly, embraces all the saints in the place, and there is practical danger for souls in assuming the name—of losing sight of the ruin, and setting up to be something. But it is not false in the supposed case. Nay, if there be one such, and another is set up by man's will, independent of it, the first only is, morally, in God's sight, the assembly of God, and the other is not at all so, because it is set up in independency of the unity of the body.

I reject, in the most entire and unhesitating manner, the whole independent system-which is the only real object of the question—as unscriptural; and a positive, unmitigated evil. Now that the unity of the body has been brought out, and the scriptural truth of it known, it is simply a work of Satan. Ignorance of the truth is one thing, our common lot in many ways; opposition to it another. The miserable use made by unprincipled persons trying to make capital out of it, of an expression used with a perfectly right intention, in London, I pass under the silence it deserves. The truth of God is the same, whether an expression used by * * * * be right or wrong.

Yours very truly in the Lord,

=============================

I may add, that I know it is alleged, that the church is now so in ruins that scriptural order-according to the unity of the body—cannot be maintained. Then let the objectors avow, as honest men, that they seek unscriptural order—or rather disorder. But in truth it is impossible to meet at all, in that case, to break bread, except in defiance of God's word: for Scripture says we are all one body, for we are all partakers of that one loaf. We profess to be one body whenever we break bread. Scripture knows nothing else; and they will find Scripture too strong and perfect a bond for man's reasoning to break it.

Gracious God, Thy Children Keep

Gracious God, Thy children keep;

JESUS guide Thy silly sheep;

Fix, O fix, our fickle souls;

Lord, direct us: we are fools.

Bid us in Thy care confide;

keep us near Thy wounded side;

From Thee never let us stir,

For Thou know'st how soon we err.

Lay us low before Thy feet,

Safe from pride and self-conceit;

Be the language of our souls,

Lord, direct us: we are fools.

Dang'rous doctrines from without,

Lies and errors round about;

From within a treach'rous heart,

Prone to take the tempter's part.

By Thy word we fain would steer,

Fain Thy Spirit's dictates hear;

Save us from the rocks and shelves;

Save us chiefly from ourselves.

Never, never may we dare,

What we are not, think we are;

Make us well our vileness know;

Keep us very, very low.

May we all our wills resign,

Quite absorb'd and lost in Thine;

Let us walk by Thy right rules;

Lord direct us: we are fools.

The Church of God

CT 20:28{

" THE CHURCH OF GOD " amazing, precious thought!

That sinners, vile and outcast, should be brought

Renew'd in heart, and cleansed by Jesu's blood,

To form " one body," e'en the " Church of God,"

Angels around the throne that never fell,—

Seraphic spirits that in glory dwell,—

The holy patriarchs before the flood,

Nor Israel since,—compose the "Church of God."

Distinct in glory from the Church they shine,

Though each unfolds a wonderful design;

The Holy Spirit makes His blest abode,

In those, alone, who form the " Church of God.

First quickened, then sealed by the Holy Ghost,

The Church began on earth at Pentecost,

When like a fire He came on each and stood,

That little band commenced the " Church of God."

The Church is one, it has one glorious Head,

And by one Spirit through this waste is led;

And nourishment from Christ, on high, bestowed

Together binds in one, the "Church of God."

United to her risen Head above;

E'en now she knows the sweetness of His love;

His power is her's to help her on the road—

BRIDE OF THE LAMB,—" CHURCH OF THE

LIVING GOD! "

Soon will He come and take His Church away-And O sweet thought! fast hastens on the day, When He will stand with all His saints avowed HEAD of the Church,-the purchased "CHURCH OF GOD!"

Concerning Christ and the Church

PH 5:32{Marriage was instituted in the garden of Eden; and it vividly displays the nearness and dearness of relationship into which believers are brought, as the church and bride of Christ, to HIMSELF. Moreover, the familiarity of our minds with this relationship, makes us understand better the place to which we are brought in the gracious affections of Christ.

Eve was to Adam the companion of his home and the depositary of his affections. So " Christ loved the Church, and gave HIMSELF for it; " and the fact that she becomes the depositary and witness of His affections, is a thought more deeply touching than all the glory which will be her endowment as allied to Christ.

The purpose of Christ's ministry towards His Church is " that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word," and the end of that ministry is, "that He might present it to HIMSELF a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." Just as Eve was for Adam himself, so is the Church to be for Christ HIMSELF.

And yet if any one thought they knew how to measure Eve's blessedness and position, and only measured it by her relationship to Adam as an individual, the help meet for him, they would give short measure; far shorter than the measure given by another whose line and cord took in both the whereabouts of Adam's position in a garden of delights, fashioned for him by God, etc., and the who and the what Adam was as connected with the Maker of Adam and of those scenes. Just so: sweet and precious as it is to the heart and mind to feel, I am part of the " one body," the Church, which is to be the companion of Christ—which has His heart's love poured out upon it, and who looks for a return to it—I need to remember the where this Blessed One is to be displayed, and the who and what He is, if I would at all enter into the blessedness of being a member of this body, the Church. He is the channel, and center, and end of every display which God has made for Himself by His various attributes—the Son and Revealer of the Father—the Opener of His blessed house.

And such is this Son, that when none, of men, clave to Him as Son of man here on earth, the Father glorified Him with the glory which He had with Him before the world was; and in the Church will be found God's paradise or garden of delights, all that will meet His mind and Christ's—the very expression of His own thought.

For the Bride—chosen companion of the Lord, is the one, whose hope is the Bridegroom's self—and Him alone. 0 for more understanding of the wondrous grace in Him, who now condescends to open His heart and mind to the chaste virgin that is espoused to Him. We are for Himself, and He is for us—as those wonderful words " Bridegroom " and " Bride " teach. What grace has our God, to have such a title and such a glad honor for His Son, and for us. Both titles tell of joy—His speaks of power; hers, of beauty. But they answer the one to the other, as none other of our correlative titles do; and the savor of either one is more peculiarly for the other; and the other, more immediately only. Be the company in whose presence they shall be seen divine, as the Father's whose house is theirs; or below them both, as of angels; or of the world, seeing His love making the display that she is loved even as He is loved—still they have a joy in one another's love. Each needs the other; and both are perfected alone, when together. What means that title, " Bridegroom " without a Bride? or who is the Bride apart from the Bride groom? What joy such as of the Bridegroom and the Bride? What glory, brighter witness, either of the worthiness of the Lamb, whose wife she is—or of the rich, divine grace of the Father's heart? May we remember whose we are, and serve HIM with a whole heart.

The Lord Himself, e'en JESUS,

Amid the ransom'd throng,

Its glory, joy, and beauty,

Its never-ending song.

O day of wonderous promise,

The Bridegroom and the bride

Are seen in glory ever:

O God! now satisfied.

The Present Testimony

The thoughts of many, at the present moment, about the testimony of God, appear to me to savor rather of the personal considerations, as to where they have been, and what they have been doing, than to present a fair expression of what is true as to God and His present testimony.

The grace of God, in these last days, found us all (whom indeed it has found) dwelling in a moral Babylon; and there the cry was heard, " Come out of her my people!" And who, that has replied to the call, " I come, Lord," has not found both the inextricable character of the labyrinth, out of which, through grace, he desired to escape, and his own complicity, alas! with the evil of the place?

To move from one street to another in that mystic city is readily allowed; and it is comparatively easy, if expensive, so to do. But none, except He who is stronger than the lord of that city, can bring clean out of it any of those who have been born there, and have thus become " dwellers upon the earth ";—"dwellers upon the earth " in avowed obedience to the name of Christ, and holders of citizenship " where Satan's seat is," professedly in the fear of the Lord.

True; and yet, if a man has heard the cry, " Come out of her my people; " and that by the voice of One whose call is never in vain; he must be cautious, and get out, lest he be lost in the confusions of the place. And the more caution will be needed, with minds like ours, so prone to self-deception in the things of God. Alas! when one has been roused to action, how frequently does the heart confound the thought, " I have done something," with " I have done Thy will, 0 God." But who needs be told that these are often far from being equivalent?

I do not press the applicability of the doctrine of the Babylon of " Revelation; " yet I note the fact, that the Spirit of God has commonly used it on consciences, when He has been leading His people out of unscriptural associations. See, for example, in the days of Luther, and of the Nonconformists, and the movement of to-day.

But a word as to the so-called present testimony. I will state in simplicity, for myself individually, what I mean by the present testimony, in which, and of which, I desire grace to be found; and, at the same time I must say, I deeply deplore that many beloved children of God either do not see its existence, or make light of it altogether.

No better introduction of my subject occurs to me than the well-known but much abused catechismal term—" THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH."

While God was teaching earthly truths and government, the Jew was His subject: but, when heavenly truth became the theme, Christ and His grace in the church became the subject.

God established upon earth the counterpart and witness of what was in His counsel for the heavens—a church; and the word of God's grace was about that church; see Paul's conversion. In connection with the church, the individual believer found his position, his privileges, and his responsibilities. It was to be on earth as a widow, Christ-expectant, and serving the living and true God until the Savior and Lord came back.

I do not go into the question, what is the church? All I assert is, God did establish one; and I ask, where is it?

Chef d'oeuvre of God's workmanship, it came out to light when the Son of man, rejected by all from earth, had found His seat at the right hand of the Father. His God and Father has not changed His truth, nor recalled it yet to give it another form; nor has He changed the place of the Son of man upon the Father's throne.

The " chaste virgin" on earth, espoused to a Heavenly Lord, as a widow waiting—where is she? Nay; all is changed here, in her appearance, from what once it was; and because of man's utter unfaithfulness we were found, if found by grace at all, in Babylon. But found by whom, except by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who retains Him still as Son of man upon the Father's throne. The position and revelation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are not changed; nor will change (blessed be God) to please us and our narrow thoughts. Divine and heavenly truth about the Son and His church, is still the standing form of God's present display of Himself,

Now what I want, is to be broken down in myself, and in all that I have and am, by this divine and fatherly love, and to be made to realize, and to exhibit, in the midst of the ruin and wreck of the church here below; that the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is still acting down here upon earth as the God and Father of the Son of man, who is at His right hand in the glory which He had with Him before the world was, and who has a body down here. The claims of God, and the blessing of my own soul, require this.

It is clear I cannot, if I would, break up the truth given to me as one here below; -I cannot, because I cannot change God's revelation of Himself, nor the position which His Christ holds, until the church is all gathered at the Father's right hand.

The discovery of this truth tells me where I am not, and what I am not. It tells of man's utter failure, and of circumstances so changed down here,—partly the effects of our wickedness, and partly the effects of the moral judgment of God thereon,—that one finds that it is God alone can soften one down to the plat form of His grace;—a platform where all the heavenly divine light of the Son of man, upon the Father's throne, meets the conscience of a member of His body in a place where all is confusion and sin.

"The obedience of faith:" how precious is such a position! The knowledge of which involves that God and His truth are not changed; and if the circumstances down here proper to it are changed, God will accept the integrity which seeks to find and to do His will, and He will give guidance to such; though He may leave to their own wisdom those who, because they have failed themselves want to make out, either that He is also changed; or that, if not changed in Himself or in His truth, He is not, as the living God, acting upon that truth now No measure short of Christ and the church is our gospel; and God is acting upon that truth, and I do most simply, therefore, ask that I may find grace in His sight, not only to know Himself and His truth, but to know myself livingly associated with Him as the living God in His present action. Blessed' also is the truth to such a one of the Lordship of Jesus: i.e., that He is not Savior only, but Lord of all also.

I believe it to be a very great sin, and a grief and a dishonor to the Holy Ghost, to deny the church of the living God, and a corrupting of the gospel. To make little of what God is doing, as the living God, is a sin too; and this is what they are guilty of who make little of present association with Him as the God so acting. Who would turn back from " the Father," and " the Son of man upon the Father's throne;" the Father acting for the members of the body of that Son—to grace and mercy as fitted for a soul itself in its dangers and needs? Blessed is the gospel which calls a sinner, and the grace which suits a saint; but I am speaking of the responsibility of unexampled infinite grace.

I believe it to be horrid dishonor put upon oneself to be thinking merely of one's own soul, or even of the souls of poor sinners and saints around one, if it be to the forgetting of the central truth—GOD'S central truth—of His delight in Christ and His church.

I need hardly say, I do not sanction any disparagement of any babe's attainment in thus speaking. I speak not of such; but I speak of those who, professing to be "somewhat," and to be making progress into a fuller light and liberty, would set the gospel as their more excellent employment; or who would put aside the thought of a "present testimony " for the gospel's sake.

Now my assertion is clear—the man of God, who has to do individually with the living God in His gospel, knows that gospel to be about Christ and the church: and that, much as man has failed, God, as the living God, holds to that gospel; and holds men of God to see their failure; and if walking with Him as the living God, to own the scope of the truth first given, and to seek from God power to live out, amid all the wreck and ruin, as integral parts of that body, the Head of which is in heaven, and so to be associated, and consistently associated with God's present testimony for Himself. And all I would say is, that if God is ready to vindicate Himself against man and Satan in upholding a few individuals after that sort—may I be one!

Nota Bene

We can only be, in truth, a testimony to the complete failure of the Church of God. But, to be such, we must be as true in principle as the thing that has failed. And, as long as we are a testimony to failure, we shall never fail.

Apostasy; Or, "Thou Hast Left Thy First Love"

There can be no doubt, that there is a particular work, which the Lord has in view, at any particular period of the Church's history, when He is acting in any power. It becomes, therefore, a matter of particular interest, to know what is the special truth, which the Lord has in view at a given time, because thus, with increased intelligence, we become fellow-workers with Him.

With regard to ourselves and the Lord's special work now, is it not an internal one? The Lord's promise was, that previous to His actual return the cry should go forth again, " Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." That cry was to act upon themselves. "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps." What then the Lord has awakened our attention to now, is the solemn fact that all have slumbered, wise and foolish together, whilst the Bridegroom has tarried: in fact, the complete apostasy, and departure of the professing Church from the truth and position once delivered to the saints. We find that we have been enveloped in corruption; the question is, how to escape that corruption?

It is not merely coming out of human ecclesiastical organizations, though that is necessary; we must (if we would be found in obedience to the Lord) come out of every body that is not gathered on Scriptural principles, else we never can have even a fair start: still, if we carry with us the seeds of corruption, unheeded and unjudged, the result will be the same again, yea even worse, by reason of our increased light, responsibility, and profession.

If we would then get the Lord's watchword now, I believe it is, " To him that overcometh " (and that is within); and if we would know what it is that is to be overcome, I believe it is indicated in that word, " Thou hast left thy first love." To suppose that we have not to overcome even within, because we have taken a position of separation, even if it were separation sevenfold, would only entirely betray us, and perhaps plunge us in the same corruption. If we then search from the word of God, what are the causes and principles of corruption, what the preservative, I believe we shall find them singularly simple. Resting in present attainment, I believe we shall find the whole, that is, the general secret of it. Look at Israel, and how distinctly do we find it traced! In Deut. 32., after all the marvelous grace of—" He found him... in a waste howling wilderness, He led him about... made him to suck honey out of the rock; butter of kine... and the pure blood of the grape "—how comes in the corruption? He rests self-complacently in the goodness of God to him, instead of resting on, and walking with, God Himself, as a present thing: " Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked; thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; " and, as a natural consequence, " he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.' That whole song is of the last importance it is, I think, God's anatomy of man's corruption. We get the same account of the process, and God's pain at this leaving of the first love in Jer. 2:2. " Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness [or deep

affection’ ] of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of His increase... Thus saith the Lord. What iniquity have your fathers found in Me?" &c. He reminds them (ver. 6) of the desert land He led them through, (ver. 7) " I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof, and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled My land, and made My heritage an abomination." " My people have committed two evils, they have forsaken Me the Fountain of living waters (ver. 13), and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." The same is traced with full distinctness in Ezek. 16 " Thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite.... I passed by, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood,... and said, Live.... I have caused thee to multiply,... thy breasts are fashioned.... thou was decked with gold,... thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. But thou DIDST TRUST in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot BECAUSE OF thy renown; " and so forth. In our Lord's time, there He found them: " Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father."

Turn now to the Gentile (Rom. 11). Its snare would be, " Be not high-minded." In Rev. 2, we get Christ's own delineation of the corruption. Every evil which we get in Thyatira, Sardis, or Laodicea, has, I believe, its germ in that simple word at Ephesus, " Thou hast left thy first love," amidst all the height, to which the Ephesian Epistle evidently shows God had brought them, and Christ's address bears witness too (vs. 2, 3).

Surely, then, these things are written before us with a pencil of light; and it must be of no slight importance to the believer to take heed to them. If we would get the preservative, " Christ's love " supplies one, and Phil. 3:13, another aspect: " Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling [or, rather, calling on high'] of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." This, therefore, should be our spring, kept simple and fresh to the end: " The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." This, I say, should be our motive, simple and fresh to the end. And then, as the apostle says, " forgetting those things which are behind." When this is not the case, when the soul rests in attainments made, it becomes self-satisfied: it rests in the knowledge, perhaps, previously heaped up, which like the manna, only breeds worms, and becomes corrupt, for want of being gathered day by day. And I would remark that all knowledge of truth gathered beyond our present communion, is not only not a blessing, but an injury. We can place no limit to the extent to which the Lord may teach and lead us on, but when once knowledge becomes an object to me apart from the Lord Himself, I may as well, and better, be employed about some other object. The hardest conscience of all often to deal with and arouse, is that which knows everything. You can tell them nothing new. Their previous knowledge without communion, is like a foil put upon " the sword of the Spirit," it makes it dull, ineffectual. Further, the being thus laden with vain knowledge, makes the believer restless, like an overloaded stomach, that does not know what is the matter with it. He has no longer an appetite for simple things. He must have something new and overpowering, or something to meet his particular taste. Well does the wise man say, " The full soul loatheth the honey-comb, whilst to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." Oftentimes he mistakes this restlessness and dissatisfaction for spirituality, not knowing that the complaint is in himself; he is not at the right point for satisfaction (John 6:35), and therefore dissatisfied with everything and every one.

May we not well look to our own hearts: how is it with our hearts as to this? Are we as simple and fresh as we once were? The example of Ephesus is full to the point.

May we then cultivate that simple taste, cherishing, loving, and receiving all that is of God, be it weak or strong (for one may err either way, Ex. 23:3,6). Let us love the whole word of God, not forming to ourselves particular tastes, and choosing particular parts, for "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable... that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished." Let us seek grace to walk in wisdom towards them that are without, redeeming the time, our speech characterized by grace, seasoned with salt. Furthermore, whilst remembering the injunction, "prove all things, hold fast that which is good," let us carefully guard against a critical spirit which really saps true spirituality and savors strongly of Phariseeism.

" Preach the word," says Paul to Timothy (and that in view of the " last days,") " reprove, rebuke, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry " for the love of Christ, for the work of Christ. Do we take as much delight in His word, for its or His own sake, not for mere knowledge? Surely there ought to be an appetite about this, " As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby " (1 Peter 2:2). But remember the caution in the first verse, which, if not attended to, will cause the appetite to be impaired if not altogether destroyed: " Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings."

I have endeavored to show then, that the root of all apostasy and corruption (and we know not to what length that may go—the more has been the knowledge, joy, and activity, the deeper it sinks when corrupted), is to be found in resting in present attainment, instead of being kept freshly in the love of Christ.

Nothing is more healthful to one's own soul than the carefully bearing forth of the Gospel publicly or privately. Distaste for that is a bad sign indeed.

And if our poor hearts at all feel that we have slipped back, and fallen under the power of corruption, 0 how blessedly still does Christ meet us; " I counsel thee to buy of ME gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou Mayest be clothed." To HIM be glory!

Fragment

Remark how the Holy Ghost completely answers in us to the privileges and glories of Eph. 1; how He makes them good down here. First, answering to verse 4, the power of holiness is His very character, and the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by Him given to us. He is the Spirit of Sonship, so that we cry: " Abba, Father." He is the earnest of the inheritance, and the transforming Revealer of the glory, Even as to the body of Christ, we are baptized by Him into One Body, united to Christ, One Spirit. It shows us greatly how the Holy Ghost, as the Paraclete (Comforter) fills up now in power the whole scope of God's counsels in which we have part.

Mount Olivet

The Watchman's Testimony: "The morning cometh."—Isa. 21

The Angel's Testimony: "This same JESUS, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner."— Acts 1.

The Lord's Testimony: "I will come again, and receive you unto MYSELF '. that where I am, there ye may be also."- John 14.

Soon will the morning come,
With beams of bright array;

Soon will be heard the watchman's cry,

Behold the break of day!

Awake, the morning's come!

Arise, 0 sleeper thou?

The Lord Himself from heaven descends,

The King of glory now.

" Behold the opening sky!
He comes, He comes again,
With cloudless morning, bright and fair,
Like shining after rain."

Midst all Thy hallowed scenes

Around mount Olivet

My spirit lingers, Lord, for Thee,

Thy morning smile to get.

For Him alone I gaze,

The Bridegroom from on high,

Descending with archangel's voice

His Bride to glorify.

Soon will I hear His shout,

The trump of God, the Word:

And in the twinkling of an eye

Ascend to meet my Lord.

O JESUS, come, and bring

Thy Saints that sleep in Thee,

To join the living in the air

In rapturous unity!

From mansions long prepared,

Through Salem's deathless love,

Return, return, O Lord, how long?

And take Thy Bride above.

Nehemiah and Jude

There is one striking correspondency between the book of Nehemiah and the epistle of Jude. In the former we read, "Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held a weapon. For the builders, every one, had his sword girded by his side, and so builded." In the latter, Jude, in the commencement of his epistle, exhorts us to, " Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints; " and at the end, " to build up ourselves on our most holy faith." He would have us, like Nehemiah's builders, with the sword in one hand, and the trowel in the other, The reason is found in the character of the Certain men had crept in unawares, arid apostates abounded.

It was no time for peace, therefore, when the foundations were being assailed. In the face of such dangers God would have His people valiant for the truth. The sword, it should be observed, is for defense as well as for attack: but conflict must not be shrunk from when the faith once delivered to the saints is in question. But while prepared for, and even in the midst of, conflict, we must also be diligently occupied with the edification of ourselves. and of one another, that we may be the better prepared to resist the attacks of the enemy.

"O and O" or "H and H:" Which Are You?

A few years ago I knew a dear old Christian whose avocation (traveling for a large English firm) necessitated his going all over the world. On one occasion he had to go into a district, in the far East, where he had not been previously. He was earnest and devoted in the Lord's work, in his own quiet way "buying up opportunities." Knowing an earnest young Christian who was well acquainted with the district into which he was going, he asked him if he would kindly give him some names and addresses of the Lord's people in those parts. He replied, that he certainly would.

When the list was received the older one was puzzled on looking over it at seeing either, " O and O " or " H and H," opposite each name. He asked the other whatever "O and O " or " H and H " meant. The one who made out the list answered, " Some are only Half and Half ' Christians, and others are Out and Out' ones, and I put those marks to distinguish them.

Dear reader, are you the Lord's? If so, which are you, "O and O" or only "H and H?"

" The time is short," and remember " The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich " (in all the glory which He had with the Father before the world was) "yet for our sakes He became poor " (even shedding His precious blood on Calvary's cross to make us His own and fit us for Himself)

that we through His poverty might be rich! "

"Faint, Yet Pursuing"

And Gideon naive to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing." (Judg. 8:4.)

The opening of a campaign, the carrying on of the struggle, with endurance to the end, are all included in Paul's memorable summary—" I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a (the' in the original) crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous fudge shall give me at that day." (2 Tim. 4:7,8). A ship may be making little progress and yet answer her helm; ready to take advantage of a favorable breeze. Delays unlooked for may occur: yet her log-book of the course she kept, with the winds that blew, may justify the master and crew in the eyes of her owners, that all had been done that could be accomplished. In our Christian career unlooked-for difficulties may arise (and necessarily so for the trial of our faith). We may have to encounter opposition where we looked for assistance. We may have to suffer most from those with whom we once held sweet fellowship. It may be our lot to have bitter experience of the words in Psa. 55:12: " For it was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it; neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me, then I would have hid myself from him: but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance, we took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in company." How little, after all, have we been prepared for it; how impatient under it! What scope has been given to the exercise of reason, how little for the exercise of faith! We have held truth in the head, and it could not meet the necessities or trials of the heart. And it is gracious of the Lord to show this to us, and to bring us to acknowledge it before Him, and to have bowels of sympathy for those who entered into conflict without tried weapons of war (1 Sam. 17:39).

Yet, let us not be misunderstood. Strength to pursue a course depends upon the course being right. The right object attracts forward, has propelling power in it, because it is right. Hence the immense importance of truth simply as truth. How well does it repay any real regard for it. What provision for necessities, what charges it undertakes In Prov. 4 " Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her, and she shall keep thee..... Exalt her and she shall promote thee to excellent honor." And what is here advanced of wisdom is true also of the Lord Jesus. A due regard to His glory and His honor is the charge of His people's safety. The precept given by HIM, "No man goeth a warfare at his own charges," is made good in His service. He amply provides for every emergency. It is true wisdom to apprehend this. And here the simplicity of faith enters. The doctrine of justification by faith may be peremptorily insisted upon and Scripture ransacked in support of it; yet the very ablest advocate of this truth (and convinced, too, of its being true) may break down in the sister fact, that we must " walk by faith," "put on the breastplate of faith," " have faith in God," and whatever we enter upon or undertake, perform it in dependence upon God.

What mistakes arise from forgetfulness of this! How men plunge into the Lord's battles with their own weapons; bringing their own artillery to play upon their antagonists, and exposing, in their censure of other men's motives, the whereabouts of their own. But the Lord hath no need of this. The dignity of the truth is above this. Faith will act the part of a general who makes his observations before entering into the melee, and disposes his forces for the attack, and continues his plans unmoved by the din of conflict, or the clouds of smoke and dust. How often, alas! there are combatants in the ranks who fight on for fighting's sake, without principle to lead them into action, and having no energy but their self-will to maintain them there; and if this be crossed, and their own importance interfered with, are forward to throw aside their weapons in disgust, or discharge them, when retreating, in the face of those who had been companions in service. Alas! how grieving is all this to the blessed Lord as well as to everyone who has a right sense of what is due to Him. The triumph of the truth swallows up in its grandeur, the individual share in promoting the victory. So the fall of an opponent in such a struggle gives no room for self-exultation, but rather for commiseration. Victory is hallowed by tears of regret for those who, from love of ease, carnal security, carelessness of walk, error in judgment, or weakness of faith. were led into a position where they were sure to be vanquished.

Still, while it is the privilege of faith to anticipate the end, ever assured of blessing from God, yet the way is weary, and often the hands are heavy, the spirits droop, and then the trial of constancy of purpose comes on; and though faint, yet to be found pursuing, is the precursor of blessing and triumph. And this is the turning point of the career. Unbelief sheers off when difficulty threatens. Faith escapes none of these trials, yet holds on her course "though faint, yet pursuing." Let us beware of misjudging our condition by our feelings or perceptions; of putting our enjoyment in the service, in the place of the service itself; and so, contrariwise, of confounding our trials, which necessarily arise from it, with the end in view. It is easy to do this. How many are the ways by which men delude themselves into supineness. It is the cause of a controversy which justifies one. It is at all tunes unpleasant in itself, but still it may be imperative duty to engage in it. The plea of the evil of it, as such, may be made an excuse of by some. Its tendency to lead bystanders to mock at the truth, the apology of others. Yet if it comes in the way of duty, we cannot avoid it. " To everything there is a season,... a time of war," as well as " a time of peace " (Eccl. 3), but servants have no right to be choosers, much less to refrain from action, when the service is arduous, and attended with difficulty, seeking into the future for excuses for inertness, instead of being earnest and zealous in the work of to-day.

The book of Judges gives the history of man's unfaithfulness in the very place of blessing, sinning in the very face of the bounty and grace which had put him there. It gives also the dealings of God with His people, in chastisement and repeated deliverance. Such was His love and regard, that He pitied them in their sufferings, which their own sin brought upon them "Yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath " (Psa. 78:38). The sixth chapter of Judges opens with a renewed account of Israel's iniquity, and the consequences of it. "The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel,... and Israel was greatly impoverished;... and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord."

How gracious His ways! He sent a prophet unto them, to remind them of His goodness, how He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all them that oppressed them, and gave them their land. " And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed My voice." The testimony to their evil is recorded. The bounty of His grace is unfolded to meet it. Gideon is appointed a deliverer. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, " The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." And Gideon said unto him, " If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?" It is hard in the midst of the chastening for departure from God, to realize that it is because relationship had existed that this had befallen them. To recognize His hand, was the germ of faith; to see His deliverance in purpose, the growth of it. " If the Lord be with us, why then has all this befallen us?" When He was grieved with their sins, and insulted by the setting up of false gods, He left them to reap, as they had sown, confusion and strife,—to be scattered and peeled, Yes, He noticed them in chastening, because they were His (See Amos 3:2). And Gideon said, "O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, SURELY I WILL BE WITH THEE, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." And it is just here that the spring of confidence rises,-" I will be with thee." It was so with Moses of old (See Ex. 33:14,15). The starting point of faith is " God with us." Without this, all contest is in vain and worthless. He met them as they were, and acted on His faithfulness to His promise to their fathers, passing by in marvelous grace their own sinfulness and unbelief.

But how should Gideon be assured of this? The Lord would accept of his offering; and so little did Gideon apprehend His ways, that the seal of his acceptance was regarded by him as the knell of his death; for he said, " Alas, 0 Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face." And the Lord answered him; " Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die." And Gideon built an altar there. His soul is awakened for his work. There is struggle for establishment, and the Lord condescends to his weakness, and submits to be proved, that his servant might trust Him (vs. 36, 40). He has evidence of His favor, and starts on his career. What wretched confusion was around! What prospect of remedy! How hopeless, to reason, the task! Yet faith laughs at impossibilities, for they exist not before Him with whom we have to do. Omnipotence sees hills as the plains, and water in the flinty rock. Now Gideon had got hold of a great principle-the Lord with His people in chastening them, and therefore His hand in deliverance. Being His, they were sure of the former, and equally safe for the latter. Looking at troubles amongst saints apart from the Lord's hand in permitting them, the eye discerns no remedy; the heart is overwhelmed with consternation. Fear enters; and that which in communion would have been the precursor of blessings, becomes to unbelief the harbinger of defeat. But, blessed be God! it is not so, the Name of the Lord invoked, the two or three gathered together in that Name, the Holy Ghost recognized in the body, surely the Lord will show He acknowledges us by chastening when needed, that He may bless us the more. " Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10.) But, as was before stated, this is the trial of faith, it, is a step in the right direction to discern the Lord's dealings with His people. "The Lord with them" becomes recovered strength to Gideon; and accordingly as this was discerned, there was blessing in his career. How his faith sought encouragement, and how the Lord dealt graciously towards him, the Scripture records.

How pride should be hid from man, and salvation of the Lord fully manifested, the sequel discloses-three hundred only of the many thousands of Israel, and with such weapons of war as appeared very folly in the eyes of the world. But the deliverance would be more manifestly of God, and the hearts of His people brought back to Him; for this was the object, not the triumph of a party but the blessing of the whole people of Israel. We lose sight of this.... Surely there is encouragement for faith from the very fact of our chastening. Let us beware of writing (as has before been observed) the sentence of death upon our position and privileges instead of upon ourselves. To recognize the hand of our Father, and to acknowledge the needs be, is the first step towards recovery.

This was attained to by Gideon. The Lord's hand was seen in permitting the chastisement; the Lord's hand made bare to faith in working deliverance. But the position of faith is the path of trial, and that, too, because it is the one faith. We have forgotten this in our folly. We have asked with Gideon, if it be so, why, then, has all this befallen us? And, instead of the language of Nehemiah, " Should such a man as I flee?" (Neh. 6:11), " we have run every man unto his own house," whilst the Lord's house lay waste (Hag. 1:9). Trial by the way, is no excuse for getting out of the way; failure in man, no reason for quarreling with God. But the rather, our every discomfiture should quicken our feet to our hiding place. " Thou art my hiding place,' (Psa. 32:7;119:114.) But the path of faith is one of trial. Service for God can only be sustained in the power of God. THERE IS DANGER WHILST WORKING OSTENSIBLY FOR HIM, OF CEASING TO ABIDE IN HIM: and then leanness of soul enters, and the heart, unsustained by communion, shrinks under trials which, in a healthy condition, would have had no pressure upon us. Now Gideon had eminent service, and consequently trials in it. He wrought a victory in the energy of the Spirit of God, and this exposed him to the envy of Ephraim, (chapter 8.) He came to Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men that were with him, faint yet pursuing." And he asked bread of the men of Succoth, and he was mocked of them: the princes of Succoth saw nothing imposing in the small band of the faithful, so wearied and famished, for whom unbelief had no sympathy, and less of discernment when acting for God. And he passed on to Penuel, where a like reception awaited him. There are few allies for faith, and few spirits to lead on a forlorn hope into conflict. Yet pursuing God's enemies, and employed in His service, though faint, He sustains them. "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." The hosts of Zeba and Zalmunna are defeated in Karkor, and the two kings taken, (chap. 8:21) and slain; the elders of Succoth taught with thorns and briers in the wilderness (verse 16); the men of the city of Penuel slain, and their tower beaten down, (verse 17), and all this by a feeble few, "faint yet pursuing."

What comfort and encouragement is here!! Have faith in God. How imperative the precept! How certain the results! The Lord strengthen the hands that hang down! May the good of His church be the object of pursuit, the truth of His presence where two or three are gathered together, the testimony borne; and though Ephraim wax wroth in the spirit of envy, and Succoth and Penuel will furnish no sustenance, yet, 'ONWARD,' is the word. " Speak to the people that they go forward." May the Lord encourage us that we may be found though, "faint, yet pursuing."

"Faint, Yet Pursuing"

With each countenance turned to the orient side,

Come on the Three Hundred to Jordan, swift tide;

Jehovah hath called them, and onward they go,

So weary and faint, yet pursuing the foe.

The Lord drew His sword in His glory and might,

When the lamps shone like stars in the dead of the night;

When the Midianite hosts turned and fled in dismay

From a cake of baked barley and pitchers of clay.

The Angel had come to the chief's lowly home,

And appeared in the fire as Jehovah-Shalom;

Now deep be thy peace, and profound thy repose,

'Tis He that appoints thee to scatter His foes.

O Lord give us hearts to respond to the call,

To make a surrender of self—nay, of all!

Not pausing. to stoop or to kneel at the brink,

But lapping, like dogs, without stopping to drink.

O Lord, give us hearts to pursue without fear,

Though Succoth may slander and Penuel sneer;

For yet a few hours, by the power of our God,

And Satan himself 'neath our feet shall be trod.

Wouldst thou seek any solace, or turn from the fray,

When the Lord of the battle is leading the way

Tis JESUS that calls us, and forward we go,

Though weary and "faint, yet pursuing" the foe.

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

The Remembrancer: 1910

Table of Contents

The Lord Is at Hand

"What Will It Be to Dwell Above, and With the Lord of Glory Reign?"

Fragment

"A Word Fitly Spoken"

The Passage of the Jordan

Waiting for Christ

A Meditation on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself

The Offerings: The Burnt Offering

A Meditation on the Lord Jesus Christ: Part 2

Fragment: While Gazing on Christ

The Offerings: The Meat Offering

Himself

"Hold That Fast Which Thou Hast"

On the Authority of Christ as Lord

A Solemn Lesson as to the Principle of Metropolitanism

Observe, My Soul, Thy Blessed Lord

God's Way in a Time of Difficult

"Continue Thou in the Things Which Thou Hast Learned"

The Mother of Moses and the Reward of Faith

The Offerings: The Peace Offering

"And Having Done All, to Stand"

Leaven

"Christ Loved the Church"

Conflict in Heavenly Places

Strength Made Perfect in Weakness

"Between the Two Evenings"

The Offerings: The Sin Offering

Confounding Authority With Infallibility in the Maintenance of Scriptural Discipline

Gracious God, Thy Children Keep

The Church of God

Concerning Christ and the Church

The Present Testimony

Nota Bene

Apostasy; Or, "Thou Hast Left Thy First Love"

Fragment

Mount Olivet

Nehemiah and Jude

"O and O" or "H and H:" Which Are You?

"Faint, Yet Pursuing"

"Faint, Yet Pursuing"