QUES. 14.-Please explain the expression "washed us from our sins in His own blood " (Rev. 1:5). Is the reading of the Revised Version correct, "loosed" instead of "washed," and if so is there no thought of cleansing by blood except as applying to our position before God? Would it be correct to say that the blood is what gives us a perfect cleansing as to our standing before God, and the cleansing of the heart is by the new birth, through the word of God?

ANS.-The blood suggests the life given up as the atoning sacrifice provided in the love of God for our sins. It is that which avails before God, and is the ground of our perfect and eternal justification. The blood is thus Godward and its effects are in the holiest, whither Christ has entered by it for us. This is the work done for us. The work done in us is by the Spirit, through the word of God. The expression therefore, "washed us in His own blood," would not refer to the personal cleansing of the believer's soul, but the effectual work of Christ which presents him perfect before God. While the reading, "loosed us " is well supported, it is not necessarily the correct one, and "washed" is more like John's writings. See 1 John 1:7; Rev. 7:14. Inward cleansing is by new birth, through the Word, and constant cleansing is by that Word applied to our hearts day by day. Of course, all rests upon the ground of Christ's finished work, but the distinction indicated should be preserved.

Reader, do you realize that this world, as Satan's sinfulness and man's sinfulness have made it, is in God's sight a scene of moral degradation and darkness? And have you weighed the terrible fact which the word of God demonstrates, that, moving amidst such darkness, the great multitude of men are in themselves as dark as their surroundings?

Do you realize that the mass of men are lost souls, blindly groping their way in time, with eternity before them? that they are heart-hardened and conscience-seared victims of their own lusts? and that Satan induces them not to take their own sinfulness and that of their fellows too seriously, by means of plausible lies concerning this life, eternity, and God?

Do not men prove what they are by their thoughts and actions? Each individual has a selfish heart; therefore the world is full of selfishness. Each heart is a hot-bed of secret lusts which it would like to gratify. A certain proportion of these secret desires are actually carried into execution, making human society groan beneath its burden of crime and shameful deeds.

Select but one of the world's great cities, and take the record of its newspapers and police courts for but a single day! What an exhibition of the human heart! Yet here we have only such cases as reach publicity amongst the grosser outbreaks merely, which even man's law must prohibit in order to make this world tolerable even to sinners! But also consider the brood of social sins, winked at by man's law, which each day brings forth! And think, further, of the surging tide of impure thoughts and secret desires,-impulses of lust, covetousness, passion and hate,-which daily leave their defiling trail in the hearts of perhaps all in the city, high and low, depraved and highly "cultured," alike!

The flood of corruption and evil which prevails in the world is merely the aggregate of iniquity which is constantly being poured out from individual hearts. Each child of Adam, however respectable, contributes his part to this enormous cesspool. Whoever you are, my reader, certainly you also contribute your part. And the most appalling feature is the sad fact that each heart still contains within itself more and worse than it ever pours out,-yea, the spring and fountain of the evil! For human governments, courts, police, jails, and other social institutions,- corrupt as is their administration, in the hands of men who are themselves sinners like all others,-are nevertheless God's merciful provision to restrain man from unbridled license.

But a restraint is not a cure. Hence the attempts of all the reformers in the world's history to solve the problem of good and evil have proved futile. Such men (themselves also sinners, however respectable) attempt to curb and restrain the world's grosser evils, yet cannot eradicate the root of all these evils, since they cannot re-create the human heart and make it pure!

The sinful heart in your bosom and mine, my friend, is the thing at fault. The Saviour put His finger upon the sore spot,-this root of evil,-when He said:"That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:all these evil things come from within, and defile the man" (Mark 7:20-23).
Shall we, then, trim and doctor the branches of a tree which is rotten at the roots ? God, at least, is not so foolish. John, the fore-runner of Christ, testified :'' Now also the ax is laid unto the roots of the trees" (Matt. 3:10). And the Saviour Himself said, very plainly, and to a most respectable man, "Ye must be born again "! Man must be newly fashioned -through and through!

Thus even God Himself can command but two remedies to stem the flood of evil which surges from the inexhaustible source of evil in the human heart. (i) If we will permit Him to save us, honestly confessing to Him our need of this, He will eventually re-fashion these hearts of ours, making them holy for eternity. (2) But if we refuse His offer to do this (and we refuse it by rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ),, then He must bring our career of evil to a close in death and judgment, His wrath throughout eternity restraining the unchanged heart from breaking out into open sin.

Dear reader, which thing have you chosen,-to be a vessel of God's mercy, or a vessel of His wrath? to have your heart cured, and made fit for eternal happiness with the redeemed in God's presence, or merely to have your pestilential heart curbed and restrained in judgment, so as no longer to contaminate the moral atmosphere? Which have you chosen?

But not alone is man immersed in the corruption he has produced:he is in darkness concerning it,-deluded, blinded, as to his real condition, and the inexorable consequences flowing out of it. The word of God says:"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,-the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,-is not of the Father, but is of the world" (i John 2:15, 16). But men say (because their hearts are as dark as the world around them, the world answering to, and being in affinity with, what is in their hearts):"This world is good enough for me!" Reader, have you ever said or thought this? Is this world "good enough " for you? Then how good are you? Are you at home in this sin-laden atmosphere? How impregnated, then, with the virus of sin must your own heart and mind be!

A world of man's crime and misery! of sin, of suffering, of sorrow! of groans and pain and blasphemy and cruelty and selfishness and impure thoughts and deeds! Yet in such a scene most men are self-satisfied optimists, while they heartlessly tread one another down in the mad struggle for the selfish advantages and prizes of this life! Dear reader, are you one of this selfish multitude,-loving and seeking "the things that are in the world," jostling your way among fellow-sinners to grasp at these things, in order that you may gratify the sinful lusts of your flesh, the covetous desires of your eyes, and the vain pride of this life? Then may God have mercy upon you, before it is too late!

But how can men be optimists, in the face of this universal corruption, and each soul's contribution to it? The word of God explains this mystery. It is because the minds and hearts of men are immersed in "the snare of the devil," and "are taken captive by him at his will " (2 Tim. 2:26).

Satan, inspiring the minds of men, his dupes, is the author of all the optimistic systems of philosophy -of all the excuses for sin, and palliations of it, behind which men hide their seared consciences ! He it is who inspires and nourishes unbelief in every heart! who seeks to discredit the testimony of the word of God, in its exposure of the darkness ! who invents the slanders, voiced both by open infidels and by such professing Christians as the "higher critics," against the " Scriptures of truth " !

Satan forged the lie about God which, entering into the heart of Adam and Eve, corrupted them from their allegiance to God's word. And ever since, this "Father of lies" has continued to forge plausible sophistries, constantly tempering his methods, and his philosophy of unbelief, to the spirit of the times. Sinful man is naturally hostile to God, "because the carnal mind is enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7). And Satan is the spirit who, at his own will, stirs up and employs against the truth this natural enmity of the human heart. Scripture therefore speaks of him as '' the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience " (Eph. 2:2). So completely is the world under Satan's sway and subtle influence that he is also spoken of as "the god of this age." If men do not accept the light of God's revelation, it is simply because Satan, this world's god, has darkened and blinded the minds of his victims. For "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them " (2 Cor. 4:3, 4).

Thus, with the exception only of those who are saved through faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinners, Satan deceives to their destruction the whole world. He holds the human intellect, in which man boasts, in his seductive power, prating of human progress, enlightenment, and the age of reason, while he lulls foolish men, who trust to their supposed wisdom, into false security-in the very face of their manifest corruption ! Hence Scripture proclaims the fearful fact that "the whole world lieth in the wicked one" (i John 5:i, Gr.) !

Such, in brief, is the moral darkness of this world:a scene where man wallows in his own corruption, while Satan's subtle inspiration makes black appear white to the sin-beclouded reason of fallen humanity, seducing men from realizing the facts as they are, or making them skeptics as to future consequences, through the cunning occupation of the mind with man's material achievements, and the insinuation into it of some one of the many schemes of fatal error!

But mark well, unsaved reader:as one living in Christendom, where the word of God is known, your condemnation proceeds not merely upon the fact that you are a responsible unit in the world's system of corruption. An additional verdict is rendered against you:that Light has shone into this darkness, through God's mercy and yet you have not honestly come to this Light, and pleaded guilty under its exposure, in order that you might be saved ! F. A.

(To be continued.)

BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF AN ADDRESS ON Numb. 34:1-12.

The book of Numbers has been well named the "Pilgrim's Guide Book, "and the portion I have read is in the fifth division, which speaks of God's way with His pilgrims, and the end He has in view for them.

In the sixth subdivision, of which this is a part, we have the commands as to the subjugation and limits of the land, while in this second section we have the "metes and bounds," as surveyors would say.

It was good for them to have the boundaries of their inheritance described to them while yet in the wilderness. One requires to know something of his estate ere he actually takes possession, to know what is on the inside of the fence as well as what is on the outside, who his neighbors are, etc. And if he cannot see it himself first, it is good to have it described by one who has seen it, and one who has sufficient ability in every way to give an accurate description. We may rest assured in this case, that as the description is the Lord's own, it is absolutely reliable.

The territory is one He has long had His heart upon for His beloved people. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds
of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deut. 32:8).

Since "all these things happened unto them for types, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come," it behooves us to acquaint ourselves with these boundaries; they are ours in a very special way.

The boundaries are twenty-one in number, which appear to divide readily into three distinct series of seven each,

a. Suggesting the Father's thought for His children.

b. Suggesting the Son's work as Accomplishes

100:While in this series the fruits of the Spirit are clearly discernible.

I. "The wilderness of Zin." It is singular that this should be the first boundary of our heavenly inheritance, but we have seen already that this description is for wilderness use, and it is an immense help to the understanding of what an estate is to know what it is not, and that appears to be the import of what we have here. "Zin" means a "thorn," an abortive attempt at fruit and the mark of God's curse upon the earth because of sin. Here the world is before us with all its progress in civilization, Cain's world, but a wilderness and stamped with a curse.

"All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world," and a wilderness of thorn the pilgrim is sure to find it, if he attempt to settle down in it; but a most fitting scene in which to learn the resources of a Father's hand and heart. How important then that this should be the first boundary, for how often have God's pilgrims been
hindered in their progress by vainly seeking their inheritance in the wilderness, not having learned at the outset that it was wholly beyond.

The "south quarter," suggests the full clear daylight, the absence of mystery. Let Abraham's rule then, be the rule of God's pilgrims ever; " he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." He desired "a better country, that is, an heavenly:wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared for them a city" (Heb. 11:10, 16).

2. "Edom." They would remember Edom. They tried compromise with him, but there could be none. "Wherefore Israel turned away from him."

Edom is practically the same as Adam and means "red." He was Jacob's twin brother with his name changed, but he was unchanged.

" Esau," " hairy " or "shaggy " showed the outside, while Edom showed the inside. He was profane, valued his birthright less than a mess of red pottage. "That which is first is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual."

Edom is just the natural man, the first man-"our old man"-and we are brought in this our second boundary to Edom that we may see our deliverance from him; he is on the other side of the fence. We "go along by the west of Edom."As a boundary in the land it speaks of an abiding memorial to deliverance, as given to pilgrims in the wilderness; it suggests the present application of the truth of it, as in i Pet. 2:"I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul." 3. "The salt sea," another name for the dead sea, arid represents the lake of fire.

Its being called the "salt sea" here is noticeable. Salt is preservative in character, " Remember Lot's wife "; and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

Thus is suggested God's righteous recompense on both sides of the line, to those in the lake of fire and to God's pilgrims who have escaped it.

"Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest" (2 Thess. 1:6, 7).

"Your south border shall be the outmost west of the salt sea eastward." "South border" suggesting the broad open day-light in which all now lies, nothing hidden, nothing further to come out. Here God's pilgrims may view "the hole of the pit whence" they were "digged" (Isa. 51:i). "Outmost west . . . eastward," may suggest "the last dark drop" of that cup of wrath was drained by Him who was '' as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth," the One whose coming was ever the Hope of pilgrims. How rich and how full is the number three here, God fully displayed; His pilgrims sanctified unto Him and their praises ascending in view of what they are sanctified to and what they are sanctified from; and here is the sanctuary, where He dwells, for He dwells amid the praises of His redeemed (Ps. 22:3).

Now we turn to the ascent of
4. " Akrabbim," which means "scorpions," "ascent of the scorpions."

The number four is the number of experience, testing, and we are reminded here of '' the serpent lifted up" and thus of the cross, where that love which made us pilgrims was exhibited, and where capacity was obtained to walk as pilgrims. Life was needed, and obtained through the Son of man being lifted up, so that now we can "turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim," which is like fleeing from the wrath to come, true repentance, intensely practical, alone enabling for a pilgrim walk. Thence we "pass over to

5. Zin,"not now "the wilderness of Zin,"but simply Zin, 1:e. "the thorn."

The number five suggests God's presence, and review of the path; our need of the chastening "thorn," and the wisdom and tenderness with which He has used it. We are on the ascent still, and must not despise "the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons:for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?" (Heb. 12:5-13).

God with man indeed it is, with us as a Father, with us because He loved us.

His way, His end, His presence, and this everlasting monument to His faithful, wise, and loving use of the rod and given to us beforehand that we may "hear the rod and who hath appointed it" (Micah 6:9). "And the going forth thereof shall be from the south to"

6. " Kadesh-barnea," 1:e., the "sanctuary of the wanderer."

We go forth from the discipline we have just been speaking of as those who have learned what the Father means by it, to the sanctuary, the '' sanctuary of the wanderer "; and how often has His discipline been needed to bring us there, to "be partakers of His holiness"! It is like Rom. 5:3-5:"We boast in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope:and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts." No sanctuary like this, and what victory over sin, (which our sixth boundary suggests to us) does the "wanderer" find it to be!

'' And if I wander, teach me
Soon back. to Thee to flee."

Blesssed be God for a sanctuary like this, and for the key to it put into our hands beforehand! And now we "go on to"

7. " Hazar-addar" (enclosure of the mighty), a wonderful sabbath, the rest of God, we may say, and the fact that it is His rest gives it all its blessedness.

"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing."

As the seventh boundary it speaks of a full measure, and what could better fill this our first measure than Hazar-addar, the Father's house ? Here one would linger, but we must "pass on to"

1. " Azmon," the first of the second series. Azmon means "strong," and if this second series speaks of the second Person of the Trinity, the Saviour, the Helper, it is of all importance that He should be "Strong," so that this boundary is most appropriately number one.

" I have laid help upon One that is mighty; I have exalted One chosen out of the people " (Ps. 89:19).

From this we turn unto-

2. "The river of Egypt." If the first monument spoke of the mighty Saviour, this second speaks of
the "so great salvation"which He accomplished for us.

This "river of Egypt" is really "the Sihor," 1:e., the "black" or " turbid " stream which marked off the land of Canaan from Egypt, a stream easily crossed, and was the "near" way of the Philistines into the land; but as seen now in contrast with the way God's pilgrims have come, will enlarge their view of this"so great salvation" "neglected" by the Philistines; and the fact that this river was "before Egypt," and here called "the river of Egypt," is an eternal reminder of what they have been delivered from. '' And the goings out of it shall be at" 3. "The sea," the great sea, or Mediterranean. As the western limit, it may speak of rest, for it is there the sun sinks to his rest, while it is also in contrast with the wicked who '' are like the waves of the sea which cannot rest," the vast congregation of the dead, from whose doom and portion we are forever fenced off by having life in Him who was raised from the dead on the third day, our full realized portion as on resurrection ground, suggested by the number three. From "this ye shall point out for you " 4. "Mount Hor," not the mountain where Aaron died, but suggesting that and with the same meaning, which is given as " pregnant" and hence per-haps "fruitful."There Aaron died and gave place to Eleazar ("help of God" or "help of the mighty One"), type of the death and resurrection of our Great High Priest. Death seems to have been the lesson for God's pilgrims at that time, life out of death, and that appears to be the lesson here. The Great Sea-picture of death-is our western border, it is wholly outside, we do not "taste of death."

This is beautifully the "north border," the side of mystery, the side of faith. Our Great Priest is there but unseen save by faith. The number of the bound speaks of walk, and we walk as seeing Him who is invisible, "we walk by faith, not by sight."

Remark, we must ourselves "point out" this border from the Great Sea to Mount Hor, as also the next,

5. "Unto the entrance of Hamath."

Hamath means "fortress," and God's pilgrims have ever needed this and ever found it when sought. "The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer:the God of my rock; in Him will I trust:He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Saviour. Thou savest me from violence." (2 Sam. 22:3, 3).

"The entrance of Hamath," may suggest with the number five, "by whom also we have access into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2). "And the goings forth of the border shall be to "

6. "Zedad." This means "steep side"; the "extremity " of the border is to reach this. Is this the glory of God to which allusion has just been made? God's pilgrims assuredly stand in His favor and look forward exultingly to His glory, and this is the "extremity " of their pilgrimage surely, and as surely is it a wonderfully "steep side," whether we look up to it as that to which we are delivered, or look down at the foe from which we are delivered, and in either case it answers well to its number (6) as victory over sin. Exulting in such hope is to be indeed upon a '' steep side " quite out of the enemy's reach. '' The joy of the Lord shall be your strength."

"Thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." We can now "go on to "

7. "Ziphron " ("sweet odor "). Surely, if rejoicing in the Lord is strength to pilgrims, it is "sweet odor" to Him who has furnished the materials for it. If "sweet odor" is the same as "savor of rest" (cf. Gen. 8:21, margin) another lovely sabbath is brought before us, witnessed to both by the number of our boundary (7) and by its name; an eternal memorial to the One who has brought in new creation rest, where God will rest in His love forever.

Blessed Lord Jesus, Thy Name is indeed a "sweet odor," and it will be the everlasting joy of Thy pilgrims' hearts to ascribe homage and praise to Thee for having had the fragrance of that Name upon them and for having rendered it possible for them to add, in some sense at least, volume to it, as it goes up before Thy God forever!

"And the goings out of it shall be at"

I. " Hazar-enan," the meaning of which is "enclosure of fountains." Here we may say the Spirit dwells; lovely and appropriate beginning for the series of boundaries which more particularly refer to the Spirit. But He dwells in believers-"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? "

"A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, … a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon" (Song 4:12, 15).

This gives character to all the series.

So the extremity of our northern boundary is here at Hazar-enan, which looks as though all this northern boundary, this walking by faith not by sight, all those ways of God which looked so mysterious, were to land God's pilgrims here at this "enclosure of fountains "! In this third series we must look for full divine manifestation, and a realized, settled order of things, and here we find it; here we see what He has had in mind all along. Surely " He knows the way He taketh," and let us now say, since we are let into His secret, "Awake O north wind:and come thou south:blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits." From hence we are to point out our east border to

2. " Shepham," which means "fruitful." The east wind of difficulty and trial was not always welcomed at the time, but then "afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby." We go down now to

3. "Riblah," ("fertility"). This third boundary in the third series, seems to speak of the full manifest and settled condition of things. The soil is fertile, all the fruits of the Spirit may be expected here. We have to "go down" to reach this boundary, for the most precious fruits grow in fertile vales. Lilies grow there, and "He feedeth among the lilies."

We pass "on the east side of Ain," and if pilgrims need, as so often, the searching east wind to force them into these fertile valleys, it is then they are most likely to turn the eye towards the east for the "morning star," the expected dawn, for "joy comes in the morning." Towards the west, the side of repose, lies

4."Ain,"-"the fountain," where pilgrims may drink, and where He drinks with them. This number four reminds us of the wilderness path, and the fact that we have descended to it, may well suggest Ps. 84:6:" Who passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well."

The sorrow or trial met with, being accepted from Him as His love token, is made to yield refreshment to His Spirit, and thus it is made a well and He responds in rain from heaven filling the pools for pilgrims. And since the border passes to the east of Ain, it is enclosed, and becomes ours forever. It is in the land, whose springs never fail, but spring up into everlasting life. An everlasting reminder of the east wind was made to turn our eyes towards the quarter whence our star of Hope was coming, enabling pilgrims to sing:"In hope we lift our wishful, longing eyes." Blessed be God, well may pilgrims sing songs in the night, and say, "All my fresh springs are in Thee."

It was in the wilderness that "they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them:and that Rock was Christ." How sweet for the Holy Spirit to be saying to us here in this fourth boundary of the third series:"O Christ He is the Fountain, the deep sweet well of love!" and point Him out,-our "Ain"- upon the west side, the side of rest, eternal rest! But we continue to "descend, and shall reach unto the side (shoulder) of "

5. "The sea of Chinnereth eastward."

Chinnereth means " harp " or " lyre." The New Testament name for it is "Gennesaret," which means "garden of the prince." Wonderful combination we have here, standing in the "garden of the Prince," a "harp" put into our hands, in the presence of God (5) to review His way with His pilgrims, and see the end He had in view all along. How wondrously has "the regeneration" transformed things, so that the "sea" has become a garden, the "garden of the Prince"! How like Rev. 15:2, 3, "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire:and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty." "In Thy presence fulness of joy, and pleasures for-evermore."

Still further, however, we "go down" to
6. "Jordan," the "descending" river, which leads to the Dead Sea where nothing lives, and nothing ever returns from it. It is a type of death, which leads to judgment, but God's pilgrims cross dry-shod by a path He prepared for them at His own cost, and the harps will take on a deeper, tenderer tone as they remember that all its waves and billows rolled over Him. Death when He entered into it for us was death in all its dread reality to Him, death as the judgment of God against sin, but what victory for us, as our sixth boundary now suggests, and what a triumph too for Him! Satan's power annulled, God glorified as to sin, a righteous basis laid upon which shall stand forever that "Kingdom which cannot be moved," and those praises secured amid which God shall dwell forever and forever! (Ps. 22:3). Glory to God! "And the goings out (extremity) of it shall be at the "

7. "Salt sea," picture of the lake of fire.

Here the deepest, and most solemn notes will be reached by those harps as this, the end, is reached. The character and extent of what is not our portion, of that we have escaped is fully before us, and to abide an eternal memorial of the greatness of our salvation, "What hath God wrought?" One of the most prolific sources of litigation to-day is the obliteration of boundaries, may ours be kept clearly defined in the soul, and the fact that they are described beforehand to pilgrims be sanctified to us, and our hearts enlarged towards those whose portion is not within those wondrous bounds.

"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." J. B. J.

"Return unto the Lord, For He will have mercy; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon " (Isa. 55:7).

I had a rare and costly vase, fresh cast,
And graven by the Master's hand;
It bore the impress of His glorious touch;
'Twas bound by love's sweet silken band.
The world's rude hand, alas,
Its blighting touch did pass,
And thus it had well nigh effaced
The richness of the pattern traced.

I had a bright and sparkling gem, God's gift,
In answer to much fervent prayer;
I loved to mark its ever varying flash
Of glory, in the Sun's full glare.
By earthly dust soon soiled,
My brilliant gem was spoiled,
The brightness I had loved, grown dim,
My jewel shone no more for Him.

I had a pure and tender flower, so sweet,
'Twas whiter than the fresh fall'n snow;
I tried to shield it from the blight of earth,
It was His gift, I loved it so,
But soon earth's withering blast
Had o'er its petals past,
It drooped and hung its graceful head,
The beauty of my flow'ret fled.

I found a wayward, wilful soul, that loved
In bitter unbelief to roam ;
I pointed to the cross, and told of Him
Who loved to lead such wand'rers home.
I plead with God, to give
This soul, that it might live
The very reflex of His face,
A glowing witness to His grace.

He granted the desire of my heart,
Another soul now reconciled,
My heart was full, as when a mother looks
With joy upon her new born child.
This storm for ever passed,
The goal was reached at last;
God's love alone, such need could meet,
And bring this soul to Jesus' feet.

Alas! how soon the dust and soil of earth,
Had marred this vessel of His grace;
My jewel lusterless, had ceased to give
The bright reflection of His face.
My pure white flower had lost
Its fragrance by earth's frost,
This flaunting world so soon, could move
A blood bought soul from Jesus' love.

O, foolish soul, entrapped by Satan's wiles,
How quickly thou art off thy guard;
And turned aside from Him who won thy heart,
Thou art that beauteous vessel marred.
That jewel lusterless;
The world hath soiled thy dress,
Communion's golden cord is slack,
The wounded Spirit woos thee back.

How soon thou'st learned to wander from thy rest!
The Shepherd's voice is faintly heard,
By reason of the distance from the fold,
Unheeded is His precious Word;
And prayer grows wearisome,
And heart and lips are dumb;
The conscience sleeps uneasily,
The heart is full of misery.

Return to Him who sought thee in the waste,
And set thy heart on things above;
Thou canst not satisfy thy craving soul
With aught henceforth, but Jesus love.
The world hath many snares
To catch thee unawares;
The Shepherd only, can restore,
And satisfy, forevermore.

He hath not ceased to love, tho' thou art cold,
He grieveth that thy light is dim;
He marketh every wayward step
That leads thy heart away from Him.
Yet thou canst cast thy lot
With those who love Him not!
What heartless, strange ingratitude,
To One who only seeks thy good!

Then let me plead thy Father's tender love,
The mourning Dove, thy heavenly guest,
The pierced hands and feet, the riven side;
The cleft where Jesus bids thee rest.
Thy peace is more to thee
Than worldly smiles could be,
Thou'rt bartering eternal gain,
For what must bring thee bitter pain.

I'll tell thee just the secret of it all,
Thy heart hath never found its home
In Jesus' love, its blessed hiding place,
And so thy feet have learned to rove.
But as thou'rt dear to God,
He'll surely use the rod ;
And though He let thee have thy way,
Thy will must break thy heart, some day.

H. McD.

In View of Questions Which Have Been Lately Raised.

3.LETTER AND SPIRIT.

We have not yet done, however, with doctrines which affect Scripture; and I place these first, because the character of all the teaching may be rightly judged by them. If that which is the standard of truth be taken from us,-if it be obscured even, or made less available to the common mass of Christians,-it is plain that this will have disastrous effect upon every truth drawn from it, or to be compared with it. Rome herself makes great parade of late of her reverence for the word of God. She will exalt it as much as you please,-and the more she does the more gain will it be to her,- if only you will let her interpret it for you. It is the interpretation that is the great point; and if a system of interpretation is adopted which takes this out of the reach of the simple man, then you have set up an esoteric teaching which is not subject to Scripture, however much you may accredit those who receive it (as it is quite easy to do) with a higher spirituality which enables them to do so. No doubt spirituality is of all importance in the things of God; but it is not this which will refuse to submit to the plain word of Scripture:"If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them " (Isa. 8:20).

Now the system before us, as represented in its chief exponent, avowedly sets aside the letter of Scripture, in the interests of what it is pleased to consider the "spirit" of it. Scripture, has been put alongside of a supposed faulty hymn, to say-"I do not read those hymns in the letter; I do not read Scripture in the letter:I try to get the spirit of the hymn, and I do." The self-complacence of the last two words is characteristic. Are we not left to infer that as with the hymns, so with Scripture, he not only seeks to get the spirit of Scripture, but he does? Most people would have left others to say that of them. Whatever conviction they might have as to their success in such a matter, they would not expect to move others by. their own conviction-at least those of the class that it would be worth while to convince:"let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth " (Pro. 27:2) is a rule which has long been commended to us as a maxim of wisdom.

But the important point is, that we are not, as it seems, to read Scripture in the letter. It would be gratifying to know whether this is what the Book itself teaches, and how it teaches it. The thought is not altogether a new one; others have equally proclaimed their belief in Scripture as '' read by the illumination of that Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in us," as contrasted with "the letter that killeth."* *Canon Farrar.* But one can hardly think of the one from whom I before quoted as meaning to refer us to a text which gives the contrast between the old covenant and the new, and this last even as ministered by grace to us in the present gospel. It could not be said indeed rightly of the new covenant in any wise that the letter killed, although as Gentiles we should not come under it. Those who do come under it will certainly not be killed, even by the letter of it. The spirit is the spirit of the letter and that is the sweetest grace.

In Romans again (7:6)," the oldness of the letter," in which as Christians we are not to serve, is that legal bondage which the old covenant implies, and has nothing to do with Scripture as such. For the Christian in the liberty to which God has called him, the very letter of the law as such remains, not only without injury, but with plenty of profit in it. There is absolutely no scripture which so much as suggests that the letter of God's blessed word is something to be put aside, even in favor of the spirit which resides in it. If I want to be in communion with the spirit of a man, I do not kill his body for that purpose; and grotesque as such a comparison may seem to be, it is a joy to me to believe that God's word is as it were a living organism, in which even far beyond what we find in man (as man is now) the spirit residing is expressed in every part; so that every jot and tittle has importance from it, and must be preserved, for the spirit to be in any proper manner realized.

I own, therefore, with gladness and thankfulness of heart, that I do read Scripture in the letter-that is, in the very form and expression which God has been pleased to give it-and that more and more. Can I give it a form more suited? To convey to another what I find in it I may use other terms, and find them useful, to break through that crust with which a mere external familiarity often encrusts them:-all well; yet shall I find that not only will the same crust form over these new inventions, so that to those familiar with them in the same external way they shall become still a lifeless verbiage, but also that, after all, the words by which I have expressed what I have found will in the end be proved too narrow to contain the fulness of the divine "meaning, if happily they may not be proved in some way inaccurate and really misleading. I do not deny at all the very great usefulness, therefore, of other phraseology than that of Scripture, for the explanation of Scripture; while yet I am sure that for the rectification of all our phrases, and also that Scripture may not be narrowed into the littleness of human conceptions, we must go back, and ever back, to refresh and purify and enlarge our thoughts by the very words-the only adequate, the divine words of the peerless Book which infinite grace has given us.

Distill the blessed words in your alembic and give me the result:to justify it, you must show both the material and the method. But to show me that what you have got is the full equivalent of all the material is still another matter; when your material is scripture, a very difficult thing indeed. But at least you must justify all that you speak of as the spirit by the letter, which is the only thing to begin with which we have. The Spirit within us does not give any new revelation, but "searches the deep things of God" which are contained in what has been already given. The spirit of Scripture is that contained in the letter:it is the spirit of the letter; I read it in the letter to get the spirit of it. The letter has the spirit in it, and more than all that we may please to call the spirit. How important to remember, when you contrast, as in this case, the letter and the spirit, that the letter is of God, the spirit is that in which you have to fear the intrusion of an element which is not of Him!

The principle which we have had asserted is, undoubtedly, one of contrast:" I do not read Scripture
in the letter;" but, if that which has been stated is the truth, then there is as to practical apprehension, in this case, no such contrast. The letter is but the wisest possible expression of that which you may express otherwise sometimes with benefit, no doubt, but yet in a way which is still in reality something less wise than the old one. How unsafe then would it be to say, " I do not read Scripture in the way it is written, but according to what I take to be the meaning of it"! Would it not assume, in fact, that wisdom was in my poor words, beyond that of those who wrote, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth?" (i Cor. 2:13). Where can you show me the spirit of Scripture in words which have the sanction that such words have? After all, will it not be your letter in contrast with the actual letter, neither more nor less?

The whole statement is such arrogant assumption that it is hard to believe that a spiritually sane man could make it. The effect of it, if carried out, would be to give us a Bible, or rather, Bibles many, which would be anything rather than the endeared, familiar, well-proved friend of all our hearts. The adoption of such a principle would be at once to blur all lines and bring in everywhere confusion and uncertainty. This is not the Voice of the Spirit that would enfeeble and degrade what the Spirit Himself has given, as this system does; putting it at one time in company with a faulty hymn, at another time with the speech (miraculous though it were) of Balaam's ass! I do not envy the quietness of those who can take all this (go with it or not, as they may) without a protest.

"I do not read Scripture in the letter"! Why, it is just the most literal part of it that of necessity must be used to interpret all the rest. That there are figures, types, parables in it, who is not aware? But who would like to build his soul upon things such as these, without the plain letter of doctrine which alone can interpret them definitely and surely? Is it not "letter" that "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life"? Am I to read that in the spirit, and not in the letter? Who will stand forth then and tell me, in contrast with the letter, what the spirit of it is?

See now how it all works together:I am justified in accepting this guidance that is offered me, of one so spiritually wise and competent that he can give me the spirit of that which I, poor dullard, have been reading in the letter. What can I do but submit myself to this, and let the proof abide a more convenient season? I may be bewildered at first to find how things immediately begin to change, and how little remains absolutely what it was before. But then, if I am humble, this is all proof of how I needed a teacher,-how without a teacher (and indeed, with all the teachers I have had hitherto) I have been going astray. I learn to distrust myself the more, and cling to my guide. By and by indeed, I must come to a halt, and begin to see where I am,-to see if perchance anything may have gone wrong with me. I have heard that "in a day of evil it is of the utmost importance to prove all things, and not accept the dictum of anybody." That is all right, I suppose:it is the same guide says it; I am yet to prove all by Scripture! But Scripture, what Scripture? He does not read it in the letter; no more must I then, if I am to reach the same results! God has somehow provided me with a Bible in the letter; and this Bible in the spirit I have got to form for myself out of it, and by its help; or, at least, I have got to prove the new Bible in the spirit which has been put into my hand by that old Bible which is so different, and which it will be my wisdom in due time to give up! Think of the perplexity to a simple soul, of using in this way a standard which has to be renounced, and for the very purpose of being able to renounce it; while at the same time, it is capable in some way of putting me on a platform higher than itself! Must not all this end in inextricable confusion? Is it not, in fact, confusion all the way through? F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

(Continued from page 196 )

How then is this, His order and government to be maintained? And who are the responsible "overseers," made such by the Holy Ghost, according to Acts 20:28?-overseers to shepherd the flock of God. This is a wonderful thought, and it is a wonderful work beautifully illustrated in the apostle Paul himself. "And who is sufficient for these things"? Paul could say, and so can we; yet Paul was responsible according to the measure of the gift of Christ, and so are we; each in his, and her place.

We cannot recognize any one man, nor any body of men, as the head of authority and power to govern the Church. But we can recognize our own need, and our individuality, and responsibility to maintain God's government, and have a proper respect for God's holiness in ourselves. And if we maintain this in ourselves, we shall recognize God's true headship of the Church, His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is vested all power and authority in heaven and on earth. Thus we shall maintain in our own souls, and in the assembly of His saints, a proper regard for the holiness which becomes His presence, and "the joy of the Lord will be our strength." We shall sit down in the shadow of His presence with great delight. And then we shall be able to discern through the Spirit's guidance the "overseers," or "elders," whom God would have us respect as such.

And now let us bring this matter home practically, to our own hearts. Do we know what this guidance is? We may be able to say that such and such things are not the Spirit's guidance, but can we be as sure what is of the Spirit's guidance? If I am not sure that God has given me spiritual intelligence and discernment to detect what is, and what is not, of the Spirit's guidance, I should be very careful not to express my judgment. I should conclude, and rightly so, that I am not one of those made overseers by the Holy Ghost.

If we had always been careful as to this we should have escaped very much sorrow to ourselves, and dishonor to the Lord. For it is too often the case that it is those who have not this spiritual discernment who are foremost in seeking to rule. Have we not all seen this to our sorrow and shame? God has given us as we have seen in the Scriptures quoted His perfect standard. He could give nothing short of a perfect standard. But what does His perfect standard do for me?

It shows me just where I come short:which is a most wholesome lesson for me. If I heed it, I shall not be putting myself forward and meddling with things which I ought not to touch, neither shall I be dictating to others as to their path:but seek humbly to walk in my own. I shall not be hasty in judging others as to their path, for when it is a question of service, every one is individually responsible before God, and to God; not to men, not to elders, nor overseers, nor to bishops, (and these three words imply the same thing, so that the elder of i Tim. 3:covers the whole responsibility).

Is there then 110 such thing now as eldership in the gatherings of God's saints? Not of the apostolic pattern, surely. What then? Is there no provision for this need? We can hardly say that; for God
knew all about this as well as every other need, before He gave us His word, and we should not allow the thought that He has not provided for this also. But we must not forget that everything is in ruin and confusion, and that we ourselves are a part of that ruin:and what is more, God has provided for this very need in this state of ruin. Blessed be His name.

Let us then turn to the epistle of Paul to the Galatians, the sixth chapter. "Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." And now the question is, who is the spiritual man? The Word answers that question in the closing of the foregoing chapter:'' Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. . . The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Here we have the fruits by which every one can see who is the spiritual man, and such ones we should regard according to Heb. 13:7. " Remember them which have the rule over you, and have spoken to you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Christ Jesus the same yesterday, today, and forever."

And respect their judgment according to Heb. 13:17, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves:for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief:for that is unprofitable for you."

I venture to anticipate, and answer a few questions, as to the Spirit's guidance in meetings. And first of all, you may be sure of this, that it is not the Spirit's guiding when anything is brought in to cause distraction, contention or strife. Nothing should be allowed which does not savor of Christ, since the Holy Ghost cannot be the author of anything which dishonors Him, neither can we say that the Spirit is leading in anything which is not to His glory. For Jesus said of the Spirit," He shall glorify Me " (John 16:14).

And in view of this divine fact, we may always test ourselves by asking, What is my motive in doing or saying this? And if I cannot say honestly before God, that I am sure I have no other motive apart from seeking to honor and glorify Him, let it not be done or said. And mark this beloved, there can be no such thing as it being my duty to act, or to speak, anything which is not to glorify Him. If we can ever be mindful of this, there would be far less of fleshly and dishonoring exhibitions of merely human energy.

Further, it is never right to take up to criticize, or to correct what another has said, unless he has repeated it to the disturbing of the meeting. I should go to him privately about it.

If two brethren should give out a hymn at the same time, both should be silent, and leave the saints to judge which to sing, or to leave both, and wait on the Lord for another hymn, or for whatever He may lead to. Sometimes too many hymns are given out, and if this is the spiritual judgment of the saints, let them be silent, and wait on the Lord for the Spirit's leading. Hymns should never be given out because they are our favorites.

If a brother is addicted to giving out too many hymns, or because he wants to keep the meeting going, saints should simply wait on the Lord in silence:and if a brother is in the habit of occupying the time, but not to the edification of the saints, let them all as one, wait on the Lord in prayer, until he ceases. Many wrong things may be corrected in this way, without grieving the Spirit or disturbing the meeting, if saints are before the Lord, and cherish a proper regard for the holiness which becometh His presence. For all who are really in His presence; a few moments of profound silence is never lost time, but may, and often does, add to the power and joy of the meeting.

Just a word as to receiving persons to the Lord's table. No one should be received while there is one dissenting voice, if the person dissenting can give a good reason for his or her objection. Persons should be well-known, or commended by those who are well-known, and in whom the saints have confidence, before being received, if we would properly regard the holiness, order and government of God's assembly. " Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ hath received us to the glory of God." To the glory of God! Not to disturbing the peace of the saints.

The fact that a man claims to be a Christian is not a guarantee against evil doctrines, evil association and unholy walk. We are responsible to know where he is as to these things, before receiving him to the Lord's table. There is no half fellowship. If a person breaks bread with us, he should understand that he is in fellowship with us, in all that God has given to us:and that we are not in fellowship with what he has left behind. C. E. H.

(Philippians 4:)

The great importance which the apostle attaches to a feeling of brotherhood in the ranks, is constantly breaking out, in what we may call this epistle of combat, and he himself is a living example of the affection and fellowship which should exist. "My joy and my crown." Such are the ardent words which run from his pen and flow from his heart, and the title to utter which he had proved in the yielding up for their sakes the sweet companionship of Epaphroditus. How often the mutual jealousies of earthly leaders have robbed some fair field of victory of its fruits, but how much direr are the results when strife and envy creep into the army of God. They blast and blight the whole. "Be ye souled together " (συμψυχoι) as we might paraphrase a verse in chap. 2:is all important, and this is shown in acts, not in words alone.

But the way in which those early Christians did love one another, would be a good subject of study today. It so touched the infidel Gibbon that when he had to speak of it he broke into glowing, rapturous eulogy. Yea, we remember that our Lord once said, "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, that ye have love one to another." But have we? If not, are we then His disciples? This is a very practical question. It really measures our love to Christ; for the greater our love for Christ the greater will be that for our brethren.

In the battle, with the foe in front, while he gathers stronger and stronger to the attack, while within the camp itself his emissaries are sowing dissension, and he is seeking to corrupt the word of God, let every true hearted soldier of Christ stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother, and let not the breath of envy do its hateful work. Happy is that man who, when he lays his armor aside in the house of God, shall find no dint wrought by that weapon of the Adversary upon it. Would we know how to accomplish this best? The answer is before us:"So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved."

The fact that this injunction is so constantly and earnestly reiterated, to an assembly in which everything seemed so bright, is well worthy of our serious consideration. "There is a tide in the affairs of men," says an earthly poet; and alas! how often are our flood tides the commencement of the ebb.

Did you ever think of those words, " The cock crew," in a spiritual way? The cock-crow was the sign of morning near. As Peter went out he may have seen the first glimmer of dawn breaking over the eastern hills, and have heard, as if to hail its advent, the voice of the herald of the dawn. The morning is near, poor Christ forgetter! The resurrection glory is breaking over the shores of time. "Stand fast in Christ" for the few fleeting moments ere He come and then stand ever in His presence, at home! How light will seem the trial then. How precious the present opportunity! And oh how sweet it will be, when that song, everlasting, because everlasting its cause, wakes the joyous voices of the morning, to think that in the night of His rejection, earth once heard it break from your lips, a true witness to Him.

" I beseech Euodias and I beseech Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord." We now come to the practical working of the love that animates the apostle. True affection cannot bear to see its objects at variance with one another, and so this petition comes in to remove all "root of bitterness." But how delicate and judicious in its framing! How well calculated to attain its end. He beseeches, and he beseeches both. No doubt one was more right than the other. Indeed there are very few questions in which this is not so. And yet the apostle ignores all that and leaves them to recognize it themselves. How much trouble would be avoided by God's people if there were ever such care and love exercised, and differences of opinion were removed ere separation of heart followed. But not only is this so but bonds must be strengthened, and so he goes on to say, "And I entreat thee also true yoke fellow help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are written in the book of life." And then once more he breaks out, " Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say, rejoice!" How wonderfully touching is this jubilant music from a prison. But this is after all the secret of all real service. One cannot labor with a sad heart. One cannot preach Christ unless he find Him a source of joy and blessing. The shout of triumph must ring in the heart of the speaker, and proclaim what a God he has-a God who stays the sun by man's feeble arm, who heals disease, who conquers sin, who preaches deliverance to the captives, recovers sight to the blind and, as the apostle puts it, " causeth us always to be led about in triumph in Christ."

And now that we are thinking about it, let us ask ourselves, how much we know about this. Is it true that the victor's song can be heard, or do the cares of this world stifle it in its birth? It is one thing to talk about it when there is nothing on any hand to put us to the test, and quite another when we are in the thick of the battle. Brass will glitter like gold, but there is a world of difference between them. Buoyancy of spirit will seem like the happiness of faith until it be tried in God's crucible. Dear brethren, how do we stand in the time of testing? It behooves us to ask ourselves this question very often. The next verse may be considered as a measuring-rod for the joy of the preceding. It is a little difficult to render so as to give the full force of the Greek. Primarily it is that which "fits to," and from this it might be translated " adaptability, "and as a special application of this latter meaning to the demands of others upon us, " yieldingness."

"Let your adaptability be known unto all men." If we are rejoicing in the Lord as the apostle wants us to, this will be comparatively easy, but if not, certainly impossible. I say " certainly impossible, "for I think the words imply a state of heart as well as of life. When rejoicing in the Lord, we are rich and can afford to yield and give way, and we continue rich. But if not, then we must necessarily cling to our own ways and fancies and to whatever else we count dear; for it is our all, and there be few that will let go their all.

In addition to this it says "let it be known!" Oh what a blessed testimony to Him, when men can say, He is so rich in Christ and the knowledge of His nearness that he does not care what you take from him. Truly that hymn is right which says it is

" Sweeter praise than tongue can tell, "
God is satisfied with Jesus,
"We are satisfied as well."

But then "satisfied" means a great deal and before leaving this point let us ask ourselves, "Are we really and absolutely satisfied with Him?"

The making known in the verse we have been considering is coupled with another making known in the verse which follows, "Be anxious about nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

In ver. 5, you are exhorted to let men draw as many drafts upon you as they wish, and then in ver. 6, God, in His wonderful grace says, "Come to Me, I will make up your shortage and fill your treasury to overflowing."

There are several things to be noted here. First of all it says, "in everything." How broad and inclusive is this invitation. We are to give God our full confidence. There is nothing in which He will not be interested, nothing too small for His care, nothing too great for His power. Then as to suitable manner of presentation it is " prayer and supplication with thanksgiving," and as to result, "The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

If this peace then do not keep our hearts and minds, it is evident that we are not fulfilling the condition upon which it depends. It "passeth all understanding." How can men understand a peaceful mind where corroding anxieties would be natural? Do we know and possess that peace, dear brethren? If so we shall neither be fretful nor peevish though passing through painful circumstances. "But are we so? And if not, why not? Alas it is because we forget in everything with all prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to make known our requests unto God. May we awake to our blessed privileges in this great grace of our God.

Prayer is a measure of our care for Him. If we do not pray much to Him we do not care much for Him. Is not that true? Let each of us make answer for himself. And should we, when thus before the bar of our conscience, feel compelled to return an answer of condemnation, may our cry be, ever increasingly, " Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me by Thy free Spirit! "

Danger thickens about us on every hand. The adversary knows that his time is short, and as we near our journey's end, increased effort is being made by him, to ensnare us into sleep.

"Blessed is that man whom when his Lord cometh, He shall find watching." To wait for Him! To watch for Him! To long for Him! and all through this dark night to let the candles of faith, and hope, and love burn brightly until they be swallowed up in the glory of His Presence. This is our blessed privilege. Are we enjoying it? F. C. G.

3.THE RETURN TO BETHLEHEM. (Vers. 19-22.)

There are several features to note in connection with the return. When they reach Bethlehem, the whole place is moved, "Is this Naomi?" What havoc her departure had wrought, and she is forced to confess the sad truth herself. How her few words tell the story, her heart not yet fully restored. "Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (bitter):for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." She calls Him by that dread name which emphasizes His power rather than His love and care. As she thinks of her once happy home, forgetting her own responsibility for the change, she seems to charge the Almighty with it all. But the next words confess the truth, " I went out full." It was voluntary; she had not been compelled to go, and she was full when she went. " The Lord (Jehovah) hath brought me home again empty." Self-will took her away:grace brought her home (ah, it was home still). Is this not the confession of every restored soul? We may have made many excuses for our departure from God; circumstances were against us, friends became cold, we were misunderstood-ah multiply them as we will, the one reason for departure from God is expressed in that one brief sentence, "I went out full."

But in that confession the soul reaches God, for true confession can only be in His presence. So the next word is the covenant name, "Jehovah hath brought me home again." We would never come back ourselves. It is only the power of unchanging grace that restores the wanderer; but for that we would still remain in the land of Moab. Nor could we be brought back in any other condition than empty. There must be the brokenness suggested by that, to make the soul willing to yield to God's love.

But her condition is a witness of what an evil and bitter thing it is depart from the Lord-a warning to all against the folly of turning away from the house of plenty.

Dear brethren, look at that poor desolate widow, crushed with apparently hopeless sorrow, her brightness all behind her-and see a picture of the soul that wanders from God. Ah! how many blighted lives, filled with bitter, unavailing regrets are there among the saints of God.

" It might have been," says the aged man, looking back upon a lifetime of wasted energy and time. Who can measure the loss suffered by those who spend the life in gathering the "wood, hay, and stubble" of this world? Nor is such departure necessarily a moral declension. The world can be very upright, but it makes widows of God's people who yield to its seductions.

It is always the time of harvest when the wanderer returns. Ah, let the proud, stubborn will be broken, let there be the words of confession, and how soon will the poor wanderer find the ripened harvest with all its abundance and its joy.

Who but the God of all grace could have blessing for His people at all times, no matter how great their unfaithfulness. But in His presence, plenty abides. None can hunger there, and even for you, poor wandering child of His, there is more than enough. His voice is ever, Eat, yea drink abundantly, O beloved.
The prophets abound with pictures of this return of the widowed nation to God. The whole of the Lamentations of Jeremiah might be called Naomi. " How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! . . . She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. . . . From the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed. . . . Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old. … Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me."

Here we see her wretched state, and a little later we hear the confession of the remnant:"The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandment. … I have grievously rebelled. . . . My sighs are many and my heart is faint" (Lam. 1:).

We see too the recovering mercy of the Lord in the prophet Hosea, though there the house of Ephraim is prominent. "How shall I give thee up Ephraim ? how shall I deliver thee Israel? . . . My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim:for I am God and not man" (Hos. 11:). "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely:for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel:he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon."

Such passages abound throughout the prophets, showing the wretched yet repentant state of the nation on the one hand, and on the other the everlasting love of our God. What a day will it be when the Lord will again speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and when the land will again be married to Him. But before that time there must be a season of sorrow and deep exercise-the time of Jacob's trouble,- but at this we will look later.

( To be continued, if the Lord please.)

'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" . . . "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake!"

The Christian soldier, ere the fray,
Goes to his Lord, aside, to pray
"What wilt Thou have me do this day?"
And Christ, in love, responds to prayer,
'The courage of the Cross is rare-
What canst thou for my name's sake bear?"
And foemen wonder at the might
With which he stands for God and right.

The sufferer of the Cross prays too-
"Though opportunities are few,
What wilt Thou, Lord, that I should do?"
And Jesus whispers, "Courage take-
No greater effort canst thou make
Than suffering for My name's sake!"
And people marvel, as they see
Affliction borne so patiently.

The soldier's discipline and drill
The sufferer's agony, while still,
Each perfectly reflect His will.
In answer to the humble prayer,
The Spirit and the Word prepare
Both, "for His name's sake," all to bear.
Thus, day by day, the servants learn
The Master's will, "till He return."

G. K.

" And being let go, they went to their own company " Acts 4:23.

After the miracle of healing the impotent man at the gate Beautiful, the apostles were the objects first of the admiration of the people, and next of the enmity of the leaders. Declining the first, they gave all the glory of the healing to Him whom it was their delight to confess; nor did they shrink from owning Him before those who had crucified Him, and would willingly have done the same to His disciples. It is indeed refreshing to see this loyalty in the face of danger, nor could the threats of prison or prohibition to speak any more in the name of Jesus hinder them in their work. The threats but bring forth fresh avowals to the very face of the chief priests, and for the present there was nothing to do but threaten again and then let them go.

They are free now to go where they will, and by watching where they go we can see what lies at the bottom of their character. Many a man may pose before the public as a person of rare devotedness, but if he could be seen when "let go" a very different impression would be given. ' These men go to their own company, that of the saints, and there pour out their heart in prayer to the Lord.

It is not our purpose to follow them further; we may safely leave any one at the mercy-seat in the company of the saints. But let us gather up a few of the thoughts suggested by this expression. Where do we go when let go?

There is much in the way of every day employment that is common ground for all men. Unless one is thrown closely with a person in his daily work there may be nothing special in the way he performs it to mark him as a Christian, save a careful, faithful doing what is given him, not with eye-service but as unto God. It is good to remember that the humblest life of toil offers such an opportunity to confess Christ.

In most kinds of work, too, not only the body but the mind has to be engaged, and it is no sign of spirituality to neglect proper attention to the work before us on the plea that we are occupied with the Lord. The mind must be occupied at least to a considerable extent with what is before it. But now the work is over, we are "let go " from the daily task- where do we go? where do our thoughts turn? Do they turn to the proper company of the Lord's people, as naturally as an elastic band returns to its normal condition after being stretched and then loosened? Do we gravitate toward divine things? So that without effort or the urging of conscience we turn to the Lord and His concerns?

Let us apply this very simply to what is a most practical matter, the attendance at the meetings of the Lord's people. You have been detained at work all day, returning weary at evening. You have been "let go" from the burdens of the day. There is a meeting of the saints, but you have been working hard all day and feel the need of bodily and mental rest. How often has there been the temptation to remain quietly at home instead of joining with those who feel a greater need for prayer and the study of the word of God than for bodily rest.

And yet, beloved brethren, we have no doubt as to what is our "own company." Through grace we have been brought to the Lord, and thus to "those that are His own." The sphere of our pleasure as well as of our responsibilities, for there cannot be two, lies within the circle of God's household. All that is needed is to act practically according to this truth. We have, we can have, but one company. Happy are we when we return to that company whenever we are "let go." If saints could tell the starting point of declension from God, it would most frequently be found to be in alienation from the fellowship of the Lord's people.

Why should the meeting for prayer be less fully attended than that for the breaking of bread? Why should the week-meetings be neglected by many who would be shocked at the thought of being kept, for the same reason, from the Lord's-day-meeting ?These are very simple matters, but they test us when we least expect it. Oh, may we gravitate to the company of the saints.

It is at once the reproach of the world and the glory of the gospel that it sets men free; the world says, free to sin, but grace says, free from sin to serve Christ. Is there not some ground for the world's reproach when the flesh is allowed to dictate as to our associations or conduct when released from needed occupations? The word for Lazarus was, "Loose him and let him go." It is the word for every soul set free by grace, and in the joy of that freedom we seek our own company. But the flesh must be judged, if there is to be this spontaneous turning to the Lord and His people. To set one free who has not learned the lesson of "no good in me," is to give loose rein to the fleshly man.

Transferring the words to another thought, how sweet it will be to be "let go " from this world! We are held here, as the hireling fills his appointed task, looking to the hour when the time of service will be over. Individually, the letting-go takes place at death, and in view of that the apostle could say, "Having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better." But what a happy time it will be when we are all set free by the shout of the Lord, who will descend to call His beloved saints to Himself! The earth will no longer hold us, the world will have no attraction even for those who have walked too close to it while their hearts have truly been Christ's. We will be "let go," and with delight will return to our "own company," the presence of the Lord and the goodly fellowship of all that are His.

"Lord haste that day of cloudless ray."

In View of Questions Which Have Been Lately Raised.

2.WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE WRITTEN WORD.

Makings must have come to a pass indeed, when I with Christians such as those for whom I am writing, one has to dwell upon – still more, defend-the value of the written Word. That which has been to us all the revelation of all the truth which we possess (and it is by the truth we are sanctified); that which alone brings into communion with the mind of God; that which, as inspired of God-"God-breathed "-furnishes the man of God to all good works;- how needless, how unutterably foolish it must appear, to tell any one who owes his all to it, the value of the written word of God!

Is this what those are thinking who, to one's utter astonishment to-day are letting pass without word of audible comment (that has had power, at least, to come across the breadth of the Atlantic) statements that would seem as if they should rouse to indignation impossible to be repressed every soul divinely taught as to what Scripture is? There is only one way besides in which this silence is comprehensible to me. Perhaps by some strange obliquity of mind words have lost for me their proper meaning, and I have failed to understand what I have had before me. If it be so, still let me state this figment of my imagination, and meet it as if it were a reality. How good it would be to get a strong knock-down reply from some one somewhere, to dispel for ever this delusion of mine, and assure me that I was dreaming! Why does not some one in pity to me, who, I think, have no evil intent, but a real longing over souls who seem drifting away from truth whither they know not, prick this bubble for me, and give relief to more than myself from as uncomfortable a nightmare of the imagination (if it be that) as for long has visited them?

The delusion which I am combating (whether mine or that of others) begins with fair speeches about Scripture (always written characteristically with a small "s") as being authoritative and the written word of God. It blurs this, however, immediately by saying, it is more the record of it than the thing itself. I suppose every higher critic of the decent kind would say as much. It warns us, for all that (as I have never known the decent critic do), enforcing this too by personal example, that one can study much, and that a Bible student is not much all; which means, of course, that the study of the Bible does not count for much. In fact, we are told, the method of learning truth by Scripture was not God's original plan at all:if the Church of God had remained in its first estate, we would not have wanted the Scriptures. The mind of God which is in the Scriptures would have been livingly expressed in the Church without them ; and that was the divine idea! A very important thought, as some one remarks, if true; and very important, of course, to know if it be true:for by it the whole Old Testament is practically discounted and set aside for us.

But how, then, without the Word, was the Church to become the "living expression" of the mind of God? Here a leaf is taken from an old book which is not Scripture, but which many will recognize. The truth is in the Church. The apostles had it and communicated it; Paul to Timothy; Timothy to faithful men, who were to teach others. Here are four generations:Paul; Timothy; faithful men; others:that is the way the truth was to be transmitted. It is the way which the church of Rome hold to-day; and the technical name for it is "Tradition."
But it failed! Yes; somehow it failed. Rome may be excusable here in believing that God's plan could not fail; but it could and did. Have you not observed that it is in the second epistle to Timothy, not the first, that Paul speaks of the Scriptures in that well known eulogy? That was when failure had fully set in; and then it was that the Scriptures came to be so important!

But at any rate, one would say, the method of teaching by Scripture is that by which we come into the truth today; and all that one can say of it in this respect today is fully justified! Ah, but we must not seize that comfort yet, or all that has been said just now must go for little. No, the old method has not been given up like that. The Church is still the method as before; only supplemented by Scripture because of the failure that has come in. It is a kind of humiliation to have to send the Bible to the heathen, and it is no good sending Bibles, if there are not preachers. People do not learn exactly from Scripture, but from the Spirit of truth; and if you say, "Granted that it is always by the Spirit of truth that any true work is done in the soul at all, but do you say that God will not use the Bible to a man's soul without a preacher?" well, it is difficult to put, it that way, because God is sovereign; in a day of decay and ruin, He may speak through an ass's mouth; but how shall they hear without a preacher? The divine way, undoubtedly, is preaching.

All as glibly said, as unquestioningly taken, even to the gross irreverence of putting the words of God alongside of the miracle of a speaking ass! Is it then a mistake of the apostle that they are "able to make wise unto salvation?" Well, that is asked and answered, if- any one is wise enough to interpret the answer:that "the man of God wants to be furnished with the Scriptures because of their disciplinary value"!-the relevancy of which I confess I do not understand; nor do I think that the apostle's words need any explanation. Why should we not inscribe them in every Bible sent to the heathen as an all-sufficient justification?

But how then with regard to the truth as ministered to the believer? Well, in general, in the early days, we are told that they had to take things on trust. The Old Testament did not give the truth of Christianity; and the New Testament was not written till the Church's decline, of course; otherwise, the whole system taught here would be subverted. The safeguard people had is said to be (what again is somewhat difficult to understand) that "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets; " words which are. certainly found in Scripture, though scarcely in that connection. However, now that failure is come in, and Scripture as the resource in view of it, it is of the utmost importance to prove all things. Here the Bereans are commended to us as a model for imitation; somewhat in forgetfulness that this example comes to us from before the failure of the Church, and when it is supposed that another method was in order; yet it seems that they had Scriptures in their hands which they searched to some purpose. Only it is assured us that what they heard they first received; and only searched the Scriptures to get confirmation! A severe critic might say, perhaps, to see what mistakes they might have made in receiving it! Our day is an evil day; and God has given us the Scripture that we may have a standard of truth. Scripture is the limit; and though you don't exactly learn from Scripture (and indeed it is legality to want chapter and verse for doctrine) yet the more familiar people are with it the better:because a man's mind is thus continually pulled up in its tendency to go beyond the limit!

Thus for the outside world Scripture is not to be reckoned on for the conversion of souls. God may use it for that, because He is sovereign, and might be pleased to use the speech of an ass; while for the flock of Christ it is as it were a tether, to prevent their natural tendency to stray! You are right to search it for confirmation of what you hear; only you are to receive this first, and search afterwards. Even then remembering that it is legal to want chapter and verse for doctrines, and that it is possible to study the authority too much!

It would be perfectly natural to say that must be a caricature of anybody's teaching. My comfort is that, at least, those who think so cannot have received it themselves. If they can find no one who has, or who knows of its existence, that would only show to me how few take in what they read; perhaps even while they applaud it. However, let us make it an occasion for examining what is the use and value of the written Word.

Only think of it as that!-the written word of God! a word prepared for us as the outcome of past ages which have contributed, age after age, their quota to the full result; the whole, in every line and word of it, "God-breathed,"-the quickening breath of the Spirit in it!-from the heart of God to the heart of man! The more we look into it, the more in faith we credit it with a divine message and meaning, the more it responds and opens,-the more it draws and wins us to itself. Had I my life to live over again, I would study it more, not less, drink it in, live in it, have it my meditation all the day long. Where else shall I find the Voice of Him who seeks me for Himself? Can any one tell me where? Fancy one telling me that the use of Scripture is in its being a "limit" to my poor human thoughts; when it is that which, as far as may be, leads me out into the limitless,-into the "deep things of God"!Here are the things that the Spirit searches-the Spirit, wonderful to say, in me!-and which, having set before me the infinite, leads me into the measureless delight of exploring my inheritance! How many people, handing down to me with flawless accuracy, the traditional truth, could replace for me the scriptures of prophets and apostles which God has put into my hands, with their tale which they are never weary of telling,- which I can read and re-read, carry into my room, set down before me, pray over and look again,- listen to in the quiet of His Presence who is in them and with them, till the music of their chime begins in my soul, soothing, quickening, harmonizing, subduing all my nature to them! If I owe my possession of them to the failure of the Church, then blessed is that failure which, under God, has secured me so priceless a result. I speak soberly and deliberately while I say, that not the presence of the whole of the apostles with the Church to-day could replace for us the loss of Scripture. Could they all together give us one truth more than God has seen good to give us in it? Did they communicate, in fact, one truth besides, which we have lost? More than that, is it certain that they even knew all that was in their own communications? still more, can we believe that they knew all that all other inspired writers had communicated from the beginning? Have we one shred of truth, or of interpretation of Scripture even, which has come down to us by this so much lauded tradition, that any one can show us, much less show us value in to-day? What can we glean from apostolic " fathers "? Has not God been pleased to make a clean, broad mark of absolute limitation between Scripture and all else that went before or followed it, so that it should shine out to us in its own peerless character to-day? What has God given us through all the centuries since, which is more than a development from it,-a bit of the treasure from this exhaustless treasure-house ?

I do not expect, then, with whatever amount of prayer or meditation, to obtain from my poor thoughts, which have indeed to be kept in order so, one thing which directly or indirectly has not come to me from the Word. Nor can I think of anything higher for myself or any other, than to be an expositor of this glorious Word. Tell me, then how I can study it too much? You need not tell me that I can pray too little:Alas, I know that well.
I suppose, we have nothing to assure us how early in Christian times the Gospel of Matthew may have been written. It is pre-eminently, as all are aware, the Jewish Gospel; as the church in Jerusalem was for some time a Jewish remnant, and little more. Luke shows us at the end of his Gospel what special pains the Risen Saviour took to ground His disciples from the beginning in the Old Testament, and its relation to the New. Here their feet always stood firm; and the example of the Bereans a good while afterwards makes plain to what good use it could be put by those who had not had the advantage of such instruction. When they had thus assured conviction as to the trustworthiness of those through whom they had received the knowledge of the Saviour, and the pledge and witness of the Holy Spirit, there was of course abundant warrant for their reception through a channel so certified, of those additional communications which God was pleased to give. But notice here that the very slowness with which we know such communications came, gave the fullest opportunity to incorporate them one by one with all that they had known before; the scattering of the truth abroad being itself gradual, so as to carry better together the whole body of disciples. The more we reflect upon all this, the more we shall realize how fully from the beginning of Christianity the Lord grounded His people upon the written Word; and that this was no after-plan when the Church had fallen. Such thoughts may catch those who do not study Scripture too much; and alas, there are plenty of them. They are the mere vagaries of a dreaming mind, to which the word of God is not even a "limit."

We have no need to undervalue the preacher, because of the efficacy of the Word. I would emphasize it more, indeed, than all this system does. Instead of saying for instance, that God does not use us instrumentally as effecting anything, Scripture assures us that men can "so speak" that others shall believe (Acts 14:i). It makes the character of the speaking effective in the production of the result. But there is another reason for "how shall they hear without a preacher? " without dishonoring Scripture to furnish one; and that is serious and sad enough. It is that men, alas, have to be pursued by the grace that seeks them and the living voice of the preacher is the most effectual mean sin this way. Wisdom has to cry aloud, and utter her voice in the corners of the streets. "Go out into the highways and the hedges, and compel them to come in!"Scripture had always been, while necessarily safeguarded by the barrier-wall thrown around Israel, yet placed in the very center of the chief civilizations of the old world, and on the highways of commerce. Had men desired the treasures of it, they were readily accessible, and there was no prohibition of their acquirement; but they manifested no desire. And in the midst of Christendom today, with the completed Word in our hands, what would we do without that publication of it in various ways, by which it is forced upon the notice of the unwilling-hearted? That does not in the least affect the power existing in the Scriptures to make men wise unto salvation which they assuredly have-a power which is being proved continually.

We have spoken, perhaps, enough of the Bereans, and their readiness to receive the word preached to them. No doubt that there is in the truth always an inherent acceptability to an earnest mind. But the belief of it is distinctly put here after that searching of the Scriptures which they are praised for, not before it. Think of the consequences of a principle such as is advocated, of receiving first, before proving! when the proving will surely follow with a laggard and indifferent step; and during the delay how many falsehoods may spring out of one error received, which may not be destroyed, even when they have lost their attachment to the root from which they sprang! How would such a principle account for the rapid and wide spread of a movement like that which we are now contemplating, in which the captivating brilliancy of many new ideas may with the ready aid of the emotions sweep the traveler off his feet too far away for any present recovery. A voyage of exploration always has its charm; and to be told that you need not know whither you are going, but may give yourself up to the guidance of one who seems so impressively confident of his ability to carry you safely, is a luxury in itself. Certainly you make progress:everything moves. By and by you can take your bearings and see where you have arrived. You can return by the way you have come, if in the end you are not satisfied. But have you gaged then the strength of the stream that is bearing you on it? F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

QUES. 13.-"And at that time thy people shall be delivered every one of them that is found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan. 12:1, 2). Does not the latter sentence refer to Israel's restoration, and not to the resurrection of the body? In Rom. 11:Israel's restoration is called ''life from the dead"; so also in Ezek. 37:May it not be said, ''Many of them that sleep, etc.," because some of Israel will be already awake?

ANS.-It seems evident that it is not a literal but a national resurrection that is here spoken of. The passages referred to by our correspondent would confirm this. We would rather think the "many" referred to the mass of the nation, almost equivalent to all, the nation as a whole, and not to the remnant, which would seem to be among those who awake.

" The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself:the world also is established that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old:Thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure:holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord forever" (Ps. 93:).

'This is a Millennial Psalm, describing the time I when man's wisdom and efforts to govern the world will have headed up in anarchy, and God will then have in His own power set all in order and
established government upon a righteous basis. Then, "holiness unto the Lord shall be written
upon the bells of the horses " (Zech. 14:20).

Holiness is that which responds to divine order in government. Man is holy only in the measure in
which he, in heart, respects God's order. This must begin in the man himself. He who does not govern himself in the fear of God, will have no proper sense of government anywhere. When Adam received Satan's lie, he became a rebel against God's government, bringing ruin and confusion upon himself and the world about him. Peace was taken from the earth, only to be re-established through the triumph and reign of the Second Man. In Him we have the divine model of a self-governed Man, before whom every other man stands condemned and guilty.

When grace has wrought in salvation, the first responsibility of every one thus saved is self-government in the fear of God. Not apart from God, which would be merely satanic pride and independency. This was the promise of the enemy at the first, that man should be "as God"; and this was the very condemnation into which Satan fell, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty " (Ezek. 28:13-17). All who have listened to his lie have become like him, and to them our Lord's words apply, "Ye are of your father the devil." Self-culture and self-government apart from the fear of God, then, is nothing but this same spirit of Satan. It is antagonism to Christ, and the spirit of rebellion against the government of God which He has put in the hands of His blessed Son (John 5:22, 23).

Next to self-government in the fear of God comes the responsibility for household government. "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment" (Gen. 18:19). An ungoverned man will have an ungoverned household. Even the exercise of his authority will be of that despotic character which produces in the end rebellion and anarchy. God's government in the household will be in the power of divine love which holds both the reins of order and the rod of correction.

Passing on further, there is the government of the world, which is the same divine order applied in a larger sphere. In spite of the ruin that has come in, and even the failure of the ruler into whose hands the reins of government have been put, there is a most merciful provision for order and safety in the world through governments. Evil is restrained, and well-doers are protected. "For rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ? do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same:for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain:for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Rom. 13:1-7). This scripture is a witness for God's care of us while living in a scene hostile to Himself and those who are His.

This brings us to another form of government, that of the assembly of God. If He has ordained political government for the protection of His own in the world, has He been less careful to protect the honor of His Son in the assembly of the saints?

There can be no government without headship:"I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God " (i Cor. 11:3). Thus all government is in the hands of the supreme ruler of the universe. Therefore in whatever sphere it be, whether individual, the family, the world or the Church-all is under the One, whose order must be respected and obeyed everywhere. Even the Lake of Fire is but the prison house where all wilful rebels against His rule will be eternally confined with the devil and his angels.

It is the holiness of God's character which gives value to His order and government everywhere. Just as men have lost the sense of God's holiness, they have lost the key of His government. This has led to the departure of the Church from the divine order of apostolic days, and to the substitution of man's order instead of God's. God is displaced, and His word and the Holy Spirit are set aside for human expedients and human rulers. The result can be imagined, nay it is visible.

When Israel departed from God, as foretold by Joshua, they had no king, and "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Tracing this down to its last results, we find the crime of Gibeah, and the terrible confusion that accompanied its judgment (Judges 19:and 20:). The king of Israel, was to be the head of God's constituted authority and government; the absence of a king was the absence of government, because they had thrown off subjection to God. The same has been true of the Church. Indifference to God's holiness leaves the gate open for self-will, and all manner of corruption and violence. Let us beware of Satan's wiles; his enmity is against Christ, and he seeks to dishonor Him by lowering the standard of God's holiness, and thus producing indifference in the hearts of saints to God's order in the assembly. This is manifestly his special effort in these closing days.

Let us now see the provision for government in the Church, which has been given through the apostles, particularly Paul. We do not find a code of laws, with minute details of the letter, but we have that which is far better and equally definite-the word of God and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. It has been said, for instance, that there is no scripture for a prayer-meeting. But while there is no direct command, there is that which is far better, and which shows God's desire for His people.

In the first chapter of Acts, they were assembled in a ten days prayer-meeting (Acts 1:14). After the Holy Ghost had come upon them, and three thousand had been converted, we read, "They continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. In the sixth chapter, the apostles when appointing the deacons to look after the poor, declare their own work to be, "the ministry of the word and prayer." Thus the Spirit shows the mind of God as to the subject of prayer-meetings.

In the same way, we see His guidance as to the government of the assembly. He led to the appointment of the deacons for a special work. They had to be "honest men of good report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom." When an assembly was formed, He led to the appointment of elders or spiritual rulers. "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed " (Acts 14:23). Another passage will show the nature of their work and how it was to be done. The Apostle was addressing the elders of the Assembly of Ephesus, just before his final departure from those quarters.

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers (or bishops) to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with the blood of His own. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now brethren I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (Acts 20:28-32).

Here we see who has made them elders, the Holy Ghost; their work is pointed out, to feed the Church of God. The need for it is seen in the danger of there being false teachers. The means by which they were to do their work is the word of God's grace. Following is a description of the apostle's own service as a model for all.

We have no apostles now to designate these elders, and it would be folly for uninspired men to attempt to ordain elders; but we do have the same Holy Spirit to call men into this service and to make known their gifts. In the Epistle to the Romans, we have the recognition of gifts, and among them "he that ruleth, with diligence" (Rom. 12:6-8). And again, "God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues" (i Cor. 12:28).

We have also the qualifications for an elder, which remain true for all time.

"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?) not a novice, (a new convert, or one young in experience) lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (i Tim. 3:2-7. See also i Tim. 5:i, 17, 19; Tit. 1:5; Heb:. 13:7, 17).

With all these and other scriptures, and their explicit statements as to the qualifications of an elder, can we think it an unimportant matter? Surely not; and yet have we not been very indifferent and careless as to the subject of rule and government in the assembly of the saints? and has not this indifference produced its legitimate fruit?

All can see the weakness which has resulted from this, and many different reasons have been given for it. May we not say that the real root of all our failure has been the lack of a proper sense of God's holiness in government ? Oh, the solemnity of the presence of God! Think of it in the meetings of the saints, in the home, at the place of business. How feeble is our apprehension of that holy presence, the Almighty God!

But does Satan whisper that this tends to legalism, and that we are not under law? But if the law was
intended to impress men with a sense of the awful majesty of God (and we cannot read the descriptions of Sinai without seeing that it was so intended) does grace do less? We are forever delivered from slavish fear that we might have grace to serve God reverently, and with godly fear. If Israel soon lost the sense of His majesty, it is a sad fact that men have done so ever since. We too have repeatedly proved ourselves to be "a crooked and perverse nation," "a stiff-necked and rebellious people," "no better than our fathers." We shall never truly realize what God's grace is, except as we realize also His holiness.

C. E. H.

( To be continued, if the Lord please.)

We shall be with Christ forever,
When this world's dark night is o'er.
Us from Him can nothing sever;
We are His forevermore.

God our everlasting dwelling,
And our portion there shall be,
While from hearts with rapture swelling,
Praise shall rise continually.

Faith we'll need not for our seeing;
Hope no more will be our stay:
All the springs of ransomed being
Shall flow out in cloudless day.

In the heavenly fields abiding,
Where the quiet waters roll,
In our Shepherd's love confiding,
Rest and peace shall fill the soul.

Age on age shall follow ages,
Still no change His love will know;
All the truths of Scripture's pages
In that light of life shall glow.

Oh, that here on earth the prospect
Which before us has been set,
Of enjoying Jesus' presence
Without hindrance or let,

Served to keep us ever near Him,
Walking softly in His ways,
Till with joy we rise to meet Him,
Dwell with Him thru' endless days!

H. A. J.

I am greatly confirmed in the conviction, that at the root of Romanism lies infidelity, not of course in the gross form of denying Christianity in its fundamental truths, or the – historical basis of Christianity, but in the annulling those truths on which the blessing of the soul depends, or their application to it. It is a sensuous religion; fills the imagination with gorgeous ceremonies, noble buildings, fine music, stately processions. It feeds it with legends and the poetry of antiquity; but it gives no holy peace to the conscience-ease it may, but not peace; and, while accrediting itself with asceticism,* it accepts for the mass of its votaries full association with the world. *"I looked at her," says Dr. N., "her rites, her ceremonial, her precepts, and I said, This is a religion."* It holds sin over the conscience as a terror, and relieves from that terror by human intervention, so as to put power into man's hand- into the hands of the priesthood. Looked at as a picture, it fills largely the imagination; in practice it degrades. Christianity and (in its true sense, whatever its shortcomings may have been) Protestantism elevate. I shall refer to this last in a moment:it has largely failed in result, but in its nature, as compared with Romanism, it elevates.

Christianity brings us directly, immediately to God. Each individual is directly, immediately, in relationship to God,-his conscience before God, his heart confidingly in His presence. Judaism had a priesthood, the people could not go into God's presence. They might receive blessings, offer offerings, celebrate God's goodness, have a law to command them; but the way into the holiest was closed by a veil :"the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest." When the Lord Jesus died, this veil was rent from top to bottom, and "we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has consecrated through the veil, that is to say, His flesh." "Having made peace by the blood of His cross." "He suffered the just for the unjust, to bring us to God;" "His blood cleanseth from all sin." Hence the essence of Christianity, as applied to man, is, that the Christian goes himself, directly, personally to God-in Christ's name, and through Christ, but himself, into the holiest, and with boldness. He has by Christ access through the one Spirit to the Father, the Spirit of adoption. This being brought nigh by the blood of Jesus characterizes Christianity in its nature. The holiness of God's own presence is brought to bear on the soul:" If we walk," it is said," in the light, as He is in the light," -yet not as fear, which repels, for we know perfect love through the gift of Jesus. We have boldness to enter into the holiest, that place where the presence of God Himself assures that the confidence of love will be the adoration of reverence while we go forth to the world; that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal body, the epistle (as it is said) of Christ. I am not discussing how far each Christian realizes it, but this is what Christianity practically is. He has made us kings and priests to God and His Father. This elevates truly.

Man is not elevated by intellectual pretensions; for he never gets, nor can get, beyond himself. What elevates him is heart-intercourse with what is above him; what truly elevates him is heart-intercourse with God, fellowship (wondrous word !) with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. But, even where the heart has not found its blessed home there through grace, this principle morally elevates; for it at least puts the natural conscience directly before God, and refers the soul, in its estimate of good and evil, personally and immediately to Him. There may be self-will and failure, but the standard of responsibility is preserved for the soul. I do but sketch the great principle on which I insist.
Romanism, wherever it exercises its influence, has closed the veil again. The faithful are not reconciled to God, they cannot go into the holiest, they do not know (as they quote from Ecclesiastes with so false an application) love and hatred by all that is before them; between them and God they have a priesthood and saints and the virgin Mary, Christianity is a divine work which, through the redemption and life of a heavenly Mediator, has brought us to God; Romanism, a system of mediators on earth and in heaven, placed between us and God, to whom we are to go, and who go for us; we are too unworthy to go ourselves. It sounds lowly this voluntary humility, but it shuts out the conscience from the witness of God's presence; it casts us back on our worthiness, it puts away and denies the perfect love of God as known to us (shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given to us) through Christ. It repudiates the blessed tender grace of Jesus, that High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We must go to the heart of Jesus through the heart of Mary, they tell us. Surely I would rather trust His, blessed and honored as she may have been and was in her own place. It removes me from God, to connect me immediately with creatures, however exalted, for my heart, and with sinful men, for my conscience, who are to judge of and absolve me. All this is degrading. It is the denial of Christianity, not in its original facts, but in its power and application to man.

A few illustrations of what I mean. They hold the great facts or truths of Christianity-the Trinity, the divinity and humanity of Christ; the atonement, so far as its sufficiency goes (not, however, as effectual substitution); that men are sinners (this also very imperfectly); and the need of regeneration, through they scorn the true force of the word. They hold the inspiration of the scriptures, though they have falsified them, both in adding books which every honest man knows are not genuine scriptures, and in giving a translation as the authentic scriptures. They own in a general way the personality and agency of the Holy Ghost. My object is not here to state exactly every point, but to say in general that they own the great fundamental facts of Christianity. It is not there that the spirit of infidelity shows itself.

But the moment you come to the application of these facts to men-to their efficacious value, all is lost. The scriptures are inspired, but the faithful are incapable of using them. In vain is it they are addressed by God Himself through the inspired writers to the body of believers-they must not have them but by leave of others. In vain is it that there is a Holy Ghost-He does not so lead and guide individuals as that they can walk in peace and grace, and understand withal His word. They mock at the thought of His dwelling in believers. They bring the divisions and faults of believers to prove He cannot be there; that is, they use man's sin to deny God's goodness and truth, just as infidels do.

Even as to the scriptures their universal question is the same as the infidel's-How do you know them to be the scriptures ? Their doctrine is, You must believe in them through the church :that is, the scriptures do not command faith in and by themselves, nor is man guilty if he rejects them, just as the infidel says. God's word must be believed because God has spoken, and for no other reason, or it is not believing His word at all. Grace, no doubt, is needed for it, as for everything; but man's responsibility is there, as the Lord said, "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." They were responsible for not receiving Him, with all ecclesiastical authority rejecting Him :so are men as to the Word.

Again, the sacrifice of Christ, they do not deny it. They repeat it in the Mass in an unbloody sacrifice, they say. But scripture says it was accomplished once for all, and contrasts it in its efficacy with the Jewish sacrifices, the repetition of which proved that sin was still there. Whereas the sacrifice of Christ, offered once for all, having perfectly put away sin for him who believes, there could be no repetition, the believer is perfected forever, and God remembers his sins and iniquities no more. Their repetition shows unbelief in this blessed truth. The believer is not perfected forever – the sacrifice must be repeated. It is not true that God will not remember their sins and iniquities any more. That is, the sacrifice is not denied; its efficacy, once offered for the believer's soul, is.

Again, take Christ's intercessional mediatorship. Christianity presents to me that blessed One, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; a man tempted in all points as we are, without sin; One who also can be touched with the feeling of my infirmities, who has suffered being tempted, and thus is able to succor them that are tempted. In a word, the Son of God Himself has descended into our sorrows and trials, and passed through them in tender gracious love, that I might confide in His sympathy and love, and know He could feel for and with me. Do they deny His priesthood and intercession ? No. But in fact there are a crowd of mediators; above all, Mary His mother. And why ? He is too high and glorious. Any poor man would seek a friend at court to have the king's ear, it is the heart of Mary I am to trust, and get the saints' intercession, and reach His heart through Mary's. The whole truth and value of Christ's intercessory love is destroyed and denied in practice. The saints' and Mary's intercession is trusted, their tenderness and nearness believed in, not Christ's. Heathenism denied the one true God the Creator (though in a certain sense owning Him as a dogma) by a multiplicity of gods in practice. God intervenes by a Mediator in the most perfect system of blessing, and Romanism, while admitting the mediatorship of Christ as a dogma, has denied the one true mediatorship in practice by a multiplicity of mediators. It is the heathenism of Christianity, that is, of the blessed truth of a redeeming Mediator.-From J. N. D's Coll. Writ. vol. 18:

2. Faith:Its separations and companionship. (Vers. 6-18.)

A more hopeless condition than that of Naomi could scarce be imagined-bereft of husband and sons, in the land of a stranger and an enemy. And yet how true it is that the darkest hour is that which just precedes the dawn. It was in divine fitness that our Lord should have selected the cock-crowing as the time to mark Peter's denial. It was the darkest hour in his history-he thrice denied his Saviour, Friend, and Lord, with cursing. And yet that awful outburst of evil brought it to the surface, where it could no longer hide behind loud protestations of devotedness. Peter sees himself, nevermore could trust himself, and in that darkest hour is heard the herald of the coming day. So widowed Naomi, in the hour of her desertion, turns in dim faith to the One from whom she had so deeply revolted.

The same is true in the history of the nation's return to God. Typically, it was in the time of famine that Joseph's brethren returned, unconsciously though it be, with confession to the one they had so grievously injured. In the coming day, it will be "in the cloudy and dark day" that the Lord's wandering sheep will be sought out and gathered. In like manner, each soul is recovered by divine grace when all seems darkest, when the evil is brought out into the light.

But the rekindling of faith makes at first but a feeble flame, with more smoke than light in the flax. It is a selfish motive that induces her to return, much the same as that which stirred the prodigal to turn his face to the father's house:" She had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread," There does not seem to have been any sense of wrong in having left the "house of bread," or of having sinned in turning to the people of Moab. Ah, even our repentance has nothing in it that we can boast of-all is tainted.

This comes out more clearly in her interview with her daughters-in-law. They had accompanied her on her homeward way, with the apparent intention of identifying themselves fully with her future fortunes. Surely faith would have recognized mercy to these daughters of the stranger in this, and have encouraged them to follow. But Naomi was not yet restored in her own soul, and therefore could be no help to others. She urges them to return home, and expresses the hope that they may find rest in the house of a heathen husband! " Her own resources having failed, she thinks God has also failed, and has nothing to put before these to encourage them to seek the Lord.

But such is unbelief, never more evil than in a saint. It can see no hope for others for it sees none for itself, and would even discourage those who would be seeking God. Let the wanderers among God's people beware. If out of communion themselves, they not only suffer individually, but are stumbling-blocks to any who might be seeking the Lord. Alas, how the cold, wretched spiritual state of God's people serves to repel rather than attract the seeking soul. If not in words, at least in demeanor and acts, the world is too often given to understand that there is nothing in the things of God to satisfy the cravings of the soul. What else can the distaste for divine things mean, the gloom of soul that speaks from the manner, the evident hunger for worldly pleasure-ah, brethren, let us not think that the world fails to understand all this; it says as plainly as Naomi's words, " Go return each to her mother's house."
But what an awful responsibility is this. Our Lord has left us here as lights in the darkness to attract souls to Himself:what if we by our failure to "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things" are driving them away? There is but one remedy for this-to be in a state of active communion at all times; then we will attract others to Christ, our very lives will be a witness.

On the other hand, God's sovereignty makes use of all things, and the coldness of Naomi becomes the test of the reality of faith in her daughters-in-law. Without exonerating her, the discouragement she offers brings to light the state of heart of the two. There is evident natural affection in both, in fact Orpah shows more than Ruth. The names of these two are suggestive. Orpah, "her neck," or "her back," suggests the turning away which marked her. She kissed Naomi, but returns to the land of Moab. Ruth does not, so far as we read, kiss Naomi, but she clave unto her. Ruth most probably means, "having a shepherd." Her faith here shows that she is one of the sheep, though a Gentile, who is to be brought into the fold.

Let us now look a little in detail at the meaning of this, first for the nation, and then for the individual. Naomi represents the widowed nation, Israel according to the flesh. They have lost the relationship to God suggested by the husband's name, " My God is King," and have, as we were seeing, no claim upon Him according to the flesh-all that has been forfeited. The desolate state of the nation is seen in the widow; and in the two daughters-in-law we see the two states that will mark the people after the close of the present or Christian dispensation, when God will again "visit His people."

In Orpah we see the mass of the people quite content for fancied gain to give up all that faith holds dearest, and to identify themselves with the Antichrist:"If another shall come in his own name, him they will receive." They will see no hope for relief of the wretched condition of the people except in one who will link them with the power of the world, and with all the blasphemy and idolatry which will run riot under the "Beast and the false Prophet."

Ruth, on the other hand, represents that remnant of the nation, which will hold fast to the promises of God, in a dim and cloudy way at first, without claiming aught as a right, but distinctly in faith laying hold upon God. This is seen in her answer to Naomi. It is not mere nature, but faith in the living God that speaks in her reply:"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee:for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee." This was in answer to Naomi's desire, that she should return to her people and her gods. It was thus real faith which made use of the covenant name Jehovah, which expressed itself in Ruth's reply-a faith which had stood the test of having no attraction for nature offered to it.

This will be the state of the believing remnant in the last days. In spite of all opposition and discouragement; in spite of persecution, misrepresentation and loneliness, it will take hold on God, the God of Israel, Jehovah. It will have no worthiness to plead, it will be only an outcast, even as a Gentile. But there will be a living faith, and this at all costs, in life or death, will claim a place with the Israel of God. How precious in His sight will be the faith of that feeble and despised remnant.

The lesson for the individual soul, at the present time, is the same. Faith cannot be turned back, and it ever identifies itself with the people of God. As with the Syrophenician woman it cannot be deterred by the prohibitions of disciples or even by the apparent neglect of the Lord. She must have her need met; what is discouragement as compared with that? Such faith is never disappointed, for it has struck its roots in God's own truth. It does not judge according to sight, and when all seems against it, goes forward without dismay.

This faith separates and it unites. We have seen how, when tested, Orpah turned her back upon Naomi and the people of God. This also separated her from her sister-in-law, for they were going in opposite directions. It is ever thus. Faith separated Abraham from home and country, as it did Moses from the dignities and emoluments of Egypt. Even the ties of human affection cannot hold together souls drawn asunder by opposite motives, one going heavenward and the other earthward. Of course, they may outwardly walk together, but how far apart are they spiritually. It is impossible to prevent this, and what a mercy that it is. Faith separates.

On the other hand, it unites with all who are walking in the same path. Many things may combine to make this seem difficult:there may be differences of taste and of habits, but if the great fact of a common faith remains, it links together in spite of all else. Those who have "like precious faith," are by that fact united in bonds that nothing else can sever. "Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

(To be continued, if the Lord please.)

There are various forms of weakness in the saints. One is weak in mind, and lets any little "wind of doctrine" swerve him from the truth. Another is feeble in dealing with others, in the family or in the assembly. Still another is weak in resisting evil. But whatever may be the form this weakness takes, we may be assured that it is all summed up in one word-weakness of faith. Where faith is in exercise, it links us with God's strength. Nature does not act, and the various forms of weakness to which we are prone will be displaced by the mighty power of God. It will be "not I but Christ." Well do we need to pray, "Lord increase our faith."

In View of Questions Which Have Been Lately Raised.

I. THE PRESENT OUTLOOK ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE.

In looking out upon the features of our own times, and even in proportion to our personal interest in them, we are apt to project our own personalities upon them. That a sanguine person will take a hopeful view, where a desponding one will only see gloom and shadow, no one needs to be informed. But every idiosyncrasy, whatever it may be, is quite apt to make its mark upon the canvas of the picture. Hence the taking of one in a manner perfectly trustworthy is a thing as rare as it is desirable. How thankful should we be, therefore, for the briefest testimony of Scripture as to the character of the times through which we are passing, when it is the pathway for our feet that is in question, and our responsibility to God presses upon us at each step we take!

Such guidance we have, through the tender mercy of our Great Shepherd, in the seven epistles of the book of Revelation; every one traced by His own hand, and our attention called to every address, as in no other part of the word of God:he that hath an ear being bidden to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches! We are not going to dwell upon this now:the application has been long familiar to those for whom I am specially writing; but I would nevertheless press upon my readers the main points of that to Philadelphia, which (to myself at least) seems ever of more commanding interest as the time goes on, and the features of the last days develop themselves before our eyes.

There can scarcely be much difficulty in discerning what Philadelphia stands for. If the "woman Jezebel " makes popery absolutely plain in Thyatira, Sardis, having a name to live, though dead, yet with a remnant undefiled, marks out as clearly the state-churches of the Reformation. Philadelphia, following this, with its "brotherly love," as simply speaks of the movement to find and to separate the true Church out of this world-mass. Such has been more or less the character of many " revivals" since the Reformation, when there was sought a true "communion, of saints" and subjection to the word of Christ, rather than the state-upheld creed. Laodicea nevertheless closes the series here; a picture, alas, less and less hard to be read at present, of a church made more and more popular to please the masses, and lukewarm as to the Christ outside. But we have to do now with Philadelphia.

Here, if "brotherly love " characterizes the assembly, that which the Lord specially commends is classed tinder three heads:first, that they keep Christ's word; secondly, they have not denied His name; thirdly, they have kept the word of His patience. Their danger is that, having but "a little strength," they may not hold fast that which they have; the overcoming will, therefore, be in holding fast.

Of necessity the stream will be against them:that is no more than is implied in every phase in which men are found cleaving to God. The world is against God; and, the world having come into the church, the stream here is against God also. Where shall we find a haven of rest outside of it all? Not in any earthly refuge anywhere. Philadelphia is no place of rest, but the center of a battle-field; and the cry of "overcome" is found here as elsewhere. Our rest is only in the glorious Leader, who covers our head in the day of battle, and in the power of the Holy Spirit who can make something out of things that are not, and out of weakness make us strong. Our trust cannot be in the attainment of an ecclesiastical position, though a right one, – in principles of truth, although divine; through all this the enemy made his way at the beginning, when things were almost in their first freshness; no! we need tireless energy to resist fresh inroads; never more likely to be successful than when we are beginning to believe that the battle is over, and that our victories are to be now only in the quiet harvest-field,-in the ingathering of souls from the seed sown by the evangelist, or the recovery of the people of God themselves out of the superstition and error that have enwrapped them. Then indeed it may be that, while we are congratulating ourselves that we are leaders of the blind, lights of those who sit in darkness, instructors of the foolish, teachers of babes, the pit of darkness may be opening at our feet, to engulf us all.

A terrible thing it is, in fact, to think of that actual chasm which swallowed up the church of the apostles' days-the church of Peter and John and Paul-and left only as the successor of this the legal, hierarchical, ritualistic church of the so-called "fathers,"of which one well-known to us has said, "It is quite certain that neither a full redemption, nor, though the words be used once or twice, a complete possessed justification by faith, as Paul teaches it, a perfecting for ever by its one offering, a known personal acceptance in Christ, is ever found in any ecclesiastical writings after the canonical scriptures, for long centuries." In what, then, were they inferior to us, those men to whom apostles and prophets preached, -what have we that they had not, which is to assure us that we are not in danger of making such shipwreck of the faith as it is certain they did? What but the most foolish self-confidence could say, with such a warning before our eyes, that we were in none? Nor can we seriously consider the epistle to Philadelphia in connection with the character of the present times, without realizing that Satan's batteries to-day are turned upon the very central points of Philadelphian position ; and that we are contemplating the beginning of an apostasy from the Christian faith which will be more complete than any which have preceded it? What is the so-called "higher criticism," spite of its lamb-like speech where the flock of Christ perchance may be alarmed, but the most thorough attack that can be imagined upon the Word of Christ? He Himself was hardly beyond His times in matters of criticism ; and grounded His triumphant argument against the scribes as to David's Son being David's Lord upon a mere mistake as to the authorship of the hundred and tenth psalm! But, in fact, who knows if the evangelists have rightly reported Him? or who knows anything that the critics may please to question? Judgment is removed from the power of the common man:we have no more our Bibles with the appeal to every man's heart and conscience ; you must have trained specialists to settle the facts! and what they will leave you after they have completed their dissections is but the fragments of a corpse without voice or life!

Look again at the denial of Christ's Name! Was there ever a day in which heresies affecting His Person or work more abounded? or the tendency to leave out any particular demand for orthodoxy as to either, so long as people accept Him as their Leader in some way not to be too severely criticized. If you should have mistaken the Son of the Father for a mere servant of the Father's house, eternity will make that right, of course, and it is hoped that the mistake will not prove very serious! After all, the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man are the broad lines upon which religions are to be reconstructed today ; and we need not fear but that they will be found to run on into eternity.

This, it will be said, is outside the sphere of Philadelphia; but it is what infects the air which day by day we breathe, and Satan is the "prince of the power of it." There are plenty of modifications of such principles to ensnare those for whom the full poisonous dose would be too large; and what is even more to be noted is that there are apt to be contradictories and opposites of them, born, indeed, of reaction, which by this opposition may deceive the earnest-hearted. For the serpent's lie is scarcely ever the mere negative of truth; and he is apt himself to have an alternative to it, planned directly to catch the opposers. And he who goes by the safe-seeming rule of steering as far as possible from Scylla may find the enemy's Charybdis lying before him on the other side. With God is perfect guidance; but even with the word of God before our eyes, how far from it may we swerve through the self-will to which we are so prone!

I have no desire to conceal the thought that prompts me in writing the present series of papers, which is to examine in the light of Scripture principles and doctrines which are being put forth at the present time among those who, I believe, have truly filled a position answering to what the Spirit of God has characterized as Philadelphian, and which are but the enemy's wile to seduce them from it. Nay, I fear, in the wide-spread acceptance which they are certainly gaining, the loss of that precious deposit of truth which the grace of God had committed to their trust. This is, to me, much more than any ecclesiastical position, however true, which owes its value so largely to the truth to which it witnesses. I therefore desire to take up, with whatever ability the Lord may give, the main points that are in question; in which I shall be in large measure but retracing the outline of truths once familiar, once how precious!- only necessarily to put them in connection and comparison with what is now presented for truth, and not without the hope of some fresh light being elicited by the discussion; which is what God would surely overrule all our differences for. We shall try to look at the moral bearing of things; as indeed the one who is very much the cause of the present inquiry rightly presses:without this they cannot get their just value for our souls; and this is what, speaking for myself once more, I can say I desire. Oh that the value of God's truth may be more realized by us all! It is inestimable, as that which alone can form in us the mind of Christ; and as this, one cannot help contending for it, though it is no wonder if one's motives should be challenged, and one should be treated as a mere "accuser of the brethren." Protestations are of no avail in such a case; specially as those who charge this are not those most likely to seek to satisfy themselves if there may be a cause. One may be well content if there be some who go far enough with me to discern its gravity.

I do not propose, however, to try and establish any specific charges, or make any quotations from any one with regard to what we shall consider. I prefer to leave every one to make for himself the personal application, and thus to eliminate as far as possible the distressing personal element. Let the inquiry be strictly a scriptural one; though it must be along lines which are marked out by what has called forth these papers. Then, if after all one is only fighting a nightmare of the imagination, we shall still not have made, I trust, a wholly useless survey of some important truths. If, on the other hand, it should be found that there is some serious question raised with regard to views that are really current and finding acceptance with many at the present time, then let my readers, without regard to persons, take it into the court of their own conscience, with God alone as the Judge of all, and argue it out there, with all that could distract them put aside. Truth carries its own authority with it for the true; although that in no wise means the setting aside of needed exercise, and the absolute subjection of one's mind to Scripture where Scripture has plainly spoken. And indeed we have little truth, of any spiritual importance, outside of that which Scripture has given to us. We shall by the course pursued be as far as possible delivered from the collision of opinion as to what Mr–has said, or what he means by what he has said, and fasten our minds upon the one question of any prime importance, "What saith the Lord? "
There is, however, one question with which I shall now conclude. Looking again at the epistle to Philadelphia, and referring to the first two points in the commendation there, they are plainly these:"Thou hast kept My word, and not denied My Name." Serious, then indeed, would be the issue which raised question as to both of these! If there were admittedly a question as to the Person of the Lord plainly raised, and permitted to go at least without any public settlement of it; the thing dropped, perhaps, yet the offending expressions never withdrawn ! not justified; not condemned; not retracted! And again, if Scripture, while formally admitted to be the written and authoritative word of God, yet were always in practice distinguished from the "word of God, living and powerful," as that which does not exactly teach, and which, but for the failure of the Church, would never have been needed?

If these two things should demonstrably come together, what more would be needed to show the extreme gravity of the questions to be raised? F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

QUES. 12.-In what sense are we to understand the three solemn illustrations at the close of Luke 14:, the Tower, the King, and the Salt. What does their connection with the parable of the great supper on the one hand and the three parables of Luke 15:on the other, teach ?

ANS.-The parable of the great supper emphasizes the free-ness of the gospel, going out to the world at large after its rejection by the nation of Israel. It further shows how the invitation is given freely to all. without regard to their condition. What is emphasized is the freeness and universality of the gospel.

In the fifteenth chapter it is not the offer of grace to the sinner depending, as it were, upon his acceptance or rejection of it, but grace is seen seeking after the lost. It is more divine sovereignty, coupled with effectual exercise in those wrought upon. The activity of the Shepherd's love in seeking the lost sheep, until He find it, shows the persistence of a love that had to go to death before it could get the objects of its search. There is nothing left to the sheep; it is found, and carried safely home by the seeking Shepherd. In a similar way the lost piece of money is found by sovereign diligence. Here it is the Spirit's work. The prodigal shows the exercises of a soul in whom grace has wrought, and here it is also effectual.

Coming between these two aspects of the gospel, the illustrations of our Lord are of solemn warning to those who, in a careless unexercised way, make profession. Alas, what multitudes now, as in our Lord's day, follow Him outwardly, but not really. To such the threefold warning should come in solemnizing power.

The tower suggests, among other things, that prominence which every professor has-a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Can the professor erect such a structure in his own strength, something that will last, and withstand the attacks of the enemy ? The King is evidently here an enemy. It may be the "prince of this world," or possibly that greater King who will come forth to meet His enemies. Has the professor, in either case, strength to withstand the assaults of the King ? Surely in neither case if he has nothing but a mere profession. In that case he is as salt without savor, to be cast out as utterly worthless. It is practically the warning as to Laodicea, a lukewarm, savorless profession, without exercise and without reality.

The gospel is known and preached with greater or less clearness in our day, particularly as to its freeness. Men are not much troubled with doubts, and it is to be feared have but small feeling of the intense solemnity of these great questions. Far be it from us to cast a shadow upon faith that is real, even though it be weak. But this careless ease which brings people into the sphere of profession without new birth, is a thing to be spoken of most plainly. The work of the evangelist must be largely to bring home to men the awful fact that they are lost, condemned already, and but waiting for the eternal doom soon to be theirs, unless they turn to Christ. When sinners are "pricked in their heart" they will not despise or lightly esteem the gospel of peace.

(Read John 14:2, 3, 28; 16:5, 7,; 17:11, 13; Luke 24:50, 51; Acts 1:9-11.)

The Ascension of Christ is so closely identified with His resurrection, and His resurrection with His death, that we can but begin our meditations at Calvary. It is written in Luke 24:26, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory ?" And then in Rom. 4:25, " Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." Also Heb. 4:14, "Seeing, then, that we have a great High-Priest, who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

From these and many other scriptures we learn that man, being a sinner, is estranged from God-an enemy of God by wicked works, under His wrath and judgment; and ere God could be reconciled, a propitiatory offering must be made,-not the sacrifices of beasts, the blood of bulls, goats, or lambs, in which God could not take pleasure; but by "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (i Pet. 1:19).

God be praised that we have not only a sacrifice that He can and has accepted to atone for the guilt of our sins; and also the resurrection of the same to assure us that we are justified in the sight of God, as a proof that God has accepted our sacrifice; but what is necessary to the complete manifestation of the work of redemption-the Ascension of our precious Saviour and Lord. He must needs ascend, in that He must needs go into the holiest,-not as of old, like Aaron, with "the blood of goats and calves; but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us " (Heb. 9:12).

Thus, He is not only the sacrifice, " of a sweet savor unto the Lord," a unique sacrifice, once for all, "by one offering perfecting forever, them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14); but He is also our High-Priest before God; not to continue in office for a few short years and then pass away as did the Aaronic priesthood, but a Priest after the order of Melchizedek,-a perpetual priesthood-"without father, without mother, without descent (or pedigree), having neither beginning of days nor end of life; . . . the Son of God; abideth a Priest continually" (Heb. 7:3),-a King and a Priest.

When we consider our weakness, frailty, and prone-ness to sin, how needful is our Mediator ! "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and He is the propitiation or (mercy-seat) for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world" (I Jno. 2:1, 2, R. V.)

With such "precious blood," with such a complete sacrifice, " as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," with such a heavenly, eternal Mediator, Advocate, Intercessor, how we ought to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory ! what profound peace should be ours !

How triumphantly does the apostle Paul treat of this subject (or rather the Holy Spirit through him) when he says (Rom. 8:31-34), "What shall we say then to these things ? If God be for us, who can be against us ? He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things ? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.'"

We thus see that the ascension of Christ is a most important part of God's plan in His actings in our behalf. But there is a necessity of His ascension upon which we have not yet touched, and which indeed ought to have preceded what we have been saying. It will be found in the words of our Lord in John 16:7, 8-"It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment."

In these words we find the necessity to consist of a Comforter, a Teacher, a Guide for God's redeemed people; and also a Reprover of the world, a Convincer of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. This was mightily exemplified in the apostle's ministry, in that "as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled" (Acts 24:.25). It was the Holy Spirit who spoke with such power by the apostle;-yea, throughout his ministry, we find him a suited vessel through whom the Holy Spirit could speak to the comfort and consolation of God's people, and to the rebuke of iniquity and convincing of sin of the world.

Blessed was the personal presence of our Lord with His disciples ; but His holy, spotless, and undefiled life on earth could not atone for sin nor justify the sinner-confessed. It could only be a standing testimony against sin. A much-abused passage in this connection is found in Rom. 5:10-"For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." This has no reference to His spotless, unblemished earthly life, but to His priestly service for us in His resurrection-life above. Also ver. 19-" For as by one man's [1:e., one act of] disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One [or, one act of Christ's obedience unto death on Calvary's cross] shall many be made righteous." It is a mistake to suppose that Christ's personal righteousness is imputed to us, but He Himself is made unto us God's righteousness. (See i Cor. 1:30.) This is a distinction with quite a difference.

He must needs die on the cross under the judgment of God if our guilt is to be removed. He must needs rise from the dead the third day if the sinner-confessed is to be justified. He must needs ascend to the right hand of the Father, and take His rightful place as our High-Priest, Mediator, Advocate, Intercessor, that the justified one may be carried safely through the dangers and intricacies of this world- "kept by the power of God." He must needs ascend if the Holy Spirit is to do His part of God's purposes concerning this world.

But still there is another most blessed truth, so closely linked with His ascension that it is important
to remember. You will find it embodied in the words of our Lord in John 14:3-" If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." This precious fact for God's people calls forth a word of comfort from the Comforter-"Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (i Thess. 4:18).

This indeed is a wonderful cheer to the Church, espoused to Him in the night-time of His absence, and the long-anticipated event (though not understood) of all the rest who shall have part in the first resurrection (see Heb. 11:10,14,16,39,40). Such are called "blessed and holy" in Rev. 20:6, for they shall dwell in the New Jerusalem, which the Holy Spirit says is "the bride, the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9, 10).
Such, then, for the heavenly people, is the culmination of the work of redemption by Him who came and delighted to do the Father's will.

But we have still another aspect of His coming, as expressed in Acts 1:ii-"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." And then again we read Rev. 1:7, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced him; and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so. Amen." Both these passages refer, not to His coming to meet His espoused bride in the air, as set forth in i Cor. 16:51-57 and i Thess. 4:13-18, but His after-coming to earth as set forth in Zech. 12:10 and Matt. 25:31. Thus we see again the need of His ascension in order that He, the despised and rejected One, might be vindicated by God as the Man of His choice – the Man whom He delighteth to honor, – yea, He "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 in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11).

"All hail the power of Jesu's name ;
Let angels prostrate fall ;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all ! "

What glorious truths we find thus linked together in close proximity to the ascension of Christ ! May God grant that His redeemed people may delight to meditate upon them. R. S.

I. THE LONELINESS OF DEPARTURE FROM GOD.

There is perhaps no sadder book in the Scriptures than the one tailed Judges. The darkness is not only intensified by contrast with the brilliant narrative of Joshua, but we are saddened at the thought that the state of things was foreseen by him, and was the result of the people's departure from God, spite of all warning.

Throughout the book, the darkness deepens. At the beginning, there is a crying to God, confession of sin, and recovery in His mercy; but the work of deliverance grows more and more shallow, the deliverers themselves less and less men of faith, until the last deliverer, Samson, himself dies in captivity. The remainder of the book contains the shameful narratives of idolatrous departure from God, and its concomitant corruption of man, with the bloody civil war that well-nigh exterminated an entire tribe. There are glimpses of God's mercy all through, so far as the wretched people would permit Him to show Himself in their behalf, but the tendency of everything is downward and away from the light. Nationally, the people were proving themselves without faith and everything pointed to the necessity of a new order. There was no king in Israel. While later they did have a king, it was only as a type of the true King for whom the nation must yet wait, whose coming shall be as the morning without clouds.

In Ruth we have the bright picture, not of man but of God's grace. It begins, morally, as we shall see, where Judges ends, in departure from God. But it is a history of mercy all through, mercy beyond all thought, abounding thus in the surprises which mercy delights to give. Historically, it is evidently the link between the times of the Judges and those of the Kings. It gives us the lineage of the man after God's heart, and typically shows how all blessing comes from David's Son.

Primarily, it has to do with Israel; and we shall find that it unfolds clearly the nation's past course, present condition and the way of future blessing. But grace is the same, whether shown to Israel or to the Gentiles; to a nation, or to the individual. It will be found therefore that, while the form is dispensational and national, the lesson can be applied to the individual as well. There is a common life and a common bond that links together all the people of God, in all dispensations. Family traits can be easily distinguished all through. Abraham is our father, and the family of faith is ever marked by the same humility, obedience and dependence that justified him before God and men.

We will find therefore in this book the history of blessing for the soul, as real and profitable for ourselves as for Israel of whom it is directly the type. While seeking to get the lesson in both, we will see the unity in all God's ways of grace.

The narrative begins at Bethlehem Judah, at a time of famine. The names here, as doubtless throughout the Scriptures, are significant. Bethlehem is "the House of Bread," fittingly the birthplace, long afterward, of Him who as the "Bread of God "came down from heaven to give life to the world. Judah, "praise," is the royal tribe through which in grace the "King" was to come. Praise ever flows from a knowledge of the fulness of blessing which is ours in Christ. Thus food and worship are intimately connected-Bethlehem is in Judah. And it is most natural to find them linked thus together:"I will abundantly bless her provision:I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy" (Ps. 132:15, 16).

It seems a strange contradiction to have a famine at Bethlehem. If there is no food at the "house of bread," where can it be found? And yet famines are not unknown in God's land. Abraham found one in his day, and so did Isaac. The character of the country, with its rugged hills and hot climate, without many perennial streams, made it particularly susceptible to drought. It was dependent upon the periodic rains, and if these failed there was no river, as in Egypt, to take their place. Thus the land was in a marked way dependent upon heaven, which but illustrates the spiritual meaning. Our heritage is a goodly one, none so fertile, and supplying spiritual food in abundance. But it must be in constant intercourse with heaven for this richness to be made good to us.

If then, for any reason, divine blessing is withheld, the house of bread becomes a place of famine. Well do we know that it is not the desire of God that His people should suffer. He is no niggard, and if the rain is withheld, the fault is with His people and not with Him. He had emphasized this for them, so that they well understood that when heaven was "shut up" it was in chastening.

It need hardly be said that for us the withdrawal is on our side, and that if joy and spiritual food and
power fail, we are straitened in ourselves alone. God does not hide Himself, the Spirit is not grieved away, but the barrenness and loneliness of soul are just as real as though it were so. Thanks to His grace, the presence of the Spirit with us is a pledge of our recovery to the joy of the Lord.

The famine then was God's call to repentance, and should ever have been so considered. "When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against Thee." Even where there had been no public departure from God, such an affliction should always have brought them upon their faces, in heart-searching inquiry, Why is this?

Further, the saint's walk is not by sight, and God will sometimes test his faith. This seems to have been the reason for the famine in the time of Abraham. God would see whether he had such confidence in His goodness that even a famine could not shake it. Alas, Abraham did as we are all too prone to do; he sought relief from his difficulties, rather than profit from the trial. How true this is with most of us. Is sickness or distress of any kind sent? At once we seek to extricate ourselves from the trouble, rather than to learn the lesson God would teach us. In sickness more attention is given to thoughts of recovery, and to methods of healing rather than to hearing God's voice to us in sickness. Without doubt we should take knowledge of the sickness, and seek also to find relief. But that should not be our first thought.

We should be with God about our sickness, and after bowing under His mighty hand, we may rest assured that He will raise us up. This is not at all a question of so-called faith cure. There is often more pride in what is called that than in the humble employment of proper means for recovery. God may, and doubtless often does, heal in answer to prayer, and without the use of medicines, just as He often blesses the instrumentalities used. But the point of importance is that recovery is not the first object. What would God have us learn in our sickness? Has there been disobedience for which we are feeling His chastening hand? Or, if there has been no direct act of disobedience, has there been a low, carnal, worldly state, worse than actual outbreaking evil? How foolish to expect or want recovery to bodily health before the soul is healed.
So that along with prayerful use of means, or whatever one is led to do for recovery, there should be the ardent, constant prayer, "Search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Abraham failed here, and his failure had most disastrous and enduring results. He could not stay in the land and learn his lesson with God, but he must go down into Egypt, at a distance from Him, and there learn by shameful experience what it is to depart from God. May we, dear brethren, be kept from seeking relief in any but God's way.

We have dwelt upon this, for it is of the greatest importance, and explains what follows. No matter what the sorrow, how great the distress, it can never be right or wise to turn the back upon God. Relief can never come in that way. What seems to be that is but the prelude to deeper sorrow.

Moab, as we know, was the child of Lot's sin. Lot was a child of God, who was not content with the
life of obedient dependence upon Him, but had rather go down into Sodom for worldly advantage. Moab represents the results of this departure. It is fitting therefore that the nation springing from him should be typical of mere profession, an outward connection with God without any reality.

This man from Bethlehem, the house of bread, departs into the place of empty formalism. Perhaps the pressing distress was relieved for the moment, but at what a cost! the death of himself and his two sons. But let us look a little closely at what is here.

The man's name was Elimelech, "My God is King." He figures Israel under the benign government of God. What a blessed relationship, had there been faith to recognize it. Alas, the nation soon grew weary of the holy government of God, and desired a king" "like all the nations." The famine was but part of His government, and should have been accepted as that. Instead, they desired another ruler, and practically forsook their divine King. So it was when Saul was chosen.

The names of the two sons seem to show both the unbelief of the father and the results of God's chastening. Instead of giving them names suggesting His goodness and love, the parents fasten upon them that which was but a temporary cloud, and thus render it permanent by their unbelief, and prophetic of the final and sorrowful culmination.

Naomi, "pleasant," reminds us of those ways of wisdom which are that. Had the nation but remained in subjection to God, how pleasant would all have been. The very trials would have but sanctified them and brought them into a fuller knowledge of His love, holiness and care. But alas, they will not learn in that way. "Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, . . . behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many " (Isa. 8:6, 7). Because the nation would not remain in subjection, they must be given up to the enemy.

Elimelech dies. What else could there be for one who turns his back upon his King? When Israel turned from God, it gave Him up, and that, so far as relationship with Him was concerned, was the end of the nation. It is now, " Lo-Ammi," not my people. Naomi's pleasantness is turned to ashes. The nation has become a widow; God is no longer her King.

But the end has not yet been reached. There has been dreadful chastening but apparently without effect. Instead of turning to God in her affliction, the widowed mother stays on, and sees her two sons form permanent alliances with the enemies of her people, in direct disregard of God's prohibition. Evidently there is no remedy, no hope of recall for those who refuse even to hear the rod; and nothing remains but the final cutting off. Mahlon, "sick," and Chilion," pining," make good the names which apparently had described the state of their parents' hearts, long before. Their faith had been a sickly, pining thing before any outward sign of declension was visible, and now death puts its seal upon the unbelief of long years. The Lord in His mercy keep us, beloved brethren, from such weakness of faith:its end is the bitterness of death.

There seem to have been two stages in Israel's history, answering to the deaths successively of Elimelech and his two sons. The captivity to Babylon would seem to answer to the death of the father, for the nation was never recognized as the people of God after that. God was not their king, the scepter had been delivered to the Gentiles. After the seventy years, there was a restoration to the land in some measure; but " Elimelech " was not there. It was but a sickly, pining thing after all, that allied itself with mere pharisaic profession, and after the full period of responsibility had passed, the last vestige of national existence ceased in the destruction of Jerusalem, after the rejection and crucifixion of our blessed Lord.

Such now is the condition of Israel, a widow, hopeless and desolate, an alien from the home of her youth and from her God. The witness of her departure from God is seen in her Gentile daughters-in-law. So now the very existence of a Jewish people, scattered among the Gentiles, is a solemn witness that God has been forsaken by them, that they have no further claim upon Him. It is a widowed, desolate nation.

We need hardly speak of the application of all this to the individual soul. Alas, it is only too common, this declension from God in soul, and settling down into mere formalism. Christian parents have to mourn the spiritual death of children, who after all are but the reflection of their own hearts. There is no peace and no safety save as we abide near to God.

Are you alone, dear reader ? Have you lost the joy of God, and wandered into distance from Him? Pause and ask why it has all been. Go back to the time when your heart first became dissatisfied with God and His government, and there you will find the root of all your sorrow. Do you mourn that your children are unconverted ? Ask yourself if their state is not the result of your own sickly, pining faith. If you are a widow, let there be the widow's tears, the widow's heart-break. There is still One who is the Husband of the widows.

(To be continued, if the Lord please.)

"Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life" (John 6:27).

These words were spoken by the Lord Himself when here on earth, in connection with the feeding of the five thousand. He had taken the five barley loaves and the two fishes from the lad -everything speaking of weakness and insufficiency -and with them had fed the multitude. Wondrous was the love as well as the power expressed. The life given was also the life sustained. Our Lord is both the source and supply of the life He imparts, "The gift of God is eternal life in (Gk.) Christ Jesus our Lord." Hence He is presented to us as the Bread of Life. How precious is this thought:we are not only His workmanship, but the objects of His constant care; not only born of God, but nourished constantly by the same hand that gave us being.

Let us turn for a little to the table which He spreads for us in the presence of our enemies (Ps. 23:5), and view the bounty of Him who is ever the liberal Giver, not only supplying our need, but ministering most fully to our joy as well. As we feed upon this "bread of the mighty," we can hear Him saying, "Eat, O friends:drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved " (Song 5:i).

I. The Roast Lamb. (Ex. 12:1-13.) In the house sheltered by the sprinkled blood of the Passover Lamb we see a table furnished for those who had just been delivered from wrath and judgment. Their food was to be the roast lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. When in the darkness and degradation of slavery, their food had been "the leeks, melons, onions and garlic." But now they have been delivered, not only from the curse, but from the ways of Egypt-all is changed, and their sustenance is changed with the rest :

"God thine everlasting portion,
Feeds thee with the mighty's meat;
Price of Egypt's hard extortion,
Egypt's food no more to eat."

It need not be said that the Lamb points to our Lord Jesus. "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." The lamb was roast with fire. It was not to be eaten raw, nor sodden with water. This reminds us that Jesus, the blessed One whom the believer knows, loves and feeds upon, was the One who bore His people's sins when He was slain upon the cross, and there endured not only death, but the wrath of God's judgment, the fire. Before He could be the food of His people, He must let this fire of judgment come upon Him. Thus forgiveness, peace and joy are the known portion of those who by faith feed upon Him.

The unleavened bread is what accompanies the roast Lamb, and gives its name to the whole feast- the feast of unleavened bread. A separate life of holiness is the fitting accompaniment of such redemption. The bitter herbs remind us of that "broken and contrite spirit" never despised by God, and without which even the roast lamb would be savorless. So true is it that pride, self-sufficiency or worldliness deprive us of all appreciation of Christ as our food. " Salt is good."

They fed upon this in Egypt-"Jesus Christ the same yesterday; " they fed; upon it also in the wilderness (Num. 9:)-Jesus Christ the same to-day; they fed upon the same when they crossed Jordan and entered the land-Jesus Christ the same forever.

2. The Manna. This bread from heaven was the suited food for the people of God in their wilderness journeyings. (Ex. 16:) In it we see the same Jesus as was foreshadowed by the Lamb, but now as the One who came down to earth and trod the desert sand, entering into all the circumstances of His people's life-apart from sin. Having gone over the whole path, well acquainted with it as Man, and having glorified God in it, He becomes the suited food for His people. They look back at the path He trod, His lonely separation to God, His faithfulness under all circumstances, and they find Him their stay, delight and strength. So precious was this life to God -a life never to be separated from His atoning death-that the memorial of it is ever before Him. They laid up a pot of the manna to be carried over Jordan, and laid up in the ark for a perpetual memorial. Thus Jesus has passed through the Jordan of death, and entered the Canaan of Heaven, and there is laid up as the food of His faithful overcomers. (Rev. 2:12.)

3. The Old Corn. We have here the same Jesus, but not as the Lamb enduring the fire of God's judgment, nor as the humbled One walking this earth, as in the Manna; we see Him now in heaven, His own native place. (Josh. 5:2:) This is where Saul of Tarsus first saw Him (Acts 9:), and this is where we all now behold Him:"We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honor " (Heb. 2:9). As we look upon Him there, in the light and glory of heaven, where sin, care and gloom are forever banished, we feed upon Him by faith as the "Bread of Heaven." Already we are there in spirit, and are strengthened to war a good warfare against the hosts of evil that would prevent our enjoyment and possession of our portion. In a little while we will not feed by faith, but by sight, and in heaven itself will find Christ the delight and joy of our hearts.

4. The Meal-Offering. Here we get fresh and broader lessons. (Lev. 2:) Volumes might be written on this subject, and the world could not contain the books that would be written. (Jno. 21:) The first portion of the Meal-Offering belonged to God. Who can measure the delight which the Father finds in His beloved Son ? The portion for God was placed upon the altar, and ascended as a sweet savor to Him. "Thou art My beloved Son in whom I have found My delight."

The next portion was for the priestly family, who partook of it inside the sacred enclosure, the court, feeding upon that which had also been offered to the Lord. Thus God and His people alike feed upon the same blessed Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is communion, where the same object is the delight of God's heart and the joy of the saints too. Truly they are a holy and a royal priesthood.

The fine flour was mingled with oil, and in this we get a glimpse of the wondrous truth of the incarnation. That " Holy One," born by the power of the Holy Spirit, is before us as the object of adoration and worship.

But the meal-offering was also anointed with oil, and this directs our view to Him as emerging from His life of quiet and retirement, and coming forth to take His place in public ministry among men. At His baptism by John the Holy Spirit comes upon Him, and He is anointed. As we behold Him in the manger, we feed upon Him ; as we follow Him through His life of service, listening to every word, marking every action, we feed also at the table so bounteously furnished with the choicest fare. Who can exhaust the theme ? where can we put a limit upon the delight of heart with which we dwell upon Him ?

In this connection we will follow the priests of old, and view them during the seven days of their consecration. (Lev. 8:, 9:) We will see our place as believers and our portion in Christ as well. They are washed, clothed, anointed, sanctified and consecrated-their hands filled. They are shut in for seven days, and during this whole time they eat those things wherewith atonement was made. (Ex. 28:33.) What a thought here engages the heart as we contemplate this priestly family, shut in with God seven days, and during the entire period feeding upon that which spoke of atonement ! Shut in with God ! shut out from the world ! and thus feeding upon Christ alone, the One through whom atonement has been accomplished.

At this time Jehovah has His portion-Ex. 29:15-25; Moses has his-ver. 26; and Aaron and his sons have theirs-vers. 27-33. The breast, the shoulder and the unleavened bread are theirs. The breast speaks of the deep and wondrous love of Christ; the shoulder, of that everlasting strength which bears us up before God and through all the trials and difficulties of our way here; and the unleavened bread, as we have already seen, tells of the separate life of the believer. This is the priests' food day by day until the end. The whole life through it is Jesus, in all His varied characters, and all the perfection of His work.

5. Let us now visit the Father's house (Luke 15:) and see there the Father and His once prodigal son seated at the same table, feeding upon the "fatted calf." This is not the manna, nor yet the old corn. Yet the company is the same-sinners saved by grace and brought to God, and in His presence sharing in His food and witnessing His joy. The strains of the sweet music fill every ear and every heart. The prodigal, once vile and rebellious, now is forgiven, cleansed and clothed with the best robe. Together with his Father he rejoices and feasts. Jesus is the joy of the Father's heart, and Jesus is also the joy and strength of the prodigal's. This will be our portion forever.

6. Let us next taste the "apples" and "wine" (Song 2:1-7). Here it is a banqueting house, and His banner over us is love. It is communion true and real, of a very high order. Yet the feasters are the same sinners, saved by grace, and the object is the same Jesus, whose name is as sweet ointment poured forth.

" How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds
And drives away his fear."

As the apple gives refreshment and comfort to the traveler in the east, wearied under the burning sun, so to the believer none can compare with Jesus. "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." This suggests the sweetness of communion, and its progress as well. We are not only protected, but are led on to further knowledge and enjoyment of our blessed Lord. "As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that, ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious" (i Pet. 2:2, 3). How preciously the Holy Spirit keeps Jesus our Lord and Saviour before the heart "He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you." Here the believer can taste, and eat, and drink.
Thus we have Jesus as the food of the soul-as the Roast Lamb, the Manna, the Old Corn, the Meal-Offering, the Fatted Calf and the Apples. All speak to the heart of Him, the delight, the joy and the comfort of His people now and forever. In His banquet hall, the heart is so overpowered by His love that it cries out, "Stay me with flagons, and comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." Poor mortal flesh is too weak, its capacity is limited, so that even though redeemed by blood, and in the enjoyment of Christ's love, it is overpowered, and needs a fresh ministry of that love to buoy it up. It is not weary of His love, but overpowered. How good it is to know that there is suitability in Christ for this state, and that the Holy Spirit gives rest and calm in the enjoyment of the Lord, which is expressed in these words, " I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up nor awake my love till she please." A. E. B.

(Phil. 2:25-30.)

The Character of Epaphroditus, of whom we have a glimpse in the passage referred to, is singularly beautiful and attractive. The apostle uses the strongest language of commendation in speaking of him :"my brother and companion in labor, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my" wants."He thus was associated with Paul in his labor, fully identifying himself with the "prisoner of the Lord," and working with all the vigor of "a good soldier of Jesus Christ." He was evidently not only a man of energetic spirit, but of marked sympathy and gentleness as well, a combination only too rare among the saints. So completely did he throw himself into the Lord's work, venturing his own life, that, humanly speaking, he seemed about to pay the penalty for what the world calls intemperate, rash zeal. But in the mercy of God he was raised from his sickness. His tender spirit had longed for the saints at Philippi, and was grieved that they should be made anxious as to his welfare. In sending him back, Paul says, "Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation; because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me."

There is no rebuke necessarily implied in these last words. The same expression is found where it would be impossible to so understand it. "That which is behind of the afflictions of Christ," could only mean afflictions still to be endured for the sake of the Church, Christ's body. (Col. 1:24.) The
apostle testifies that they had been careful to minister to him, but had "lacked opportunity " (Phil. 4:10). Epaphroditus, as their representative, was doing their work, because they lacked the opportunity to do it.

There is always need of this vicarious service. In one sense all service is vicarious. Every member of the body of Christ with his gift is but the representative of the whole body. It is the body, by the effectual working in the measure of every part, that makes increase of itself, unto the edifying of itself in love. (Eph. 4:16.)

But apart from this general identification of all the members in service, there is a special unity when the saints are sharers in the labor of those with whom they are specially identified. Thus an evangelist goes forth in his service from the bosom of an assembly, upheld by their prayers and sustained by the temporal support and practical sympathy of those whom he has left behind. They feel that in one sense they are preaching through him, that he is supplying what is lacking in their service, because of their absence. Without doubt this is a most important and interesting feature of the Lord's work ; may there be an increased realization of the privilege of thus being identified with ministry done through another.

Perhaps it may be as well to apply this while it is fresh in our minds. Where and how are the saints being identified with the work in the gospel ? If an evangelist labors at a place, naturally there is the fellowship of prayer and interest in his work. But should it cease there ? What, then, of the "regions beyond " ? Are we, dear brethren, preaching through others in the dark places of the earth ? Thank God for all there is of this, but surely we need to exhort one another to increased zeal. Think of the foreign work, of the dark places of ignorance in so-called Christian lands. Is some Epaphroditus at work there as our representative, supplying our lack of service ? Or, alas, is there but the "lack of service," without the supply ? We do well to say that service is an individual thing, and that none should venture to enter upon a path unless he is assured of the Lord's call and support. But does He not call all, in one way or another, to His service ? and is it not when a whole company of Christians is aroused, that He calls forth the individuals ? Witness the call of Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:) from the bosom of the Assembly at Antioch, and where prayer and fasting showed the intensity of the interest in the things of God.

But we will return to something perhaps even more needed than what has been said. The apostle did not intend to intimate, as we have seen, that the saints at Philippi had been derelict in their duty, quite the reverse. But do not these words,'' your lack of service," suggest for us, perhaps, in their form at least, something that is more than lack of opportunity ?

Let us begin with the word of God. We rejoice to see one gifted in expounding its treasures to us and are perhaps quite content to let him continue to do so, without the thought entering our mind, that we also should be exploring those mines of wealth for ourselves. It was a rebuke the apostle gave to the Hebrews, "When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again." He did not mean that they should dispense with teachers, but rather that they should be increasing their number. How many of the saints of God are original explorers in His word ? Lack of knowledge ? lack of ability? Ah, beloved, may be it is lack of heart. What losers we are thus. A few plod along, and are richly rewarded by what they find; while the many are content to take all they get at second hand, losing thus the great blessing of the exercise that is needful for searching the scriptures, and forgetting that "in all labor there is profit'" It is not a question of gift, but of hunger for the word of God, and of diligence in making it our own. The teacher will always have his place, and be far more useful and far more appreciated when all the saints are diligent students for themselves.

The same may be said as to the gospel. Do we love souls? We may not be evangelists, but we can point sinners to Christ. Without doubt, there will not be a genuine, widespread work of salvation apart from the interest, prayers and labors of the individual saints. Here is a work all can engage in. How much are we doing for the perishing around us ? May we not confess to much "lack of service" here ?

We come to a simpler matter yet, where there is a woeful lack, and about which we should be constantly exhorting one another. We have been speaking of service which requires, not exactly gift, but activity. Let us speak of what requires only a sense of need. We all know the need of prayer, in our closets first of all, but everywhere. "I will that the men pray everywhere" (i Tim. 2:8). Who can conceive of a Christian who does not pray in private ? Would not all resent the very thought ? But, beloved brethren, who can think of the Christian who does not have family prayer, or who can think of his not praying in public ?

Let us suffer a word of exhortation. It should be just as impossible to think of a brother never praying in private, as never doing so in public. We do not wish to put one another under law, still less to force to a meaningless form, but neither of these is necessary. Surely the Spirit of God must lead, but who dare say He will not lead all brothers to pray in public? Is it said one may not be in communion, and so not be in a fit state to pray ? Then the large majority of the brothers must be out of communion. No, clear brethren, we are persuaded that those who remain silent have an equal privilege and responsibility with those whose voices are heard in public!

Here is the meeting for remembering our Lord, when every heart should be attuned to His praise. Is it right that all audible worship should be laid upon the few ? Here are twenty brothers, and the voices of ten are never heard in a single word of thanks. Is that pleasing to the Lord ? As a result it gets to be almost understood that "the praying brethren " are a limited few. The same ones are heard, week after week, with but little variation. If these are silent, there is too often the barren pause, which occupies saints with one another, until one feels that it is more honoring to the Lord to break the silence and supply some one's lack of service.

Is this overdrawn ? does it sound bitter ? God forbid that we should accuse one another, but is there not a cause ?* There is danger on all sides, surely, and a restless activity of any or all is to be guarded against. *That feature is treated in an article entitled "I Forced Myself," in the February number of the current year, p. 29.* But is there not a great danger lest we lose that which should be the characteristic of the meetings of Christians ? A real freedom of worship, in the fear of God, a fulness in prayer, so that it is expected that each brother will be heard with greater or less frequency-surely this is not too much to expect.

We can prune a growing tree, we can guide a boat in motion, but growth is necessary for pruning, and motion for steering. So where there is activity and readiness to engage in prayer and praise, there will doubtless be need for a wholesome word of check here and there, and a sense of dependence upon the Spirit of God in all. But let as awake, nor be content with a modified clerisy, where all prayer and praise is in the hands, unwillingly enough, of a few.

It may be asked, What is the remedy for this silence on the part of many ? Undoubtedly there must be a walk with God, and a feeding upon His word. There must be the habit of secret prayer, or surely public prayer will be a mockery. Above all, there must be a desire for what we ask. How empty is formal prayer ! But we all need to be reminded of that.

Some do not pray in public because of timidity or diffidence. But is not that the fear of man and pride ? We do not pray because we cannot do as well as others ! How ugly it looks upon paper ! But let us be honest. The secret of dealing with God is reality. Let us come to Him with confession, acknowledging our emptiness and our pride, or whatever we know hinders us. Let us open our mouths wide to tell Him our emptiness, and He will soon fill them with prayers and thanksgivings.

Nor let us forget that this reticence is not a matter to be overcome at once, or by occasional participation in prayer. We must "strike the ground five or six times," if we are to have entire victory. The Lord awake His beloved people.

"God and the word of His grace are the refuge of His people. They can meet together, and Christ will be in their midst ; they can profit by the gifts He has granted according to His promise. The rules for our walk are contained in the Word ; but the apostleship, as a personal energy watching over the organization of the assembly, has disappeared, leaving no succession behind it.

This is a solemn truth, which must be well borne in mind. But we must never forget that Christ is always enough for the assembly ; that He is faithful in His care of it, and that He can never fail in strength, in love, or in faithfulness. What we have to do is to count on Him, and that with purpose of heart. Divine power is manifested more in Elijah and Elisha than in all the prophets of Jerusalem from the time of Moses himself. The Lord gives what is needful to His people." J. N. D.

QUES. 9.-Please explain Luke 7:28, which says of John the Baptist "Ha that is the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he." It has been said that the least in the Kingdom refers to Christ.

ANS.-We could not speak of our Lord as being in the Kingdom, for -He is the head of it. Most assuredly we could not speak of Him as least, who is over all things. The passage is very simple when we see the connection. Our Lord was speaking of position and privilege, not of personal character. So far as holiness and personal character were concerned, there was not a greater born of woman than John. But he was connected with the old dispensation, the earthly kingdom of Israel, though it was in ruins. He was the last of the prophets, and marked the close of that period of trial, before Christ. He was also the immediate forerunner of our Lord, and the herald of His Kingdom. But he was not in the Kingdom, for the reason that it was not then established. When our Lord departed, after His rejection, His Kingdom was set up. The privileges of Christianity are immeasurably above all that preceded it. Therefore the least in this dispensation has greater privileges than the prophets and kings before Christ. It is not the Church that our Lord speaks of, but the blessings of Christianity, as we might term it.

QUES. 10.-In Matt. 12:40, it is said our Lord was to be " three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." If He was crucified on Friday and rose on the first day of the week, He was only two nights in the grave. How is this to be understood?

ANS.-All through Scripture we have foreshadows of our Lord's resurrection. The case of Jonah mentioned in the immediate context is but one example of the use of the term, "three days," "the third day," etc. Of course, it is not the question of so many hours, but the spiritual significance and connection that is important. The Jewish method of computing time was this,-today, to-morrow, the third day. (See Luke 13:32, 33.) So the expression, "three days and three nights," is simply another way of saying our Lord was to be raised on the third day. It is literally true if we count, as the Jews did, each fraction of a day as a full day, that is, a clay and a night. Thus the evening and morning in Gen. 1:made a full day. So here the Lord was to be three days in the tomb. It can be counted as follows:part of Friday, called the first day and night (really but the afternoon of Friday); Friday night and Saturday, the second day and night (this one complete) ; third, Saturday night and the early dawn of the Lord's day. the third day and night. Of course in our phraseology this would not be done, but it was well understood by those to whom our Lord spoke, and was the usage of Scripture.

The reason for His rising on the third day is beautiful and simple. The first day saw the deed done, the second bore witness to its reality, and the third, the day of manifestation, showed all the power of God.

QUES. 11.-In Luke 5:whom does the Lord mean by "sons of the bride chamber" ? When are the days when they shall fast ? Also what is the connection between that and what He says about patching an old garment ? In John 3:29 the Baptist speaks of himself as the friend of the Bridegroom; as he does not speak of the Church, why does he not include himself ?

ANS.-The Bridegroom is, of course, our Lord. The sons of the bride chamber are not distinguished from the bride, who is not mentioned here. The presence of our Lord made it impossible for piety to mourn; that would have been formalism and a pretense. But after His rejection they would indeed mourn; " ye shall weep and lament." And this is the attitude and state of those who are now waiting for our Lord to come. They mourn an absent Bridegroom. It is not a dispensational statement, though the sons of the bride chamber were Jews, and after our Lord was taken away they were Christians.

He goes on next to speak of a new order, in which the old bottles of Jewish formalism would be set aside for the new-thing, the church, or the new creation, which would be a suited vessel for the new wine of the Spirit.

When John the Baptist calls himself the friend of the Bride-groom, he does not mean to exclude himself from Israel, the earthly bride, but to emphasize the fact that Christ is the Bridegroom, and that He is all. John was but the voice speaking of and pointing to Him. That was his official position; personally he was part of Israel. He will however, with all the Old Testament saints, have his place at the marriage supper of the Lamb, as one of those called to witness the union of the heavenly bride, the Church, with her Lord.

This is a mark, a fruit of love, and where there I is suspicion, evil surmisings, the first love has dimmed, its energy has been left, and evil is coming in. The first fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22, is "love," and love thinketh no evil. Now among the people of God Satan is ever laboring to bring about the opposite of this, seeking to lead Christians to think evil one of another. And it would be far better for them to know the danger, "and guard against it, than to be led into soul destroying suspicion and other sins. It is not the Holy Spirit which we have of God which leads us to watch our fellow believers, to see evils in them, to suspect evil where we do not see it, to attribute to them wrong motives, desires and aims. Remember this, and that all this vile brood are works of the flesh, are the old nature acting within us.

Love does not lead to any such feelings or uprisings from within. When it sees failure in others, it loves, pities, prays for the failing ones, is sorry for them, and carries them to the Lord. There is no rejoicing in the finding of evil in another, no publishing it abroad, but in humbleness confessing it to "God.

It is a fact that a great deal of the trouble which rises among the real people of God originates in thinking evil where there is none, or in thinking there is much more that is wrong than there really is. In other words, a lack of the love that thinketh no evil is the root from which many of the evils which afflict gatherings of believers spring. Whether there are two or two hundred or more children of God, they need to watch lest love ceases to burn brightly, and suspicion takes the place of true brotherly love. How often lack of true love has embittered the relations between two laborers who have been led to go out into the work together.

All saved ones need to recognize the danger of this, need to realize that the allowing of surmising, dwelling upon the failings and faults of others, talking about them, throwing out innuendoes, making disparaging remarks concerning those who are the children of God, all these are steps downward, steps away from the light and love of God, and that it is often from such beginnings that the greatest troubles among Christians arise.

We need to fear and hate all these actings of the flesh in ourselves, to go to the Lord for grace to deliver us from them. We need to have the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ always before us, the love that shone out in all His blessed life amid all the sad scenes through which He passed on His way to the cross. Love is to be without dissimulation, is to be humble and lowly, we are to ever esteem others better than ourselves. We need to be so very careful lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble us, and thereby many be denied. Love is the remedy for so many of the evils which afflict believers, and love is of God. He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? Let us remember that we may leave our first love, and that one of the symptoms of our having left it is the harboring suspicions against those who are the Lord's.

J. W. N.

In this matter-of-fact, rational period, it is more especially needful for those professing to be separated unto the Lord Jesus to bear in mind the fleetingness of time, and the seriousness of eternity. Temporal things loom large. Competition for a livelihood is often severe ; friends prove changeable and those we expect godly prove otherwise. False creeds abound, sin is glossed over, and the love of many waxes cold. And more especially does there seem a tendency to luxury. By that is not meant necessarily extra high living, but a settling down, satisfied with the comforts of the world that tend to set the affections on things below and not to follow the Lord Jesus in "that He pleased not Himself." This trying to please oneself and not regarding the feelings and thoughts of others is shown by that roughness, bluntness, and selfishness which do not glorify our God, and which are certainly not the mind of Christ. The root of this is in minding earthly things. When death draws near, and eternity comes in view, how paltry are the things of time; yet there is only a thread between us and eternity. Our life is but a vapor that vanishes quickly away. Over every house, over every meeting-room, and above all, over our heart should be constantly inscribed-eternity ! eternity!

This looking at the things unseen should effect an alteration in our whole business as well as private life. Our work or labor should be performed with eternity written over it. While others are laboring with this world as their goal, it is ours to prove our heavenly citizenship by separation from the world's ways and means, even though it bring, as it will, the world's laughter and money loss.

We should seriously examine ourselves, and find out if we are seeking our own ends in life, and resolutely determine by the grace of God that for us to live shall be Christ.

But this spirit of freedom from the world and consciousness of eternity can only be obtained by personal communion with our blessed Saviour. Only as we are often in His presence, only as we meditate on His dying love, only as we are conscious of His being with us moment by moment, shall we look at the things not seen, which are eternal.

How difficult sometimes it seems to realize what it means, and yet how near it is continually being shown to be. This year with its terrible record of sudden catastrophes and loss of life-the sudden precipitation into eternity of hundreds of people-ought . to act as an incentive for all believers to live more and more as seeing Him who is invisible.

We must show to the world by our conduct, that our life that is hid with Christ in God is just as real -nay, far more so – as the life that is earthly :by that I mean that with us eternal things are real
issues and exert a real influence over our life, just as carnal things that can be seen are real to the unbeliever.

What a testimony to the power of a personal God is a holy life ! Education, culture, refinement, and training all fail completely to make a man holy. It requires nothing less than the power of God to make a saint. What a proof to a dying, unbelieving and scoffing world of His reality.

What a testimony to the blood of the Lord Jesus ! For nothing less than a realization of all sin forgiven and an entrance into the heavenlies effected, could give such peace and joy here, and hope for the future.

And what a witness to the keeping power of the Spirit of God, who alone amidst the deceitfulness of sin could keep the believer looking unto Jesus and show him the mind of His Lord; who in the darkest hour can bring a ray of light, can smooth the rough paths, and enable the believer to say, "Thy will be done," after the fiercest trial.

It is our privilege then to be living epistles, known and read of all men, and to follow in the steps of Him whose meat and drink was to do His Father's will.

It is our duty to point sinners to the Lamb of God who alone taketh away sin, and who only can enable the soul to escape the fearful eternal doom which will be pronounced after the shadows of time have given way to the realities of eternity. S. J. P.

And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle, and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle "(Gen. 13:7). Whosoever engages in strife shows that he is on low ground, spiritually. The subject of the strife here is the cattle possessed by these men. It was the cattle that made Lot decide for the plains of Sodom, well watered and fertile. Temporal interests are right and proper. ' "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel" (or unbeliever). A man of the world has natural affection, and will provide for his own, just as sinners love those that love them. It would indeed be a reproach if a Christian man showed less love and care for those near to him than a worldling did.

One then should labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have to give to him that hath need. But temporal interests must be watched lest they draw the hearts from the things of Christ. How often have God's people been led into strife through temporal affairs, or, worse yet, been lured toward Sodom. We are living in an age of speculation. Men wish to make a competence rapidly and easily, and are drawn into the whirl, excitement, and worse, of the world's ways. Like Lot, they are drawn into Sodom. Ah! too often have peace of conscience and joy of heart been bartered for this world's cattle. "But they that will be (are determined to be) rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts" (i Tim. 6:9, 10).

God blesses a man's labor, and may give even riches. The thing to guard against is that absorption, which draws the soul away from Christ and His interests:A lean soul is a bad companion at any
price.

"Thy servants have cattle " (Num. 32:4). The tribes of Reuben and Gad urged this as a reason for remaining on the east side of Jordan. They came short, practically, of their high calling. Pharaoh had tried to induce Moses to leave the cattle in Egypt, which would answer to a man leaving his business in the world, not subject to the word of God. Pharaoh did not succeed, but selfish interest did keep these tribes from their rightful place.

Are we, any of God's saints, held from going in to possess our full portion in Christ? What interest can dispute Christ's place in our hearts?

The east side of Jordan may not be Sodom, spiritual wickedness, but it is not the heavenly place which God has appointed for our chief enjoyment. We need not fear that He will fail to give us all needed earthly good, but we do need to fear lest our absorption with these things hinder us from the path of faith, and enjoyment of heavenly things.

We are not to be ascetic, nor foolish, but we are to be whole-hearted for our blessed Lord.

The woman of Samaria told the truth when she said Jacob and his cattle drank from the same well. Every earthly spring is like that; we drink it in common with the world; it cannot quench the soul's cravings. " Whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again."

The tribe of Manasseh, as has been shown, (See the Numerical Bible) had a portion on both sides of the River. Forgetting the things that are behind, and pressing on to what is before, we really get the good of heavenly things and all of earth that we need. The Lord teach us to be like Manasseh. May Christ, our blessed Lord, be first in our hearts and thoughts, and He will see to the cattle also. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

[The foot-notes are for any who may desire to study the subject of deliverance to see whether Scripture justices the sentiments expressed in the verses.]

1. Rom. 1:-5:11.

2. Rom. 5:12-6:11.

3. Rom. 7:7-8:; 2 Cor. 5:21.

4. Rom. 7:1-6; Gal. 2:19; 3:10-13.

5. Gal. 1:4; 6:14; 2 Pet. 1:4; 2:19, 20; John 16:33; 12:31;
1 John 2:15-17; 5:4.

6. Gal. 5:24; 2 Cor. 12:l-5; Col. 2:9-12.

7. Gal. 2:20; 4:19-31; Col. 1:27.

8. Ephesians.

9. Col. 3:1-4; 2 Cor. 4:

10. Phil. ii; Rom. 6:13.; 12:1; 2 Cor. 12:9, 10; .Phil. 4:13.

11 Col. 2:

F. A.

(" God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me. and I unto the world."-Gal. 6:14.)

(Numbers at end of stanzas reference footnotes)

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
There in Thyself we hide,-
In that dread hour of Satan's power
We too were crucified;
Thy loveliness. Thy beauty
Now clothes e'en such as we;
Since Thou hast bled we too were dead,
But now we live in Thee:
Yea, e'en as Thou in glory now,
Exalted, Lord, in Thee!

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
Thy precious blood our boast;
For us 'twas spilt to purge our guilt
As sinners, vile and lost;
Our sins are all forgiven,
And God Himself is just
While, justified, th' ungodly hide
In Thee, the sinner's trust:
Now by Thy blood we boast in God,-
Through Thee, the sinner's Trust! 1

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
From sin it set us free;
Our old man died-was crucified,
Still hangs upon the tree;
His crimes are expiated,
From every charge we're clear,
For he who died is justified
And in Thyself brought near,-
From sin set free, alive in Thee,
And to our God brought near! 2

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
'Tis rest from all within,
For sin in us upon Thy cross
Was judged,-Thyself made sin ;
Now there's no condemnation ;
Sin's law of death destroyed,
The soul, set free, claims life in Thee,
God's favor unalloyed,-
Now, Spirit-led, in Christ as Head,
Claims favor unalloyed! 3

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
God's law no longer dread;
Its holy light revealed our plight,
Its curse fell on Thy head !
Now married to Another, ..
No law-claims have a place
To draw our heart from Thee apart
And hide Thy glorious face:
None may intrude, however good,
To veil that glorious Face! 4

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
Freed from this hostile scene,
The world's corruption, rife through lust,
Which stirs up lust within :
Vain world! thou art judged and conquered,
Faith gets the victory:
Our Lord, denied, thou'st crucified,-
His cross was death to thee!
We too there died-were crucified:
We rose!'Twas death to thee! 5

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
Our thoughts from self set free ;
Flesh however dressed,-its worst, its best,-
Was crucified with Thee:
Thy Resurrection-Beauty
Our new Self, dearly prized;
The old was lost,-Thy death the cost,-
When Thou wast circumcised ;
While now we're risen and caught to heaven
In Thee-once circumcised! 6

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
All we once were is gone;
Not we, but Thou livest in us now,-
We live by faith alone:
Isaac, kind Guest, God's "Laughter,"
These hearts Thy tent-house now !
In us, O Christ, Thou keepest tryst,-
Sweet joys our souls endow!
Shall Ishmael rude, mocking, intrude
Where joys our souls endow? 7

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
It set poor self aside
That Thou, above, mightest claim in love
Th' affections of Thy Bride!
Joined to Thee by one Spirit,
Thy image in each breast,
We're Thine alone, bone of Thy bone,
With Thee supremely blest,-
E'en now are risen, at home in heaven.
In Thy glad Presence blest! 8

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
Waiting for Thee to come ;
The heart and mind their Portion find
In Thee-above, at home;
And if our members tarry,
'Tis here to serve as Thine,-
Vessels of earth to hold Thy Worth
And let Thy glory shine :
These vessels break,-'tis for Thy sake,
To let Thy glory shine! 9

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
Teach us Thy cross to bear:
The love, the grace in Jesus' face,-
May such Thy members wear!
O teach us to surrender,
That we may prove Thy grace,
The spirit, soul, body,-the whole
Unto Thy Love's embrace :
Infirm at best, let Thy power rest
On us in Love's embrace! 10

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
Let our hearts be as Thine :
Be it loss or gain, joy, travail-pain,-
Beat in us, Heart divine !
Mourn in us for Thy members,
Scattered and made a prey,
And in us cry and weep and sigh
Mid ruin of man's day :
Grant us a share in Thy heart's care
Mid ruin of man's day.
Thus in Thy cross we glory,
It looms o'er all things here;
Beside its bright and glorious light
All vain things disappear!
And in that cross we triumph:
Sins, Sin and Self there see,
All law-claims foiled, and Satan spoiled
And routed openly!-
All worldly power-man's, Satan's hour-
There nailed, spoiled openly! " 11

Yes, in Thy cross we glory,
There Thou hast pledged Thy troth;
There bowed, oppressed in dust of death,
Our poor hearts learned Thy worth;
There Dying Love in anguish
Poured out atoning blood,
And held us fast through Goods of wrath
To bring us unto God:
Blessed embrace of Matchless Grace
That brought us unto God!

Lord, in Thy cross we glory,
There in Thyself we hide,-
In that dread hour of Satan's power
We too were crucified;
Thy loveliness, Thy beauty
Now clothes e'en such as we;
Since Thou hast bled we too were dead,
But now we live in Thee:
Yea, e'en as Thou in glory now,
Exalted, Lord, in Thee!

O God, in Thee we glory!
We boast in depths of Love
That sent Thy Son, Thine only One,
Death under wrath to prove:
Now Thou hast many children,
Begot of His distress:
Fulness Divine, outrage was Thine
Our nothingness to bless,-
Thou'st bruised Thy One-Thy Bosom-Son-
Thy many sons to bless!

Father, in Thee we glory!
In Thy blest house of grace
Thy sons, set free, heart-melody
Four out before Thy face!
Children of God the Father,
Priests of His royal house,
And wooed and won of God's dear Sou,
Thy loved One's chosen spouse,-
Father, we raise e'en now the praise
Of Thy Beloved's Spouse!