(From the Numerical Bible, Notes on Matt. 3:12-4:11.)

3. The third section gives us now therefore, in "brief but all important words, the manifestation and anointing of the King, who is also, as we have seen, even in that character the Saviour. He now comes forth from His private into His public life, to take up the wondrous work for which He alone is competent. Although not historically so, yet in its significance here, the mission of the Baptist ends' where Christ begins His public ministry.

"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him." There is definite purpose and meaning then, in this baptism ; and yet, from what we have seen of its character as John proclaims if, it is the last thing that we should have imagined possible for the Lord, to be baptized of John. John himself thinks so:he is startled, even to refusing it :''but John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" In fact there has been the widest misunderstanding among Christians of this act ever since ; and we need to look at it earnestly and reverently, in order (if it may be) to find the track where so many have gone astray. "We shall not need, however, to discuss the conflicting views that have been taken. It will be more profitable to enquire directly for ourselves what Scripture may give us with regard to it. There is, it is true, no direct explanation ; the Lord's words in reply to John, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," require themselves to be set in the light of related facts, before, as it seems, we shall he able to apprehend them. Let us start with some of the plainest of these, and see what light they may throw upon the matter.

It is clear that this baptism of Christ by John lies at the entrance of His public ministry. Before this, with the exception of the notices of His birth, and the one incident of His youth which Luke recalls, the silence of the Gospels with regard to His life up to this time, when He is about thirty years of age. is absolute and profound. So strange has it seemed that this should be, that, as is well-known, the gap has been sought to be filled by apocryphal statements, in which miraculous deeds, as unlike the soberness of Scripture as possible, and as far removed from the character of the "signs" which bore testimony to His divine nature, fill the pages with transparent falsehood. They only have their use in showing us what our Gospels would have been, had they been left merely to human wisdom to provide for us. There is not really a scrap of this apocryphal work which is otherwise worth preserving. The denial of all this invention of the miraculous is found where the turning of water into wine at Cana of Galilee is stated to be the " beginning of miracles " which He did, and which showed forth His glory (Jno. 2:11). And the silence of Scripture otherwise as to all these years of His life regarding which there were, of course, so many witnesses ready to utter all they knew, and so many eager, as we should be, to take it in-this silence can only be accounted for by a Hand controlling, and a divine design.

When He comes forth, it is to be proclaimed by John as " the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world " (Jno. 1:29) ; and in such a view of Him we shall find the speech of this mysterious silence. The passover lamb was to be "taken" on the tenth day of the first month, and "kept up" until the fourteenth day before being sacrificed. Yet the whole year was changed evidently in view of this, which was in fact the primal deliverance upon which the after-deliverance from Egypt was really based. Why then these unnoticed ten days?
Notice, that we are in the midst of the typical shadows of the Old Testament; and, according to the symbolic language which these types speak throughout, the number ten is the number of responsibility, as derived from those ten commandments which are its perfect measure according to the law. The lamb was, as we know, to be without blemish -and this means as to the true Lamb a spiritual state. Putting these things together, it is plain that they have connected meaning, and that the ten days of silence, yet of responsibility, answer in fact to the thirty years of silence-a three times ten-in which He was living for Himself His individual life before the eye of God, after this to come forward and be approved of Him as "without blemish and without spot." In fact, He is then so approved, the Father's voice giving testimony publicly to Him as His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased.

The typical "four days" of public testing-the meaning again given by the numeral-were still to come before the actual sacrifice should take place. He is immediately led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, for the express purpose of being "tempted by the devil." And His life afterwards, how different is it from that quiet life at Nazareth in which He had been so long in communion with His own thoughts and with God ! This was the fulfilment of His own individual responsibility, having its divine necessity in order that He should be able to give Himself for others, yet on that very account private, and not public. Miracles, as we see at once, would have been quite out of place here. For Himself He never used them, as He had come down to the common lot of men, and was for Himself far beyond need of them. Only God could be the competent witness of such a life, and He it is who must give witness, as He does.

It is plain that if it is as the unblemished Lamb He is presenting Himself here, the Lord's baptism by John at once becomes unmistakable in its significance. In the Gospel of Mark He speaks of His baptism,* with evident reference to His sufferings (Mark 10:38). *In the common version, also in the present one (Matt. 20:22), but all editors agree that it is an interpolation.* Christian baptism is also spoken of as "baptism unto death," and in it we are baptized unto His death" (Rom. 6:3, 4). With this John’s baptism in Jordan the river of death -is in full agreement. The words, "so it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," receive also in this way their simplest interpretation. For those who were "confessing their sins" in such a manner, the first step in righteousness of which they were capable was to take openly their place in death, as that which was their due. This is alone the principle according to which He can unite the other recipients of John's baptism, so different as they were, with Himself:for, for Him also, who having no sins of His own, was yet there for the sins of others, the place of death which it prefigured was no less the requirement of righteousness:the blessed Substitute for sinners had of necessity to take the sinners' place.

Thus all is clear throughout, while as the King we have already seen that the Lord acts as the Representative of His people, who is to save His people from their sins. No Kingdom, such as prophecy had pointed out, apart from this. No possibility could there be of men being "His people," apart from it. Men are sinners, and a holy God cannot for a moment ignore this. When Israel came of old into relationship with Him, it could be only by the blood of the lamb :redemption could not be by power only, but (and first of all) by blood. He, therefore, who is to be King of God's Kingdom cannot without preliminary take the throne. He must suffer that He may be glorified :He must come to the throne by the way of the Cross.

And so, when the throne is taken, the effect of this and the character it manifests abide. "He shall be a priest upon his throne " (Zech. 6:13). He still stands before God for the people over whom He reigns; and while He is the true Melchizedek, "king of righteousness," He is also the true King of Salem, "King of peace." In Him " righteousness and peace have kissed each other " (Ps. 85:10). For His throne, like the mercy-seat of old, is blood-sprinkled ; and the cherubim of judgment gaze upon it from between their covering wings, and are at rest.

Here, therefore, the Lord enters not yet upon His Kingship. He is anointed, but not crowned. It is priesthood that must first act and prepare the way. Thus, rising up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends upon Him as a dove :He becomes not simply in title but in fact, the Christ, the " Anointed." As Aaron of old had by himself received the typical anointing without blood, in order to his exercising the priesthood, so is He now declared fit for and consecrated to His sacrificial work, Priest and Sacrifice as He is in one. His perfection is as needful to the one as to the other. The white linen garments of the day of atonement, and not the robes of glory and beauty, are those in which alone the sacrifice is offered that enters the sanctuary, and in which he enters it to sprinkle the blood before God. It is what He Himself was that prevailed, in the day of unequaled agony, when Aaron's Antitype offered up to God the only acceptable offering, and was accepted in that glorious "obedience unto death." by which "the many " for whom He stood " are constituted righteous " (Rom. 5:19).

What the Father's voice proclaimed the Spirit seals (Jno. 6:27). He comes to rest where there is a heart-at last, a human heart-in perfect sympathy with His own, to give Him lodgment. Thus, appearing as a dove, He manifests exactly the character of Him upon whom He comes. The dove was one of the sacrificial birds- the symbol of Christ, therefore, in the very attitude in which we find Him here ; and all is still in perfection and divine harmony. Father, Son. and Spirit are indeed for the first time openly manifested together in the work of redemption, while it is Christ, in the perfection of manhood reconstituted, and in Him brought nigh to God, to which Father and Spirit witness.

The dove, or pigeon,-and the two were almost one,-was in fact the only bird explicitly named for sacrifice. As the "bird of heaven "it has, undoubtedly, its first significance. Heaven itself provides the offering by which heaven is to be appeased and opened over man. " The Second Man is from heaven " (1 Cor. 15:47). He who has sinned, as all mere men hare, cannot by that fact provide the unblemished offering that will alone avail. It is God, therefore, who Himself provides it ; and in this way manifests Himself in unspeakable goodness to win man's heart to Himself. This is the divine power of the gospel in reconciliation. He who requires has fulfilled the requirement. He who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity has yet devised the wondrous means whereby His banished should be restored to Him. Not only so, but for this restoration the bird of heaven shows us God become man – no temporary condescension, but eternal love made known for eternity, eternally to be enjoyed.

Christ is divine love come down, and the dove is the bird of love and sorrow united. The love explains the sorrow :the sorrow the depth of the love. What a world to welcome the Son of God ! and what a welcome the world gave Him ! "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ! and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him :He was despised, and we esteemed Him not."

But Scripture is more definite than this as to the dove, for it points us to "its wings covered with silver, and its leathers with yellow gold." (Ps. 68:13) And here the reference will be plain to those that are acquainted with the symbolism. "'Silver" gets its significance from the money of atonement, and its meaning is well illustrated in passages familiar to us. The wings are silver, for it is in redemption that the activity of divine love has been displayed ; while in the feathers is the gleam of gold, the display of divine glory. This is how nature witnesses to Christ.

The Father proclaims the Son. The apostle tells us that "no man taketh this honor unto himself"-that of the high priesthood -"but He that was called of God, even as Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made a High-priest, but He that said unto Him, " Thou art my Son " (Heb. 5:4, 5). This, then, was the Lord's induction into His office, as having the relationship which is acknowledged here. Yet it is not as the Only-begotten Son, or in His Deity that He is addressed; for, in that case, it could not be added, as in Hebrews," to-day have I begotten Thee." Nor could His divine glory be the foundation of a priesthood which, of necessity, is human. It must be, therefore, as born into the world by the power of the Holy Ghost, as the angel says to Mary, "therefore that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Here he is Son of God in His human nature,-Man, but a unique Man. And the connection of this with His priesthood is not hard to trace. True Man He is, without taint of the fall-the Son of God, as coining (like Adam, but another Adam) fresh from the inspiration of God. Thus He begins another creation, though out of the ruins of the old. In this way He is the Representative Head of a new race of men, standing for them before God, with God, the true Mediator-Priest of the new humanity.

No wonder that heaven opens to own and induct into His place this glorious Person ! "Therefore doth my Father love Me," He says elsewhere, "because I lay down my life that I might take it again." And here, where He is, as it were, pledging Himself to that death for men, the Father's voice breaks out in all its fulness of joy in Him :"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."

Let us notice before we pass on, how in the meat-offering view of His Person the distinction between His birth of the Spirit and His anointing is kept "before us. (See notes on Lev. 2:, Numerical Bible.) In the first general view of Christ as given in it, the anointing of the Spirit is what is emphasized, because it is the seal set upon Him,-the Father's approbation. In the meat-offering baked in the oven (the sufferings from the mere fact of what the world was, without open persecution) both things are represented but apart; and here the 'wafers anointed with oil " show fuller, readier exposure to it after His public coming forward. In that upon the pan (the open persecution) it is the Man born and anointed that brings forth the world's enmity. His public testimony fanning the necessary opposition to Him into flame.

In the meat-offering of the priest on the day of his anointing (Lev. 6:19-23, see Num. Bible notes) we have, distinctly and necessarily, what He was as presented to God at the very time to which we have reached in the Gospel. Here, therefore, it is prepared with oil, but not anointed. And it all goes up to God as a sweet savor, man having no part in it. It is Christ in the period of His life which closes with His baptism, the years lived to God in retirement, the sweet savor of which to God He Himself gives testimony.

4. The fourth section follows the third here, as the story of the wilderness in the book of Numbers follows the priestly anointing in the book of Leviticus. The Israelites had forty years of trial in the wilderness, and all through showed how little they had learned the lessons they were placed there to learn. The Lord is there forty days, and tested to the full, approving Himself ever perfect, and beyond the need of learning,-Master and not disciple.

He had fulfilled, as we have seen, in the thirty years of His private life at Nazareth, His own responsibility as Man before God. He has now come forth from that retirement to take His public place as Mediator for others. He has been accepted as perfectly pleasing to the Father, the unblemished Lamb of sacrifice, as well as the Priest, able to offer for the sins of men. To this office He is consecrated by the descent of the Spirit upon Him, and is now fully the Christ, the Anointed, openly declared to be this.

He is now to be tested as to His ability for the path upon which He has entered. The book of Job shows us Satan allowed of God for this purpose to be the sifter of God's wheat-the "accuser of the brethren." He who is to be the First-born among these pleads for Himself no exemption from this trial. He is expressly led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil:designated thus according to the meaning of the term as "the false accuser."

But God has pronounced :is not that enough ? Alas, with sin has come in distrust of God Himself:He also is upon trial:and Satan's reasoning in Job's case almost openly takes that ground. God pronounces as to Job, and he takes exception toil. ''Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house?" he says; and that means to say, ''This sentence is not given upon proper trial." And God in His very mercy to man, who to his undoing has accepted Satan's malignity as truth, does not retreat behind His privilege. If He is, and must be, sovereign in His doing, so that "none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou ?" yet will He suffer question, and let all be brought into the fullest light. Job's hedge is taken away, and Satan is allowed large limits within which to deal with him,-the end being, of course, blessing to the sufferer and full vindication of God's perfect ways.

And here now is His own Beloved, and there is no remnant of a hedge about the person of the Christ of God ; nor will He use the power that is in His hand against the adversary. In conflict between good and evil, power cannot decide :the good must manifest itself as that, and stand by its own virtue against all odds. The glorious A Wrestler is stripped, therefore, for the wrestling. Sou of God though He be, He conies into the poverty of the creature, the conditions of humanity, and these in their utmost straitness. Man in Adam in his original perfection had been tempted in a garden specially prepared and furnished for him. But one thing was denied him, and in the denial was contained a blessing, among the chief of all the blessings there. Real want there was none, and need was in such sort ministered to as to be itself, in every w-ay, the occasion of new delight. The weakness of the creature was owned, but tenderly provided for, so as to witness to the tender arms of love that were about him:he had but to shrink into them to be in perfect safety, beyond all possible reach of harm.

But not so sheltered, not so provided for, is the new Adam, the Son of man. The garden is gone; in its stead is the wilderness; nor is there nurture for Him now from nature's barren breast. For forty days He fasts, and then with the hunger of that forty days upon Him, the tempter comes. It marks the contrast between Him and other men that, whereas a Moses or Elias fasted to meet God, He fasts to meet the devil.

There are three forms of the temptation :though, with the first broken we see that victory is gained over them all. Yet for our instruction it is that we are permitted to have all before us, that we may realize the points in which the subtlety perfected by ages of experience finds man to be above all accessible, and learn how Satan is to be resisted still. We shall do well to consider them closely, therefore, and with the closest application to ourselves. The battle-field here may seem to be a narrow one ; the points of attack few; the weapons employed against the enemy a scanty armory:but here lies one of the excellences of Scripture, that its principles, while simple, have in them all the depths of divine wisdom, and far-reaching application to the most diverse needs.

(1:) " And when the tempter came unto Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God. command that these stones be made bread."

Satan would thus act upon Him by the conviction of what He was, and make Him assert Himself, in circumstances which were so unsuited to what He was. The Sou of God, the Beloved of the Father, at the extreme point of starvation in a desert ! But then this was surely in His own power to set right:He needed not circumstances to be adjusted to Him, who was able so easily to adjust them to Himself. The power surely was His. the need real, the hunger sinless:why, then, should He not put forth His power, and make the stones of the ground minister to His necessities? So simple and plausible is the suggestion, so well it seems to recognize the truth of what He was, so natural is it with us to minister with what power we have to our own requirements, that to any of us naturally, it might seem to be no evil suggestion at all,-no temptation. But it was such; and the Lord's answer will show us, better than any reasoning of our own, why it was such.

It has been noticed by all,-it could hardly escape notice,-that the Lord answers ever by the word of God. This is the sword of the Spirit, the only weapon we have with which to encounter the adversary; but it is striking, and speaks powerfully to us, to find the Lord who could surely have answered from His own mind, using always, and with distinct reference to it as such, the written Word. We see that He takes absolutely the same ground as ourselves, answers as man, is subject, as we are. to the authority of God. And this the passage which He quotes fully proves,-going, indeed, beyond it :"It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the month of God."

This is from Deuteronomy (8:3), the book that sums up the lessons of the wilderness, for those who had been through the wilderness. And the passage shows that the dealings of God with His people had been directly designed to teach them this :"And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee to know that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." How important,-how supremely important, therefore, is this principle!

Man lives by the word of God,-in obedience to it. The true life of man is nourished and sustained alone by this. Bread will not sustain it:the life of obedience is that which alone is life. In this way we see that though, because of inherent sin everywhere, the legal covenant had no life in it, yet there is another sense wherein " which, if a man do he shall even live in them " is to be understood. There is really a path of life, though grace alone can put us in it or maintain us there. Eternal life and disobedience are in fact opposites. The gospel does not alter this :grace fully affirms it:'Sin shall not have dominion over you, because ye are not under law, but under grace."

All this is in the passage quoted by the Lord; but in His application of it we are made to go further than naturally we should carry it. What principle of disobedience, we might ask, could be contained in the simple suggestion to use power that He really had, to minister to need that was as really His also, and in which, therefore, there could he no evil?

Notice, then, that it is as man He speaks:it is of man these things are written. Son of God He was-adoringly we own it; it is this that makes the path we are thinking of so wonderful an one; but it is not in the open glory of the Godhead that He is come to walk upon earth, but to learn obedience in humiliation,-nay, by the things that He suffers. He is come as man to work out redemption for men; and for this to learn all that is proper to man, apart from sin. Thus He cannot put forth divine power to save Himself out of this condition. What He can use freely for others, for Himself He cannot use. It is He of whom it is written in the volume of the book, "Lo. I come to do Thy will O God … I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God:yea. Thy law is within my heart." Thus He is here simply subject, and subject in satisfaction and delight, to the will of Another. He has, for His whole course on earth, no other motive. Need may press, appetite may crave:He feels this as other men ; did He not feel it, the glory of His humiliation would be dimmed. But while He feels it, it is no motive to Him:there is but one motive-the will of God. To make Himself a motive would destroy that perfection; come to do that will, and nothing else.

This is the spirit in which He goes forth to service:the close of it on earth, closing with the deepest humiliation and dreadest shadow of all, affords so beautiful an example of this principle, (even while at first sight it might seem at conflict with it), that one cannot forbear to speak of it here. One of the physical distresses of the agony of the cross is the great thirst produced by it. Almost the last words of the Lord there had reference to this, and gave it expression. His words, "I thirst "are answered by the sponge filled with vinegar, of which He tasted :and they were such as naturally to call forth such an answer. Was this, then, really any seeking of relief in His extremity, even from the hands that had nailed Him there? No :we are carefully guarded from such a thought. There was one Scripture, we are told, that remained to be fulfilled ; and of this it was, in all the agony of that hour, that He was thinking :"Jesus, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." This leads to what had been predicted :"in my thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." Thus the glorious obedience shines here without a cloud upon it, nay, in surpassing luster. " Lo, I come to do Thy will " is the principle of His life.

But here we are made to realize the wondrous privilege that is ours,-the solemn responsibility that lies upon us. For we are "sanctified unto the obedience of Christ," and "He has left us an example that we should follow in His steps" (1 Pet. 1:2; 2:21). This principle of His life must be, then, the principle of our lives. If with Him the governing motive was to do the will of God,-if He rejected every motive that could be urged from His own necessities-how simple is it that, for us also, the will of God must be our motive for action ; apart from this there is no right motive possible.

What a world then, is this, in which the mass of men around us have no thought of God, no knowledge of His will, no desire to know it,-men with whom life is little else than the instinctive animal life; disturbed, more or less, by conscience, that is, by the apprehension of God! And as to Christians themselves, how easily are they persuaded, that, with certain exceptions at important crises of their lives, the simple rule of right and wrong – often determined by custom of some kind, rather than the word of God – is sufficient to indicate for them the will of God ; their own wills being thus left free within a variously limited area!

The law in tact drew such a circle round man, and in mercy, as a sheepfold is the limit for the sheep. A class of actions is defined as evil, and forbidden; within these limits one may please oneself. Nor could law do other than this:for it the rigidity of a fixed code is necessary. But Christ came into the sheepfold to make His sheep hear His voice, and to lead them out:free, but where freedom would be safe as well as blessed, following the living guidance of the Shepherd Himself (John x). The rule is at the same time stricter and freer. And the reality transcends the figure, even as the Good Shepherd Himself transcends every other shepherd. To a love like His, united to a wisdom absolutely perfect, no detail of our lives can be unimportant, as (in the connection of these throughout, and of one life with another, none can be insignificant. Could it be imagined that any were so, yet which of us is competent to discern this, in any instance? ''Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth " is but the utterance of the common experience. Who, then, that has learned to distrust himself at all, but must welcome deliverance from such an uncertainty, and find it joy to be guided at all times by a higher wisdom?

Nothing makes this appear severe, nothing difficult, except the love of our own way, and the unbelief which, having given up confidence in God. first sent man out from the bountiful garden, to toil and strive for himself in the world outside. But the divine love which has purchased us here, and given us Bethlehem for our "house of bread," should suffice to heal that insane suspicion, and close up the fountain of self-will within us. " He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him also, freely gives us all things?" The path ordained for us has, no doubt, its roughness, and the cloud hangs over it; but He makes the cloud His tabernacle, and just in the very night it brightens into manifest glory. All differences are in the interests of the journey itself, as was said of Israel, that they might " go by day and by night."The record of experience adds to this the assurance, " they go from strength to strength."

No wonder ! if " by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live." What a sustenance of the true life within us to be thus, day by day, receiving the messages of His will, guided by that wondrous Voice, learning continually more the tenderness of His love for us:"He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learner" (Isa. 1. 4). This is the utterance prophetically of the Lord Himself:how blessed to be able to make it our own. and thus to have the fulfilment of those words:"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way in which thou shalt go:I will guide thee with mine eye."

So then the first temptation is met and conquered ; and with this, in fact, is conquered every after-one:for he who, walking with God, waits upon God, what shall ensnare him? what enemy shall prevail against him ? It is plain that Satan has been hinting again here the lie with which of old he seduced the woman. And that, as in her case "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life" came in through the door so opened, they were now effectually shut out. Satan might repeat and vary his efforts; but to one cleaving fast to God, God will be a shield against which every shaft shall be broken to pieces. How great, then, the importance for us of such a lesson !

2. But if we are to listen for the word of God, and our lives are to be shaped by it, we are called next to guard against the misuse of the Word itself. This is Satan's next attempt:"Then the devil taketh Him into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him. If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down:for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee; and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest haply Thou dash Thy foot against a stone."

How careful should we be as to quotations from Scripture ! how little in fact we often are ! Scripture twisted but a little awry, the authority of God is put upon a lie, and our very faith in it may betray us to the enemy.

How important, too, in this view of it, becomes the complete verbal inspiration of Scripture. If only the thought meant to be conveyed is guaranteed to us. but the wording left to the choice of imperfect wisdom, then (unless words mean nothing) we can never settle what the thought precisely is. If the words are possibly faulty, who can assure me of the exact truth hid under this faulty expression ?

Satan does but leave out two or three words of the original:"to keep Thee in all Thy ways" (Ps. 91:11, 12); but those words guard them against the abuse that he would make of them. The "ways "of Him who in the same psalm says of Jehovah, "In Him will I trust" will be God's ways, and He will wait upon God for the fulfilment of His word, and not impatiently grasp at it before the time. This is evidently Satan's effort now; and since the Lord will not move without the word of God, here is now the word to lead Him in that path of the miraculous which He has just refused. The psalm surely refers to Messiah:would it not be simply becoming confidence in God, boldly to claim and act on it?

The place was favorable for such a venture. The miracle would be right before the eyes of the many worshipers-of a people always seeking after signs, and who, having shown themselves ready to go after impostors, would be brought now to the feet of the true Messiah. The word could not fail:was it not for Him to answer the desire of the people, stop with the right hand of power the confusion and misrule, and fulfil the glowing pictures which the prophets had drawn, and take the Kingdom already proclaimed to be at hand by one whose call of God he had Himself acknowledged?

This seems to be the line and power of the temptation here. It appeals to Jesus as the Messiah, as the former one had done to Him as Man. It takes advantage of the Lord's answer given to that, and would with devilish cunning turn that victory into a defeat. How would He refuse to take His predestined place, when the word of God itself beckoned Him into it ?

But the "ways " of the blessed "Author and Finisher of faith " lie elsewhere than in this direction. Of these Satan has not dared to remind Him. He has come into the wilderness from Jordan, from the place of death, to which He had freely stooped as what "righteousness" required from the Representative of His people, and has been consecrated as the Priest to offer the needed sacrifice. Power could be found for men only in the path of humiliation, and out of this He could not raise Himself, nor put forth a hand to lay hold of that which must come to Him from God alone, vindicated and glorified. He would not be slow to put forth power, when this was accomplished, and in this alone all blessing lay. He that believed could not anticipate this :we see that it is the Lord's first answer which has essentially answered all, and which reveals the secret of victory over all temptation. He has come to do the will of God and not His own. In Him patience will have its perfect work, and thus He will be perfect and entire, living by His word, suffering only, putting forth no hand in His own behalf. Anything else would really be to "tempt God,"-to question as they questioned at Massah (Deut. 6:16), where in their need He seemed not to come forward. They " tempted," tried Him by His providences, found Him to come short. This question still connects in this way with the first temptation ; but Israel had no power in themselves to fall back upon as He had :would He use it? Nay, when God had pledged Himself to Him in His word, would He not put it to the proof, let it be seen openly that God was with Him ? Nay, He will not; nor take the short road, as if God's way were too long.

This is to tempt Him then :to try Him by our thoughts,-alas, by our impatience, that cannot wait for His due time, nor take the path of humiliation He prescribes; that will in self-will reach out its hand and take, as Christ would not. He to whom all power belonged moved on as if in weakness, leaving it for God to vindicate and appear for Him, as and where and when He would.

3. In the third temptation Satan shifts his ground completely. He is seeking the same thing of course; and shows himself more openly than he has done before ; but he could not say, " If Thou be the Son of God, fall down and worship me !" He suddenly seems to realize so the truth of His humanity, that he will adventure fully upon it. If this be indeed One who is Son of man, shut off as it were from the claims and conditions of Deity ;-if He has come in, in the very weakness of manhood itself to work the work committed to Him, then he will boldly test Him as mere man. All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, can they have no attraction for this poor Nazarene? It is a desperate game indeed; and to us cannot but seem like the mere raving of insanity to propose to Christ to do homage to Mm for their possession ! But, however it may seem to be no longer temptation, but a mere awful insult to the divine glory veiled in humanity before him, it does not seem to be given ns as this. The Lord answers it, as He does the rest, from Scripture, though with an indignation which He has not shown before. Satan has disclosed himself, and can be called by his name and bidden to be off. Yet the whole reads as if he had as much confidence in this attack as in the other. The change of address, no longer "If Thou be the Son of God," with the boldness of his proposition, seems to say that he has now discovered and accepts the fact that his conflict is with One who. whatever He may be more than this, had indeed come to meet him as man only. And man-what had he not proved as to him? From Adam in the beauty of his Maker's handiwork, through the many generations since-he had not encountered yet a second man.

And he, the prince of this world, had he not wrested from man the sovereignty of earth, the inheritance for which God had destined him, God not interfering? might it not seem to him as if evil were stronger than good, as he realized the 4,000 years of his triumph, the generations of men that had conspired to lift him to his throne,-surely, an easy thing to do him homage !

In result, he has disclosed himself and is defeated. He has met, at last, the second Man. It is truly so:there is no display of deity, no outburst of divine judgment or of power ; he is answered, still and always by the Word ; its sufficiency as a divine weapon is seen all through :how great an encouragement for us in the irrepressible conflict which we all have to maintain. Through all He is the perfect example of faith, the Man Christ Jesus. We hear throughout the One who in the 16th psalm declares as the principle of His life:"the Lord is the measure of my portion and of my cup:. . .I have set the Lord always before me ; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved."

The devil leaves Him now ; and angels come and minister to Him.

She came not to hear a sermon, although the first of Teachers was there; to sit at His feet and hear His words (Luke 10:39) was not her purpose now, blessed as that was in its proper place. She came not to make her requests known to Him. Time was, when, in deepest submission to His will, she had fallen at His feet, saying, "Lord if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (John 11:32); but to pour out her supplications to Him as her only resource, was not now her thought, for her brother was seated at the table.

She came not to meet the saints, though precious saints were there, for it says, "Jesus loved Martha . . . and Lazarus" (John 11:5). Fellowship with them was blessed likewise, and, doubtless, of frequent occurrence; but fellowship was not her object now.

She came not after the weariness and toil of a week's battling with the world to be refreshed from Him, though, surely, she like every saint had learned the trials of the wilderness; and none more than she, probably, knew the blessed springs of refreshment that were in Him.

But she came,-when the world was about to express its deepest hatred of Him (ver. i), to pour out what she long had treasured up (ver. 7), and of much value (ver. 5), upon the person of Him whose love had made her heart captive, and absorbed her affections.

It was not Simon the leper, not the disciples, not her brother and sister in the flesh, but her Lord that engaged her attention now. Jesus filled her soul-her heart and her eye were on Him, and her hands and feet were subservient to her eye and to her heart, as she "anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair."

Adoration, homage, worship, blessing, was her one thought; and that in honor of the One who was "all in all " to her;-such worship, how refreshing to Him!

The ungodly (ver. 4) and the unspiritual (Matt, 26:6-9) might murmur, but He upheld her cause, and showed how He could appreciate and value the grateful tribute of a heart that knew His worth and preciousness, and could not be silent as to it. A lasting record is preserved of what worship really is by the One who accepted it, and of the one who rendered it.

Be it ours now, dear reader, from hearts filled with the Holy Spirit, to break upon Him our spiritual box of ointment,-in worship, in praise, and thanksgiving as is meet.

I am glad that you are making experience of the value of that inner life which is developed in communion with the Lord. The outward life, however blessed it be, can never give us that which is here communicated. It is the knowledge of Christ that matures the soul. It is true that to neglect our duties is not the means to make progress in it. For He communicates Himself, and we cannot command communion outside the path of His will, while in the accomplishment of that will, we dwell in His love. J. N. D.

A Few Unrevised Notes of an Address by C. C., Lachute, 1st April, 1897.

1 Kings 11:9-43.

One sometimes meets with some singular and discouraging cases-cases of individuals who seem to be clear as to grace, but who are strangely deficient as to responsibility,-people who, when they have failed, and even when going on in positive evil and wickedness, we are surprised to note how clearly they can speak of the counsels of God and His purposes in grace. So much so that we would think them enjoying greatly these precious things of God. Such fall again and again into sin in various ways, and I believe the explanation is, they are more acquainted with the doctrines of grace than those of responsibility. It ought not to be so, I am sure. If we believe in simplicity the grace of God, we should be able to believe, in the same simplicity, in the responsibilities of our path down here. The lessons of these histories of the Kings will help us, I believe.

In David, God brings out His principles of grace, and at once with these, through his successors, we find how responsibility attaches to this.

God gave promises to Abraham and when his seed 430 years afterward came into the land, did He give it to them? No; He said, "You must fight for every bit of it you possess." His promises to Abraham were unconditional, unqualified promises; but to his seed, instead of that, there was conditional possession. So with regard to David. He was taken up just as Abraham was, and God promised him a throne that was to be his and his seed's after him. Of course, in both Abraham and David, we know God's promises went beyond the present seed, and have their ultimate fulfilment in Christ. But here though Solomon be the type of Christ in a certain character, yet we find when God makes promise to Solomon, He makes condition, and it becomes manifest He is putting him on different ground. It is now responsibility, not unconditional grace. Let us look at this, and see how these two things can be consistent and fit into one another. However Solomon may fail, it does not at all cancel God's promise to David. God can carry that out even if Solomon does fail. In the Church it is the same. The Gospel makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He is going to have the saints with Christ in glory. Nothing of all the failure of the Church will hinder God's purpose in this. The Church is going to reign with Christ. This is God's counsel and purpose. He will head up all things in heaven and earth in Him, and no failure of ours will prevent His accomplishing the thought of His heart in respect to Christ and the Church. Precious grace !

But the Church is also set in the place of testimony and responsibility in this world. Her failure in these positions is one thing:her title to eternal glory and to reign with Christ is another thing entirely. So we see how some see but one side of all this, and it hinders proper enjoyment of heavenly things or a true walk with God. They can see and accept all the purpose of God and His counsels with regard to Christ and the Church, but leave out, alas! their responsibility to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called, and this accounts for all the weakness and failure that abound. Looking at the Church in its responsibility, how little intelligent walking before God there is! how little real faithfulness on all sides, to-day, as well as in the past history of God's people! Let us see about Solomon:-
First. David is the type of Christ as the warrior, a man of war, not only slaying the giant Goliath and delivering the nation, but also putting all enemies under his feet-the Edomites, Amalekites, Syrians, etc. This is characteristic of him. He is a man of war, and thus type of Christ who has met the power of the enemy and wrought deliverance for us, and who shares, as David, the fruit of His victories-the victories of His cross-with His people.

In Solomon's reign we have two distinct divisions. First. As the man of peace, all is quiet and peaceful. Under him the people enjoy their possessions. There is no enemy to disturb the rest and enjoyment, and in this too we have a type of Christ, not as the warrior King, but as the King reigning in peace, which had become his through the victories of David. This enjoyment He shares with His people, who are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, wondrously enriched, and all the power of the enemy broken. Every question that can arise, every charge that can be made by the enemy of our souls, is met for us by the victorious work of Christ. But there is a Second part to the life of Solomon, and it is in this that we have this subject of responsibility taken up.

In Deut. 17:Moses gave instruction for the guidance of a king in Israel. There were four specific things:-

1st.He was not to multiply horses to himself.

2nd.He was not to multiply wives to himself.

3rd. He was not to multiply silver and gold to himself

4th. He was to write himself a copy of the book of the law.

Now here we have outlined what the king was to do, but in Solomon we never hear of his making himself a copy of the law of the Lord or his reading it, suggesting carelessness of the word of God; and Solomon himself the king setting the example for the whole people, in breaking down the place the word of God was to have in his heart and mind. If there be negligence of the word of God, little interest in it, it is an easy thing to take a further step, and the other things prohibited are all done also. He has many wives, goes down to Egypt for horses, and multiples silver and gold to himself. There is positive disobedience in all these things, but it is easy if we ignore God's word, if we do not accept it as the light shining for our path, and make it the man of our counsel.

But disobedience has its fruits and what do we find? Take the matter of his wives:the one who built that wonderful temple and introduced such a happy condition of things into the kingdom, now is seen building groves for idols; and bowing down and worshiping them. But there is more. In the history of Rehoboam, we find what helps us as to Solomon's failure. When Jeroboam came to him, he says:" Thy father made our yoke grievous " (12:4). There was evidently a spirit of discontent and murmuring which had been there before, because of heavy burdens. We can easily see how all this came in. Solomon had neglected the word of God. Then it was easy to multiply wives, and having gone this far in the path of disobedience, it was necessary to gratify and please them. They have claims and make demands :"He must make places where we can worship our gods." He has to yield; and think of the taxes laid upon the people to make suitable places for the gods to the Sidonians and Ammonites and Moabites and perhaps many others. There was no complaint about the building of the temple, but now it is not one grove but many groves, and of necessity this made burdens, heavy burdens upon the people and so the discontent and murmuring. What a picture, beloved, and how it speaks of how possible for a child of God to go far astray.

Neglect of the word of God soon leads into disobedience, and at last getting so far away from God and God's things, it is no more at all what at first was our portion as described in the early part of Solomon's reign. Now there are enemies cropping up. First the Edomite. Edom belonged properly to Israel and refers typically to the flesh in us. We know how God has given us victory over sin in us. Romans shows us how we have the victory over the evil in our own hearts, over the flesh in us.

Under David, a type, this victory was obtained, and in the early part of Solomon's reign we read of no Edomite rising up. But in this second part we have this Edomite stirring up himself. Think of it beloved brethren. How many are worried and perplexed and distressed to find the flesh stirring itself up. But I say there is a reason for it. The word of God has been neglected, and not only so, but we have become disobedient to it perhaps, setting aside its plainest teaching for our path. Then the flesh (the Edomite) says:"Now is my opportunity." Alas! how we expose ourselves to the enemy within us- this Edomite-when faith is thus weakened and enfeebled, because we have not fed it with the manna furnished by the word of God. But there are also enemies without, and Resin of Damascus speaks of the world. He also bestirs himself; and we find then both things, the Edomite and the Syrian, the flesh and the world, combining to hinder and harass. So the world says, when faith is weak and the flesh awake in us, "now is my time."

Next we have the spirit of division. Jeroboam is fostering that. Solomon's practice and life had brought about a favorable condition for the spirit of division, and it follows quickly on the track of what preceded.

Solomon means peace, but now God says to His people in departure from His word, and in disobedience to it, "it can't be peace now."

So Solomon dies and another takes his place,-another sits on the throne in his stead. All this is full of meaning for us. The distinction is surely brought out clearly between the reigns of David and Solomon, grace and responsibility. What loss it was all this turning away from God, this neglect of the Word, and its train of evils. It was loss indeed. It is distinctly stated, "The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice" (ver. 9). It was because of his behavior God raised up these enemies. Neglect and disobedience to His word brings down His hand upon us, but don't mistake it, beloved brethren, the hand of the Lord upon us does not mean He has given up His people and His purposes and counsels concerning them, but it does mean He is not pleased with the condition into which they have fallen, and it is His call to repentance. And it does mean we are suffering great loss. Solomon is warned that after his departure, God will rend his kingdom and his servant shall have the largest part. But there is not one word about his repentance. Don't you think the division might have been averted then if he had repented? I think so. Nineveh repented in a later day and God put off the judgment announced by Jonah two hundred years. Had Solomon repented who shall say God should not have acted in the same mercy to Israel as to Nineveh. These warnings to Solomon are warnings for us, beloved brethren, that we should not go on in self-will. Neglect of the word of God brings a train of sorrow and loss upon us, but who shall say how much disaster might be averted, how great calamity might be escaped from, by repentance and return to God ?

And beloved, if we may not expect general repentance and return to God and His word, yet we may seek it individually and find the greatest blessing. The Lord grant it.

While conscious of all around us, we have to go like a horse with blinkers, looking straight forward, undistracted; an afflicted and poor people that call upon the Name of the Lord. He remains the same, and the Word remains the same. J. N. D.

"And upon His head were many crowns." (Rev. 19:12.)

(Continued from page 95.)

CHAPTER VI. The '' Second Man."

If the title of the Lord as Son of man shows the continuity of humanity in Him with humanity as found in men in general,-body, soul, and spirit truly human,-there is all the more need for us to realize on the other side the uniqueness of this humanity in Him,- the wondrous new step that humanity has gained in the Person of the "Man, Christ Jesus."

We may say, and rightly say, that if we know Him as the "Word made flesh," we know Him necessarily as the Unique Man, peerless and apart from every other. That is true, indeed, but it is not all the truth. We could not in fact, if this were all the truth, speak of humanity having gained a step in Him. He would be simply alone in this:in this sense He could have no "brethren;" the deity raying through His manhood could not be partaken of, as is plain:in this respect He must be ever alone.

But Scripture does not leave us to such a conclusion. It joins together two titles that are His as man, and as a unique man, in such a way as to assure us of our gain in this very uniqueness;-of our manhood being by divine grace raised to a new plane in Him, so as to make Him in a peculiar sense "Firstborn among many brethren " (Rom. 8:29). These two titles are "the Second Man," and the "Last Adam,"-the antitypical parallel, (and so necessarily contrast) with the "first man Adam " (i Cor. 15:45, 47). As the first man was head of a race, and not to remain alone, but to be in fact a "first-born among many brethren," so is it also with the " Second Man." He is to be such, Head of a race, a race of men, but a new race; and it is said as to Him "the Last Adam," because there is no other Adam to succeed Him, as with the first man. In Him God's thought as to man is completely fulfilled, and His heart completely satisfied.

But it is not of the Last Adam that we are now to think, but of the Second Man as such:"Second," as a new order of man, in contrast (as is here seen) with the First:"the first man is of earth earthy; the Second Man is of heaven." Corresponding to this, " the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." These differences will be found to be in relation to one another:"as is the earthy such are they also that are earthy, and as is the Heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly; and, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly."

It is the failure of the first man which has made way for the Second; but the Second it is who alone develops God's thought from the beginning, and justifies fully His delights in the sons of men. It is not with the failed first man merely that the Second is put in contrast, but with the first also, as here, apart from any failure. The earthy typifies the heavenly; but in every type the contrast is as plain as the resemblance.

Man is a microcosm, the world in little, in which is embodied all that went before him, which in him is raised also to its full natural perfection. He is the crown and epitome of it all. And nature rises up to him in successive steps of progress, each retaining what has gone before, while it transcends it. In the whole series God's principle of advance is made so plain, that, while we cannot predict, at any point at which we stop, just what may be (or whether anything may be) beyond it, yet we are prepared to estimate it when it comes, and trace the unity of the divine handiwork, and see how the end has been before Him from the beginning, and how one blessed purpose runs through all. It may not be in vain for us, even with such a theme as we have now before us, to look back to the beginning, before man himself was upon the earth, and learn from nature itself what it may teach us of the supernatural, and how the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has ruled throughout the ages.

Scripture testifies to a gradual development of creation up to man; whether we see in it the immense periods which science claims for such development, or just six literal days, or whether, perhaps, we may be permitted to believe that both views have a measure of truth in them, and one need not exclude the other. Any way, a development there is,-from inorganic to organic, through the plant and animal up to man. So plain is this that Moses has been claimed as an evolutionist on this account. Progress he certainly believes in; and if we look at it with sufficient care, a very orderly progress we shall find it; and its four divisions of nature can better justify themselves than the three which people commonly believe in, by which man is sunk into the animal merely, and that which distinguishes him as man is ignored and set aside.

"Divisions" we may call them, because Scripture clearly distinguishes them as lifeless, living, the animal with life and soul, man with life, soul and spirit. Each of these takes up into itself what has gone before it, and adds its own distinctive element of being, which in the case of the animal and man are distinctly asserted to be a new "creation." It will repay us to look more distinctly at them.

The lifeless or inorganic lies at the bottom of the whole, and need not detain us. In the crystal it seems to prophesy the organization which it never attains:for there is a bound here which cannot be passed. No life except from life is the well-ascertained conclusion of science itself.

The plant takes up the lifeless into itself, and by some process peculiar to the living thing transforms it into the living. Out of this it builds up its tissues, a multitude of small cells combining in the most marvelous way to construct a most complicated structure; each filling its place and taking its part, with a division of labor and unity of interest such as have never been excelled anywhere else. Here is an instinct before instinct, a wisdom below consciousness, and which cannot belong to these particles of living matter, or in some ways the higher life that follows it must be a degeneration from it. The life that has come in is something one cannot define- cannot separate by any chemical or other test from the matter which it permeates and controls in so marvelous a way. The invisible and intangible assumes here at the start a kind of royal state, yet in service:not separating itself from what is lower than itself, but lifting it up and transforming it. And this is the progress Scripture shows us to be constantly in nature. It is not evolution:the lower does not lift itself to higher condition; the higher element is not developed from the lower, but stoops to it and raises it. Thus already the principle begins to be revealed, which will carry us on to quite other scenes before its full power is declared.

From the vegetable we pass on to the animal-to the living soul.* *A term which the Revised Version, following the older one, disguises as "living creature," "life,"-to the great detriment of the sense.* This is defined, in Gen. 1:30, as "everything wherein there is a living soul. " That this "soul" is not the same as life is shown by the very term "living" which is connected with it. But the connection shows also that a principle of life is in it:a life which is now on a higher plane than before. As in the plant life and matter are found inseparably, so in the animal it is with soul and life. The "soul" (nephesh, psuche) is indeed the life of the animal,-is the word vised for it, though it means much more than this, and although there is a distinct word for life also (chai, zoe]. But the soul is the seat of the emotions, instincts, and appetites of the body -the whole sensitive nature; and while in the animal the functions of nutrition and reproduction are styled by physiologists "vegetative functions," the distinctly animal ones are those of sensation and voluntary motion. The "living soul that moveth" indicates both these.

We see, therefore, how by the connection of the soul with it, life is lifted in the animal to a higher plane; while soul is not just this higher life itself, but a new element of being, as expressly indicated by the term "created,"-"God created every living soul."

In man, once more we have a distinct addition, that of spirit; and by this it is, clearly, that he is created in the image of God. For God is Spirit, and the Father of spirits (Heb. 12:9). The son is therefore in the Father's image; and in the human spirit, the mental and moral faculties are added to the instinctive and emotional ones. But then by this union the gain of the soul over that of the animal merely is easily to be seen. The law we have traced thus far manifests itself again; the soul in its turn acquires an inseparable union with spirit, by which it shares in the light of self-consciousness in which the spirit moves, and becomes partaker also in its immortality. The beast perishes, but not the soul of man, which they that kill the body cannot touch.* *The subject is too large to enter into further here. It may be found more fully considered in "Creation in Genesis and Geology," pp. 25-35; "Spiritual Law in the Natural World," chaps. 7:and viii; "Facts and Theories as to a Future State," chaps. iv-7:*

Thus the spiritual law manifests itself at each step of progress in creation up to man. It is by the abasement of the higher to the lower that all progress is accomplished; and here redemption is not dimly shadowed in creation. Christ comes in at the next step; and in the Second Man the abasement of the Higher to the lower finds its complete exemplification in the inseparable union of the divine and human. The Eternal Life is linked with humanity, and the . Second Man becomes the First-born among many brethren, the Last Adam-Head of a new race of men.

Contrast there must be, therefore, between humanity as found in the first man and in Christ the Second; and this, apart from question of the fall. The first man was, from the beginning, "of the earth, earthy; the Second Man is of heaven." He is born as we are new-born, by the direct interposition of the Spirit of God. Not like Adam, simply "made upright," He is at His birth "that holy Thing," who "shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). His nature as Man is the "divine nature"; and there is not with Him, as there is in us, though born of God, any contradiction to it. In other respects He does not at first show His dignity:for sin has come in, and there is a work to be done by Him in view of it, which can only be clone in humiliation. He comes therefore, not in sinful flesh, (that were wholly impossible and abhorrent to Him), but "in the likeness of sinful flesh " (Rom. 8:3). His circumstances are those of other men,-intensified when He comes forth to take up His special work. His spotless righteousness interposes no external guard against surrounding evil in a world to which sin has given the character it has. He is specifically in it the "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Infliction from God, of course, there could not be, but only the testimony of fullest delight on His part in His Holy One; until He entered that one awful shadow which at the end of His course here fell upon Him as He came at last to the dread place, our place, in which alone He could lay hold upon us, and bring us out with Himself into the light of God.
F. W. G.

(To be Continued.)

Ques. 11.-Is the worship expressed in a hymn we may be singing in the assembly acceptable to the Father, if the heart and mind are not going on with the voice ? For example, if during the singing of a hymn, my soul and spirit went out in adoration as my voice went on with verses one and two, but during the singing of the third verse, my mind has been turned to something else, and my voice goes on with the singing, does Ex. 28:36-38, teach that Christ would present to the Father the worship expressed in the third verse ? Does the infinite value of the sin-offering not only atone for sin, but make all our worship acceptable, though part of it is not the soul and spirit going out to God, on account of the mind being occupied with something else than the voice may be expressing.

Ans.-We most unhesitatingly say that no worship save that in spirit and in truth can possibly be acceptable to God. Otherwise unconverted people could offer acceptable praise. True our Great High Priest offers our feeblest praises to God in all the value of His precious person, and on the ground of His atoning work, bears the iniquity of our holy things. If the mind has wandered, as, alas! it is prone to do, He, in grace, offers that portion which has been more than mere lip service. But to call that worship which is but the vacant voice would indeed be taking carnal ground.

While upon this subject we may be permitted to call attention to the singing of hymns. If real, no exercise is more, delightful and elevating; but it is easily subject to abuse. Without much exertion one may give out a hymn which is perhaps beyond the state of those who are to sing it. Nothing can be more deadening to the conscience than giving utterance to sentiments which do not express the true condition of the soul-to declare the deepest love for Christ, the intensest longing for His coming; to state experiences which are not true-these, in plain language, are uttering falsehoods to God. Far be it from us to check the feeblest whisper of praise, but we ask, Is there not a danger of singing hymns as a matter of course? We would affectionately suggest a deeper exercise of conscience and more waiting upon God in these matters. There would probably be less singing, and more praise.

Ques. 12.-Did the publican say,'' God meet me at the mercy-seat ! " or, " God be merciful to me the sinner! "

Ans.-The literal rendering would be " God be propitiated unto me," but not the "mercy-seat." " The sinner" is correct, and suggestive, as though there were but one sinner, so far as he was concerned.

Ques. 13.-"What version is it' that says, " Show forth the Lord's "death"?

Ans.-"We know of no version which inserts 'forth" which is probably an unconscious adaptation from the Psalms:"Show forth His salvation." The literal rendering is. "Ye announce the Lord's death, till He come."

The seven churches in proconsular Asia mentioned in Rev. 1:were to learn, through the letter sent to each (2:, 3:), and to be listened to by all who had the hearing ear, that the Lord Jesus Christ was possessed of intimate knowledge concerning each and all of them. Their state, their circumstances, their future, and the special ministry suited to each, are treated of in these different epistles.

False apostles had appeared at Ephesus. The assembly had tried them, and had found them liars (Rev. 2:2). Tribulation and poverty characterized the assembly at Smyrna, and further trial of persecution was in store for them (9, 10). In Pergamos, where an assembly existed, Satan's throne was found. So idolatry, with all its concomitant vices, was rampant in that city, and was working its way among the Christian community, though its adherents were still in the minority (13, 14). In Sardis, spiritual deadness prevailed (3:i). In Philadelphia, though their strength was small, yet faithfulness to Christ distinguished them (3:8). In Laodicea, the whole company, it would seem, was contented to go on without the presence and countenance of Christ. He was outside of them, who were glorying in their assumed wealth ; rich in their own estimation, increased with goods, and having need of nothing, yet really the wretched and the miserable one, and poor, and blind, and naked (3:17).

In Thyatira, to which we would especially turn, idolatry was working with dire effect. In Pergamos, a few had been ensnared. In Thyatira, the bulk of the assembly had given in to it. So that which in the Old Testament is termed an abomination to Jehovah was openly taught in Thyatira, and un-blushingly practiced by professing Christians therein (2:20). Moreover, contrary to nature and to Christian teaching (i Tim. 2:12), a woman was suffered to lead them into all that evil. Jezebel, as she is called -an ominous name-was allowed by the angel to teach and to seduce the Lord's servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. A few things the Lord had against the angel in Pergamos (2:14). Not a few* had He against the angel in Thyatira ; yet, ere notifying what they were, He acknowledges all the good that He can:" I know thy works, and charity, and faith, and service, and thy patience, and the last works (so we should read) to be more than the first" (2:19).! *In verse 20, " a few things " should be struck out.* How gracious was this What a Master He is ! If reproof must be administered, and that a sharp one, He would show that He has not forgotten, and will not forget anything of which He can speak with approval. The crying evils allowed did not obliterate the remembrance of their charity, faith, service, and patience, and this last is spoken of as being more than the first.

Nevertheless, how had the enemy triumphed in Thyatira ! If Philadelphia was to be wholly for Christ, Thyatira Satan would try to gain over for himself; and where seduction failed, false accusations should be raised, if possible, to harass and to silence the faithful. Thus the conflict between Satan on the one hand, and the Lord on the other, was still going on. Centuries ago that began; and for centuries, we must still write, has it continued.

The enemy would, if possible, wipe out all remembrance of God, and put an end to all true service for Him by saints on earth. Time after time, it has seemed as if he would effect this. Yet he has not succeeded. What a matter of interest is this for all true Christians. For whatever may be the strength of the current against the truth of God, if many should be carried away by it-and, if for a time, it might appear as if no one could withstand it-God has preserved, and will always preserve, a testimony on the earth which the power of evil shall not overcome. Before the flood this was seen; since the flood it has been the same.

In antediluvian days, iniquity abounded. Corruption was widespread and deep. Restraint seems to have been unknown, for the sword of government was an institution, we believe, of post-diluvian times (Gen. 9:6). Yet, in the midst of general corruption and unrestrained wickedness, Enoch walked with God (Gen. 5:24). A family man, and, it may be, alone in his family, he nevertheless walked with God. Family ties, domestic relations, were not suffered to divert him from the path of faithfulness. And twice over in his history, which is all comprised in a few verses (5:19-24), it is stated that he walked with God. For three hundred years that characterized him.

Years after his translation, when iniquity abounded, and, probably, was on the increase, another man appeared on the scene-his great-grandson, named by Lamech his father, Noah. He, too, walked with God (6:9), but in what circumstances was he here ? The word of revelation instructs us:" The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt:for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" (Gen. 6:11, 12). Success seemed almost within the devil's grasp. God must act in judgment against the evil doers, and man be swept off the earth. Such, doubtless, was his expectation. A whole creation would thus be destroyed, and that by the fiat of the Creator, who had been well pleased with it as it came forth from His hands.

But Noah, just one man in all the earth, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord " (6:8). Violence and corruption rampant on every side; nevertheless, Noah, in the midst of it, was kept faithful to God. "Thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation" was the divine attestation of that man's uprightness of walk. To be popular in that day, men had need to go with the stream. To stem the tide, of course, exposed the individual to sneers and reproaches from acquaintances and contemporaries. A solitary testimony in the midst of such corruption was that which none could maintain apart from divine grace. Enoch, in his day, kept his place and maintained his faithful walk; Noah, in his day, did the same. Had the enemy really triumphed? No; and he could not as long as Noah remained alive on the earth. Walk, not doctrine, was, of course, the distinguishing feature of that day; and these two men exhibited it as they walked with God.

Obedient to God, Noah built the ark, and, entering into it with his family, he and they were saved from destruction. Thus the race was preserved from extinction, whilst those who dared not to be singular, and, probably desired to be popular, were drowned in the waters of the flood, and swept out of the scene altogether. God had a way of acting of which the enemy had no inkling. Wickedness, unrestrained wickedness, must be dealt with, and so it was; for He is righteous and holy. But the human race was preserved from extermination, and Noah and his sons came forth from the ark to people afresh the earth. God, righteous in punishing the ungodly, was righteous also in saving Noah.

Passing over centuries, we reach the days of Elijah, God's faithful and special witness in the time of Ahab and Jezebel. Alone by Carmel had he stood for God on that memorable day when he confronted the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and four hundred prophets of Asherah, the female divinity patronized by Jezebel. Eight hundred and fifty to one! Was the enemy to triumph? Had Jezebel succeeded in drawing all Israel into apostasy? Let Elijah be killed, and her purpose must be effected.

Deep indeed had the evil penetrated among the people ! One man for God in all that company by Carmel, with a multitude looking on, and not a solitary voice heard encouraging the prophet of God. Idolatry was rampant, certainly. The worship of God seemed almost stamped out of Israel. The conflict, too, seemed to the harassed prophet overwhelming, as He stood afterwards at Horeb, and told God that he alone had escaped the vengeance of the enraged queen. Had the enemy now triumphed ? "I have left Me," God told His servant, "seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him " (i Kings 19:18).

The way at that time to gain temporal advancement, and to be in favor at court, was to profess to worship Baal. Yet seven thousand there were in Israel who would not purchase advancement at such a price, and who preferred the approval of God, with the risk of losing life and substance, to the smile of Jezebel. Seven thousand had been kept withstanding her allurements to idolatry. And soon would it be demonstrated how fatal had been the choice of that queen's dupes ; for within fifteen years of Ahab's death, and very shortly after her own, the worship of Baal was destroyed out of Israel by Jehu when king (2 Kings 10:27). A great sacrifice to Baal was appointed; all his adherents attended, and all of them were slain.

From that date we read of no king in Israel who favored that worship and sought its re-establishment. It ceased in Israel,* though the calves were still worshiped at Dan and at Bethel.* Out of Israel, we have said, for it was not destroyed out of Judah*. Jezebel's efforts to obliterate the recognition of the true God utterly failed, and the worship that she had fostered and forwarded was destroyed out of Israel. The hope of temporal advancement-a snare which, doubtless, had drawn many aside-what was it worth, when Jehu destroyed at one blow the adherents and priests of Baal? Who thinks now of Jezebel's prophets who ate at her table? Who holds any in honor who, when in life, had desired and enjoyed her favor? But who does not admire Elijah's boldness at Carmel, as well as Micaiah's faithfulness before Ahab? (i Kings 22:). Who does not hold in respect that company of seven thousand, kept by divine grace throughout that dark and perilous time of unabashed apostasy?

Dark and perilous times those were for the faithful in the land; yet a remnant was preserved. Darker and more difficult times are yet to come, when the beast of Rev. 13:, upheld by Satanic power, and seconded by the false prophet of that same chapter, will exercise in the western part of the Roman empire unchecked sway for 1,260 days, or forty and two months. Dark indeed will be that time, for the enemy will make his grand effort to efface from all under the sway of the beast any recognition of the true God, substituting the worship of the beast under the lead of the false prophet for the worship of God.

Will he succeed? Reading Rev. xiii , it would appear as if success must at last crown his efforts; for the very necessaries of life, and the permission to trade, will be denied, as far as the influence of the false prophet may extend, to all and any who refuse to worship the image of the beast-a time of trial and of Satanic power that will be, such as has never been experienced since man has been on the earth. Satan's masterpiece will have appeared, and his last card, to use a common expression, will have been played, the prelude to the deadly struggle to keep the Lord Jesus out of this part of His inheritance purchased by His blood.
Will the devil gain his object? If, reaching the close of the chapter above-mentioned, the reader should think so, the opening of the next chapter proclaims the discomfiture of the enemy. For, at the end of that awful time, there will be found on earth a company of 144,000 who, kept faithful throughout it, are to be with the Lamb on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1-5). God will keep alive a testimony on earth in that day against the abounding apostasy. How encouraging is this reflection for saints at all times, and not the least so for those in our day, when theories are rife, and so readily taken up, subversive of real belief in the inspiration of the written Word.

Now, to come back to Rev. 2:, we learn what could and did take place in Christian times, and even in the apostolic age. A Jezebel at Thyatira was carrying things with a high hand. The bulk of the Christian professors in that assembly had succumbed to, or, at all events, had allowed free scope for her teaching. She seemed about to triumph, and would have triumphed, had not a company, called "the rest in Thyatira," persistently refused her corruptions. A company, probably not a large one, withstood all blandishments and all efforts to seduce them. Again, then, the enemy was checked; he could not carry all before him.

Now, what makes this portion so interesting is the ministry of Christ to those faithful ones, whilst Jezebel was teaching and seducing the Lord's servants. We have learnt of two men in the antediluvian world who were faithful, and walked with God in the midst of wickedness rampant on all sides. We have reminded the reader of those in Ahab's day who had not bowed the knee to Baal. But here we get not only a notice of the existence of faithful ones in Thyatira, but also the ministry of the Lord to encourage and to sustain them in their faithfulness. By the light of Christian revelation they walked, and that was enough for guidance (Rev. 2:25). But He would show His interest in them, and manifest that He was not unmindful of the conflict in which they were engaged.

So, first, He addresses them personally:"Unto you I say, the rest in Thyatira." He took special notice of those whom Jezebel failed to seduce; and, sending in this letter to the angel a message, the message is addressed directly to them. How cheering must this have been. Vilified indeed they were. As tools of the enemy were they held up before the world. The Lord knew all that, and here speaks of it, but to repel that wicked accusation. The depths of Satan they were said to know. A terrible accusation was this for true saints to lie under. How often since that day has the enemy sought thus to misrepresent those whom he could not corrupt. A devilish device, indeed! For a time these had endured it. Now it came out that the Lord on high was not ignorant of it. Jezebel might assert it; her followers might endorse it; the angel might suffer it; but the Lord distinctly refused it. He undertook their cause. He cleared them of the charge:" Who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak " (ver. 24). His word must settle that controversy. None can speak after Him. He speaks; the cause is ended.

Next. He is coming:"Till I come" (24). What words for the faithful to hear! His promise of return holds good, He will fulfil it. But what words for Jezebel to be informed of. Her reign must end. Her Judge will appear. What words, too, for the angel to hear, who had suffered Jezebel's ways and had not refused to allow her teaching.

Further. Of the future of the faithful the Lord speaks. It may be that some had sought to shake their constancy by the foolish thought of the loss of influence with their fellows in thus making themselves singular. What a snare has this been, and may still be! But influence! What can equal that here promised the overcomer? Power over the nations, and to rule them with a rod of iron. Who can now exercise such influence? The faithful will exercise this in the future, for they will reign with Christ; and no blessing in store for Christians, will they lack, for the Lord will give them the morning star, that is, to share in the blessing of His return for His people when He comes into the air.

In this way Christ ministered to the faithful in Thyatira in John's day. He had observed them, and He let them know it. He vindicated them, and Jezebel should hear of it. He told them of their future, and all should learn about it. He was coming, too, for His faithful ones, to take them out of this scene to be on high with Himself. Such a ministry as this must have been to them like cold water to a thirsty soul-a cordial indeed, bringing no evil in its train ; a comfort, too, and a spring of joy of which the world could not deprive them. Was such ministry only for that day? It will hold good for any in the present time who find themselves in circumstances similar to "the rest in Thyatira."
C. E. S. (Words in Season.)

[While not wishing to express dissent from what is brought before us in the above article, we would
also suggest that the full value of the numerical order can best be seen, in a continuous portion of Scripture, where the various parts blend harmoniously together, while preserving the individual characteristic indicated by its number and place in the whole. This gives us a conception of the beauty of that Word whose every jot and tittle speaks of a perfection worthy of its divine Author.

A few examples of the use of the number seven in the Bible, and its division into three and four, and into four and three-and sometimes an eight added-brought together, will present to the sober mind, a bright evidence of God's voice in His word, plain enough to confound the infidel.

1. After God has covenanted three times with Abram – Abram silent – the divine sovereignty of grace – (Gen. 12:i; 12:7; and 13:14) a group of four more covenants, begins with "after these things" (Gen. xv, xvii, xviii and 21:12), in which man responds in faith or in doubt each time-the whole seven suggesting "by grace (3) through faith (4). Then after the seventh we have again the- "after these things" (22:i) and then follows the eighth and final covenant when Isaac is received in a figure from the dead;-who could have arranged this but God ?

2. Joseph communicates with his brethren three times in the land-(twice about his dreams and a third time when put in the pit,) and four times they come to him long afterwards in Egypt, and the eighth and last time when Jacob has passed away (Gen. 1. 15)-new creation blessing for Israel, through a rejected Saviour when natural hope through descent has perished.

3. In Lev. 23:, seven "set times" are proclaimed. The Sabbath,-the Passover, etc., First-fruits, and Pentecost. Then a long interval until the seventh month, when there are three more mentioned- trumpets, day of atonement, and tabernacles; the latter three the recall, the repentance and establishment of Israel. If we apply this latter "three" individually, it tells of the work in us, whereas the first four speak rather of the work for its. We might have thought the " three " and the "four" would have been reversed, but there are depths to be sounded in Scripture.

As to the first four we have:

1st. The Sabbath-God's rest that remains to be reached in eternity.

2nd. The Passover and feast of unleavened bread as the way to reach this rest, that is redemption and a holy walk.

3rd. First-fruits, Christ risen, and-

4th. Pentecost, the offering of the Church; these two joined to one another, as the former two by the dividing words "and Jehovah spake unto Moses." Then, as above, the latter three referring to Israel in the future.

4. In Sam. xvi, seven sons of Jesse pass before Samuel, before David appears-the eighth, type of the risen Christ,-as Israel's and the world's hope. The first three sons are named, the latter four are not.

5. Passing over the occasion when the devil takes the Lord up into a mountain;-the Lord in His path of service is seven times in the mount before the cross in Matthew's Gospel, and an eighth time when risen from the dead. The latter three times before the cross He is on the Mount of Olives.
6. In Matt. xiii, we know how the first four parables show the world-wide aspect of the Kingdom of heaven (of Christendom), and then how after they go into the house the Lord unfolds to them the latter three-God's estimate of what is good in the Kingdom.

7. In the 3d chapter of Acts, Peter presents the Lord to us in seven characters; as the Servant (J. N. D.'s translation) ver. 13, as in Mark; the Holy and Just one, ver. 14, as in Luke and Matthew; the Prince or Author of Life, ver. 15, as in John.

This one so manifested in the world, in this fourfold way, they had "denied " and "killed." But the decree of God had declared that He would suffer; the prophets spoke of Him, Peter tells us, as the Christ, ver. 18, as a Prophet ver. 22, and as Abraham's "Seed" ver. 25-thus in three characters, as announced in Divine purpose of old, and in four as manifested among men.

8. In i Cor. 3:22, we have as a brother has noticed a remarkable seven, and an eight. " For all things are yours, whether (1st) Paul who plants; or (2nd) Apollos who seconds (waters); or (3rd) Peter, a stone, (the temple suggested) a beautiful suggestion under the Divine number, like Leviticus. So far we have persons. Now follows a group of four things, or (4th,) the world; or (5) life (plainly responsibility and God with us); or (6) death-the well-known number of evil and its terrible work-but victory through grace; or (7) "things present," and a good seven, completeness-and now we have an eight, "or (8) things to come."

How in a single verse we have thus the wondrous exact numerical structure that pervades the Bible, and stamps it as the handiwork of none but God, a "three" and "four" added, and at "eight" each word or phrase having its meaning according to the number of its place with unerring exactness, and filling our hearts with Divine blessing, – "open thy mouth and I will fill it," How the humble can repose in God while the men of this world are groping in thick darkness. Note "the world" under its number four!

9. In 2 Pet. 1:5. the seven things to be added to faith, or to be had in our faith, are plainly four and three. Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, four things in us. Then we have added three things as to our attitude, towards God and towards men- godliness, brotherly love, and love, clearly a four plus three again.

10. In Hebrews the blood of Christ is spoken of just seven times, 1st. (Chap. 9:12.) "By His own blood has entered in once for all into the (holy of) holies, having found an eternal redemption."

2nd. Ver. 14, " how much rather shall the blood of Christ-who by the eternal Spirit offered Himself spotless to God-purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God," like Israel in Egypt, in Exodus – set free from fruitless toil of bondage to the world-the conscience purified "from dead works to worship the living God." This is redemption enjoyed.

3rd. In 10:19, we have "boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the holiest," truly, a thirds as Leviticus-the divine number-access to God.

4th. Ver. 29. "Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." Man tested and found wanting, the world's estimate of the Son of God, and the world's judgment.

5th. Chap. 12:24, "We are come . . . to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh." Here we have plainly the meaning of five-God with us, and we having to answer to Him.

6th. Chap. 13:12. " Wherefore Jesus also that He might sanctify the people with His own blood- suffered without the gate. Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp, hearing his reproach." Truly, we have here victory-over awful manifestation of evil.

The world is ever the same. Let us not be deceived. May we expect and rejoice in the reproach of Christ, and dread the world's favor.

7th. Chap. 13:20. "Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus-that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen."

"The blood of the eternal covenant" and God making His people "perfect in every good work" -God who wrought this perfect work, working in us what is well pleasing in His sight, making us perfect to do His will through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen!-this is perfection. May it be our joy to yield ourselves to Him, who works in us so mightily, with fear and trembling.

May these few examples of God's handiwork in His word, lead out our hearts in joyful worship, and may we search the Word and explore our possessions Gen. 13:14-18, Prov. 2:45. E. S. L.

O Lord around me oft I find
So much to draw my heart from Thee;
The impulse of the fleshly mind
Is earthward, and will ever be.

I may not love the gaudy show,
Nor walk in paths of grosser sin,
But to a thousand things below
I give a lodging place within.

But thou didst know me long before
The year my infant life began;
Thou knewest all I know and more
Of that poor heart Thy love has won.

And realizing this I praise
Thy grace 'mid failure so complete,
The mercy that attends my days,
The love that keeps my wandering feet.

When Thou dost bid me hence to rise,
If shame could then possess my heart,
'T would be when first my wondering eyes,
O Lord, behold Thee as Thou art.

And as the blissful ages roll
Within that light which ne'er grows dim,
He'll fill the vision of a soul
Forever satisfied with Him.

"And upon His head were many crowns." (Rev. 19:12.)

CHAPTER V. (Continued from page 65.)

The Son of Man.

We surely see from all the relations in which we find this title of Son of man,-if even it be that under which the Lord takes the Kingdom or assumes the judgeship of the human race,-that it implies (apart from sin and all its consequences) humanity in its complete likeness to our own. It is because of this that He is indeed the suited judge of men. Defect of any kind would here be fatal. The Apollinarian Christ would be far removed from likeness to the sons of men. The substitution of the divine for a human spirit would be the deprivation of that which gives to manhood its distinctive character. The loss of personality would make impossible "the Man Christ Jesus;" and thus the "One Mediator," who is this same blessed "Man," would disappear for us (i Tim. 2:5).

These ways in which the Lord is presented to us in Scripture show how near to dual personality we have to come in any simple apprehension of its statements. Their very boldness (when we realize who it is that is spoken of) exhibits a characteristic feature of inspiration, which does not concern itself with mere mental perplexities, in matters that are so evidently beyond us. We cannot fathom the Christ of God. We can realize how perfectly – divinely – on both sides He suits us; though we maybe quite unable to put the two sides together. Dual personality would not suit us; but we want One who is both perfectly human and truly divine,-one who can sleep in the storm on the sea, and rise and still the storm. Such a Saviour we have got-how good to know it!-if we can see nothing besides His heart of love that unites the two together.

Take, then, the Lord in His childhood life in. Nazareth, and think of His waxing strong in spirit, growing in wisdom as in stature, in favor with God and man (Luke 2:40, 52). How perfectly is He man; how really within human limits; a marvelous Child, yet a Child, as He is plainly called. Who shall adjust the divine to the human here, omniscience to growing knowledge? Shall we attempt it? What would it be but to exercise ourselves in things too high for us, and prove but the pride of our hearts? Would heart or conscience find deeper rest or satisfaction in Him, if we were able to comprehend what for all these centuries has been inquired into and speculated upon, with no more knowledge achieved at the end than at the beginning?

But assuredly it is the Son of man I find here,-a Person in all the truth of humanity; and who shall deny me the happiness of drinking in the grace that has here stooped down to the condition of a child, so that a child may realize His sympathy and adore Him for His love? Thank God that none can deny me:it is as open to one as to another; and the love is as unfathomable in it as is the Person.

The Old Testament, in a passage well-known, but to which we naturally turn in such a connection as this, to admire afresh its sublimity and beauty, brings together in sharpest contrast such oppositions as these. It is the voice of the Lord to Israel that we hear in it, but we soon recognize it as familiar to us. It asks:-

"Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?"

Nay, the Lord is not so poor. "Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves; and for your transgressions is your mother put away."

And now comes out the controversy that He has with them:"Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?"

Here is Jehovah Himself come as a Saviour to them, but there is no, response; He is not recognized, or credited with power to redeem. And we know well when this was:when One came to His own, and His own received Him not; and though the power of God was in His hand, and He used it for them without stint, yet they would not believe in His gracious visitation.

Now He openly declares Himself :-

"Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, and make the rivers a wilderness :their fish stinketh because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering."

But it was not in this guise He had come; and the voice becomes strangely altered. It drops into a softer key, and is now appealingly human:-

" The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary:He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learner."

We need not for our purpose go further. The prophet does, and shows us Christ in His suffering and rejection plainly enough. Here, however, we have already the contrast we are seeking. It is the Almighty who is come in servant's form:it is He who is strangely taking the place of obedience and acquiring the tongue of the learned for the ministry of grace to individual need, if the nation at large reject Him. For this He becomes Himself a learner, and is wakened morning by morning to "hear" as that. Yet it is the One who dries up the sea and makes the rivers a wilderness. Who shall put these things together? For satisfaction to the intellect, no one can. Yet even the intellect may be satisfied another way :namely, in the assured conviction of its inability to understand one's own being-to know how " spirit and soul and body " make up one man. Is it so wonderful, then, that there should be modes of the Infinite that baffle us altogether? or that "no man knoweth the Son but the Father?"

Let us turn reverently to another scene in which we find Him whose name is "Wonderful"-to the awful scene of Gethsemane. Here the "cup" which He took upon the cross is causing Him agony in the anticipation of it. Three times He prays that, if it were possible, it might pass from Him; and to this He adds the words so familiar to us, " not My will, but Thine be done."

The cup could not pass. He needs must drink it. But when we realize it as that which, expressed outwardly by the three hours of darkness, has its inner meaning in the agonizing cry, "My God, my God, why. hast Thou forsaken Me?" we can understand that it was the very necessity of His holy nature that He shrank from it and could not take it as of His own will, but only as the divine will for Him. Here, surely, we have a perfect and therefore a real, human will. He is as true man as any man can be; and personally man, as such a will must prove Him. We are again beyond the limit of comprehension here, if we say, as we must say, "Yes, but He is none the less divine;" but we are not beyond the limit of enjoyment or of faith.

At the cross we find the cup itself-the awful abandonment; but who shall explain it? Or who shall tell us how He is, all through, the Man of faith, yea the pattern of faith? Shall we not rather drop all such questioning, and believe, where alone belief finds its opportunity,-where we see not?

How grandly the 102nd psalm faces the seeming contradiction; putting it in the strongest way in the mouth of the blessed Sufferer, crying out:-

"Because of Thine indignation, and Thy wrath:for Thou hast lifted me up and cast me away. My days are like a shadow that is lengthened; and I am withered like grass. . . He weakened my strength in the way:He shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; Thy years are throughout all generations."

Thus the contrast between man and God-between God and man fading away under divine wrath -is vividly realized. And now comes the answer of God to Him:-

"Of old hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt continue:and they all shall grow old as a garment:as a vesture Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end. " Here is God, suffering as a man, and at the hand of God! the cross in its deepest mystery is told out:we see that it is recognized, faced, but not explained. Christ is Himself "the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh." And here is all that we can Say about it. F. W. G.

(To be Continued.)

The object of this present paper is to present to the reader the evidence from Scripture of the propriety of calling it "The Word of God." Many we are well aware have no question as to this and do not hesitate to use the designation; others, on the other hand, from conscientious motives shrink from applying such a title, reserving it for Him who is indeed " The Word " (John 1:i). We are bound therefore to respect the consciences of such, as there is an evident desire to exalt the person of the Son of God, a motive none too common in this day of man's greatness. Nor does there seem to be a denial of the inspiration of Scripture. Still we feel bound to point out the danger of refusing this title to Scripture, when its use is so fully warranted, as we shall see.

We might ask, at the outset, what is the objection to using this term? The word of a man is that which he has spoken as the expression of his thoughts; is not the word of God also that which He has spoken as the expression of His thoughts ? And does not this blend in a beautiful way with the designation of the Son of God as the Word-"The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him"? "God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." To deny that God has spoken is, of course, to deny inspiration in any form:to deny that what has been spoken is His word, is to give it less importance.

Now it is just here that we believe the danger lies in refusing this term to Scripture. It is something less than the word of God,-is not that above all other writing and to the exclusion of all else-is not that beyond all operation of the Spirit in the heart of man. At once Scripture loses its unique and commanding place, and is brought to the level of the ordinary revelation of God in nature and human thought. Were this true we would be robbed of our Bibles, as being the standard of all truth, the unchanging and eternal word of the living God. What Christian would not shrink with horror from such a thought?

But let us turn to divine testimony on this matter.

" Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven " (Ps. 119:89). "Thy word is very pure, therefore Thy servant loveth it" (Ps. 119:140). "Every word of God is pure " (Prov. 30:5). " And it came to pass when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book" . . (Deut. 31:24). "The word of the Lord came unto me'" (Jer. 1:5).

These are but a few of a multitude of passages in which the expression is found in the Old Testament, which show, whether spoken or written, God's message was spoken of as His word. The prophets have the expression again and again, and in just the connection in which we would use it as to Scripture.

Passing to the New Testament the use is, if possible, even more unequivocal. " When any one heareth the word of the kingdom " (Matt. 13:19). " The seed is the word of God " (Luke viii ii). In both cases it refers to the same thing, the truth of God, and the word, is the same in the original. " Moses said, Honor thy father and mother " . . . making the word of God of none effect through your tradition " (Mark 7:10, 13). Now, here we have a writing of Moses in Scripture-one of the ten commandments-called the word of God, What could be plainer? "The people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God" (Luke 5:i). "My mother and brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it " (Luke viii- 21); see also Luke 11:28). "He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life " (John 5:24). Here it is the Word who is speaking, but He says "my word.' For similar examples, see John 8:31, 37, 43, 51, 52, 55 ; John 14:23, 24:John 15:20. It is worthy of notice that in the gospel of John where the title "Word" is given to our Lord, we have this constant use of it as not referring to His person. It seems as though there were here a special guard against the misapprehension of which we are speaking.

It is well to remark just here that we are confining ourselves, in all the passages quoted from the New Testament to the Greek word Logos, the term applied to our Lord in John 1:1:Also in the passages quoted from the Old Testament, the Septuagint (Greek) translation usually gives Logos. There is another word to which we will shortly call attention ; but as the question is as to the use of the word Logos we confine ourselves for the present to that.

Let us briefly note the use of Logos in our Lord's prayer in John xvii :"They have kept thy logos (ver. 6); "I have given them thy logos (ver. 14); Thy logos is truth (ver. 17); those who shall believe on me through their logos (ver. 20). Can we doubt for a moment that reference to truth and not to a person is meant in all these ? The only one where a question could be raised is in ver. 17. " Thy word is truth." But compare it with ver. 19, " And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified though the truth," Our Lord takes His place in separation on high in order that the truth of this may be a sanctifying power in the lives of His disciples. This is God's truth-His word is truth.

Passing now to the rest of the New Testament, we find abundant confirmation of what must now be plain is the ordinary usage of Scripture. We might note a few passages in Acts:"The former treatise (logos) have I made " (Acts 1:i). " They that gladly received his word " (Acts 2:41). "The word of God grew " (Acts 12:24; 13:5, 7, 44; 19:20). " I commend you to God, and the word of His grace (Acts 20:32).

" Not as though the word of God had taken none effect" (Rom. 9:6). "Came the word of God out from you ? " (i Cor. 14:36). "Corrupt the word of God " (2 Cor. 2:17). "Nor handling the word of God deceitfully " (2 Cor. 4:2). "And hath committed to us the word of reconciliation " (2 Cor. 5:19). "Let him that is taught in the word, communicate to him that teacheth in all good things " (Gal. 6:6). "The word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13). "To fulfil the word of God" (Col. 1:25).

This last is of interest as showing how the expression "word of God" refers to the entire scope of revelation. Paul was entrusted with that truth which would complete or round out the entire unfolding of God's thoughts. The Church is the mystery which was hidden until the last days, when it was brought out-the last part of that wondrous, divine word of God.

" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly " (Col. 3:16). " When ye received the word of God which ye heard from us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe" (i Thess. 2:13). This is the word of the gospel, as will be seen from i Pet. 1:23. "Being born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." " If the word spoken by angels was steadfast" (Heb. 2:2). "The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword" (Heb. 4:12). See also Heb. 5:13; 7:28; 13:7, 22; Jas. 1:18, 21, 22, 23; 2 Pet. 3:5, 7. " Let us not love in word (logos) . . but in deed and in truth " (i John 3:18)-an interesting use of the word which could not possibly be misunderstood.

There are many more passages, but these surely are sufficient to show that the term logos is most ordinarily to be rendered "word." Only occasionally does it refer to the person of Christ-and that exclusively, we believe, in John's writings, viz. John 1:1,14; i John 1:i; Rev. 19:13. We believe a prayerful arid attentive reading will bear us out in this.

There is another word (rhema) translated" word," but it is not so common as logos. We mention a few of the passages where it occurs:Luke 3:2; 4:4; John 3:34; 8:47; Rom. 10:8, 17; Eph. 5:26; 6:17; Heb. 11:3; i Pet. 1:25. These passages are nearer in use to logos than most of the others. The difference seems to be, logos suggests the thought, as well as the word ; rhema the saying, giving special emphasis to the form-the very letter of the word.

We trust sufficient has been said to prove to the tenderest conscience our privilege to speak in all confidence of the precious "Word of God." What a solid resting place, what a mine of wealth. Oh for grace to use it aright and to be sanctified by it.

Ques. 9.-In 1 Tim. 11. 8, does not "holy hands" refer to what the hands are practically; and "without wrath or doubting" equally the state of the heart as towards man (wrath) and towards God (doubting) ?

Ans.-"Holy hands" reminds us of the passage in the Psalms "I will wash my hands in innocency so will I compass thine altar" (Ps. 26:6). It no doubt refers to the practical life; "He that hath clean hands" just as "a pure heart" would include the remaining words " without wrath or doubting." This last word might better be rendered " reasoning "; but human reasoning leads to doubt. The "wrath" would naturally be toward man, and would differ from that suggested in Eph. 4:26, 27, " Be ye angry and sin not:let not the sun go down upon your wrath."

Ques. 10-Please explain the change from " supplication, prayers" in 1 Tim. 2:1, and 5:5, to prayers, supplications, in Eph. 6:18 and Phil. 4:6. What is the difference between supplication, prayers, intercession and mediation in 1 Tim. ii?

Ans.-Doubtless the order, as all else in the word of God, is perfect though we may not always be able to see the reason. Here, however, we would suggest that as supplication is the stronger word, the expression of need, it might fittingly have the first place in the epistle which speaks of the individual rather than corporate position. As has frequently been noticed the word " mercy" is introduced in these individual epistles, in the salutation, and for a similar reason. As to the meaning of the words, supplication is the expression of need. Prayer the offering to God of the requests (this is the more common word). Intercession might be translated "intercourse." The thought seems to be to have communion with God about anything or person and thus to intercede for, as in Rom. 8:27, 34, where it is applied both to Christ and the Spirit. Mediation goes deeper, and is applied only to Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, the Mediator of the New Covenant. It thus includes and is based upon His work on the cross, " Who gave Himself a ransom for all."

Our brother J. N. D. then read i Thess. 2:and spoke with an unction and a power which lifted our hearts above the circumstances of sorrow which surrounded us; and carried us onward to the day when "God shall wipe all tears from our eyes." The point on which he specially dwelt was:That while sin and death had entered into this world, and must sever every natural tie, however blessed originally, however true and proper in its place, grace had formed new ties, new affections, new relationships which death could not touch; because they had their source in that new life which God has given to us in Christ, and flowed from Him who is beyond death.

Paul had come to Thessalonica a perfect stranger to those whom he now addresses; he had not known them after the flesh. He preached the gospel to them, they received his testimony, and were born of God. New affections existed at once between them -new ties which death could not sever. How beautifully we see the exercise of them developed here! Before their conversion, he was willing to have imparted unto them not only the gospel, but also his own soul, because they were dear to him. (ver. 8.) When they were in the weakness of new-born babes, "he was gentle among them, as a nurse cherisheth her children," (ver. 7,) after that he had "exhorted them, and charged every one of them, as a father doth his children, (for he had begotten them in the gospel,) to walk worthy of God, who had called them to His Kingdom and glory." (vers. 11, 12.)

Circumstances such as bodily separation, the power of Satan, death itself, may hinder the full enjoyment of these divine affections, but they cannot destroy them. Such was the ease here; Paul was taken from them in presence, but not in heart; he had endeavored to see them once and again but Satan hindered him; but these very circumstances only caused him to look beyond this scene to that day when these new affections will have all their full blessedness. "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus at His coming? For ye are our glory and our joy." (vers. 19, 20.) It was thus with our beloved young brother. All that was merely natural in relationship between him and us was gone; death was the end of all that. But death could not touch one spiritual tie or affection. So far from that it only removed the hindrances to the fullest enjoyment of them; for it destroyed the energy of the flesh and natural will, which is wholly opposed to the life of God. Another step was gained; a painful and humbling one, it was true, but a needful one. Death had removed the flesh with all its workings. There was nothing on his part to hinder now.

More even than that, the very body lying here was one step nearer to glory. That very body would become, by and by, the more efficient servant of those new affections, which it had hitherto been able so feebly to express. These new, divine feelings and affections were now ripening in their native clime above; and this body was preparing to give them in their maturity, an unhindered development "in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming." The coming of that day is the spring and power of our hope; for it will be the consummation of everything which even these renewed affections can desire, whether it be, as in this case, the father in Christ's affection for his children, or the brotherly affection which unites all the members of the family of God.

" In the meantime, there is the ' patience of hope.' That is an unworthy object for which we cannot bear to wait. What is that love worth that cannot bear a trial? The present ability to bear separation, ' taken from you in presence, not in heart' proves its reality and power. How blessed, then, amidst all these circumstances of sin and sorrow, to have these new joys and affections, which death itself cannot touch; the full maturity of which will be known, 'in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming.' "

From J. G. Deck’s "Joy in Departing."

It is important to state for the sake of such as may not be clear, that justification is one act. Justification is from something. Hence it says:"All that believe are justified from all things;" we are cleared from all charge, and pronounced righteous by God Himself. At the end of Romans 4:we are justified from our sins. At the end of Romans 5:we have justification of life which is simply Christ's risen life to which no charge of sin can ever be attached. We are completely severed from all the responsibility of Adam, which involved death and condemnation, and we are now connected with Christ – the last Adam. He is our life, and our righteousness before God.

I never can lose my justification by anything I may do, however grievous it may be in God's sight. I may do many things I ought not to do, and grieve the Holy Spirit who dwells within me, and defile my conscience, and have to hang my head down before God, or even before my fellow-Christians. David and Peter had to do this.

When both these men sinned so grievously, we do not read of them seeking to be justified again, though we well know that each of them turned to the Lord, and sought restoration. The difference between justification and restoration is simply this, that justification is from a state in which I was by nature, but in which I can never be before God again. Restoration is to a condition of soul which I may have lost through my carelessness and unwatchfulness.

David prays, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee." (Psa. 51:12, 13.) The Lord, having warned Peter of Satan's desire to have him, before his failure said to him:"When thou are converted (or restored) strengthen thy brethren." He would know himself better through his sad failure and consequently would be able to warn others of danger, and encourage them also through the Lord's grace to His failing servant. After his restoration the Lord committed His most precious treasure to Peter's keeping. What grace! How unlike man it is, but how very like the Lord!

In i Cor. 6:ii, Paul distinctly says to the Corinthians:" Such were some of you:"-speaking of their past state-"but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Notwithstanding that the Corinthians were justified in the full value of the Name of the Lord Jesus, which involves all that He is before God, their ways were not satisfactory, but the very contrary. They were a great grief to Paul's heart. He had to weep and break his heart over them. Yet for all that he did not un-Christianized them. He rebuked them very sharply, but in the deepest love. He tried to awaken their slumbering consciences to the sense of their moral state. He exhorts them to "awake to righteousness, and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God." This does not mean that they were not converted, but that they had become utterly insensible as to what suited God's presence in their conduct here.

Paul's love for them, in seeking their restoration, represented the Lord's love for them. He loved them as a father loves his children. If a child sins ever so much against his father he does not thereby break the relationship that exists. The father might reprove the child, and even put him at a moral distance from him that he might be led to feel the gravity of his offence against his father. But if the child was humbled and broken, and came before the father in the spirit of self-judgment owning his offence, if we understand a father's affection what father would then keep the child at a distance? The father would only be too glad to have the distance removed that there should be no restraint upon his affections flowing out in the fullest manner to the child.

Though the scriptures exhort the believer against committing sin, and exhort us also to be holy as God is holy, yet we may and do sin. "In many things we all offend," To please oneself is the very essence of sin, and not to walk before God with a perfect heart is sin. If we were always abiding in Christ, and thus in communion with God, we should not please ourselves. The pleasure of God would control our whole life But who would dare to say that they never please themselves, and always walk before God with a perfect heart? Sin is not measured by our poor thoughts, but by what suits the divine presence. The light of God's presence so penetrates and searches the hidden springs of our moral being that we could not stand before God for one moment but for the consciousness that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin. No matter what the light detects or exposes in us the blood is the abiding witness that all has been cleared away from before God.

"If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (i John 2:1:) We never could restore ourselves, nor could we seek it were it not for Christ's Advocacy. He is there in heaven in the unchanging value of His own work. He maintains our cause before the Father, and in face of our Accuser, the devil, who ever seeks to hinder us in our approach to God, and in our testimony for God by his accusations whether true or false. The Holy Spirit who dwells within us, in response to the Advocate makes us feel our state. He takes us back to the point of departure, and if truly humbled we not only confess our sins, but we judge ourselves-turn from and repudiate, what we may have fallen into. We then get a more just estimation of what we are in God's sight, and a deeper fuller sense of what His perfect grace is. It is helpful to remember what another has said, "We cannot mend the past, but we cannot be right in the present without judging the past, and if truly humbled, and we had to live our life over again we will not think we could do it any better."

Salvation is all of grace. Those who know themselves best will be the most ready to confess it. Grace at the top, grace at the bottom, and grace all the way between! God has taken us up to exhibit His rich grace in us even now. In the ages to come He will shew what is the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us by Christ Jesus.

May the deep sense of grace cause our hearts to abound in praise continually. Amen. P. W.

The place and function of the prophetic gift is at best but partially understood by most. The modern and almost universal use of the word "prophecy "is in connection with the foretelling of things to come. In Scripture this is purely a secondary meaning. Take even the prophetic writings,- not forgetting that the "former prophets," have given us the histories subsequent to Moses-we have in all of them much less of prediction than would at first be supposed. They are intensely moral in their tone. Their chief work might be shown in the following scripture:" Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." (Isa. 58:1:) Let the writings of Jeremiah, Hosea, and Haggai be examined, as samples of the rest, and this will be at once clear.

This, too, is in perfect keeping with the origin of the prophetic office, in Samuel, the first of the prophets. The priesthood, intended for the maintenance of the people in communion with God, had signally and grievously failed, in the awful sins of Hophni and Phinehas and the no less culpable neglect of their father Eli the High-priest. The doom was pronounced upon the house of Eli, and practically upon the whole priestly family. Never afterward do we find it occupying its pre-eminent place in Israel:the king comes forward, first man's choice, then, on his rejection, the "man after God's own heart." All this, we need hardly say, was typical of the king who should "reign in righteousness " and who as "priest upon His throne" (Zech. 6:13) would at last unite both offices, no longer typically but actually, in His own perfect Person.

It was upon the failure of the priestly family that God spoke directly to Samuel the child-prophet. Everything connected with the new channel of communication speaks of divine sovereignty:Samuel's birth is the gift of God to believing Hannah; he receives the message from God as to Eli when still a child. The nature too of that message gives us one of the chief characteristics of prophetic ministry – the declaration of divine judgment upon evil.

Blessedly true it is that even such solemn work is, as it were, a pledge of recovery upon the repentance of the people – and looks forward to the time of Christ's reign. It is thus that out of the ashes of the people's ruin spring up the flowers of promise that will yet "fill the face of the earth with fruit." We need hardly refer to the frequent passages in the prophets where this is exemplified.

Prophesy, then, originated in the failure of the priesthood, and was God's merciful provision for maintaining His intercourse with the people.* *It will be understood that we are not here speaking of that special form of New Testament prophecy connected with the establishment of Christianity-" the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (Eph. 2:20)-though even here the new testimony arises out of a rejected Judaism. Prophecy conveys the word of God for the conscience at a time of need. In the establishment of Christianity there was necessarily much of immediate revelation required for the new order, both for special exigencies and for the permanent guidance of the Church. Hence New Testament writings are spoken of as "prophetic scriptures." (Rom. 16:26, New Version.) However after the establishment of the Church, when the need for so-called supernatural prophecy had largely ceased, there remained the place for the regular exercise of ministry from God to the conscience of His people to which allusion is made in 1 Cor. 14. And this most nearly approaches the subject of our paper.*It presupposes failure and weakness, and is found largely in times of decline. Hence even in apostate Israel we have, in Elijah and Elisha, two shining examples. How good in God thus to stretch forth His hands "unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."

We would call particular attention to the presence of prophecy in the second book of CHRONICLES. This gives the history of Judah from the time of Solomon down to the captivity-and beyond-and is indeed a history of the "decline and fall" of that kingdom. Were this the place, it would be interesting to note how in contrast to the books of Kings, which cover the same period, we have a distinct moral purpose in Chronicles-and the account of the development of the seeds of evil, to their true issue. Here, in the face of deepening darkness, prophecy lets the light shine, bearing its patient witness to king and people "until there was no remedy." We may gather lessons of profit from these messages of God's servants, and perhaps may find that they have a voice for us too in darkening and closing days.

For manifest reasons and in keeping with the object of the book, no account is given of the failures that darkened the closing years of king Solomon's reign. His personality seems almost merged into the position and endowments which speak of that glorious reign, yet to come, of the "Prince of peace." But with Rehoboam both individual and national failure come in, the typical falls into the background and it is with things as they existed that God dealt. Therefore we have self-will and assertion. The pride and jealousy of Ephraim come to the front and are met by the stubborn haughtiness of Rehoboam. As a natural result the kingdom is rent, the larger part leaving God's temple and worship, and is practically lost sight of, so far as this book is concerned.

Now when the first step in the downward path has been taken, and when the outward glory has faded, we hear the voice of prophecy rising above the din of conflict, Rehoboam gathers his men of war to compel an allegiance which had ceased to exist. God's message comes to him, (2 Chron. 11:1-4,) forbidding him to take up arms against his brother. The breach had been made. There was a time when it might have been prevented:that time was past. Doubtless the position of the ten tribes was wrong. But this was no time for war; and the voice of prophecy holds back the armed hand. Rehoboam and the people recognize God's voice and the horrors of civil war are averted.

Did not God teach by this not merely that conflict is not His mind, but that Rehoboam was not innocent in the matter? There was ground for self-judgment and confession before there could be any power to deal with the rebellious. There were deep reasons why such a division was necessary. The state of the people, their departure in heart from God, mutual jealousies-all showed a condition most deplorable. The outward division simply put all this upon the surface that the shame of it might be felt, and true abasement before God result.

As we look at the divisions in Christendom to-day- God's beloved people divided and scattered-the natural impulse is to seek to remedy them. God's people should be together even at the cost of strife and contention. Does not this account for the well meant efforts at union-nay even the sectarian strife that so often marks the activity of the earnest Christian?

Far be it from us to close our eyes to the deplorable condition of things about us; or to intimate that there is no right path for God's people. If God has a path for us, it is evidently for us to walk in. But can we force our brethren into it ? Can discord and strife bring them where they can dwell in unity? Beloved, prayer and humiliation become us-to be on our faces in prayer, rather than taking up weapons against our brethren. Ah! let us hearken to the word of the prophet.
But let there be no mistake. The prophet's voice did not call Judah to forsake Jerusalem, nor did it justify Israel's revolt from God's order, nor yet encourage peace on a false basis. It simply called them to abstain from conflict-to let Israel go, if they were so determined, while they mourned apart. It is in no spirit of fatalistic resignation that we should bow to the disordered state of things about us; nor in a spirit of pharisaic content at ourselves. Still less are we to justify that which is unscriptural even if the multitude walk in that path. Let us rather pray.

But we pass to another prophetic word. Rehoboam (chap. 12:) and all the nation with him had departed from the Lord, and as a consequence He permitted Shishak king of Egypt to make an inroad into their land and to menace even Jerusalem itself. Again do we hear the word of the Lord for this occasion:"Ye have forsaken Me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak." There are no "smooth things of deceits" in this message, no false sympathy or gentleness. "Ye have forsaken Me." That strikes at the root of all the actual disobedience -departure from God means all else, as in Ephesus the leaving the first love is the beginning of the decline for the whole Church. (Rev. 2:and 3:)

It is good to see here that they bow to God's Word and humble themselves. " The Lord is righteous." Who that ever so bowed to His chastening Hand but could add:"Yea, our God is merciful"? The same messenger who bore the heavy tidings, has now the privilege of declaring that the proud enemy shall go no further. Such is the privilege of prophecy; it not only smites but heals. It is true in our day. Let God's message to His people be heeded; let them be truly humbled in confession and how quickly does His "severity" change into "goodness." But even thus there is the reaping of what one has sown. Judah was to know the difference between the service of God and that of Shishak. Often after there has been real recovery, there must be the bowing to God's holy government.

Another phase of prophetic ministry meets us in chapter 15:King Asa, a faithful and earnest man had been successful against an immense host and had returned to Jerusalem. Naturally one might think that here at least was place for triumphant exaltation. But it is in the hour of victory that we need especial warning, as well as commendation. Most fittingly therefore is Oded entrusted with a message both of faithful warning and encouragement. '' The Lord is with you while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you. … Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak:for your work shall be rewarded." (vers. 2, 7.) Here is no effusive congratulation that would but relax the vigilance and lull them to indifference, making them the prey to the power of the next enemy that should attack them; nor on the other hand is there the ignoring of their faith in God that would have cast a gloomy pall over them. Warning and encouragement are mingled together, and the result is renewed vigor and increased faithfulness. How beautiful is this spirit of prophecy.

Again the scene changes, and in the next chapter (xvi) we find another prophet sent with a very different message to the same king. "What is man?" Here we have seen king Asa in the vigor of faith meeting outward foes, and purging Jerusalem of inward sins. Now, we see the same man trembling before the king of Israel, and instead of turning to God, for help, he robs the Lord's house of its treasures to make a league with a heathen king. Are we surprised to find a messenger from God at the king's gates with solemn words? He had failed to trust the God who had hitherto been his help. By so doing he had lost his hold upon the enemy and so far from securing peace the word is, "From henceforth thou shalt have wars."
Strangely indeed does the faith of the most faithful at times seem to fail, at critical moments, and principles of divine truth are sacrificed for the sake of a false peace, or of successful resistance of those who could not stand before the energy of obedience to God's word. How often are worldly ways and expedients adopted in the hope of strengthening our position, and thus we lose the sense of the holy presence of God, and His power.

It is painful to see the faithful messenger not hearkened to, but put into prison. However the word of God is not bound, but acts even to-day in warning us not to despise prophesyings. Rejection of prophecy marks the end of Asa's testimony. Nothing is left but the fleshly energy of unbelief which knows no recovery. How solemn it is to refuse God's word. May He keep us from this.

In Jehoshaphat we have the results of Asa's course. His besetting sin is mingling with that which is not of God. When faith leaves its true elevation, Let-like it seeks the low plains of Sodom. But if (chap. 18:) Jehoshaphat unites with apostate Ahab he has not lost the feeling of dependence upon God that will seek His prophet. How nobly does Micaiah stand out in the face of the four hundred false prophets, to give faithful witness for his God; and how truly are his words fulfilled. But in the next chapter we see how the faithful word of a son of Asa's monitor rebukes Jehoshaphat for his link with unbelief. "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord ? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord." (19:2.) Not for Jehoshaphat alone were these prophetic words written.

His rebuke seems to have taken effect, for in the next chapter we find Jehoshaphat cast upon God, in face of the enemy and prepared to receive the encouragement of another prophet, (verses 14-20.) Again a faithful rebuke is administered, (verse 37.) How varied is this service, and how one hedged about by God's care should have walked to please Him.

Chapter 21:12-15 declares God's judgment upon the sins of Jehoram, through Elijah the reprover of kings-a suited messenger.

The lamp of David was well nigh extinguished under the despotic rule of Athaliah of the house of Ahab; but Joash is preserved, and through Jehoiada the priest, is placed upon the throne. He seems not to have been a person of true convictions, but yielding rather to the energy of Jehoiada. On the latter's death all the outward show of obedience passed away, and king and people lapsed into idolatry. Zechariah the son of Jehoiada arises with the word of rebuke; but the clays have grown much darker, and he seals his message with his blood, (24:19, 20.) This seems to have been the climax of apostasy in wickedness, if not in time, and is so alluded to by our Lord." (Matt. 23:35.)

The reader can gather wholesome lessons also from the prophetic word in chaps. 25:7, 15, 16; 26:5; 28:9; 33:18. Darker and darker grow the days, and more and more hopeless the state of the nation. Still, in lingering patience, God sends His prophets, "rising up early and sending them," but, alas ! in vain. It is comforting, however, to see how when the state of the nation is hopeless that God has comfort for the individual who trembles at His word, and defers the judgment until his death.

Even to the very last we find the faithful prophet speaking for him that hath an ear to hear :and the book closes with God's comment upon the treatment of His messengers.
Beloved brethren, let us prize this faithful testimony. Let us gladly bow to that which, while it rebukes, encourages also, and is severe only that we may be kept from the declension to which we are so prone. Let us learn from this history of Judah, and ever have an open ear for His word, whether for reproof and correction, or for encouragement. Thus even yet there will be a reviving and a strengthening of the things that remain.

'The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." (2 Thess. 3:5; 1 Thess. 5:23.)

Father, thy will be done !
Oh make Thy will mine own !
In every act both great and small,
In all that to my path doth fall,
Through all the quickly passing years-
In every thought, in all my way,
Every affection, wish, oh may
Thy will and mine identical
Go on, whatever shall befall.

Thy will, my God, is best !
That is alone the test
By which our lives may guided be,
By which our sightless eyes may see;
Our walk apart from Thee is safe
Not one brief moment, nor can be
While here or in eternity.
Therefore, though often we rebel,
We know Thou doest all things well.

O Lord, when Thou shalt come
All grief shall then be gone.
Oh, when we see Thy blessed face,
Taste all the riches of Thy grace,
How will the heart leap forth with praise,
Fullness of God !Thou glorious One !
Ah, what a blessed work was done
When, rising from the grave, our Lord
Pledged spotless sons to Thee, O God !

Lord Jesus, quickly come !
Our spirits long for home.
Nothing is here but emptiness;
Nothing in this vast wilderness
That fully satisfies the heart.
And if our spirit restless be
Waiting Thy blessed face to see,
Oh, with what love Thy heart doth yearn
To seat us, with Thee, on Thy throne.

E. L.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me :and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." (John 10:27, 28.)

Is He not every way competent now to make good His blessed words ? who but Himself was able to meet the fearful necessity of the cross to meet our deep need ? who, where, could one be found, to go under the guilt and curse of our lost estate ? Ah! who could cry, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" and stem the tide of the wrath of a holy, righteous, sin-hating God ? Who but the holy Sufferer could, as the darkness of midnight blackness was passing, in which righteous wrath had been executed, say, "It is finished"-"Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" ?

Now look at the answer, as given us in Ephesians. Paul prays that the eyes of their understanding being enlightened they might know what was "the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of the power of His might, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all."

Do we need to question who it is that God thus owns ? God's Man for men, the holy divine Son, "in the bosom of the Father," yet perfect in His dependent, obedient life rendered up, of which His precious blood was a witness.

Now, beloved, He is head of God's house, the High-priest. It was Aaron's rod that budded, and brought forth. He who awakened very early that resurrection morn is the first-fruit of them that sleep. Alone has the corn of wheat been planted; yet now in resurrection glory, He is associated with many brethren. "It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who also is at the right hand of God, who ever liveth to make intercession for us."

Is He not able ? Who is He who is now advocate with the Father ? Is it not Jesus Christ the righteous, who was propitiation for our sins ? Is He not able to carry us on to a full final salvation, in the power of an endless life ? Look up, look up into His blessed face, and let your soul rest on the words of Him "who ever liveth to make intercession for us," and hear Him say, " They shall never perish." W. McK.

"And upon His head -were many crowns." (Rev. 19:12.)

(Continued from page 46.)

CHAPTER V. The Son of Man.

The integrity of our Savior's manhood is marked by one title which the Lord claimed for Himself with special emphasis, and which prophecy also had in a most distinct way applied to Him,- "the Son of man." Here "man," in the Hebrew texts, is "Adam," man generally; and it really settles conclusively the question (if any entertain it) as to His being personally Man. A son of man is just a man in the broadest sense, one by descent and inheritance a man. In Ps. 49:2 "the low" in our version are just literally "the sons of Adam"-the commonalty, having nothing to distinguish them from others,-and are so contrasted with the "sons of is/i," ('' the high ") the men of mark in any way whatever. By the use of this term the Lord comes down, therefore, in the simplest manner, as far as the truth of His humanity is concerned, to the common level. He is not simply "man," One whom you could call that, though differing far from the race of Adam:He is "Son of man;" deriving His humanity from humanity, with nothing to separate it in kind from humanity in general,-"made in all things like unto His brethren," as the apostle declares. The Christ of Apollinaris, or of some of the modern Kenotics, would not be a "Son of man." He would be a divine man, perhaps; but absolutely separated from humanity in the sons of men:"brethren" among these He could not have.

The force of the term is seen in the use of it as applied to the prophet Ezekiel, and once in Daniel. Both lived when things were broken up in Israel; and Ezekiel as the priest is chosen of God to be the judge, according to the law of Leviticus in its spiritual application, of the leprous condition of the people. He is taken to witness their wilful and inveterate apostasy from Jehovah. After which, as commanded in Leviticus, the demonstration being complete, the leper is put outside the camp. The glory of the Lord is seen, though lingeringly, as all unwilling, to depart from the city (chap. 10:)

Now the priest is one "taken from among men," and thus qualified to be " ordained for men in things pertaining to God." (Heb. 5:1:) His humanity makes him to know men, and to have heart-interest in them. And thus we see the meaning of the priest-prophet being addressed, as he is so constantly, as "son of man." As we try men before juries of their peers, so man, as such, is here called to pronounce on men. As man and as a priest for men, he is one who will use compassion, and therefore his judgment will be more complete and final, impossible to be objected against. His judgment is appealed to here, therefore, as "son of man." (chapter 20:4; 22:2.)

But Ezekiel is only in this the mouth-piece and representative of God Himself. The judgment is, of course, God's judgment. How striking is it, therefore, to find, when we lift up our eyes, with the prophet, to that awful throne above the firmament, to find there too (chap. 1:26) "the likeness of the
appearance of a man"! the first time in Scripture that we find even the "appearance" there.

The tenderness that is implied in all this, though it cannot avert the present judgment, comes out, how fully, before the close of these prophecies, when, the people being at last cleansed by divine grace from all their iniquities, Ezekiel is taken to be a witness now of their restoration and blessing. City and temple are seen built up anew, and the glory of God returns to its old place among them. Holiness and love are thus both at last satisfied, and the law of the leper is illustrated in both its parts, the judgment and the grace.

Daniel is only once addressed as "son of man," (chap. 8:17,) but the prophecy of the Son of man -or strictly, of "One like unto a Son of man " (7:13, 14)-to whom, coming in the clouds of heaven, is given a universal and everlasting dominion, is given us by him:a prophecy which is echoed and enlarged upon in the New Testament. In the eighth psalm, though more enigmatically expressed, we have by the mouth of David what anticipates and is the foundation of this. And here we have, strikingly expressed, the thought conveyed to us by this title; Christ being the full utterance and justification of God's delight in man.

What is man, if you look at him under the light of the glory of the heavens? what is he, this creature of earth, enosh, "frail man" or the "son of man," ordained to come into his inheritance by a way so characterized by weakness, and which so perfectly marks God's estimate of him? Ah, you must take in Christ to find the answer. He too is Man,-yea, the Son of man; come down to manhood in this significant weakness which in Him united to Deity itself is the manifestation of the moral glory of God, so that it is set above the heavens, those created heavens whose glory had just now made man look so poor and contemptible! What are they now to Man in Jesus? to the Son of man?

Here then is He of whom a later psalm speaks as "the Son of man whom Thou hast made strong for Thyself" (80:17); and His exaltation and kingdom are the necessary result. Gone down to the lower parts of the earth for the suffering of death, He is "ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." (Eph. 4:10.) In Him, as the angels at His birth declared, God has shown His " good pleasure in men." (Luke 2:14, Greek.) It is manhood as God made it at the beginning, which God has thus taken up in the Person of Christ, or the psalmist's challenge goes after all unanswered.

True, it may be, and it will be, in very different condition. As, for instance, the "spiritual body" of the resurrection is very different from the "natural," or " psychical body," as we have seen. Yet even here the identity of the body itself is assured us. That which is sown a natural is raised a spiritual body:identity as to the person is maintained under even such a change of condition as this implies; "we shall be changed," but it will still be "we." And it is man and the son of man that the psalmist sees, at first so poor and weak, and now so unutterably glorified in Christ our Lord. Otherwise, I say again, the psalmist's question remains unanswered, and must ever remain unanswered.

This being so, the Lord's constant use of this term becomes intelligible throughout. He uses it as the
simplest and most intelligible one, which no one, so to speak, would deny, and yet which upon His lips conveys so much:"Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" (Matt. 16:12.) Son of man, just by its common application to men at large, He must be, of course; and yet in His application of it to Himself it becomes distinctive by its very universality:for who would dream of speaking of himself as "the Son of man," except as implying that He was more than this meant as to other men? The Lord might address the prophet in this way, as reminding him of what he was, but no man, speaking among the sons of men, could distinguish himself by what was not distinctive. If it were distinctive of Him, then He was the Son of man in some sense that others were not; not less truly so, but more:and so He was-the One son of man upon whom the shadow of the fall had never been:Man, and of man, yet in more than all the promise of his first creation; God's Man indeed, justifying that creation itself, as all else had dishonored it; and thus having in Himself the promise for men of a new creation, by which they too at last should fulfill the purpose of the Creator; "Lord of the sabbath," as He who shall bring in, in such wise as to be violated no more, the rest of God.

But for this the Son of man must suffer, must be lifted up, "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," giving His "flesh " thus "for the life of the world;" but "glorified" in this ability to work out in the extreme of human weakness the purposes of God. "God" thus "glorified in Him," He must "also glorify Him in Himself," yea, "straightway glorify Him."

In such scriptures the "Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus," is set before us. They show us, if there could be question of it, how His perfect manhood had to do with the atonement wrought. And while on the one hand it is said that "we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son," and that "God sent forth His Son to redeem," yet, when we come to the details of this glorious work, the lifting up of the Son of man is that by which is indicated for us the bearing of curse by which "Christ redeemed us from curse," (Gal. 3:13) "for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Throughout, it is one blessed Person; but Scripture is perfect in the way these things are put. If it would win our hearts with the amazing gift that God has given for us,-if it would show the power that has laid hold upon us, -then it speaks of the work of the Son of God. If on the other hand we are to think of the actual suffering and sin-bearing, then it sets before us Christ, or Jesus Christ, or the Son of man; and the last is more the Lord's own language, while the former is that of the apostles. The two may be put together where it says, "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son," but it is a false emphasis that would pass over the first part of this, to fasten itself upon the last. We have many times over, "the blood of Christ, of Jesus, of Christ Jesus, of the Son of man, of the Lord, of the Lamb; " once, " God's Son," is added to this.

It is one Person throughout, and all these wondrous names are His; but Scripture is in such delicate adjustment that it is easy to disturb the balance of it. As surely as we do, we find in result that we are losing the equipoise of truth itself. A false emphasis upon the truth is the beginning of error.

The " Son of man " speaks of what the Son of God became in order to redeem us. It insists upon His manhood, true, full manhood, by which He became, for His believing people, the typal, representative Man before the eye of God. As this the "meal-offering of first-fruits" (Lev. 2:14-16) sets Him forth. But, really to avail for them, He must go beyond this type, and be the Sin-bearer in their behalf. For this He becomes the Christ, the One Anointed to be Prince and Savior. For this He dies the death of the Cross, and becomes, as risen from the dead, the "last Adam," Head of a new race of men.

In this we are but touching things that we must take up later. What remains for us here is but the connection of this title "Son of man" with the prophecies of the future, which the Lord takes up from Daniel's vision of the world-empires, and applies to Himself. All judgment is given to Him because He is the Son of man (Jno. 5:27); and here we find in fact Ezekiel's vision perfected. With full knowledge of man, with abundant tenderness for man, Himself the Representative Man before God, it is He to whom it belongs to settle all things on the basis of a righteousness which He has glorified. "The likeness of the appearance of a Man " upon the throne comes into realization, and the vision of Daniel takes full place as the hope of Israel and of the earth. It is indeed connected with the appraisement of responsibilities, and the solemnity of judgment to come :when the Son of man comes with the glory of His Father and with His holy angels, He shall reward every man according to his works; but this can adjust itself to the gospel and to a hope that shall not disappoint. The Son of man is the true Bride-groom of His people, and judgment itself only clears the way for the exhibition of all the fullness of a grace which the fact of His manhood sufficiently reveals.

Yes, hope, full, glorious hope is in this title of the Son of man. It cannot be separated from it. It is for David's house what the Branch out of the root of Jesse is, but wider in its promise and tenderer in its implications:-a Son of man in whom alone man's cut off years renew themselves, and now with divine strength. The hosts of heaven wait upon Him, zealous to do His pleasure; but our hearts go back to One amid the scanty group of His disciples, giving them as the pattern for their imitation, and an inlet into the glory of heaven itself, the "Son of man, come not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." F. W. G.

(To be Continued.)

Jesus, Savior, Thou art mine,
Why then should I e'er repine?
Rich am I beyond degree,-
Rich in simply having Thee.

When I came with nought to bring,
But myself, a sinful thing,
Thou didst say, "
Look unto Me, I, the Sinless, died for thee."

In Thee now I've sweetest rest,-
From Thy fulness truly blest,-
Pardoned, clothed, and reconciled,
Born of God, and owned His child.

If a child, Oh, then an heir,-
Heir with Thee! Thy joy to share!-
Joy that will forever last,
When all other joy is past.

Blessed, blessed be Thy name,
Thou wilt ever be the same;
Here and in Thy bright abode,
I shall "know" unchanging "good."

Surely Thou shouldst have this heart,
Come, possess it, every part;
Thou, with whom none can compare,
Reign without a rival there.

Keep, O keep me near Thy side,
In Thy love would I abide,-
I would only live for Thee,
Thou in love didst die for me!

Happy day when I'm with Thee,
And from all that hinders free!
I shall praise Thee as I should,
And shall love Thee as I would.

Precious Savior! Thou art mine!
Why then should I e'er repine ?
Rich am I beyond degree,-
Rich in simply having Thee, R. H.

Ques. 4.-What is the difference between Isa. 28:16, and 1 Cor. 3:10?

Ans.-Both speak of the foundation, and Christ alone is that foundation. The connection however is different. In Isaiah the scene is dispensational the nation had made a covenant, through the Antichrist, with the powers of evil, in order to escape the "overflowing scourge" (doubtless the northern foe of the last days). In blessed and holy contrast to this "refuge of lies," God presents the true foundation-the tried, precious corner stone; and the believer shall not haste away, or be confounded (1 Pet. 2:6. In Corinthians it is a question of God's house on earth at the present time; the foundation is the same, but the emphasis now is upon the superstructure. " Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." Whether in ministry or in private life the same principle holds good. Salvation rests upon Christ alone-but careful works should follow it.

Ques. 5.-Does not the expression "Let us keep the feast" in connection with the statement that Christ our passover is sacrificed for us show that grace and holiness cannot be separated, that grace does not modify the holiness which is to mark our whole life?

Ans.-The answer lies in the question asked. Surely none who know grace can doubt that it is inseparably linked with holiness. The passover preceded the feast of unleavened bread which was to continue "seven clays," figure of that lifelong holiness of walk which is to mark those who have been sheltered by the blood of the Lamb.

Ques. 6.-"Israel hath sinned." Does not this mean that Israel as a nation was sanctified, therefore that any allowance of sin among them defiled the whole nation?

Ans.-Yes. Though we judge also that Achan represented a state that existed in very many. Their defeat at Ai would seem to indicate a careless state of soul. Just so, the puffed-up state of the Corinthians indicated the working of leaven beyond the actual sin that had come to the surface. (1 Cor. v). Indifference to evil is always one of the saddest states the people of God can fall into. It opens the door to the enemy even more effectually than some gross act of immorality. These principles are the same whether in the history of Israel or the Church.

Ques. 7.-Please explain 1 Cor. 7:14. "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife." It has been urged that this shows the healing power of grace, and that in this dispensation we are not to act in the same rigid way, laid down in the Old Testament, as to fellowship.

Ans.-While grace reigns, it is through righteousness, both as a basis and a guide. The Scripture teaches the sanctity of the marriage tie, not God's acceptance of the unbelieving husband, but His recognition of the tie, its legality before man. etc; and in some sense perhaps the recognition of the privileges into which the husband has been introduced – outward blessings. This is certainly the case with the "holy children" in the same verse.

But surely no one would think of applying this verse to the allowance of evil association. Scripture is so clear, to say nothing of the instincts of the renewed soul, that none can think of mingling together those who are not partakers of a common life and walking together in the common path of holiness.

Ques. 8.-In what sense did Christ bear the sins of the world. (2 Cor. 5:19.) Some think He took the sins of the whole world and put them away finally, so that men will be judged for nothing but their unbelief.

Ans.-It is a great mistake to limit judgment to unbelief. Scripture is unmistakable in this. Every idle word must be accounted for. (Matt. 12:36.) Men are judged " according to their works. (Rev. 20:11-15.) See also John 5:28, 29; Acts 17:31 ; Rom. 2:1-12. Unbelief is but the crowning sin, a refusal to accept the remedy provided by God-the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Further, all the passages which speak of Christ's work for the world (1 John 2:2 ; 1 John 4:14; John 1:29,) simply show the freeness of the work of Christ. It is available for all, if they will receive it. Provision has been made and the invitation is given, but if the offer of grace is rejected men are yet in their sins.

"Thy testimonies are very sure:holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord, forever." (Ps. 93:5.)

In the former papers on this subject, we have been looking toward individual and personal communion and fellowship with God in His thoughts about His blessed Son, as the only true attitude of spirit for worship ; and this also, as the divinely appointed preparation for acceptable worship and service ; just here, it is important to notice that worship is not service, as service is not worship ; since worship is God-ward, while service is manward. We find this clearly illustrated in the account of Mary and her sister Martha, (See Luke 10:38-42). Martha was the woman of the house :she was on the ground of service, and illustrates the legal dispensation. She was occupied with what she was for Him. She had received Him into her house, and now she was responsible to do the very best thing that could be done for the Lord. And in her zeal for Him, to serve Him, she was completely oblivious as to what He was, and could be, for her ! Mary, on the other hand, was occupied with Himself, and what He was for her. And this illustrates the dispensation of grace. Her cup was full, her heart was satisfied and at rest. She had not one word to say. It was enough for her to sit at His feet, and hear His words. Oh blessed attitude !

How few, how very few know what it is ! Ah, beloved reader, please stop right here for a few moments and think. Take this question home to your own heart. Do you know what this is ? have you ever realized the true blessedness of what grace is ? When you could sit at His feet, "as under the shadow of a great rock in a weary land ?"

When you could think this in your heart-for you did not want to hear your own voice, neither the voice of any other, but Himself-but saying in your heart, This is good ! Oh, it is good to be here.

This is what the proper sense of grace always gives, and this is the result of finding all our delights in Him. This is what the apostle prays for the Ephesians, and beloved for you and me also, (Eph. 3:14). " For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God."

O beloved ! to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, is to be "filled with all the fullness of God." And this is grace.

" Oh to grace !How great a debtor,
Daily I'm constrained to be."

And this is not service, but it is worship, the divine essential for true and acceptable service. We see this is abundantly emphasized, in the Lord's own words of commendation of Mary, and gracious rebuke of Martha.

And now we have need to notice another point in this connection :that happiness is not necessarily
worship. There may be abundant joy and happiness in service, as there will be, if our hearts are right with Him ; if we are consciously in His presence. But I have already said, service is man ward, worship is God ward. Service is from God, down to men. Worship is from saved sinners, up to God. One might be very happy in preaching to a large, attentive and interested audience, while a Christian mother might be detained at home in the necessary care of children or the sick, and yet the preacher know nothing of the joy of true worship, while she might be happily engaged, at the Lord's feet, in the true exercise of praise. It is not that the preaching is wrong ; surely not ; but that God craves the outpourings of the heart in joyful thankfulness for the grace which He has made known to us in Christ.

Is it not often true that a large company of Christians might come together to listen to a sermon and beautiful music without their hearts being stirred at all in true worship ? And yet how often is this called public worship. Let the simple, it may be ignorant Christian, but one enlightened as to worship, come into such a company, and he will feel strangely out of place. His full heart longs to pour itself out in unrestrained praise, to share his joys with his fellows, but alas, they know not the meaning of that word "whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me."

Now let the preacher take up this subject of worship, and he too will soon find a desire which not even the most eloquent sermon, or the most true, can fill.-It is to be at the feet of Jesus, engaged with Himself, offering up praise to Him. And this will fit, as nothing else can, for true service.

Ministry is always service, it is to others, and we can minister to the Lord only as we serve others. The life and labor of the blessed Lord Jesus while down here among men was all ministry to, and service for others. "He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many," and He said, "I am among you as one that serveth." "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these my brethren." But, I have said, ministry is perfectly right in its place, and if it is the ministry of Christ, it may contribute to produce worship-and if it is in the Spirit, 1:e. by the leading or guiding of the Spirit, it will be the ministry of Christ, since the Spirit could not lead nor guide in anything which was not for the exaltation, the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. See John. 16:13-15 ; compare also i Cor. 12:, Rom. 12:with Eph. 3:11-13. We see by these scriptures that ministry in the Spirit is not always preaching and exhorting, but is also seen in giving and doing. (See Rom. 12:8-13.) And this leads me to notice that ministry and priesthood are often confounded in the minds of Christian people ; and I apprehend the confounding has come in through the Judaizing of Christianity.

In Judaism the priest was the link between God and the people, and as such was a type of Christ, who is our High priest, "who ever liveth to make intercession for us," and by whom we have access to God, and " boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Not by a new, or fresh application of the blood ; as is sometimes said, which would be to reduce the blood of Jesus to the value of the blood of bulls and goats. No beloved, it is not what we think of the blood ; it is not our estimate of the blood which gives it its value ; but what God thinks of it. The blood on the lintel and door post of the Hebrew dwelling in Egypt was not for the Israelite to look at, but for God to look at, for God had said, " When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

One more thought, and this paper must close. We are looking into the subject of Spiritual Guidance. Not so much to explain what it is, and how it is, as to show by the truth, what it is not; since the Spirit's guidance is " into all truth." And this is not saying into all things true; for many things are true, and there is truth in many things ; mathematics, philosophy, art, science, and in every department of nature around us ; but the Holy Ghost is not here to lead and guide into that kind of truths at all, but "the things concerning Himself" – the blessed Lord Jesus Himself. He could say, " I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." (Jno. 14:16.) So that our knowledge of God, and the God-ordained way into His presence, yea into the final blessedness and glory yet to be revealed, yea, more also, the path of faith through this world, for us, all are linked up with Him as God,-our God and Father. And there can be no true knowledge of God apart from Him, the man Christ Jesus,-the dead and risen man, the ascended and glorified Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, beloved reader, this is " the truth " which the Holy Spirit is down here to teach and to guide you into; and you may be sure of this, that He, the Spirit, is not teaching, leading, nor guiding into anything apart from Christ. His honor, His glory, His Lordship, His Divinity, His first coming, His life of lowly service, His death, resurrection and ascension, and His coming again in glory to judge the world, and to fill out all unfulfilled prophecies of the Bible. These truths, with all "things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27), these make up the truth. C. E. H.

"Ye have well done." (Phil. 4:14.)

This was a precious commendation of the Philippian Assembly. Paul had told them he was not anxious about daily needs, and that he was gladly a learner in God's school, by the trials of the way. But they had " well done " in "taking part in his affliction." A testimony of impatience with the assemblies, and of distrust toward God was far from him.

The assembly of Philippi had sent once and again to his necessity (4:16). Paul rejoiced because he sought fruit that would abound to their account.

There is something instructive in the reference to no other church having helped him at a certain time. The New Testament contains no letter of admonition to any such assembly by him or by any other apostle; only this brief general mention of the neglect. Are we not to gather instruction from this ? Are we not taught delicacy in dealing with this subject, while at the same time graciously and gently warned as to neglect ?

Under law the order was, "Bring ye all the tithes into the store house, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me … if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing." (Mal. 3:10.) That is, obey and be blest, is the order; while under grace it is, You have been blest, therefore let the heart overflow. "Freely ye have received, freely give." "As the elect of God, holy and beloved," we are to have "bowels of mercies, kindness." (Col. 3:12.) Love flows forth from hearts happy in the knowledge of God's rich goodness and grace.

Moreover, the tithes of the fruit of the land of Canaan were tithes of what is a type of heavenly blessings we have and realize in Christ. Thus again we see how acceptable " giving' is from a heart filled with the grace of Christ, with the joy of the Lord. These considerations prepare us for the different tone of the New Testament exhortations as to giving from those of the Old Testament, and guard us from legality of thought and exhortation.

Nevertheless, in the liberty of grace, exhortation has its place on this subject, and Paul very freely, as graciously also, exhorts and encourages and incites the assembly at Corinth not to fall short of liberality. Chapters 8:and 9:of 2 Corinthians truly warn and cheer the heart, and in how much they rebuke us let us judge. And in what we may call his farewell words to the church, Paul closes with the words, " I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, ' It is more blessed to give than to receive;' and when He had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all " (Acts 20:35).

This exhortation is written specially to encourage more giving by assemblies. Such giving calls for love and unity in the assembly, and fellowship in the gospel, and self-denial. And the example of the Philippians serves to encourage us to have in mind from time to time some one laboring in the gospel; and to be exercised about one and another so laboring, and to communicate with them. This has the example of Scripture and draws out the heart more than to simply pay into a fund, in the hands of some one of the assembly, who in counsel with one or two others distributes the amount collected.
The scriptural example of Philippi is not given to be slighted; but in giving in this way the assembly acts in faith and in loving exercise towards the laborer, and he in turn has his heart drawn out to them. And hearts are cheered by a heartfelt report from the field of work to those whose fellowship in the gospel draws it out. Note the tone of the epistle to the Philippians in this respect.

May our hearts be stirred to this great and holy service.

It is good to send abroad to laborers and not to give only when they come to us, nor does the coming of a laborer to an assembly call necessarily for help from that assembly. Such a thought is bondage. Help might have come from another quarter, leaving the brother the more free, (especially in a low state in an assembly) to minister in full liberty before the Lord-however blessed a privilege it would also be for an assembly to minister to one laboring in their midst. Still to confine our giving to those laboring in our midst, would surely not be right. It would tend to hinder going to "regions beyond," and lay a snare for the feet of the laborer.

When we consider the dangers we are exposed to, we should walk in fear and trembling.

We are unfit for God's service, except we take unto us His whole armor. We cannot give or receive for His glory, but by His grace and by His Spirit.

May we love His name, and love those who serve Him. And may we have such trust in the living God that we shall be ready and glad to give-ready to share the burden of the conflict. E. S. L.

"And He arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea,
Peace, be still, and the wind ceased, and there was
a great calm." (Mark 4:36-41.)

"Fierce was the wild billow; dark was the night;
Oars labored heavily; foam glimmered white;
Mariners trembled; peril was nigh; .
Then said the God of might, "Peace, it is I ! "

Ridge of the mountain wave, lower thy crest !
Wail of Euroclydon, be them at rest!
Peril can none be, sorrow must fly,
Where saith the Light of light," Peace, it is I ! "

Jesus, Deliverer ! come Thou to me !
Soothe Thou my voyaging over life's sea ;
Bid me be quiet as the storm sweeps by,
Whisper, .O Truth of truth," Peace, it is I ! "

"And upon His head were many crowns." (Rev. 19:12.)

(Continued from page 12.)

CHAPTER IV. His Human Spirit and Soul.

We come now to consider the deeper question of spirit and soul in Christ."Docetism," which denied the reality of His flesh, needs now no argument to be spent upon it, for it has no adherents at the present time; but that to which we are now come involves, to begin with, the question of what spirit and soul are in many and many are not yet clear as to this. We can hardly therefore understand what true humanity involves in the Lord, except we first understand what it is in men at large.

If, for instance, we take up such a book as "Hodge's Outlines of Theology," (a book which has been praised by a justly celebrated man, lately deceased, as a "Goliath's sword – none like it "for the Christian armory,) we shall find the writer saying:-

"Pythagoras, and after him Plato, and subsequently the mass of Greek and Roman philosophers, maintained that man consists of three constituent elements:the rational spirit, (nous, pneuma, mens;) the animal soul, (psuche, anitna;) the body, (soma, corpus.) Hence this usage of the word became stamped upon the Greek popular speech. And consequently the apostle uses all three when intending to express exhaustively in popular language the totality of man and his belongings:'I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless' (i Thess. 5:23; Heb. 4:12; i Cor. 15:45). Hence some theologians conclude that it is a doctrine given by divine inspiration that human nature is constituted of three distinct elements."

To which view he objects:-

"That the pneuma and psuche are distinct entities cannot be the doctrine of the New Testament, because they are habitually used interchangeably and often indifferently. Thus psuche as well as pneuma is used to designate the soul as the seat of the higher intellectual faculties – (Matt. 16:26; i Pet. 1:22; Matt. 10:28). Thus also pneuma as well as psuche is used to designate the soul as the animating principle of the body-(James 2:26). Deceased persons are indifferently called psuchai, (Acts 2:27, 31; Rev. 6:9; 20:4); and pneumata, (Luke 24:37, 39; Heb. 12:23)."

These are all his objections, and at the first glance they are very unsatisfactory. How much of the precision and trustworthiness of Scripture must disappear if we are at liberty to credit apparent distinctions of this sort to popular phraseology! On the contrary, the Old Testament is as clear as to these distinctions as the New, long before philosophy had molded the speech of Greece, and outside altogether the Greek that it had molded.

All through Scripture, from the first chapter of Genesis on, the beast is credited with a "soul." " Everything wherein there was a living soul" is the designation (in Gen. 1:30, Heb.) of the mere animal as distinct from man. True, man also is made a living soul; but that is not his highest-his special character. God is the "Father of spirits" (Heb. 12:9), not of souls; and as the son is in the image of his father, man is thus by a special work created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). Thus also it is the "spirit of man that is in him" that "knoweth the things of a man" (i Cor. 2:ii); and this spirit is therefore never ascribed to the beast. The writer of Ecclesiastes in his early "thoughts " raises a question about it, but which he answers at the close (3:21; 12:7), and it is merely the doubt of a man in a fog, not divine truth, as is evident, nor given as that.

The spirit and soul are always viewed in Scripture with perfect consistency in this manner. Scripture is always self-consistent, and never loose in what it says. The faculties proper to man, the mental and moral judgment are ascribed to the spirit; the sensitive, instinctive, emotional nature is ascribed to the soul. Yet there is a knowledge that can be ascribed to the soul, as there is a joy of the spirit; and if "heart" be substituted for "soul," and "mind" for '' spirit," we can understand this without realizing any confusion or inconsistency in the matter.

As to the death-state, if spirit or soul be absent the body will be dead, and either may be mentioned in this way; yet here, too, Scripture will be found perfectly at one in all its statements. In the body, (and through its connection with it, doubtless, in the natural "or " psychic " condition already spoken of,) man-though he has a spirit-is a "soul;" so that "soul" becomes, as in our common language also, the equivalent of self; while out of the body, though he has a soul, he is a "spirit."

This will explain all passages, except perhaps those in Revelation, where also that in chapter 20:4 is only a somewhat emphatic use of soul for self or person; while the "souls under the altar," as applied to martyrs, are but figured as persons whose lives had been offered up in sacrifice. The usage is not really different.

"Spirit and soul and body," then, make up the man; and here the spirit it is that is the distinctive peculiarity of man, as is evident. To be true Man the Lord would surely possess both these; and both are accordingly ascribed to Him in Scripture. He can speak of His soul being troubled and sorrowful (Matt. 26:38; Mark 14:34; John 12:27); and it can be said of Him, that "His soul was not left in hell" (or hades), (Acts 2:31). On the other hand, in His youth He waxes strong in spirit (Luke 2:40); He perceives in His spirit (Mark 2:8); He rejoices and is troubled in spirit (Luke 10:21; John 13:21); He commends and gives up His spirit to His Father (Luke 23:46; John 19:30).

Thus the proof of His true humanity is complete. Here too He is in all things made like unto His brethren ; and how much, in fact, depends upon this! That, we must seek to get before us later on; but first, we must turn to certain denials or explanations otherwise of what these texts seem to teach; old speculations having been revived of late, and calling for fresh examination. It will be of use to trace it first in its older form and then in its modern phases. The older form is known (in Church history only) as Apollinarianism; the later is all around us to-day in what is known as Kenoticism.

Apollinaris was a man in high esteem among the orthodox, and in opposition to Arianism a zealous Trinitarian. It was, in fact, in opposition to Arianism that his views seem to have been developed. "The Arian doctrine of the person of Christ," says Dr. Bruce,* "was, that in the historical person called Christ appeared in human flesh the very exalted-in a sense,-divine-creature named in Scripture the Logos [or Word],-the Logos taking the place of a human soul, and being liable to human infirmity, and even to sin, inasmuch as, however exalted, he was still a creature, therefore finite, therefore fallible, capable of turning, in the abuse of freedom, from good to evil. *'The Humiliation of Christ," pp. 42, 43.* Apollinaris accepted the Arian method of constructing [conceiving?] the person, by the exclusion of a rational human soul, and used it as a means of obviating the Arian conclusion."

He did not deny a human soul in Christ in the scriptural sense of soul, but a rational human soul, which was the philosophic term for which Scripture uses the term "spirit." The spirit of Christ he maintained to be His Deity; and in this way he thought not merely to escape the Arian doctrine of moral frailty in the Lord, but to obtain other results of the greatest importance.

Of these the first was the avoidance of all possibility of supposing a dual personality in Christ, such as in fact some of his opponents fell into. Quoting Dr. Bruce again:In his view "Christ was true God, for He was the eternal Logos manifested in the flesh. He was also true man, for human nature consists of three component elements, body, animal soul, and spirit;" and all these Christ had. "True, it might be objected that the third element in the person of Christ, the nous [mind] was not human but divine. But Apollinaris was ready with his reply. ' The mind in Christ,' he said in effect, 'is at once divine and human; the Logos is at once the express image of God and the prototype of humanity.' This appears to be what he meant when he asserted that the humanity of Christ was eternal,-a part of his system which was much misunderstood by his opponents, who supposed it to have reference to the body of Christ. There is no reason to believe that Apollinaris meant to teach that our Lord's flesh was eternal, and that He brought it with Him from heaven, and therefore was not really born of the Virgin Mary; though some of his adherents may have held such opinions. His idea was that Christ was the celestial man; celestial, because divine; man, not merely as God incarnate, but because the divine spirit is at the same time essentially human."

"This," Bruce remarks, "was the speculative element in the Apollinarian theory misapprehended by contemporaries, better understood, and in some quarters more sympathized with, now."

And here is our interest in all this matter, that in the ferment of men's minds at the present time so much of the dead and buried past is being revived; oftentimes in fragments which it is useful to put in their place therefore again, that we may see their natural connection, and realize their significance.

But Apollinaris would have urged, no doubt, that this last part of his view was not simply speculation. He might have appealed to John 3:13, "the Son of man which is in heaven," or better still to i Cor. 15:47, "the second Man is (ex ouranou) out of heaven.*" *So the editors read it now.*

Nevertheless, "made in all things like unto His brethren " could not be said, as is manifest, of Christ as he has pictured Him, except we admit a self-emptying so great as that this divine humanity shall be able to take the true human limitation, be tempted as we are, increase in wisdom as in stature, be the new Adam, Head of a new race of men:without this it is plain we have not the Christ of the Scriptures. He is so unlike us that we would not have courage to claim Him for ourselves. Nor can we think of Him as in the agony of the garden, or in the darkness of the forsaken sorrow upon the Cross. The whole mental and moral nature of man, Apollinaris rightly conceived to be in that spirit of man, which he denied the Lord to possess. Spirit, He had brought (according to this theory) from heaven with Him ; or rather this was the very One who came. Thus it became now indeed "the spirit of a Man"; but a human spirit it could not be called, except by an argument which leaps over an infinite difference as if it scarcely were one, while in the interests of the theory, (that is to provide against the mutability of the creature,) it is appraised at its full worth.

But there was a third advantage that Apollinaris conceived to arise from this divine humanity of Christ, that it made God Himself to stoop to suffering and death, as no other view did, and this he believed to be essentially necessary to give power to His redemptive work. But the view he took of this is in contention.

On the whole, there can be no right question that Apollinarianism, though it had long disappeared, and only for a short time indeed maintained itself, was none the less a step towards Kenoticism, which has of late been spreading in many quarters, and which was needed to round out the elder doctrine to any consistency. An American writer of this school even "founds his theory on the basis of the essential unity of the human and divine"; "the incarnation, according to him, being the human element (the Logos) eternally in God, becoming man by taking flesh, and occupying the place of a soul." (Bruce.)

Of Kenoticism, in connection with our present theme, a very slight notice will suffice. Its main position is that the Son of God, in becoming man, contracted Himself really within human limitations, so as either actually to become the human spirit of Christ, or else to take place along side of this in one human consciousness. Always the aim is, as with Apollinarianism, to escape the attribution to the Lord of dual personality, to make the Christ of the Gospels more simply intelligible, while conserving His actual Deity. Deity can, they say, without real self-impairment, lay aside what belongs to it except essential attributes; and omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence are not these, but only expressions of free relation to the world which He has made. " Incarnation is for the Son of God, necessarily self-limitation, self-emptying, not indeed of that which is essential in order to be God, but of the divine manner of existence and of the divine glory which He had from the beginning with the Father, and which He manifested or exercised in governing the world. Such is the view," says Thomasius as quoted by Bruce, "given by the apostle in the epistle to the Philippians, such the view demanded by the evangelic history; for on no other view is it possible to conceive how, for example, Christ could sleep in the storm on the sea of Galilee. What real sleep could there be for Him, who, as God, not only was awake, but, on the anti-Kenotic hypothesis, as Ruler of the world, brought on, as well as, stilled the storm ? "

The writer quoted here does not go the extreme length of Gess and others, who reproduce the Apollinarian view of the Lord's humanity; but we need not cite more to show from what questionings Kenoticism has arisen, or the answer which essentially all forms of it supply. Who does not know these questions? and does not know also how we are baffled by them? Is this difficulty after all capable of satisfactory solution? or does it show us that we are face to face with the inscrutable, only affirming to us the Lord's own declaration that "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father"?

It must give us pause, at least, to realize how truly hypothetical all the answers are,-how little Scripture can be even pleaded in their behalf:and here surely is the very subject upon which we should fear to hazard a word without the safe-guard of Scripture. We may, however, look at what is advanced, if only with the conviction that the feebleness of all our thoughts is what will be demonstrated by it. Even this may have its good also in keeping us within the limits of trustworthy knowledge, that with the psalmist we may not exercise ourselves on things too high for us, and incur the sure penalty that follows presumption.

Kenosis is indeed a word taken from Scripture:it is the "self-emptying" of the second chapter of
Philippians, the real force of the word which in our common version is poorly rendered, " He made Himself of no reputation " (heauton ekenosen). It thus professes to be based upon Scripture-indeed to be the only adequate interpretation, as we have seen, of the passage referred to:a wonderful passage indeed, with which we cannot do better than refresh our memories and our hearts. Wonderful it is that it is an exhortation for us to the imitation of Christ in it:-

'' Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, did not esteem it a thing to be grasped at, the being equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men; and, being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

The alteration from "thought it not robbery" to "esteemed it not a thing to be grasped at" is in accordance with the alternative in the margin of the Revised Version and with what is preferred by many at the present day. The point evidently that the apostle insists on is, not that Christ could claim to be equal with God, but that He did not hold fast that claim:He emptied Himself-gave up the form of God for a servant's form. The point that the Kenotic theory invites us to consider is what is involved in this self-emptying.

The fact itself is manifest:He was here a Man, in a servant's form. He did not come in the form which was proper to Him as God, though He was God. That is surely plain. It does not seem necessary to go back of the simple truth with which every Christian is acquainted, to understand this emptying. There is no fresh revelation apparent in it:rather, it is to this general Christian knowledge that the apostle appeals.

We are entitled to seek the full worth of these expressions:that is surely true. He emptied Himself of the form of God to take a servant's form:there is the antithesis; but it only implies the actuality of His manhood. When in manhood He Himself speaks of "the Son of man who is in heaven" (John 3:13). Was He in heaven, then, in the servant's form? Nay, one could not say so. But then the servant's form which He had assumed did not limit Him to that; the kenosis was not absolute and universal, but relative to His appearance upon earth; it was only what was necessarily implied in His coming into the world as Man, and not to be carried back of this. It agrees perfectly with the passage in Philippians as an appeal founded upon the facts of Christian knowledge, and not a new revelation for the first time communicated.

Again when the apostle assures us in Colossians (1:19,) that "it pleased all the fullness (of the Godhead-the whole Godhead) to dwell in Him," this is impossible to make consistent with the Kenotic view of self-contraction within the limits of mere manhood. We may be indeed very feeble in understanding what is meant by this, but it is not contraction at all but expansion of our conception of Christ as Man. It is not Kenoticism, nor consistent with it.

But, apart from Kenoticism, the Apollinarian conception of the Lord's humanity does not present a basis for a human life capable of faith, of temptation, of sympathy with ordinary human experience, of growth in wisdom such as is explicitly attributed to Him. The singleness of personality which is indeed very manifest in it-and which is its attraction to the perplexed intellect-is gained at too great a cost. We must assert against the Apollinarian His true Manhood, and against the Kenoticist His complete Godhead; even while we own that the connection between these is inscrutable, and must remain so:comforting ourselves with the assurance that is after all what our Lord Himself has declared. We know not the Son in the mystery of His nature; but we do know Him in His union of Godhead and manhood the living Link between God and His creatures, which can never be undone, and will never give way whatever be the strain upon it. In Him before God, accepted in the Beloved, we are "bound in the bundle of life with the Lord our God" in a way no human thought could have dreamed in its highest imagining. But it is no imagination, but the assurance that He Himself has given us:"Because I live ye shall live also" (John 14:19.) F. W. G.

(To be Continued.")

"We have long been familiar, to a greater or less extent, with the typical or symbolical teaching of the historical and ceremonial parts of the word of God. Scripture has not left us in doubt as to many of these, giving us, in the plain language of New-Testament truth, the inspired interpretation of many Old-Testament narratives. The spiritual meaning of Noah and the ark; the Passover; the conflicts in Canaan ;-to say nothing of the sacrificial ordinances of Leviticus, explained in the epistle to the Hebrews,- have been unfolded by the divine teacher, and no one hesitates to use them freely. We have almost forgotten that they are types, so familiar have they become.

Similarly, a number of passages which we would never have suspected of being typical are distinctly declared to be such. Hagar and Sarah (Gal. 4:21-31), Abraham's interview with Melchizedek (Heb. 7:), are striking examples of this.

But a reverent mind will be encouraged to expect that these are not all the typical passages of Scripture, and with the method, if we may use the word, used in the application of the passages we have alluded to, will take up other portions to find the spiritual meaning concealed within them. Nor will he be disappointed.

Who, that is in the least acquainted with Scripture truth, will fail, for instance, to see the beautiful gospel picture presented in the history of Naaman the leper in the chapter just preceding ? Not merely do its general outlines present the gospel truth, but details are equally accurate, so that we are constrained to see the design in it.

On the other hand, those who have drawn most freely from this fruitful source of instruction will be most careful to guard against extravagances of interpretation, which are not merely unedifying, but raise questions as to all figurative interpretations. Bearing this in mind, let us endeavor in a sober spirit to gather some of the lessons from the portion before us.

It comes in fittingly after the gospel theme of the fifth chapter. That gives us the cleansing of the sinner (also, alas! the binding of sin upon the man who valued grace only as ministering to his covetousness); this portion shows the expansive power of the grace of God. " The place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us" (ver. i). When we receive the gospel we receive a living germ which cannot be confined within narrow limits. The new wine will burst nature's bottles. Nor will this be confined to personal growth in grace. In fact, usually the first activity is reaching out to others. Thus Paul immediately after his conversion preached Jesus in the synagogues at Damascus,"that He is the Son of God" (Acts 9:20). Beautifully do we see this expansive spirit exemplified in the first chapter of John, where as soon as one knows Christ he hastens to bring a brother or a friend to the same Savior. The reader will easily add other instances from Scripture, while every genuine work of grace is always marked by the same. Truly the gospel is a pomegranate, not only a delicious fruit, but filled with seed for its propagation.

Notice, their ardor does not hinder them from applying for guidance to the one who has the word of God, Elisha the prophet. Surely it is easy to discern who the Guide is to whom we should apply for the mind of God, Him of whom Elisha was but a type- our blessed Lord and Master. Good indeed would it be if all zeal could apply first to Him. There would be less zeal without knowledge, less show of work, but more actually accomplished in the extension of God's house.

Faith ever grows when in exercise. No sooner do they get the prophet's permission and approval than they desire his presence. " Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants." It is not enough to have the Lord's mind-His approval of this or that act of service-the spirit should yearn for His companionship. And as the prophet graciously answered,'' I will go," we may rest assured our gracious Lord never refuses His holy presence where it is desired. Ah! do we always desire that presence ? for it may check much in us of mere nature, much that would be used in His service which He could not approve nor accept. But who or what can take His place ?-can numbers, popularity, excitement, wealth, homage of men ? One "well clone " from Him will outweigh it all with the heart that truly loves Him. May we ever say, " Go with us ; " "if thou go not up with us carry us not up hence."

But we might notice in passing another thought suggested by the desire of these men. They wished to erect a dwelling, a habitation; and when there has been blessing in the gospel, the natural desire is for fellowship. How completely God has in mercy provided for this is not within the scope of this paper, but we believe next to the salvation of the soul and a godly walk, nothing more important can claim the attention of God's people.

But whence come the materials that are to form this habitation ? Who are the "living stones," or, as in the scripture, the " beams " which are to form this dwelling ? They grow hard by Jordan, the river of death and judgment. All are "dead in trespasses and sins," but where that fact is recognized, confessed, and Christ accepted, the tree is cut down, by the ax of divine truth, and by that same instrument prepared for its place in the building.

Blessed work, to see the proud tree, flourishing by the river of death, bow beneath the strokes of the keen ax, and fall prostrate at last. Humbling work it is indeed, but how blessed, when the proud, haughty, self-righteous soul is laid low under the truth, ready to receive the pure and perfect grace of God.

But while the work is going on happily and prosperously, the ax of one slips off its handle and falls into the stream. All usefulness is at an end, the work, so far as that individual is concerned, must cease:for hands are not axes, and mere strength cannot fell a tree. What adds to his sorrow is that the ax was not his own, it was borrowed.

We all work with borrowed tools. The truth of God is His, not ours; we are simply "stewards of the manifold grace of God." We have been entrusted with the gospel; a dispensation has been given us:with Paul we may say "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." Some may think that the thought here is the folly of dealing with truth not made our own, of trafficking in that which was unfelt, or unrealized. We believe it is rather as we have suggested. Nothing in the way of gift or endowment or truth is our own-all has been loaned to us. The parable of the talents illustrates this.

But how serious this makes the loss of the ax. It was borrowed. To lose our time, opportunities, is bad enough, but to lose what has been entrusted to us, and for use in His, not our, service-is not this double grief ?
Well now is it that the prophet has been invited to accompany them. Had this not been the case the ax could never have been recovered, the work would have been hindered, the workman laid aside. But grace, blessed be God, recovers.

Let us ere proceeding ask ourselves a few questions. Have we ever been entrusted with an ax ? As we look at the open page of God's precious Word, gleaming with precious truth, we dare not deny it. Have we used our instrument in God's service? Alas, for some of us, how little. A further question:do we know what it is to lose the ax, to see it slip away and be buried, as it were, in the very river of death ? How sad, how unutterably sad it is to see the Lord's servants deprived of their only instrument of usefulness. Here is one who once was busy in winning souls, ever ready with a loving word to help saints or point sinners to Christ. Many a time in private or public has the voice been uplifted in the cause of the Master. But that voice is silent, or lacks the power that once accompanied it-the power of divine truth. Here is a sister, once busy in ministering, in her own happy sphere to needs, both temporal and spiritual; but she no longer engages in that blessed service.

But it is needless to multiply instances. The ax has been lost. Usefulness is gone. Oh if there were but humility to own it-to go to the Lord with the words " alas, Master! for it was borrowed." For the most serious part is that our usefulness is not ours but a sacred trust from the Lord.

Let us now briefly note the recovery of the lost usefulness. First, then, is the frank confession to the Lord. Nothing can take the place of that. No matter what the failure has been, how deep, how complete, -One ear must hear the sad story of what we have done with His. The ax may have been allowed to lie out in the sun, the handle thus losing its moisture; it may have been carelessly handled. Be that as it may, we know there is always some reason for loss of spiritual power. The sun of this world too easily dries out the spiritual freshness in our hearts and makes us hold loosely our precious trust.

But how graciously does the prophet meet the trouble. Notice his question "Where fell it?" Ah that must be known. Our blessed Lord, in restoring lost power wishes us to point to the occasion when we lost it. That worldliness, that unguarded moment-When was it that the power was lost, where did it fall into the river ? Mere generalities do not suffice; the finger of shame must point to the time and place where declension began. Need we enlarge ? Let conscience rather speak to us all.

But not to shame us does our Lord thus probe. When the full truth is out, then He comes in to recover, to put back in our hand that which we had lost. The stick thrown into the river here, is doubtless the same, in type, as the tree cast into the waters of Marah, both speaking of that wondrous cross, which saves the soul, makes bitter sweet, makes iron float. For oh, who that has lost spiritual power could ever believe that nature could restore it ? But here is grace"; and when the Lord acts He doeth wondrously. Instances might be gathered from Scripture; Peter, David, and the like. Let it be ours, beloved brethren, if the need be for us, to make for ourselves fresh instances of this recovering grace.

Ques. 1.-How should Eph. 3:15 be translated? Should it be "the whole family" or "every family"? If "every family" be correct, then should not Eph. 2:21 be rendered "every building" instead of "all the building"? But if it be correct to read "all the building" or "the whole building" must we not read "the whole family," as the word is the same in both passages?

Ans.-The revised version shows the need felt for uniformity of rendering as suggested in the question, and renders the phrases respectively " Each several building" and "every family." The translators evidently felt their rendering rather free, and so put in the margin the Greek, " every building." The alternative reading which inserts the definite article is by no means ill supported. We can add little to the excellent foot-note to Eph. 2:21 in the New Version of the New Testament by Mr. Darby. In this he shows that it cannot be settled by purely grammatical arguments. Both in the Septuagint and New Testament Greek he gives instances where no article is present and yet the rendering must be "the whole; "for example, " the whole house of Israel" (Acts 2:32) could not possibly be " every house of Israel," and yet the definite article is not present. In addition we might refer to Acts 1:21 where, without the article, the expression must be rendered "the whole time;" (Acts 23:1,) "all good conscience"-the whole conscience clear. The opposite of this last is seen in 2 Cor. 4:2, where "every conscience of men" would be the literal rendering; yet in neither of these cases is the article used. Again, in Gal. 5:14, with no article, the phrase is evidently "the whole law" and not 'every law." In Col. 1:23 the evident rendering is " the whole creation," yet the vast preponderance of authority is for the omission of the article. Spite of the revised rendering (also by J. N. D.) of "every scripture " 2 Tim. 3:16, we are strongly inclined to accept that of the common version "all scripture," referring to the entire page of inspiration-a similar use of the word "Scripture" is found in John 10:35; 2 Peter 1:20, and frequently.

We must therefore not depend upon an inflexible rule of grammar to decide the question, but rather, as is always safest in Scripture, upon the immediate and general context. Doing this it seems scarcely possible to render the first passage otherwise than "the whole building." The foundation is one; the result is one-a holy temple; and the building is "fitly framed together." To render it "every building" would be to throw it out of harmony with the passage, while giving no added meaning. To make it teach independency of local assemblies would do violence to the evident purport of the whole passage, to say nothing of the rest of Scripture. This building will not be complete until the Church is ready for its final display as the temple, in the glory of God. If one temple then, surely it is one building now.

As to the other passage, if, as seems most likely, the thought is of the universal headship of "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (compare chapter 4:6), it could scarcely be rendered "the whole family," as angelic beings, to say nothing of Israel and the Gentiles, are included, as well as the Church.

We would judge therefore that the two passages should be rendered "the whole building" and "every family," respectively.

Ques. 2.-Does the Lord Jesus in John 16:23,-"in that day ye shall ask me nothing"-imply that all prayer should be addressed to God the Father, in His name? Paul seems to have prayed directly to the Lord Jesus that the thorn in the flesh might be removed.

Ans.-The word here rendered "ask," έρωτάω is not the usual one for prayer. In the very verse where it occurs we have twice the ordinary word for preferring a request, άιτέω. Its primary meaning is to " inquire," then as a secondary meaning to "request." The word in 2 Cor. 12:8 is much stronger.

However it is not a question of words, though there must be reason for using each in its special place. The whole theme of this part of John is that our Lord is to be no longer with His disciples, but is going to the Father. So long as He was here, they went directly to Him and knew not the blessedness of prayer in His name. Now He was to be absent, but He made known to them the Father's name, and their privilege to go directly to Him. It does not raise the question of prayer to the Lord-it is dealing with something quite different. They had always had Him to go to, but now He was to be absent, yet they could in His name freely go to the Father whose love they had till then little realized.

As to prayer to the Lord Jesus, we are thankful to note our correspondent recognizes it in the passage in 2 Cor. 12:None would question that prayer is usually addressed to the Father- to whom should "children " go with their needs but to the Father? -but this in no way raises the question of the equal honor and power and prerogative of Him who sits upon the Father's throne.

Ques. 3.-Is it proper to say that, because we are not under law but under grace, the principles of God's holy government have changed?

Ans.-We solemnly believe that grace does not change the divine principles of God's holy government. We might quote many familiar scriptures of the New Testament in proof of this, coupled too with the most precious statements as to the grace of God. See Gal. 6:7-9; 1 Peter 1:14-19; Phil. 2:12, 13. Our readers will easily add to these and find the fullest proof that grace and government are not contradictory, but in the fullest way harmonious. This is true whether we look at God's people individually or collectively, at Israel or the Church. God never lowers His standard to us, but raises us up to it. We cannot conceive how anyone could raise a question as to this. We are also fully aware as to its solemnity. " Our God is holy." May we indeed be on our faces before Him, for we are nothing but " dust and ashes " in His sight.

How blessed to realize that "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers." It is well for us, in firm confidence in Him, to take our stand for that which is right in His sight. With "the armor of righteousness" we can stand against "the wiles of the devil," and "the prayer of the righteous man availeth much." To seek a reputation for ourselves is indeed poor occupation; but to "be careful to maintain good works," and to "have a good report of them that are without" are exhortations we will do well to take heed to. An evil day is this we are passing through. How it becomes us, then, to be on our guard, "watching unto prayer."

Josephus, after visiting the early disciples, brought back the report, "they are determined to do no evil thing,"-a "purpose of heart" that might well take hold upon us all. How is it, clear brethren, with us ? Is this a guiding principle in your daily life ? In the home, in business, in the assembly of the saints, in our dealings with them that are without ? How often there is that allowed in the more secret affairs of one's life '' that doth eat as a canker," doing its hidden but deadly work, until all power in the soul to do right is lost. Not hidden, however, the result, which must be sooner or later manifest, and practically ruin the Christian life. The voice of prayer, praise, or exhortation is unheard; the soul becomes withered up, love grows cold, and the sacred tie of fellowship with one's brethren seems all but snapped. And why? No one can account for it. Ah, dear reader, if it be so with you, you know something about it. Then let there be instant confession; let this hour find you bowed in the Father's presence, and tell Him all; for " If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (i John, 1-9.)

"He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." This is his way, for " the righteous Lord loveth righteousness." Let this have its full weight with us, for "the
eyes of the Lord are over the righteous"; "but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." Therefore, "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good."

" God " Himself "shall be with " us, and shall sustain us in such a path. This is one of the "exceeding great and precious promises" not only of the Old Testament, but also of the New. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, think on these things, and the God of peace shall be with you." (Phil. 4:) "All" our cares He bids us "cast upon" Him, for "He careth" for us. " All " our need He will supply.

"God is for us," "and the Lord is with you while ye be with Him." (i Chron. 15:1-15.) "Submit yourselves therefore to God." "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." "Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you." (James 4:7, 8.) W. M. H.

We have before us now this most important question:Where has God set His name? In our last paper we saw from Old Testament scriptures, that Jerusalem was the place where Jehovah set His name. And that Name was written upon the Ark of the Covenant, which was carried by the priests into the holiest, of Solomon's temple, when he had dedicated it to God, and the priests had drawn out the staves and laid them down; as a witness, that now God had found a resting place for His name. And when the priests had gone out,-vacated, and given the whole house up to God, then God came in and filled the whole house with His glory. This is a striking and most beautiful picture-illustration of the believer in his consecration to God and filled with the Holy Ghost. Oh how few, how very few of us (and when I say us, I mean all professing Christians), how few of us know anything of this, practically!

We talk of consecration, and reconsecration-what do we mean by all this? There was no such thing as reconsecration of the temple. Once given up to God it was forever His habitation. Hear the apostle (Eph. 2:22). "In whom"-Christ-"ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Who are the "ye also"? believers surely, you my reader, if truly a believer in Christ and the value of His precious blood. The feeblest and weakest just as much as the strongest, just as really, and surely, as the apostle himself, a habitation of God through the Spirit. That is, God has found a resting place in your heart for Himself by the Spirit (John 14:16). " If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not neither knoweth Him:but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." And so the prophet puts it, "I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people" (2 Cor. 6:16).

O my dear reader! Is this a divine reality with you? Do you know that you are thus indwelt by the Spirit of God? And are you thus set apart to God, consecrated, once for all and forever to be not your own but His? Or do you doubt? Do you draw back from the thought of such a consecration? such an indwelling? O beloved! this is a most vital point. Not to be indwelt by the Spirit is to have no link with Christ, no link with heaven, no link with God ! No part with the redeemed; without hope, and without God, and in a world which is under judgment and hastening on to the day of wrath; "the great day of His wrath" (Rev. 6:12-17). "And who shall be able to stand'" Do you say, I am a church member; I intend to do about right; I go to my meeting, I give a tenth of all my income for the gospel and for missions? Please turn to your Bible and read Luke 18:10-13, and see if you can
identify yourself in either of those characters represented in the parable. But notice very carefully which one went down to his house justified, which one God accepted; and remember, it is always such ones that God accepts. Since " It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (i Tim. 1:15).

Is it not a wonderfully blessed thing to know that God dwells in the believer? But He not does say I will set my Name there. But what does He say? "Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). And what does this give us? See i Peter 2:5. "Ye also as lively (living) stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Christ Jesus." This brings us again to what has been already stated more than once, that worship is the presenting to God a sweet savor of Christ,-"spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God." And this, beloved, is worship, and nothing else is; nothing else can be worship according to Scripture. Since the business of the Holy Ghost down here is to glorify Christ; He, surely does not lead, nor guide, in anything which is not to His honor and glory. "To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus,"-"singing with grace in your hearts, to the Lord" (Col. 3:16 and Eph. 5:19). " Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." And how beautifully this harmonizes with the quotation from the Psalm, in Heb. 2:12. " I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren, in the midst of the Church (assembly, where two or three are gathered in His name) will I sing praise unto Thee."

Notice this, beloved, He does not say, "They shall sing praise unto Thee," but " I will sing praise unto Thee!" Do you not see? Jesus in the midst," the Holy Ghost indwelling the saints; two or three, more or many, gathered by the Spirit, and led by the Spirit, " singing with grace in their hearts to the Lord."- And what? He hands it up to the Father. And so it is, "The Father seeketh worshipers," "and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." '

Beloved reader, do you know what it is to be a worshiper ? Have you ever seen anything which answered to this? And now let us turn to Phil. 3:where the apostle touches this point in a very clear and concise manner.

'' Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord."-" For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

Here we have four very important points:-

First. "We are the circumcision"-the cut off- circumcision was cutting off, and I believe, a symbol of earth and resurrection, inasmuch as the person circumcised, lay a helpless man for three days. Compare Gen. 34:25 and Joshua 4:19. The Israelites came up out of the Jordan on the tenth of the first month. On the eleventh they were circumcised (Joshua 5:2, 3). On the fourteenth day they kept the passover, and then they are prepared to go forth in the power of resurrection life to conquer the land. This view is confirmed by the apostle in Col. 2:11, 12. " In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the-cutting off- of Christ." "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead."

Second. "Which worship God in the Spirit." It is then a dead and risen man who can worship God, in the Spirit, since it is only a dead and risen man who is indwelt by the Spirit.

Third. "And rejoice in Christ Jesus." Who can do this, save the one who knows that he has passed from death unto life, and stands on the resurrection side of death and judgment (John 5:24).

Fourth. "And have no confidence in the flesh." The fifth and sixth verses of this chapter, tell us what this means. "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee :concerning zeal persecuting the Church:touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless."
These were all good things for Saul, the Pharisee. All these things gave him pre-eminence among his own people as a Jew, and as a man in the flesh:but what were all these things worth in the presence of God? when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, with the sufferings of the garden of Gethsemane and the cross of Calvary? Oh how contemptible the thought, that anything of this kind could be presented to God as a ground of acceptance. For see! What did Jesus present to God as the ground of acceptance for us? Was it His holy Life down here among men? Then He need not have died, since He could have gone back to heaven without dying. But that would have left us without hope and still exposed to wrath. His life was holy and acceptable to God, without doubt, perfectly so for Himself; but it could not avail for a sinner. It was our sins which demanded His death, because that was the judgment due to us; and it was death by blood-shedding alone that could meet our need. Hence it was death and blood-shedding which He offered to God for us, in our stead. And this is beautify pictured in the ram which Abraham offered, "in the stead of his son." Jesus must take the sinner's place, and "be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him " (2 Cor. 5:21). Hence it is His acceptance as the sin-offering, which gives us acceptance before God. This is what the apostle Paul saw, and which gave him his intensified estimate of His own utter worthlessness in the sight of God:of that which gave him pre-eminence among men. Hear him, again. "But what things were gone to me, those I counted loss for Christ:yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss . . . and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in Him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil. iii- 7, 8).

Oh beloved! These are divine realities to faith. Yes, to faith, and to faith unspeakably precious. Have you my reader ever found this Eden of God's delight? To worship the true and living God?

And now if you will turn to Psalm 27:4, you will find the same thing spoken of as a divine reality. "One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me, He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." This is indeed worship. But how different from what is commonly called worship.

And this beloved, is first of all divinely real to faith, and faith is always individual, never congregational. One among a thousand may have it while nine hundred and ninety-nine may sing and enjoy their song very much, while they know nothing of this; and there is nothing in their song for God, because nothing of a sweet savor of Christ, since not inspired by the indwelling Spirit, not in the guiding of the Holy Ghost. And this leads us to see that worship is the exact opposite of ministry.

Ministry offers something to men. Worship offers – something, do I say?-a sweet savor of Christ Himself, to God; and can only be in the guiding of the Spirit of God-" in Spirit and truth."
C. E. H.