Our concluding portion for the present year is the reading of the latter part of the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament, and the Gospel of Luke and the second Epistle to the Corinthians in the New.

This second portion of the great prophet gives us the last of the three divisions of that wonderful book.

In Chaps. 40:-48:, the main theme is God's controversy with His people foreseen as captive in Babylon, regarding the idolatry which had really been the cause of that captivity. But while He brings to mind in absolute faithfulness their sin, there is mingled with it, throughout the entire portion, a lovely unfolding of the eternal purpose of God which will not be thwarted; for He will yet restore, according to that changeless purpose, those upon whom He has set His heart.

Thus, in the fortieth chapter we have God's comfort for His afflicted people, their restoration, and His all-sufficiency as contrasted with the worthlessness of idols and every human work.

In Chap. xli, Israel is declared to be God's servant, the seed of Abraham, His friend whom He has chosen. Therefore, in spite of every form of opposition, He shall restore them.

In Chap. xlii, we have not Israel, the failing servant, but that blessed One who humbled Himself and took the form of a servant, the only One who ever truly could or did serve without failing. He shall never be discouraged until He shall have fully accomplished God's will.

In Chap. 43:, the restoration of Israel, on the basis of the service of this blessed One, is predicted.

Chap. 44:enlarges upon this comforting theme. Most beautifully through these chapters we find again and again that word of divine comfort, " Fear not."

Chap. 45:definitely gives the promise of their restoration through Cyrus, which, partial as it was, was doubtless a type of that more abiding recovery which yet awaits a Greater than Cyrus.

In Chaps. 46:and 47:, we have the destruction of Babylon and her false gods, while the closing part of this division, Chap. 48:, reiterates the promise of God's deliverance out of Babylon.

The next or sixth division, Chaps. 49:-59:, is occupied pre-eminently with Christ in His sufferings and rejection and the blessed results flowing from it.

We see Him in chap. 49:as the perfect Servant who is not discouraged in face of apparently fruitless ministry, and who waits until God shall manifest all the blessed results, not merely in the redemption of Israel, but blessing to the world at large.

In chap. 1., we see Him humbling Himself under the hands of His persecutors, giving His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair,-God raising Him up and justifying Him ; a passage, which according to the beautiful manner of God's grace, is applied to the believer in Rom. 8:
Chap. 51:is God's call to His people to harken, to remember they are His chosen ones, to realize that He is bringing near His righteousness, to encourage them not to fear in face of those who reproach them. There is also a responsive call by the people to the Arm of the Lord to awake to deliver them, even as He did Israel out of Egypt, with God's response, calling upon the beloved city Jerusalem to awake, and taking out of her hand that cup of trembling which she rightly has deserved to drink.

Chap. 52:continues this call to awake, and Zion is seen shaking herself from the dust and arising from all that degraded her, while the close of the chapter is an outburst of melody resulting from all this blessing. But before it can be fully entered into, the sorrows and rejections of Messiah have to be described, and this we have in the close of the fifty-second and the entire fifty-third chapters. It is needless to touch upon this most familiar, most precious portion.

Chap. 54:gives the joy of her espousals anew for Israel who has now seen Him whom she pierced, while chap. Iv. holds out the invitation to every one that thirsts, so that the nations themselves come under the blessing of the Lord.

Chap. 56:dwells upon this return of the strangers, of Gentiles, to Him.

Chaps. 57:-59:seem to be a dealing with the moral state of the people, seeking to work in them that repentance which must ever precede a genuine turning to God.

The last division of the book, chaps. 60:-66:, gives the culmination of all. Jerusalem is seen a light for the whole earth in chap. 60:

Chap. 61:, quoted in the Gospel of Luke, shows us the blessed Lord through whom it is to be accomplished.

Chap. 62:gives the exercise of faith until these promises are fulfilled.

Chap. 63:shows us Christ trampling the nations under His feet, a Conqueror over His enemies, yet mighty to save all who will bow to Him.

In chap. 64:we have the longing of the remnant, still pleading that God would come down, yea, rend the heavens and manifest Himself for His people.

Chap. 65:, as the apostle in Romans quotes, foretells the turning of the Gentiles to Christ, that which is being in good measure fulfilled during the period of Israel's unbelief, while in the latter part of the chapter we see Jerusalem established a joy through the millennial earth, with strong intimation that even as the new heavens and new earth abide, so Israel shall continue as a nation before God forever.

Chap. 66:closes the book with the solemn picture of the judgment upon those who still reject and despise the goodness of God.
The Gospel of Luke is most attractive as presenting to us Christ in His humanity. We have seen Him as King of the Jews in the Gospel of Matthew, as Son of God in John, and as the lowly Servant for man's need in the Gospel of Mark; but there is a distinctively human element in Luke which has a charm of its own, presenting our blessed Saviour, we might say, as a Kinsman Redeemer. As is well known, His death in this Gospel, in keeping with the entire narrative, suggests the peace-offering, where both God and the offerer and the priest feast together on their appointed portions.

The preparatory period (Chaps. 1:-4:13) presents our Lord to us alone, as we might say. Here we have much that is not given to us in any other Gospel,-the prediction and birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner, connected with which is a most beautiful picture of the piety of the remnant in Israel at that day,-those who were waiting for the consolation of Israel. How fitting it is that in connection with the birth of the perfect One, praise and joy should flow forth! Thus we have the song of Mary and of Elizabeth, of Zachariah, of Simeon, of Anna, blending with the praise of the angels above and the worship of shepherds around Bethlehem. We also get a glimpse of the boyhood of this peerless One.

Chap. 3:gives us John's ministry preparing the way for Christ, and the opening part of chap. 4:the temptation and proving of our blessed Lord after His baptism.

In the main part of the book, (Chaps. 4:14-18:34,) we have in varied ways the ministry of our blessed Lord in salvation. It is the ministry of grace all through. We can bless God for many touching narratives found alone in this Gospel:His testimony at Nazareth, (chap., 4:); works of power for the helpless (Chap. 5:); a Saviour and not a Pharisee (Chap. 6:); grace for the most unworthy (Chap. 7:); the ministry of the Word and the healing power of grace, yea, resurrection (Chap. viii); the transfiguration, and victory over Satan's power with prophecy of the Cross (Chap. 9:); association with Christ in service, the true gospel, sitting at the feet of Jesus (Chap. 10:); true prayer, and testimony against wilful rejection of Himself (Chap. 11:); provision for every trial, and dependence upon the living God (Chap. 12:); solemn witness to enemies (Chap. xiii); the great supper (Chap. 14:); the Trinity in salvation (Chap. 15:); the future unveiled for saint and sinner (Chap. 16:); the coming of the Son of Man (Chap. 17:); true lowliness, the only way of blessing (Chap. 18:)

The closing division of the book (Chaps. 18:35-24:) shows us our Lord on His way to Jerusalem where He accomplished full restoration of man to God. Here again we see salvation all along the way.

In chap. 19:it is salvation and responsibility; Chap. 20:is the Lord's faithful witness to the leaders of the people for the last time; chap. 21:predicts the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, with a wider outlook, reaching on to the last days and the coming of the Son of Man.

Chap. xxii brings us into the upper room where He breaks bread with His disciples, establishing that memorial supper which we love to eat, and leading us on to Gethsemane, where we see the perfect Man in perfect sorrow.

Chap. 23:shows Him spotless before Pilate and Herod, agreed in this, whatever else they may disagree about, that Christ is to be rejected. We see Him nailed to the cross, while chap. 24:gives us the resurrection, the wondrous journey to Emmaus, the manifestation of Himself in the midst of His gathered disciples, and His rapture to heaven. What a wondrous Gospel is this!

Space will not allow more than a few words as to second Corinthians. It is pre-eminently an epistle of personal experience, and yet, it need not be said, not a selfish one. We see in it the exercises and experiences of the apostle Paul in connection with Christian ministry.

In Chaps. 1:and 2:we see the stability of the ministry expressed in the faithful loyalty of him who was its instrument.

Chap. 3:contrasts the new ministry of the Spirit with the old covenant. Here we see the unveiled glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In Chaps. 4:and 5:this glory is seen in the earthen vessel broken and helpless, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

Chaps. 6:and 7:speak of the various trials and tests of the servant of Christ. Chaps. 8:and 9:dwell upon responsibility as to the ministry of temporal things to those who have need.

Chaps. 10:and 11:narrate the apostle's exercises and experiences as an overcomer in the midst of manifold circumstances, while Chaps. 12:and 13:give a view of a perfect man in Christ and the ministry that partakes of that character as associated with Him.

Gen. 12:8.

The seven lives of Genesis present to us in a very beautiful way the development of the Christ-image in the child of God. We find in Abram the foundation principle of the spiritual life, that of faith. We see how at the very commencement it gives the pilgrim character, and how also trials accompany the way, that the faith possessed may be found to praise and glory and honor.

The exercise of faith is easily recognized in Abram's obedience to the call of God, and we see it in further exercise in the dwelling-place that he takes. It is this which we have before us in this passage. He removes from Haran "unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east." This is the dwelling-place faith takes up when entering in upon the possession of the promised inheritance.

It should be full of meaning for us, since we are called with the same purpose, that of possessing ourselves of the spiritual inheritance of which Canaan is' the type. We have a wide field to cover with our operations, in order that the full blessedness of what we have been called to may be possessed by us. Therefore it is of great importance that we should take up the proper position from which to direct out activities in taking possession.

First of all, we notice that it is to a mountain Abram goes to find his dwelling-place. Faith, when in activity, always rises to the source from whence it flows. As the gift of God, it finds its rise and flow in Him. It ever takes the highest altitude. But it is more particularly what is mentioned as to the location of this mountain, where faith as typified in Abram takes up its abode, that I had before me. We are carefully called to note that the mountain on which Abram pitches his tent is located between Bethel and Ai; and, furthermore, the specific directions of their relative positions to his abode is particularly stated. We can, thank God, seek fullest meaning in every uttered word of His, for " man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

The first point that we have is, '' Bethel to the west." We find that the four winds, and the four directions from which they come as characterized by them, speak of the conflict and unrest of this fallen creation. The west is literally "toward the sea." And the sea always in Scripture speaks to us of the ceaseless trouble and restlessness of this evil scene. Away from the one Source of rest and blessing-God Himself-only the opposite can, of necessity, ensue- a scene characterized by the conflicts of man's evil will! Nevertheless, from the west come the winds laden with the moisture that revives and refreshes the earth, clearly speaking of those influences of delight and pleasure that men find, coming even though they do from a fallen and ruined creation. Men still seek the temporary refreshment they give-a season of passing enjoyment. And it is these influences which play with the greatest power and best success upon the child of God. How easily (can we not all give our assent to it ?) are we lured from the narrow path by present advantages and opportunities which will yield some passing joy and pleasure, or make the path easier and less rough for our feet to tread! Those things that gladden the heart of the natural man-can we not say they often appeal to us in our wilderness pathway ? Ah yes ! how often can we witness to it, can we not, beloved ? And how often, too, have we been drawn away, if not in deed, dare we say not in thought ?

What is it, then, that we have over against the west and its alluring influences ? It is Bethel. How sweet that is, "the house of God"! And what does that speak to us of ? It tells of His presence, and of our abiding in the sanctuary. Is it not just this that we need if we are to overcome those subtle devices of the enemy which he presents to us in the way of which the west speaks. It is the abiding in His presence, making the sanctuary our dwelling-place, that enables us to see the utter emptiness of all this world at its very best. We can, as it were, look down from our place in fellowship with the Father and the Son, the mountain height where faith abides, and in this way gain the victory over it. What is all that the world can give, with its glory and power, compared with what is ours, blessed in Christ with all spiritual blessings ? Shall we not count all else but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord ? Surely, when the infinite treasuries of the wealth of God are open to us, we have all, and abound. We glory only in the cross of Christ, through which our every blessing comes, and it has annulled the world, so that the victory which now overcomes it is our faith-the faith we have in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the second place, we have "Ai to the east." The east would seem to bring before us the thought of opposition, of the enemy's work in the way of enmity and hatred. The original form of the word really means, "what is toward you," in a hostile manner. So that it would signify the opposition of the world, and of Satan through it. It speaks to us of what so often brings the cry of discouragement to the lips, and makes the heart sick-the bitter and hostile assault of the enemy by the many agencies at his command in this world. His darts are ever ready to bring us down, if we do not continually seek the grace that is alone sufficient for the path we tread.

But what is the reckoning of faith, and the position it takes, which gains the victory over this side of things ? Is it not what Ai speaks of, "ruins" ? The counting of this world as condemned and judged- yea, in the very ruins of its judgment! Surely this is what gives us power to stand against all the influences of hostility and hatred which the world has for those who will follow their rejected Master. The reckoning by faith of God's estimate of this scene gives power over it. The east wind is the dry and arid desert wind which withers and parches the earth; and how apt an illustration of the effect and result upon the spiritual life of these contrary influences of which the east speaks, unless they are met in the spirit of which Ai reminds us-the world seen in the ruins of its condemnation and judgment under His hand who is leading us to our home in His glory!

How blessed a position is presented to us in the dwelling Abram takes up, and how sweet to see that after his failure in going down to Egypt he comes back '' unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai"! Faith must ever revert to its stronghold. Notice, too, that it is when dwelling here that Abram is the worshiper. At the very first he builds his altar and calls on the name of Jehovah, but during his wanderings in the south country we do not hear of him doing this; not until he comes back to his former position do we read of him worshiping at the altar again. Surely, as we take in the complete emptiness of this world, and the ruin it is in, and then turn from it to the '' house of God," with all its infinite fulness of joy and blessing, our hearts well up with gratitude to our God. The sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving rise up to Him in the fragrance of the name of Christ.

Finally, what a view Abram is called to take in from this position of his. After Lot's separation from him, he is bidden to, "look from the place in which thou art (this very mountain), northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land on which thou art looking, to thee will I give it, and to thy Seed (Christ was linked with His people) forever-typical of the sight which faith gets of those blessings Christ has made our own in the spiritual Canaan. The whole realm of the unsearchable riches of Christ is spread out before us, for faith to enter into.

May God iii His grace lead us to fully take up our abode in this position between Bethel and Ai, and from it, like Abram, to take in a full view of the inheritance we have been given, that, realizing it thus by faith, we may be able to arise and walk through it, in its length and breadth; for, says He, "I will give it unto thee." J. B. Jr.

Life insurance is a modern invention, though its principle is as old as Adam's transgression in the beginning, the primary motive of which was that he would be"wise," knowing good and evil, and, as a result, able to care for himself, and so take himself out of God's hands who had made him a dependent creature and who had pledged Himself, in all His wisdom and power, for him in that condition.

So man has been ever since striving to make himself independent of God, and happy without God. Cain's posterity is witness to this. They were the men of skill and invention, the inventors of all kinds of musical instruments and instructors of every artificer in brass and iron. Men who could build cities, fill them with art and music, name them after, themselves-and leave God out.

To the Christian all is changed. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,, hath shined into his heart, to give forth the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So he longs to be, if true to Christ, a dependent soul. His ambition is to know Christ and to be found in Him, not having his own righteousness which is of the law (the principle of works), but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. His joy is in the Lord,-in submission to His will and not his own. His hope is translation at the coming of Christ, which may occur at any time. He does not, therefore, expect death to come to him, and is privileged to make no provision for it. His life is bound up with the risen Lord and he lives in constant expectation of His return. For him, then, to insure his life would be to deny the truth of the Lord's coming. It would be for him to make provision for death which may never come.

To the man of the world death must surely come, and insurance for him is consistent. He expects to die and takes out a life insurance policy to provide by it for his family or relatives who may be dependent upon him. His life is lived in. independence of God, and it is only natural that he should die in the same manner. But dependence upon God characterizes the Christian's life; to him death is an uncertainty, and life insurance is wholly inconsistent. His hope is the Lord's coming and if he be true to that precious truth he cannot insure his life.

For the Christian, then, so long as he is here waiting for the Lord, his prayer can be like that of Agur in the Proverbs, "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." Or better yet, satisfied with the preciousness of Christ, and a Father's loving care, he can say with Paul "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." He should want neither independence on the one hand, which might cause him to deny God's goodness and care, nor poverty on the other, which might subject him to impious failure in his own life. His prayer should ever be for contentment and dependence, even as the Lord taught His disciples to pray "Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." The mercy he needs is asked for on account of his showing it to others. Truth and love are the girdle of his loins. Righteousness and peace the comfort of his heart. He has turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. So he lives to declare God's grace and to bear Christ's cross, and regularly lays aside for the Lord's service a part of that in which he has been prospered, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Magnificent accomplishment of the cross of Christ! He who once lived to do his own lawless will lives now by grace to do the holy will of God. All praise to His name for such a transformation. R. H. C.

(Nahum 1. 7.)

These precious words stand out like a glittering gem from the surrounding darkness of threatened judgment upon the enemies of God. ."Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger ?His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies."

The prophets are largely occupied with the denunciation of sin and warning as to approaching judgment. The general impression that one would gain from a mere casual perusal would be that they are unutterably sad and depressing; but this is far from being the case, except that we are constrained to recognize the necessity for so much witnessing against evil in a world where sin has full sway, and where even the professed people of God have turned away from Him to idols. The very existence of prophecy is a recognition of the presence of evil. The prophetic office only came into use after Israel's declension and failure. But let one bow his heart to the holy action of the prophetic word, let him acknowledge the sin pointed out by the finger of divine holiness and turn to the One who smites, and he will find healing close at hand.

Thus, scattered thickly throughout the pages of the Prophets, are many precious gems of promise and comfort for those who own the righteousness of God's judgment. It is only upon His enemies that He will pour out wrath, and He ever delights in mercy. It seems, too, that the value of these precious promises and words of comfort is enhanced by the dark background of their setting, just as the delicate snow-drop is all the more appreciated that is gathered close to the edge of some fearful precipice, near by a roaring cataract.

Let us, then, take all the comfort that we need from this precious verse. "The Lord is good." Oh, how well we know it! How He has shown His goodness, not merely in His acts of kindness and mercy to us, in common with all His creatures, nor even in His special mercies shown to us since we have known in His name all that is included under that blessed thought of a Father's care; but oh, how His goodness shines out in the gift of His goodness, the Son of His bosom, and all the work of redemption accomplished by Him! And this links directly with the next clause. "He is a stronghold in the day of trouble," a safe retreat from wrath, nay, even from His own judgment against sin; He has provided the shelter from that-a stronghold where naught can enter to disturb the feeblest of His people, who, like the conies dwelling in the rock, are safe hidden in this stronghold, Christ Himself. But this is a stronghold not merely for us in view of our final salvation, but in the day of trouble, whenever trouble comes, and or whatever character. We are too prone to confine our blessings to the spiritual sphere, and to exclude God from His own world. While it is true that so long as we live we are exposed to the trials which are the common lot of man, yet it is equally true that in the time of trouble we have what the world has not, a stronghold, a place of shelter.

This brings us to the clause which is more particularly before us, "He knoweth them that trust in Him." In the Old Testament especially, the word "knoweth " means far more than mere recognition or acquaintance. It is a great comfort indeed to realize even this, that God recognizes us, that He is acquainted with those who trust in Him. But " the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous." It is not merely He recognizes or is acquainted with it, but He knows it with approval. He takes delight in it, and so here he approves and marks as His own beloved people those who trust in Him. He finds delight and satisfaction in them. Is the reader of these lines one who trusts in the Lord, who knows Him first of all as a Saviour-God and place of refuge, and who, then, in the daily difficulties of life has learned to confide in Him ? Then let such an one be assured that the eye of the Lord is upon him and His delight is in him.

We may think with comfort of this as we realize how small and insignificant we are in the vast world of which we form an infinitesimal part. Think of all the millions of human, beings upon this earth, each one going his own way, each one engaged in his own business; most, alas, perfectly satisfied to get on without God. His providential care and general goodness are over all His works. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge; but in an especial way, amidst all the teeming crowds of earth, His eye is upon those who trust in Him.

They may be feeble and despised in the eye of man; they may be of but little value or importance, and were they to drop out of the world would not even be missed, and yet the Lord knoweth those that trust in Him. As He sees man going on in his pride and self-sufficiency, piling up the dust of this world's wealth and seeking to get greater and greater power over his fellows, building himself, perhaps, some Babel tower of a great name here, the Lord passes all that by, to the humble home, it may be the sick bed; the tired, weary mother's care; the feeble, trembling hand of old age. Is there a heart that trusts in Him ? He knows it. " He knoweth them that trust in Him," His eye rests upon them with approval and delight, and they shall never be confounded. "As unknown and yet well known." How good it is to remember this! The poor woman who came in the crowd that clustered about the Lord Jesus thought she was alone with her misery, into which no eye had looked. She reaches out the trembling hand of faith and touches the border of His garment. At once the Lord asks:"Who is it that hath touched Me ?" There can be no faith that He does not recognize at once, and she not only has the blessing of healing which her faith craved, but the sweeter blessing of His own word and approval:"Daughter, thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." What a blessed recompense for walking on the shadow side of life-the Lord knoweth us!

And so, when we think even of the company of His people,-thank God, a goodly number, through His grace, who have been brought out of the world, out of nature's darkness into His marvelous light,- here, too, the life of faith is as distinct before the eye of God as though each one of us were alone. The Lord does not look upon His people as a mass, but singles out each one, marking the peculiarities, the special difficulties and needs of each, and the faith of each individual. And so, if our fellow-Christians look upon us with suspicion, if the lowly path of separation which we have been constrained by the love of Christ to take, is one despised by many who have not listened to His voice and are content to go on with much that is grieving to Him, what a comfort it is to remember that "the Lord knoweth them that trust in Him "!

A Peter, leaving the ship with its comfortable support, walking upon the disastrous waves, yea, beginning to sink, may be the object of scorn and derision to those in the ship, but not to His Lord, whose strong arm sustains him, and who recognizes the reality of the feeble faith that would come out to Him, a faith which, while He rebukes, He strengthens and rewards. And so, are we called to tread a lonely path ?-do we find but little comfort of fellowship in the place where God has put us?-do many, even of His own, hold aloof from us or treat us with cold neglect ?-let this sweet and precious word come home to us, with all its consolation, "He knoweth them that trust in Him."

Blessed Lord, if Thine eye be upon us, if Thine eye find delight in the feeble faith that tremblingly walks in Thy path, blessed be the trial and the difficulty, yea, and the reproach, that shut us up more and more to Thine own sufficiency and to Thy love!

Sometimes, too, the clouds gather thick about one; the way seems so dark that he knows not more than one step ahead of him. He is so overwhelmed that he loses the sense of peace and joy that should ever fill the heart. But in the midst of all the trial he can say, with Job:"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." He can say, with that father who brought not merely his demoniac child, but the unbelief of his own heart to the Almighty Lord, and said,"Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." Sometimes our faith may be so sorely tried that we lose sight of it ourselves. We are conscious only of the intensity of the trial. Prayer has ceased to be articulate, and is only "groanings which cannot be uttered;" but "He that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit." He recognizes the reality of the faith which, feeble though it be, rests upon Christ alone. That faith can never fail. " He knoweth them that trust in Him."

Sometimes God's eye alone can detect faith. We look in vain in the Old Testament for evidences of faith on the part of Sarah. We see the laughter of unbelief and the falsehood of weakness that would shrink into itself; and yet, when the Spirit of God records it all, we find there was this precious jewel of faith hidden in her heart. (See Heb. 11:)

Poor Lot seemed to have sacrificed everything in Sodom, and even when dragged out by angelic power seemed utterly bereft of any confidence in God-a shameful contrast to Abraham, the typical man of faith, living in spiritual independence, above all the trials and temptations of the way,-and yet in Lot God recognized that spark of faith, and, according to His own sure word, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench," so He has recorded for us this faith in Lot. "He knoweth them that trust in Him."

We would not for a moment give encouragement to persons to continue in that which dishonors God, nor would we set a premium upon the weakness of faith. Surely we know that our God longs to write of each of us, as He did of the Thessalonians, "Your faith groweth exceedingly." Faith is nourished by that upon which it feeds, but there are times in the life of the tried when it will give comfort to remember that even when we have lost sight of our own faith, if we still cling to God He recognizes it. And so, returning for a moment, our faith is not recognized by the world,-"Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not; " it may not be recognized even by our fellow-Christians, and the stress may be so great that we ourselves lose the consciousness of it; but God's eye is upon us:"He knoweth them that trust in Him."

Our reading during the present month will embrace the wilderness books of Numbers in the Old Testament, with the two epistles of Peter and that to the Colossians in the New. It is important to note that both the literal and spiritual order of the books is the very opposite of what we would expect according to human thoughts. Man places the sanctuary and the presence of God at the end of the journey. He hopes " to get to heaven at last," and meanwhile is fairly comfortable to go on without the sense of God's presence and the holiness which becomes that presence during his life in this world.

Grace here, as everywhere, inverts human order. We are first introduced into the presence of God, and made at home there; our future for all eternity is assured; the gladness of the final day is put into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us, and then we are started off on our journey through this world. How like the grace of God this is! Grace never sets us to earn, but always to enjoy and to develop. So Numbers follows Leviticus. The wilderness experience follows the sanctuary.

It is an extremely interesting and profitable book, giving an account of God's provision for the way, and, alas, of the failure of the people to make use of these provisions as they should, with the unbelief which brought upon them the chastenings of God. But the end of the book brings them at the end of the wilderness with song and joy, and the beginning of conquest.

Space will only allow us to point out the divisions:

1. (Chap. 1:-10:10.) The numbering of the people, and their arrangement in the camp according to divine order. So we see the tabernacle in the centre. About it are grouped the Levites and priests after their families, and each with their appointed service. Then come the tribes, where the same divine order prevails. " Marching orders " are given; for, whether at rest or in motion, God would have His people subject entirely to His control. Here all is perfect, and at last the trumpet sounds for the onward march toward the land of their inheritance. Note the Nazarite and his vow, of the sixth chapter, a most important portion.

2. (Chap. 10:ii-16:35.) Unbelief, weakness, and departure from God; murmuring, jealousy and the culminating sin of refusal to go into the land are the prominent features here. Caleb and Joshua are the only two who will ever enter, of all that generation. This portion culminates with the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abi-ram. What dreadful fruits spring from what seems to be the small root of unbelief, and failure to wholly follow the Lord!

3. (Chap. 16:36-24:). The priest in resurrection God's remedy for all this weakness. Amongst many other things are the budding of Aaron's rod, the portion of the priests in the sacrifices, and the cleansing from defilement by the ashes of the red heifer. Here, too, Aaron passes away, and gives place to his son Eleazar. Resurrection is thus seen throughout the entire portion. How good it is to remember that we have a High Priest who has been brought again from the dead, and who "ever liveth to make intercession for " us!

4. (Chap. 25:-27:) Fresh failure, through mingling with Moabites and a new numbering of the people. Moses reaches his end here.
5. (Chap. 28:-36:) Sacrifices, beginning victories, with provision of the cities of refuge. One prominent feature of this portion is the failure of the two tribes and a half, in their desire to settle on the East side of Jordan.

Altogether, the book gives two prominent thoughts:man's weakness and failure in the wilderness; God's mercy and succor.

Colossians gives us a beautiful New Testament book of Numbers, and shows how we may pass through this wilderness without failure and with an ever-growing joy in the heart, fulfilling all the responsibilities of the way. In brief, it is Christ the Object before us, and Christ in us " the hope of glory." Christ is the theme, and where He fills the heart the ways will answer to God.

The four divisions of the epistle are :

1. (Chap. 1:1-18.) Christ's headship over all, "that in all things He might have the pre-eminence."

2. (Chap. 1:19-29.) The gospel of salvation, and the Church-the body of Christ. Paul's twofold ministry in relation to these.

3. (Chap. 2:) Christ in death and resurrection our sufficiency, and we " complete in Him."

4. (Chaps. 3:, 4:) Resurrection life and the cross, the power for a faithful walk in all relationships of life.

The two epistles of Peter are a beautiful and most helpful provision for our wilderness journey. Peter, of course, does not occupy us with the heavenly things as the apostle Paul. His epistles are pre-eminently for the pilgrim life here, but the heavens are always bright above, even though the pathway be full of trial. One of the key-words of the first epistle is "suffering." Various phases of suffering will be found in each chapter. The divisions of the epistle are:

1. (Chap. 1:1-21.) A living hope linked with the resurrection of Christ and the power of God, pledging us to our inheritance.

2. (Chap. 1:22-2:10.) A holy and royal priesthood of a spiritual kind, replacing the old fleshly relationship of Israel.

3. (Chap. 2:10-3:9.) True sanctification in a life to the glory of God.

4. (Chap. 3:10-4:6.) Suffering in a world where they are subject to trial, and walking in the path of Christ.

5. (Chap. 4:7-5:) The end of all things at hand, and varied responsibilities in view of that.

The second epistle has in view declension, with warning and admonition. There are three divisions:

1. (Chap. 1:) All things provided for us by divine power, and our responsibilities growing out of it.
2. (Chap. 2:) Apostasy traced from its beginning, and the final end that brings in judgment.

3. (Chap. 3:) The destruction of the earth, and the promise of " new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

"I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto Me" (John 12:22).

These words of our Lord were uttered after His last journey to Jerusalem, and at the close of His triumphant entry into that city which was so soon to echo with the cries of, "Away with Him; away with Him; crucify Him!"There is a great stir amongst the people. His own disciples, their fears for the time removed, boldly avowed their allegiance, and vied with one another in paying special honors to Him who made His meek yet triumphant entry into the city according to the prophet.

The Gentiles, too, seemed to respond. There were certain Greeks at the feast who approached the disciples with a view to being introduced into the presence of Him who apparently was so soon to take His great power and reign, to be recognized as Son of David and King of Israel. "Sir, we would see Jesus," they say, and the disciples, short-sighted as usual, were, no doubt, delighted at the thought of this special and marked honor to be paid to their blessed Master. But how different were our Lord's thoughts from even those of devotion to Himself! Well did He know that neither Jew nor Greek could be truly drawn to Him by any manifestation of external power. It was not enough to have the acclaim of the populace. There must be a deeper work if there would be true fruit for God, and so He gives His answer, unsatisfactory indeed to nature, and enigmatic even to faith, save where intelligent:"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." There was only one way in which He could truly have fruit for His Father's and His own joy. He, the true Corn of wheat, must enter into death, and in resurrection alone could He have that clustering about Him of a company of redeemed people whose life was derived from Himself, who would be the fruitage of that sowing.

And so he goes on without hesitation to speak of the path of suffering and anguish which was before Him. His soul was troubled, the hour had come which had cast its dark shadow upon His whole previous life; and yet as He says, it was the hour for which He had come into the world. Should He ask now to be spared from it, that the cup might be removed? Nay, rather, He will ask, as He had ever said, that the Father's glory alone be maintained. God responds from heaven:" I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."

But how incapable of understanding is the heart of the natural man! Some thought that this voice from heaven was nothing more than thunder, and others that perhaps an angel had spoken to the Lord. None realized that this was a divine witness for their sakes, that they might be induced to give up their indifference to Christ and bow the heart to Him.

But all this indifference and failure to understand but emphasizes the absolute necessity of that cross to which He was so patiently going. It was there alone that the prince of the world could be judged and cast out; and if, on the one hand, the world would there receive its judgment, on the other, too, there would be an attraction furnished which would draw weary and heavy laden souls from wherever they might be. " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." Blessed Jesus, how true it is that not even that glory, not even visible or audible manifestations of the presence and approval of God could effectually draw sinners to Thee! Thou must be lifted up, rejected by the earth, refused, as it were, by heaven, lifted up between earth and heaven, and there in the anguish of Thine atoning death, Thou didst furnish the point of attraction where the heart of God meets the guiltiest sinner and gives peace and blessing forevermore.

How we, dear fellow believer, have been drawn to our Lord by this wondrous Cross! We were not driven. No law could drive; no mere fear could impel truly and intelligently to rest upon Christ; but there, when we saw that love in all its immeasurable fulness, when we saw the provision made by a righteous God for the guiltiest and most defiled soul, we were drawn to the arms of One to whom we should give rest and delight, as He gave us rest and peace.

" I will draw all men unto Me! " What a company have been drawn of all classes, from the highest and most self-righteous of men, who could say that as touching the law they were blameless, to the most degraded and sinful! Here, Paul finds his place along side of her of Sychar, and the royal David, and Peter with his denial, and the woman who was a sinner-all find one powerful and effectual attraction] to the same blessed bosom of love.

Nor has the Cross lost its power, nor can it ever lose it. In this day of man's complacency it still remains the same. It is that which we are to confess, concerning which we are to bear witness. In all our private testimony, in all our public preaching, it is to be the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That will draw;-it will draw men from their counting-houses and sinners from their sins. It is the only thing that will draw. And how blessed it is to think that it is because of that Cross, our Lord Jesus-as He comes from glory to take His redeemed home to Himself-will attract them from earth! Could anything hold us here when we hear that glad shout from the sky? Are we not, indeed, as we think of it, in haste to be gone to Him whose heart longs to have us there? How true it is that He draws unto Himself!

Would that we might say a word to touch the heart of the young Christian entering upon the life down here, and, forgetting that there is nothing in earth that can truly satisfy is often sorely tempted to turn aside into devious ways. Oh, let Christ so attract the soul by His cross, that that which is the badge of His rejection be the badge of our rejection. Let it be more than that. Let it be the attraction which allures us out of the world, away from its thoughts, its purposes, its desires-away from any unhallowed association which would stain our white garments. Let the cross of our Lord Jesus do its holy work, and we will indeed be a people for Himself.

"O, draw me, Saviour, after Thee,
That I may run and never tire."

Unavoidably omitted from last number, but inserted here to complete the series.

Our portion for the present month is the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the Revelation in the New. There is a close similarity between the two books, and the points could be traced out profitably. For instance, the cherubim in each, the sealing of the remnant and the description of the city and the river. It must always be remembered that in Ezekiel the standpoint is earthly, while in the New Testament book all is viewed from heaven.

In passing, a word as to the study of prophecy may not be out of place. To say the least, most of God's people neglect prophetic scripture. The historical portions of Old and New Testaments may be fairly well known (in their letter) by those who rarely turn the pages of the Prophets. Then too, where this is not the case, there is danger in going to the Prophets for predictive instruction rather than spiritual. It need hardly be said that the first is of great value, and should be neglected by none. But an ordinary reading of the Prophets will show that prediction forms a small part of their contents. They do not – as no scripture does – gratify mere curiosity. Their address is ever to the conscience and heart, bringing faithful witness of sin, denouncing defiant disobedience, and declaring the sure judgment of God because of this. Then, when the full measure of judgment has been visited, the prophet turns to the blessed recovery of those who bow and confess their sin. Principles of government remain ever the same, and it will be found that while Israel as a nation is in the foreground, the word of divine truth will have a sanctifying effect upon those of this dispensation who have " ears to hear." It may be well to add that this is especially true in a day of decline and failure, like the present.

Ezekiel deals chiefly with the holiness of God and the sin of His people. Part of the nation is already in captivity, and the prophet is with these, while he is the messenger of the final overthrow of the remainder who are still at Jerusalem. The throne of God upon the cherubim, with all the attendant glory, is described. That glory is seen gradually to remove from the sanctuary to the threshold of the temple, and finally to depart entirely from the sinful city.

We may say, roughly speaking, there are four main parts to the book.

1. In the first twenty chapters, the witness is to Israel of their sin and the certainty of judgment. The book of "lamentation and woe" is eaten by the prophet, who, thus identified with his message, is to go to the " rebellious house " of Israel and bear his testimony, " whether they hear or forbear." Indeed their rejection is foretold. With divine pathos is it declared that had the message been to other than His own people, they would have heard. " Surely had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee; but the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto Me" (chap. 3:6, 7). Chap. 4:gives minute details of the famine and the siege of Jerusalem. Chaps. 5:and 6:dwell upon the sin of Israel, greater than that of the nations about, and her corresponding judgment. This doom is described in chap. 7:The abominable idolatries of even the leaders is shown in Chap. 8:, and a striking separation of the godly-known by their sorrow and mourning, let us mark it well, not by their greatness and power-who have the mark of God put upon them. These subjects are continued, with many illustrations in the succeeding chapters. Chap. 16:is noteworthy, as giving a picture of Israel as the unfaithful wife of Jehovah; and chap. 20:
is a most faithful recital of the apostasies of the people even while in Egypt, then in the wilderness, and in the land. God shows how He had intervened for His own name's sake, and had not cut them off as they deserved. Touchingly, at the close, He foretells their recovery, in self-abhorrence at last, to worship Him in truth.

2. From Chaps. 21:to 32:, we have largely the judgment of the nations about Israel, with whom they had been closely connected. Moab, Ammon, Egypt, and notably Tyre, with others come in here for judgment because of their sins and because of their joy at Israel's destruction. The king of Tyrus is manifestly a type of Satan, the prince and god of this world.

3. Chaps. xxxiii-39:bring in the recovery of Israel. The nation is to be raised from its death, and with a new heart will at last delight to serve God.

4. The closing eight chapters have to do with the rebuilt sanctuary, the city and the land, reapportioned among the twelve tribes. It is most beautiful and instructive. The glory of God, which at the beginning had departed, is seen to return to His abode and the name of the city is, "The Lord is there."

Revelation, as has been said, gives the heavenly side of things, and a view of the heavenly city at the close- passing beyond the Millennial period dwelt upon by Ezekiel. Its divisions are familiar:

1. "Things that are" Chaps. 1:-3:, giving in type the entire history of the Church in the seven churches of Asia. Here Ephesus would stand for the Church at the close of the apostolic era; Smyrna answers to the time of persecution, and the tendency to Judaize; Pergamos shows the Church and state united, under Constantine; Thyatira leads on to Rome, which continues to the end, as do the others which follow; Sardis is the Protestant establishment set up in the state churches at the Reformation; Philadelphia is a spiritual revival and a maintenance, in much weakness, of the honor of Christ's word and name, with a fellowship based upon that. Laodicea closes the Church period with a state of satisfied ease which leaves nothing but divine rejection possible.

2. " Things that shall be " Chaps. 4:-22:Here we see the throne of God and the Lamb, to whom all judgment is committed. This will be visited upon the earth after the removal of the true Church. The time will be short -the "great tribulation" lasting but three and half years. We have the judgment of the seals, trumpets and vials, giving in increasing intensity the final woes upon the earth. The sealing of the remnant of Israel, and the salvation of the great multitude out of the nations is announced. The doom of Babylon, the professing Church is recorded. We have also the account of the "beast," the head of civil government in the Roman empire, and the Antichrist, the leader of apostate Judaism. Finally, after all judgments have been inflicted, heaven is opened and the Son of God, with His attendant army of angels and ransomed saints, issues forth. Antichrist and the beast are cast into the lake of fire, Satan is bound, and the Millennial reign begins with its glories and blessings. We see the heavenly city which will, both during the Millennium and throughout eternity, be the abode of God and the Lamb, and the heavenly redeemed. The solemn final judgment of the wicked dead is recorded, at the close of the Millennium, and all evil finally under restraint, and Christ having fully glorified God, nothing is left but the desire for His speedy coming to bring all this to pass.
What themes are here to occupy mind and heart! May they have a sanctifying effect upon us all.

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

Man is not elevated by intellectual pretensions; for he never gets, nor can get, beyond himself. What elevates him is heart-intercourse with what is above him; what truly elevates him is heart-intercourse with God, fellowship (wondrous word!) with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. But, even where the heart has not found its blessed home there through grace, this principle morally elevates; for it at least puts the natural conscience directly before God, and refers the soul, in its estimate of
good and evil, personally and immediately to Him. There may be self-will and failure, but the standard of responsibility is preserved for the soul. J. N. D.

" And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."-Matt. 7:3-5.

We have all noticed that our nerves are of varying degrees of sensitiveness; certain parts of the body being much more susceptible to sensation than others. Nor is this an accident or an indication of an unhealthy state, but quite the reverse. The eye, for instance, is far more sensitive to a foreign object than the hand, and for a very simple reason-that it would be more easily injured. So, also,, with the nerves of the lips and tongue. They are so exceedingly sensitive that the presence of the smallest foreign object that would be likely to be injurious is detected. So exceedingly sensitive are the nerves of the eye and the mouth that foreign objects seem to be much larger than they really are when coming in contact with these. Thus, a cinder in the eye, so minute as to be scarcely detected by another person, seems a large thing to the sufferer. A slight cavity in a tooth, which would be almost passed over by the eye, feels to the tongue as though it were very large. A bone or foreign substance is detected in the same way. From this apparent enlargement of the objects that come in connection with them, these nerves have sometimes been called "magnifying nerves;)" not as giving undue importance to the objects, but as necessarily giving warning of the presence of any foreign matter that would do us injury; and in this, as in all His works of wisdom, we can see the goodness of our God in protecting us from what otherwise might be a very real danger.

Transferring all this to the realm of spiritual truth, and remembering that all truth is one, the application is very simple, and yet most important. In fact, our blessed Lord, in the passage which we have quoted above, applies this to us. That which is in our brother's eye, so far as we are concerned, is but a mote. To him, if he is conscious of its presence, it is indeed a beam, a large and distressing substance. Therefore, as our Lord says, that which is personal to ourselves is of far greater importance than that which concerns another. As we see, it is not that we would ignore that which concerns our brother, but we are really in no condition either to measure the trouble or help our brother if we ourselves have a beam in our own eye. Instinct leads one first to cast the object out of his own eye. Then his vision will be unhindered in helping his brother. This is one application made so plain in the words of our Lord that we need but point to them for the evident meaning.

If two persons commit the same fault under the same circumstances, all things being equal, God looks upon the fault as the same in each, of course; but each of those persons will look upon his own fault as of a far greater character, so far as he is concerned, than the fault of his brother. This is as it ought to be; but, alas, while our eye or tongue may be exquisitely Sensitive to the presence of any foreign object, and thus lead to the removal of it at once, our spiritual senses are too often dull, and not sensitive to that which should affect them. We need not say that this is due to no imperfection in the spiritual nature, that which is born of God, and whose every faculty has been adjusted by Himself; but we become hardened by living in a world where everything is hostile, and if we do not keep in communion with the Source of blessing we lose that sensitiveness to what surrounds us which is our main safeguard against it.

Look for a moment at our blessed Lord as He passed through this world. For one like Him there must have been constant suffering. Well did He merit the name, "Man of sorrows." One whose spiritual sensation was perfect, whose nerves, as we might say, were all in perfect accord and adjusted to the mind and thought of God, felt everything that was contrary to His Father. And what, we might ask, was there that was not contrary to the blessed God in a world which had turned from Him ? Was He thrown with the great, the wise, the religious so-called, our blessed Lord found only, in various ways, that which would jar upon the spiritual senses. So, too, when He was dealing with the masses,- carnal selfishness, gross unbelief, to say nothing of the dark sins which blotted the lives of many, must have ever given Him constant pain. And yet nothing was ever allowed to intrude into those spiritual organs of vision and taste which would have marred or injured the perfection of His manhood. Our Lord shrank from the very presence of sin so perfectly that He passed through life unscathed, without a blemish, or without a spot. When 'we compare ourselves with this perfect One, how we must realize the dullness of those spiritual nerves which, on the contrary, should be particularly sensitive!

How little do we, beloved, as we are thrown in contact with self – will, pride, self – righteousness, worldliness, envy, and the various forms of fleshly evil, shrink from contact with it and realize the need of separation from it all! Motes-alas, none too small-fly into our eyes and mar our spiritual vision, and we are not conscious of them, while the very presence of such seems to distort our view and oftentimes magnify that which may be in another's eye to something far worse than it really is.

But there is a very simple and evident remedy for this condition of things. As we said before, we are not so constituted spiritually. '' He that is born of God doth not commit sin." All his spiritual faculties are present. There is therefore nothing lacking in the believer. There must be, then, some hindrance to the activities of that new nature which was perfectly and solely in activity in our blessed Lord. The remedy, then, for this spiritual dulness is, first of all, judging that which interferes with our vision. " First cast out the beam out of thine own eye." No matter how great the evil in others, and how real our responsibility in connection with it, we can have no real power to deal with it save as we ourselves are in proper adjustment with the Lord. The beam must, dear brethren, be removed, if we are to use the surgeon's instrument in helping our brother with the mote. Let us, then, learn to judge ourselves; learn increasingly to be in the presence of our Lord with the Spirit ungrieved-above all, filled, controlled, saturated, we may say, with His Word, so that we shall think the thoughts of God as given to us in His Word. This will make us quick to detect the presence of anything in us that is contrary to His Word. The blessed Spirit of God delights to be active in us if He is unhindered. We may be sure that He will point out all in our ways that is not according to God, that He will check everything of a worldly or selfish character in us, and keep us constantly sensitive, if we will allow Him to do so. Our spiritual sensibilities will thus be practically magnifying, if we may use that expression, although it is not really magnifying, but simply properly sensitive to the presence of that which would be a great injury to us. Oh, what a help we could be to others, if, instead of weakly and painfully being occupied with their shortcomings, we were with purpose of heart seeking to clear our own spiritual vision! The very fact of our doing so would set a silent example which others would unconsciously imitate, for we can thank God that spiritual activities are imitated by the saints just as really as the energy of the flesh is also contagious.

We have been speaking of our relations to one another in illustration of the passage quoted at the beginning. We might apply the same principle of spiritual sensitiveness to the organs of our spiritual taste. The mind and heart need food just as the body does. We take it in through ear and eye largely in this day by reading, and, of course, by association with others. How important, then, it is that the conscience, the spiritual nerves of taste, should be fully active, that nothing which we read, nothing which is to form the food of our souls, will be received that has foreign or injurious matters in it. Here is the precious word of God, pure food; and the most tender conscience can never detect the slightest particle of that which would injure in it. But, supposing we are reading that which professes
to. be a ministry of that Word, that which professes to be the truth of God come down to us through human channels,-to preserve our illustration, some dish prepared by human hands from the materials which God's word supplies. Here at once there is a danger of foreign admixture, and the spiritual senses of taste must be unhindered, to detect this. A teaching may be never so sweet, never so attractive, and yet within it there may lurk that which would bring poison and death. It is to be feared-nay, alas, we know it is only too true-that much of the teaching from modern pulpits has this admixture of error in it. Men who claim to be presenting the truth of God will tell us that His precious Word is not all to be believed, that it was written by fallible men, and that modern thought and research must be allowed to sift out the myths or stories which our fathers used to feed upon. Even Christ may be presented in a most attractive way, as is frequently done by those who would hold Him up as an example of lovely humanity for our imitation. And yet there may be the subtle poison lurking within this attractive food which makes it deadly to the soul. The proper deity of our holy Lord may be denied, the perfect sufficiency of His atoning work, and other fundamental truths of similar character. If the heart is in communion with God, no such teaching will be allowed to pass further than the guardians to the heart. It will be rejected as that which is foreign, and the whole class of such teaching will be refused as dangerous. It would be useless to say to a spiritual person, "There is much that is good in such teaching." The reply would be at once, "I must reject it all because of the evil that is in it. I can find all the good in the word of God, and in that which magnifies it."

Passing on a little further, let us see to it that nothing hinders the sensitiveness of the conscience in our conversation, in our ways, in all that is connected with us. Let us indeed be "of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord," and we will find in the joy of an ungrieved Spirit, in the elevation and liberty of soul given by Him, ample recompense for what the world might call over-sensitiveness and needless particularity. Let us learn, beloved, to magnify the evil that is in ourselves, if present, in order that we may reject it absolutely. This will not make us harsh with our brethren, but will give us, indeed, that true grace which never loves at the expense of holiness, but would seek to deliver others, even as we are ourselves delivered.

Our readings during the present month are to be the book of Judges, with its companion Ruth, in the Old Testament, and Paul's epistles-i Corinthians, Galatians, and i and ii Timothy-in the New. There is a common thought in all these of responsibility as to corporate relationships, as well as departure, which we find in Judges and 2 Timothy, together with doctrinal failure, which is brought out in Galatians.

The book of Judges gives us in the main the course of declension after the death of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him. The energy of faith declines, the failure to completely drive out and annihilate the enemy is all too manifest in the alliances made with them, and the idolatry resulting therefrom. Along with this are most touching and instructive reminders of God's patient love for His poor, silly people, again and again raising up judges for their deliverance when they had involved themselves in such disaster as brought them on their faces in confession to Him.

I. (Chaps, 1:-3:4.) This first division deals with the more general independence and rebellion of the people in failing completely to carry out the purposes of God as to their enemies. There will be seen throughout this portion how the nations were allowed to remain, under one plea or another; either because they were too strong, or because they were put under tribute and became bondsmen ; but whatever the pretext, the effect is always the same. An enemy not thoroughly conquered will conquer us in the end-a principle as true for us who are in the enjoyment of our heavenly blessings in Christ as for Israel of old.

II. (Chaps, 3:5-16:) In this portion we have the varied different bondages and deliverances of the people. Here the enemy in each case represents some special form of spiritual evil, and the deliverer the divine remedy to enable us to overcome the evil. It will be well briefly to mark these various stages:

1. The rule of the king of Mesopotamia (Aram) (chap. 3:5-11). Here it is pride, and independence of God. The deliverer is Othniel, "the lion of God," the nephew of Caleb, the whole-hearted one. This is the opposite of human independence, for where the strength is of God there is nothing in us but weakness.

2. (Chap. 3:12-31.) The Moabites and Philistines. Here we have the incubus of profession in its various forms, and the deliverer is Ehud, " Confession." Reality, with its keen knife of the word of God, will put an end to mere formalism.

3. (Chaps. 4:5:) The rule of Jabin, "understanding," carnal reasoning, the worship of the intellect as contrasted with faith. The victor here is Barak, "Lightning," but led on and controlled by Deborah, " the word," suggesting together that word of God, which is " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." Faith sings its song of triumph in chap. 5:

4. (Chaps. 6:-10:5.) The rule of Midian, "strife," the invasion of the world, with its accompanying inward and outward strifes. Worldliness eats up all the fruit of the land as the grasshoppers would. The deliverer here is Gideon, " the cutter-down," the man who learned in the secret of God's presence his own nothingness, and then went forth with all the conscious weakness, but with the power of God resting upon him, to cut down the high things, beginning with the altar and grove of Baal, in his own father's house.

5. (Chaps. 10:6-12:) The Ammonites. These were similar to the Moabites, as being naturally related to Israel. They seem, however, to represent that spirit of rationalism which intrudes into the things of God, and may well answer in part at least to the higher criticism of the day. The deliverer here is Jephthah, "the one who opens "-that is, the enlightener who uses the word of God aright. God's word is the great remedy for all forms of rationalistic unbelief. Jephthah's harshness is the extreme into which Satan will sometimes lead faithful men. They make no distinction between their brethren and the enemy, and slaughter all alike.

6. (Chaps. 13:-16:) The Philistines, representing ecclesiastical corruption, the form of godliness without its power. Samson, " Sunlike "-"as the sun when he goeth forth in his might"-here, the Nazarites, represents that separation of spirit which alone can overcome mere formality and ecclesiastical pretension. Alas, in himself Samson exemplified the reverse of all this, becoming a captive in the hands of those over whom he had so often won signal victories-a word for us.

III. (Chaps. 17:-21:) The hopelessly corrupt state of the people manifest in various ways. Chaps. xvii, 18:show the beginning of idolatry. Chaps, 19:-21:give the humbling results of departure from God seen in the disregard of every human tie, no matter how sacred.

The entire book will thus be seen to be the history of a downward course, with gleams of comfort wherever faith humbles itself in acknowledgment of the true condition of the people and lays hold upon the gracious provision of God.

The lovely history of the book of Ruth shows us that there was much that went on individually even during the time when as a nation Israel was taking swift downward steps. The typical lessons are here very clear and beautiful. Israel is seen as having forfeited her rights to be considered the people of God, and coming back at last, under stress _of need, to the place which they had left. This is typical of the latter-day restoration of the people-Naomi, the widowed mother-in-law, representing the broken and hopeless condition of the people, and the young Moabitess, Ruth, the beginnings of that faith which lays hold upon God while acknowledging that they have no claim upon Him.

The three divisions of the book are simple:

1. (Chap. 1:)The loneliness of departure from God.

2. (Chap. 2:) Help for the needy; gleaning in the fields of grace. Boaz is here a type of the risen Christ, " In Him is strength."

3. (Chaps. 3:and 4:) Full redemption by the kinsman-redeemer, and every barrier to blessing set aside.

There is also a most lovely line of gospel truth running through the entire book, and many individual applications to our own souls' experience which the attentive reader will find.
i Corinthians shows us the Church as the earthly vessel of testimony, as Ephesians presents it in its heavenly character. There are four main divisions to its sixteen chapters.

1. (Chaps. 1:-10:) The exclusion of all that is not of the Church-the world, with all its wisdom (chaps. i-4:); the flesh, with all its corruptions (chaps. 5:-7:); and the devil, with all his wiles (chaps, 8:-10:).

2. (Chaps. 11:-14:) Evil having now been excluded, the fellowship of the assembly can be enjoyed-chap. 11:, the Lord's Supper; 12:, the activities of the body; 13:, love the bond of perfectness; and 14:, the sufficiency of the Spirit in the gatherings of the saints.

3. (Chap. 15:) Resurrection and the manifestation in glory.

4. (Chap. 16:)Exhortations and greetings of love.

The epistle to the Galatians is God's remedy for the bondage of legalism into which the saints were being allured. Its divisions are:

1. (Chaps. 1:and 2:) Paul's gospel derived from and maintained in dependence upon Christ alone. Men are here excluded.

2. (Chap. 3:)The mutual exclusiveness of law and faith. If we are under one, we are not under the other.

3. Chaps. 4:-5:6.) The liberty of the Spirit and the adoption of sons. Here we have the two seeds of the bond-woman and the free-types of law and grace.

4. (Chaps. 5:7-6:18.) The walk in the liberty and power of the Spirit.

The epistles to Timothy are the practical provisions for one who had the care in establishing the early assemblies.

The first epistle is devoted to positive directions for the assembly; while the second, written at a time when the inevitable failure and declension had come in, gives the path for faith in separation from the abounding evil.

The divisions of i Timothy are:

1. (Chap. 1:) The sovereignty of God and the divine basis of grace.

2. (Chap. 2:) Man's feebleness and need fully met by prayer and dependence.

3. (Chap. 3:) The holiness of God's house, and all things judged according to that.

4. (Chap. 4:) Creature apostasy creeping into the Church.
5. (Chaps. 5:,6:) Admonitions and warnings' and provision for the way.

The second epistle, as we have said, provides a plain path for faith when ruin has come in.

1. (Chap. 1:) The unchanging character of God and the sufficiency of Christ the basis upon which all rests.

2. (Chap. 2:1-13.) The good fight of faith. The saint is seen both as warrior and husbandman-an important thing to notice.

3. (Chap. 2:14-26.) The great house of profession and separation from vessels to dishonor, to be " meet for the Master's use."

4. (Chap. 3:)Testing for the "perilous times."

5. (Chap. 4:) Final warnings in view of the coming day. The melancholy apostasy of individuals and salutations to faithful men.

BETWEEN CHRIST, IN HIS VARIED GLORIES, AND THE SOUL.

There is a fulness in Christ which the ripest I saint has never exhausted and never will. It is indeed all the fulness of the Godhead bodily " which dwells in Him, and our ever increasing delight throughout eternity will be to search the heights and depths of God's purposes in Him, and to know more and more of that "love of Christ which passeth knowledge."

There are many aspects in which we can look at our Lord, in each of which He is seen in a special beauty connected with that character, an Object of special delight for our hearts. Thus we know Him as Saviour and Sacrifice, as Priest and Advocate, as Head of the Church, as the corning Lord.

Let us for a little dwell upon Him in each of these characters, familiar as they are to us, all the dearer because familiar, never in danger of their becoming too familiar.

We may well believe that every Christian has at some time in his experience thought:What is the exact point of contact between myself and Christ_? Of course the sinner must learn this first of all, and yet the saint needs ever to remember it too. Even where there may not be-because of the truth which God has so graciously unfolded to us-the distressing doubts which would lead the child of God to ask such dishonoring questions as-

" ' Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought:
Do I love the Lord or no,
Am I His or am I not ? "

yet there is often a vagueness, a faint suspicion that something is required, some qualification needed for the enjoyment of Christ in His various characters. The exact point of contact between the soul and Himself is not always clearly seen and thus much of the blessing, much of the joy of communion is lost.

Let us then look at Him first as Saviour. Blessed Lord, His very name means this. ' 'Thou shalt call His name, Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins;" a twofold Saviour, from the guilt and the thraldom of sin. How much this means ! To be saved, to be delivered from the wrath to come, from the judgment of a holy God against sin and the companionship of Satan and the lost for evermore. To have no accusing conscience, to be able to look forward with confidence to the judgment, knowing that we who have believed shall not come into judgment, but have passed out of death into life ! It is as Saviour that He is first known, the One who saves. But whom does He save ? The babe in Christ knows well the answer; and shall the "young men" and " fathers " ever forget it ? Paul gloried in it, revealed in it; and in his oversight of the churches giving charge to Timothy, making provision for the orderly government of that which was so dear to the heart of the Lord, he gives a prominent place to this truth which was ever fresh in his own heart:"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and adds "of whom I am chief."

The point of contact, then, between the Saviour and the soul is the fact that we are sinners. It is sinners who need a Saviour; and should the enemy ever tempt the new-born soul to doubt his acceptance, should he ever succeed in getting him to look within for proofs of salvation, let him remember that the point where he met with Christ as Saviour was not his worthiness, his attainments, his experience; he could bring nothing but sin to Him. It was his sinnership that entitled him to the Saviour, and for the saved as well, his title to the Saviour abides the same. He was a sinner, lost in himself, now nothing more than that; all that has been wrought in him has been purely grace. Since then, so far as his title to Christ as Saviour is concerned, it abides forever the fact that he was a sinner. If he were in himself alone, still that.

So, too, when we look at our Lord as the Sacrifice, the same simple truth is seen. What peace it gives to the conscience to look at the sin-offering, to see the sins confessed and laid upon the head of the victim, which is then slain, its blood shed and sprinkled upon the altar and it consumed without the camp. How faith delights to rest upon that sacrifice and in face of all those sins, more in number than the hairs of our head, what peace and rest we have as we behold the Sacrifice, '' the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."

It is to this that we are recalled whenever we gather about the table of our Lord. His blood was shed for the remission of sins. So, too, with all the other aspects of His sacrificial work as seen in the peace, trespass and burnt-offerings. What a value there is to this sacrifice! How it outweighs infinitely all the guilt of all the world-in value ! How the blood of Christ speaks before God of that in which He finds rest, of that which satisfies His justice, so that He can be "just and the justifier of Him that believeth in Jesus," so that His righteousness and His love blend together in declaring our acceptance eternal.

And where is the point of contact between the soul and this precious sacrifice of Christ ? For whom was His blood shed ? For whom was the sacrifice offered ? For ripe saints ? for faithful servants ? for those who can show some fruits of grace in their hearts ? Ah, no, here again we come back to that simple fundamental truth, "Christ died for the ungodly." How do I know His blood was shed for me? Because I am ungodly. And so the point of contact between my soul and this sacrifice is my sinnership again.

Let us pass in with Him now into the holiest of all, where we behold Him in those spotless robes, appearing as our priest before God and there ever living to make intercession for us. Let us think of
Him too, in the garments of glory and beauty, every fibre of which, every jewel that sparkles upon it, speaks of some precious character that He bears before God for us. We think of His sympathy, of His succor in times of temptation, of the strength of His mighty arms, of the tenderness of His loving heart, of the savor of that anointing which is upon him, a fragrance in which we too are accepted before God. All our feeble prayers, all our reaching out after God, is linked with His mighty intercession, is presented in His Name by Himself:"By Him, therefore, let us offer continually unto God the sacrifice of praise." What joy it is to dwell upon our Priest. If the sacrifice has given us boldness to enter into the holiest, the presence of the Priest there gives us liberty and joy to worship.

And where is the point of contact between this great High Priest and our souls? What fitness, what attainment is required to enable us to say, He is my High Priest? Ah, here again we come back to that simple, most blessed fact that it is nothing in ourselves now any more than at the beginning. It was as sinners that our Priest laid down His life .for us, offered the Sacrifice. We cannot think of Him as Priest apart from the sacrifice, and we cannot think of the Sacrifice apart from the fact that we were sinners. How sweet for the child of God in all simplicity then to remember that his sinnership is again the point of contact between himself and all the infinite and effectual ministry of that High Priest!

The thought of the Advocate is similar, though distinct. It shows us the Lord as our Representative before God, the One who has full charge of all that concerns our standing and welfare before God,
who has entered into the Father's presence to be before Him forever as the witness of our own acceptance there too. More particularly, His advocacy is seen in connection with the failures of His people. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous " (1 Jno. 2:1:)Here is an Advocate who never loses a case, who is able to present all the details before His God and Father. The accuser of the brethren is there to present their shortcomings and unworthiness in all their awful character before God, but what can an accuser do in the presence of such an Advocate, who stands there and as the answer to every accusation, can show the marks of that sacrifice which has anticipated all, even the sins, forgetfulness and self-righteousness of the believer?

And how effectual, too, is this advocacy seen in the restoration of the child of God, the washing of the feet down here in the power of the Holy Spirit, through the word of God, which is the result of that work on high! Oh, who that has grown cold or sinned (and, alas, brethren, who of us has not had more or less humbling experience of these declensions) but rejoices in the fact of that advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous ?

It is hardly necessary to ask where the point of contact between the soul and Him as advocate is.
His advocacy is in view of our sin, but He is the propitiation for our sins. So here sinnership is again
the simple title, may we not say, to the services of our Advocate?

Who has not felt the heart within him leap with exultation at the burning words of the apostle in the' epistle to the Ephesians, "Head over all things to the Church"? We see Him quickened out of the dead, brought forth by the power of God, raised up, far above all principality and power and might, dominion, thrones and kingdoms and all else are made subject to Him, He is over all; and the heart has rejoiced to sing:

" O, Jesus, Lord, 'tis joy to know
Thy path is o'er of shame and woe."

We have seen Him there as Head, Head over all things, and, wondrous to say, Head to the Church which is His body. Linked by the Holy Spirit to a glorified Christ, He our Head and life there on high, we His members, sustained, knit together, channels for blessing one to another-the body of Christ upon earth soon to be displayed too in glory throughout eternity! Who can overestimate the sanctifying effect of this truth of our union with our Head in heaven? Rightly grasped, it not merely corrects the walk, securing a constant and proper testimony here, but it transfigures us and makes us a heavenly people.

Since our Head is in heaven, we also belong there; how this breaks a score of ties and settles a thousand questions which might harass the soul and fail of a clear answer were this not seen! Look at the corporate truth of the headship of Christ, one body upon earth, indwelt by one Spirit, to be actuated and controlled by one Mind, the same life, the same love, the same care in all the members. Oh, how the head hangs with shame and the heart is saddened as we think how the. neglect of this great fact has marred the whole testimony of the Church of God upon earth!

But we are only touching upon these truths. Our thought is to find the point of contact between the soul and our Lord here as in the other characters. If the first chapter of Ephesians shows us Christ raised from the dead and exalted on high in the heavenly places as Head of the Church, we have only to read on a few verses in the second to see that He is not alone. We are seen as those who were "dead in trespasses and sins." It was in our death, that quickening life was imparted, "quickened together with Christ " with that resurrection life of His beyond the power of death forever, a life therefore which can never be lost or forfeited; raised up together with Him, out of the place of death, out of the dominion of death, out of our graves and away from our grave-clothes; more yet, seated in Him in the heavenly places in Christ on high, our Head, our Representative before God, and soon to be with Him there, that in the ages to come God may exhibit in us "the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus."

Dear fellow-believer, does not your heart rejoice as you think that the point of contact between your soul and Christ as Head over all things was when you lay dead in your sins? Here again, not merely your sinnership but your absolutely helpless condition-but for God's sovereign grace-is emphasized; and if unbelief should dare to ask the question, How can I know that I am united to Christ as Head ? we again do not look back at an unblemished record of faithful service or aught else, but answer, He found me when I was in my blood and said to me, Live!

Lastly we think of Him as the coming One, who shall fulfil the yearning of His heart and take His blood-bought people to be with Himself at home forever. We shall be like Him, then, for we shall see Him as He is. Even our vile bodies He will change and make "like unto His glorious body,"-no weakness nor sickness then ; no circumstances of distress through which we now pass, no wilderness in which our feeble footsteps often falter, all that gone; and it may be at any moment that we shall hear His cry of joy which awakens responsive joy in our hearts:"Arise My love, My dove, My fair one, and come away!" Oh, it is a blessed hope, to sustain and cheer the heart in the' darkest hour, no matter how sharp the trial, how bitter the cup, it is only for a little while and will soon be over, happily over, forever. The Lord is coming ; His word is, " Behold, I come quickly."

What gives us confidence as we think of that coming ? What will enable us to respond with all our hearts and souls, "Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus ? " One verse of Scripture seems to link together two things which throughout eternity will never be sundered:"the Lord's death, till He come." His death and His coming again are linked together. As we see in Phil. 3:we look for a Saviour, and so as we think of His coming, it is One who died to save us. Our title to have confidence in view of that coming is the fact that He is our Saviour, the Saviour of sinners, and so we are brought back again to that great basic fact, my sinnership is what entitled me to all that Christ is,

"Title I have none beside ;
"Tis for sinners that He died."
Dear fellow-believer, does your heart take in the simplicity of this ? Do you not see how it will en-

able you, at all leisure from unbelieving doubts, all the whispers of Satan, all the sense of your own un-worthiness, to enjoy Christ in all His perfection? You bring nothing as your share; you remember nothing as your share, save the fact that it was your need that brought Him out of heaven as it is your need that occupies Him there now. Blessed, precious Lord, throughout eternity we will praise Thee for this, and can sing now, as we will then-

"I stand upon His merit,
I know no safer stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land."

THE MAN AFTER THE FLESH.

Chapter 3:GOD'S CARE FOR HIS OWN HONOR. (1 Sam. 5:, 6:) (Continued from February, 1901.)

God’s judgment is not confined to the overthrow of Dagon; He will touch not merely the idolatry of the people, but their prosperity and lives as well. As He had previously in Egypt not only poured out His plagues upon the people, but upon their sources of livelihood, so He does here. His hand was laid heavily upon them and He smote them with emerods, a plague similar, probably, to the boils of Egypt and to what is now known as the Bubonic plague, repulsive and deadly in its effects. He had said:"Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment" (Ex. 12:12), making the infliction so sweeping that neither people nor gods could ever again be pointed to as having been immune. So He would do in the land of the Philistines, no less effectually, if on a smaller scale, stopping every possible opportunity for unbelief to lift its head again.

And do we not see mercy in all this? Had Dagon merely been overthrown, the unbelief of the people and their half pity for their god would have found some ready excuse which would have enabled them to patch up their pride and their wounded god at the same time and go on with the old idolatry; but if the judgment affects their property as well, and if the little mice, so contemptibly insignificant, can yet ravage their fields so as to rob them of the staff of life, they are forced to acknowledge here a hand whose weight they begin to feel and from under whose chastening they cannot escape. And when the blow comes still nearer and the stroke of God is felt upon their own bodies, with the dead all about them, surely they must be compelled to bow and own the rod.

So God's judgments are designed,-if there be the least vestige of submission to Him, the least desire to turn from wickedness to Himself,-to break down the pride and unbelief of the heart. This is the effect of all chastening upon those who are properly exercised thereby:'' What son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" God's people from the beginning have been acquainted with the rod, and how many have had occasion to bless God infinitely for the overthrow of idols which they had set up, the loss of property, of health, yea even of this life itself! May we not all say:"I know, Lord, that in faithfulness Thou hast afflicted," and add:"It is good for me that I have been afflicted. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept Thy word "?

So God was not merely vindicating His own honor, but had they only known it, was speaking in no uncertain way, in mercy, to the godless nation among whom He had permitted His glory to be brought. What an opportunity indeed for repentance ; we might almost say what a necessity for it. And yet, alas, it was unavailed of; showing how hopelessly and permanently alienated from any desire toward Himself were the Philistines, who, like the other nations cast out by Joshua, had filled up the measure of that iniquity which, in the days of Abraham, God in His patience had declared not yet full, and whom indeed it would be a mercy to sweep from the land.

And as we look at the world about us, under both the goodness and the severity of God, receiving His blessings, and experiencing the weight of His hand in providential dealings, do we not see how all this is calculated both to lead man to think of God and to repentance? Will it not be a weighty item in that awful account which the world must one day face? Particularly is this true in Christendom, where the light of revelation and the gospel of God's grace alike serve to illumine all that is darkest in His providence. Men will be without excuse. The very plea that they sometimes make, that for one who has had so much suffering in this life there must surely be a relief in the life to come, will but give added solemnity to the awful doom. If they had suffering in this life-trial, privation, bereavement, sickness, what effect did it have upon them? Did it bring them to see the vanity of earthly things, the uncertainty of life, the power of God, and above all their own sin before Him? Did it drive them to Christ, if they would not be wooed and drawn by the love of God? Oh, what an awful reckoning for the world! Woe to those indeed upon whom neither the love and mercy of God, nor the smiting of His hand have any effect!

At least, however, His own honor and His own goodness are vindicated. Men will not be able to say that God did not make His presence manifested. They Will not be able to say that the sun of prosperity shone so uninterruptedly that they were never forced to think of eternal things. God's cup indeed is "full of mixture," and the mercy and the judgment alike vindicate His ways and show that deep desire of His heart, "Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Such lessons, surely, we are warranted in gathering from this judgment upon the Philistines, though undoubtedly the main lesson was for His redeemed people. To bring upon them a deeper sense of their own unfaithfulness, and to show the power and holiness of God unchanged, were the primary objects.

What Israelite, as he looked back at the defeat at Ebenezer (chap. 4:i), with the ark carried off in triumph by the Philistines, and then at prostrate Dagon and the plagues upon the Philistines, could fail to learn the lesson so plainly taught? Must he not say, " 'Our God is holy'-He will not leave His honor to the unclean hands of wicked priests or an ungodly nation. But that which we could not care for, He still maintains"?

But how touching it is to think of the desires of our blessed God as manifested in all this judgment on the Philistines! He dwells amid the praises of His people. He cannot dwell in a strange land. His heart is toward them, though in faithfulness He may have had to turn from them; and all that went on in Philistia but showed that divine restlessness of love which could not be at peace until it reposed again in the bosom of His redeemed ones. What love we see here! Veiled it may be, but surely not to faith. He will go back to the land from whence He has been driven by the faithlessness of His people, and not by the power of their enemies. He will bestir Himself to return to them if indeed there is a heart to receive Him, but in that divine equipoise of all His attributes His love must not outrun His . holiness. Hence the object lesson before the eyes of all.

The nature of these plagues, no doubt, is typical here, as in the similar circumstances in Egypt. The emerods or tumors suggest the outward manifestation of a corruption which had long existed within, and which needed but the opportunity to display itself in all its hideous vileness. How solemnly true it is that to "receive the things done in the body" will be in a very real sense the essence of retribution! " Let him alone" is the most awful sentence that can be pronounced against any, and to allow the hell that is shut up in the heart of every unsaved man to express itself is an awful foretaste of that eternal, doom where the knowledge of one's self means the; knowledge of sin. True indeed it is that there will, be the infliction of wrath also, but will not this be felt in the reaping of what has been sown? "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Permanence of character-solemn and awful thought for those who are away from God! The world little realizes, or makes itself easily forget, that beneath the fair exterior of a life no worse than that of most, there is hidden the possibility for every form of sin. It is out of the heart that "proceed evil thoughts, murders, blasphemies," and all the rest. So God was merely letting the wickedness of the wicked be manifest.

So, too, with the mice, as we said, small and contemptible in themselves; who would have thought that those fields of golden grain, with their abundant store, could be devoured by these trifles? So, to-day, in the world, men despise the trifles as they call them, which one day will eat out all the gladness and peace of life. Socialism, anarchy, various forms of infidelity, disobedience to parents, restiveness under restraint, pride, self-sufficiency – these things are either looked at with toleration, or, if characterized aright, as being so exceptional that there is no danger from them. And yet the book of Revelation traces all these things to the heading up of iniquity. The lawless one is but the embodiment of that lawlessness which even now is working in the children of unbelief. The fearful plagues recorded in that last book of prophecy are but the full development of the little mice, as we might call them, which are even now gnawing out the vitals of society and present order. Once let the powers of evil be turned loose, let the restraining hand of Him who "letteth " be lifted, and He (the Spirit in the Church) be taken away – as will soon come to pass at the coming of the Lord – and the ravages of evil fittingly described as famine and pestilence will show what the world may expect when left to itself. Would to God it had a voice for it now in this the day of His patience!

These inflictions appall the men of Ashdod where the ark had first been brought, and like men in similar case, they try to get rid of the cause, not by repentance, but by putting, as it were, God far off from them. If the load grows too heavy for one shoulder, it will be transferred to the other and then to the arms. It does not become so intolerable that they are prostrated before the God of Israel as yet ; still less does it have the effect of bringing them to a sense of their true condition. They will get rid of the trouble by getting rid of the ark, and so it is sent on to Gath and from Gath to Ekron, and thus through all the cities of the Philistines.

The same story is repeated everywhere. Men cannot so easily get rid of their chastening, and to shift the burden of an uneasy conscience will not remove the certainty of judgment. This passage of the ark from one city to the other of the Philistines is again a witness of the mercy and of the holiness of God. He will, as it were, knock at the door of each place, even as He did in Sodom, ere judgment fell finally, to see if there would be any that feared Him. And as He passes from one place to the other, we may well believe that there was no response save that of terror, no turning to Himself.

But what a triumphant procession for this ark it was! Even as when Paul passed from one heathen city to another, where Jewish hatred and Gentile scorn vied with each other in heaping reproaches
upon him, he could say:"Thanks be to God who always leadeth us in triumph " (as the original has it) "in Christ." Whether it were the stones at Lystra, or the prison at Philippi, or the mockery at Corinth and Athens, faith could see the triumphant witness of the glory of God brought face to face with those people. Even as our Lord, when He sent His disciples through the various cities of Israel, foreseeing their rejection in many places and telling them that they were to shake off the very dust of their feet from those cities where they were not received, added:"Notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." So here, the ark of God makes its majestic progress from city to city, and prostrate forms of men, and devastated garners bear witness to its progress. " The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth."
At last, desperation drives the lords of the Philistines to a conference in which they decide that what they thought was a victory over Jehovah was but a defeat for themselves; a victory too dearly bought to be longer endured, and they take the world's way (alas, the only way the world will take) of finding relief. They will get rid of God, even as the men of Decapolis besought our Lord to depart out of their coasts, though before their very eyes was the witness of His love and power in setting free the poor demoniac. Yes, the world will try to get rid of God. It may apparently succeed for a season, until the final day.

They decide to return the ark to the land of Israel:"Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not and our people; for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there."

(To be continued, if the Lord will.")

The South Sea Islanders have a beautiful word for "hope." It is, rendered literally, "the swimming thought," the thought that keeps one's head, amid the tempests, above the water threatening to engulf him. How much more truly does this same thought characterize our "faith." Hope is tinged with doubt while faith, true faith, has no doubts. It is full of triumph, and thus it is that the apostle can exclaim, "What is that which overcometh the world? even your faith." Truth then is a triumpher. By it our feet are winged to bear us across the rough places of our wilderness journey, to carry us in victory at last into the very presence of God, our Creator, for is it not written "by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death "?

If we look at that long hero-roll in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, while perfectly natural, is it not yet a little striking that it is for triumph over earthly difficulties that we find their names emblazoned thereon? There is, no doubt, in this a salutary lesson for us, which is duly enforced by the principle of our Lord's utterance, "If I have told you of earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? " Reader, are not you and I apt often to be more sure of the heavenly than the earthly? Are we not more afraid about things down here than of righteousness and eternal judgment? Why is this? Is Christ less reliable in His promises as to earth than He is as to those concerning heaven? Can we be certain as to the future, if the present be clouded with doubt? Let us face the question.

The story of Zacharias in the temple affords us a remarkable instance of the inconsistency of real faith, or rather of the one who possessed it. He is in the presence of God. He is offering incense, without which in days gone by none could enter the presence of God and live. He is, doubtless, firmly convinced that it is Jehovah with whom he has to do, and yet when suddenly on the right hand of the altar there appears an angelic messenger from God, he is afraid. Not trembling in the presence of God, but trembling in the presence of His messenger! There are two things which we may notice about him. First of all, it says he was doing what was the custom for priests to do. Very possibly when he had first offered that incense to the holy God, he had done it in fear and trembling, but as day after day passed he had grown familiar with the truth that God would have him thus do, and his fear had taken wings and fled, or dissolved like the mist in the sunlight. An angel he was not accustomed to seeing, and he trembles.

But he saw the angel also, God, he did not see. Oh how the faint vision of our fleshly eyes will at times fill us to the blotting out for a time of all the eternal verities which are summed up in Him who is the great Verity, the living "Truth!"

There are two things also, which tend to lead to God's people being sure as to eternity, but to doubting as to time, and they are just those two things with which we have become familiar by hearing. First of all we have become well grounded in the eternal security of the believer. We have grown familiar with the thought,

" Death and judgment are behind us
Grace and glory are before."

We have reasoned much about God's word being pledged that heaven is inviting us to enter into its "love and light and song" through the merits of Jesus' blood, but we have not exercised ourselves in the same way about the present. We have not considered that God's word is just as surely pledged as to our security amid earthly troubles as it is as to safety from the storm of judgment, and consequently we doubt. How inconsistent it would be if it were not so terribly sad, that we should cringe before circumstances and be valiant before the consequences of our sin and all the marshaled hosts of hell! Somebody has very pithily remarked, "If a letter were written to that weighty gentleman ' Circumstance ' with how great truth might many of us subscribe ourselves, 'your very obedient and humble servant.'" But oh the shame of it!

But then again, circumstances we see, hell we do not see, nor yet do our eyes behold the Christ. The power of the senses is a potent factor in our life, and its importance is fully recognized in Scripture. '' If a man love not his brother whom he hath seen how shall he love God, whom he hath not seen?" And our Lord Jesus says, what should indeed be an encouragement to us:" Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed."

The next moment after his fear we find Zacharias has so forgotten it that he asks the angel how he shall know that his promise is true. Again we have a marvelous inconsistency, but what is the reason? What has made him forget his fear of God's messenger and question his word? Why he looks at circumstance. He says, "I am an old man" and consequently it seems impossible that a child should be born. We remember here also that thus, too, had Abraham, the pattern man of faith, been overcome. How solemn and sad that God as it were has to bring in other circumstance to convince Zacharias, and that for his lack of faith he is struck dumb!

O my reader, has not this dumbness fallen oft also upon you and me because of our unbelief. Have not our mouths been closed and our voice of testimony hushed because we could not trust God as to the things of daily life?

There are many degrees of faith! This fact has so impressed Cardinal Newman that he has written a book entitled the "Grammar of Assent" which is largely devoted to looking at these degrees of faith. His purpose in writing thus seems to have been a poor one indeed, but we can nevertheless gain much profit in meditating thereon. There are degrees of faith. What is your degree? Is it such as those had, to whom the Lord could not commit Himself, because it was only intellectual; or is it like Peter's who verily had faith enough to walk for a way on the waters, but whose faith in the power of the waves presently grew greater than his trust in Christ, and he began to sink? Do a thousand dollars in your pockets give you more rest of mind than a cheque on your heavenly Father's bank for full supply of all your need, yea of everything that is good for you? Does the assurance '' My God shall supply all your need " leave you still in doubt whether it was ever intended that you should trust Him for tomorrow's supply of bread? Do you take anxious thought for the morrow when your Lord has enjoined upon you so not to do, solemnly asseverating that your Father in heaven knows all about it and will care for it? If it be so, is it not better also for you to trust that a thousand charitable deeds will do more to save you from hell than all the pledged word of God? Most decidedly it is. O dear reader, let us have more faith in Christ than we do in circumstance!

Let me close this paper with a beautiful example of how to argue from circumstance and triumph over it. There was a violent earthquake once which greatly alarmed the inhabitants of a certain village. They rushed out of their houses, their faces full of consternation, fearing sudden destruction. There was one old woman, however, whose face was a marked contrast to those of the rest. It seemed to beam with joy. One of the villagers was so struck with it that he could not help asking her:"Mother, how is it you look so happy, aren't you afraid ?" "Oh no indeed, " came the bright answer, "I rejoice that I have a God who can shake the earth! " She saw the God who was in it all and well she might rejoice. Oh shall we not cry much to God to give us more a simple, child-like trust. It is a prize well worth striving for and will richly reward its diligent seeker. F. C. G.

There are three forms of expression used by the inspired apostle in Rom. 3:and 4:which should be carefully pondered. In chap. 3:26, he speaks of "believing in Jesus."In chap. 4:5, he speaks of "believing in Him that justifieth the ungodly."And, ver. 24, he speaks of "believing in Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead."

Now, there is no distinction in Scripture without a difference; and when we see a distinction it is our business to inquire as to the difference. What, then, is the difference between believing in Jesus, and believing in Him that raised up Jesus ? We believe it to be this. We may often find souls who are really looking to Jesus and believing in Him, and yet they have, deep down in their hearts a sort of dread of meeting God. It is not that they doubt their salvation, or that they are not really saved. By no means. They are saved, inasmuch as they are looking to Christ, by faith, and all who so look are saved in Him with an everlasting salvation. All this is most blessedly true:but still there is this latent fear or dread of God, and a shrinking from death. They know that Jesus is friendly to them, inasmuch as He died for them; but they do not see so clearly the friendship of God.

Hence it is that we find so many of God's people in uncertainty- and spiritual distress. Their faith has not yet laid hold of God as the One who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. They are not quite sure of how it may go with them. At times they are happy, because by virtue of the new nature, of which they are assuredly the partakers, they get occupied with Christ:but at times they are miserable, because they begin to look at themselves, and they do not see God as their Justifier, and as the One who has condemned sin in the flesh. They are thinking of God as a Judge with whom some question still remains to be settled. They feel as if God's eye were resting on their indwelling sin, and as if they had, in some way or other, to dispose of that question with God.

Thus it is, we feel persuaded, with hundreds of the true saints of God. They do not see God as the Condemner of sin in Christ on the cross, and the Justifier of the believing sinner in Christ rising from the dead. They are looking to Christ on the cross to screen them from God as a Judge, instead of looking to God as a Justifier, in raising up Christ from the dead. Jesus was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. Our sins are forgiven; our indwelling sin, or evil nature, is condemned! and set aside. It has no existence before God. It is in us, but He sees us only in a risen Christ.

What a sweet relief to a heart bowed down under a sense of indwelling sin, and not knowing what to do with it! What solid peace and comfort flow into the soul when I see God condemning my sin in the cross, and justifying me in a risen Christ! Where are my sins ? Blotted out. Where is my sin 1 Condemned and set aside. Where am I ? Justified and accepted in a risen Christ. I am brought to God without a single cloud or misgiving.

I am not afraid of my Justifier. I confide in Him, love Him, and adore Him. I joy in God, and rejoice in hope of His glory.

Thus, then, we have, in some measure, cleared the way for the believer to approach the subject of the judgment-seat of Christ, as set forth in ver. 10 of our chapter, which we shall here quote at length, in order that the reader may have the subject fully before him in the veritable language of inspiration. " For we must all appear (or rather, be manifested) before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Now there is, in reality, no difficulty or ground of perplexity here. All we need is to look at the matter from a divine standpoint, and with a simple mind, in order to see it clearly. This is true in reference to every subject treated of in the word of God, and specially so as to the point now before us. We have no doubt whatever that the real secret of the difficulty felt by so many in respect to the question of the judgment seat of Christ is self-occupation. Hence it is we so often hear such questions as the following, " Can it be possible that all our sins, all our failures, all our infirmities, all our naughty and foolish ways, shall be published, in the presence of assembled myriads, before the judgment-seat of Christ ?"

Well, then, in the first place, we have to remark that Scripture says nothing of the kind. The passage before us, which contains the great, broad statement of the truth on this weighty subject, simply declares that " we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ." But how shall we be manifested ? Assuredly, as we are. But how is that? As God's workmanship-as perfectly righteous, and perfectly holy, and perfectly accepted in the Person of that very One who shall sit on the judgment-seat, and who Himself bore in His own body on the tree all the judgment due to us, and made a full end of the entire system in which we stood. All that which, as sinners, we had to meet, Christ met in our stead. Our sins He bore; our sin He was condemned for. He stood in our stead and answered all responsibilities which rested upon us as men alive in the flesh, as members of the first man, as standing on the old creation-ground. The Judge Himself is our righteousness. We are in Him. All that we are and all that we have, we owe it to Him and to His perfect work. If we, as sinners, had to meet Christ as a Judge, escape were utterly impossible; but, inasmuch as He is our righteousness, condemnation is utterly impossible. In short, the matter is reversed. The atoning death and triumphant resurrection of our Divine Substitute have completely changed everything, so that the effect of the judgment-seat of Christ will be to make manifest that there is not, and cannot be, a single stain or spot on that workmanship of God which the saint is declared to be.

But, then, let us ask, Whence this dread of having all our naughtiness exposed at the judgment-seat of Christ ? Does not He know all about us ? Are we more afraid of being manifested to the gaze of men and angels than to the gaze of our blessed and adorable Lord ? If we are manifested to Him, what matters it to whom beside we are known ? How far are Peter and David and many others affected by the fact that untold millions have read the record of their sins, and that the record thereof has been stereotyped on the page of inspiration ? Will it prevent their sweeping the strings of the ' golden harp, or casting their crowns before the feet of Him whose precious blood has obliterated for ever all their sins, and brought them, without spot, into the full blaze of the throne of God ? Assuredly not. Why then need any be troubled by the thought of their being thoroughly manifested before the judgment seat of Christ? Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? May we not safely leave all in the hands of Him who has loved us and washed us in His own blood ? Cannot we trust ourselves implicitly to the One who loved us with such a love ? Will He expose us ? Will He-can He, do aught inconsistent with the love that led Him to give His precious life for us ? Will the Head expose the body, or any member thereof? Will the Bridegroom expose the bride? Yes, He will, in one sense. But how ? He will publicly set forth, in view of all created intelligences, that there is not a speck or a flaw, a spot or wrinkle, or any. such thing, to be seen upon that Church which He loved with a love that many waters could not quench.

Ah! Christian reader, dost thou not see how that nearness to the heart of Christ, as well as the knowledge of His perfect work, would completely roll away the mists which enwrap the subject of the judgment-seat? If thou art washed from thy sins in the blood of Jesus, and loved by God as Jesus is loved, what reason hast thou to fear that judgment-seat, or to shrink from the thought of being manifested before it? None whatever. Nothing can possibly come up there to alter thy standing, to touch thy relationship, to blot thy title, or cloud thy prospect. Indeed we are fully persuaded that the light of the judgment-seat will chase away many of the clouds that have obscured the mercy-seat. Many, when they come to stand before that judgment-seat, will wonder why they ever feared it for themselves. They will see their mistake and adore the grace that has been so much better than all their legal fears. Many who have hardly ever been able to read their title here, will read it there, and rejoice and wonder-they will love and worship. They will then see, in broad daylight, what poor, feeble, shallow, unworthy thoughts they had once entertained of the love of Christ, and of the true character of His work. They will perceive how sadly prone they ever were to measure Him by themselves, and to think and feel as if His thoughts and ways were like their own. All this will be seen in the light of that day, and then the burst of praise-the rapturous hallelujah-will come forth from many a heart that, when down here, had been robbed of its peace and joy by legal and unworthy thoughts of God and His Christ.

But, while it is divinely true that nothing can come out before the judgment-seat of Christ to disturb, in any way, the standing or relationship of the very feeblest member of the body of Christ, or of any member of the family of God, yet is the thought of that judgment most solemn and weighty. Yes, truly, and none will more feel its weight and solemnity than those who can look forward to it with perfect calmness. And be it well remembered, that there are two things indispensably needful in order to enjoy this calmness of spirit. First, we must have a title without a blot; and, secondly, our moral and practical state must be sound. No amount of mere evangelical clearness as to our title will avail unless we are walking in moral integrity before God. It will not do for a man to say that he is not afraid of the judgment-seat of Christ because Christ died for him, while, at the same time, he is walking in a loose, careless, self-indulgent way. This is a most dreadful delusion. It is alarming in the extreme to find persons drawing a plea from evangelical clearness to shrink the holy responsibility resting upon them as the servants of Christ. Are we to speak idle words because we know we shall never come into judgment? The bare thought is horrible; and yet we may shrink from such a thing when clothed in plain language before us, while, at the same time, we allow ourselves to be drawn, through a false application of the doctrines of grace, into most culpable laxity and carelessness as to the claims of holiness.

All this must be sedulously avoided. The grace that has delivered us from judgment should exert a more powerful influence upon our ways than the fear of that judgment. And not only so, but we must remember that while we, as sinners, are delivered from judgment and wrath, yet, as servants, we must give account of ourselves and our ways. It is not a question of our being exposed here or there to men, angels, or devils. No; " we must give account to God" (Rom. 14:11, 12). This is far more serious, far more weighty, far more influential, than our being exposed in the view of any creature. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done:and there is no respect of persons" (Col. 3:23-25).
This is most serious and salutary. It may be asked, "When shall we have to give account to God ? When shall we receive for the wrong ?" We are not told, because that is not the question. The grand object of the Holy Ghost in the passages just quoted is to lead the conscience into holy exercise in the presence of God and of the Lord Christ. This is good and most needful in a day of easy profession, like the present, when there is much said about grace, free salvation, justification without works, our standing in Christ. Is it that we want to weaken the sense of these things? Far be the thought. Yea, we would, in every possible way, seek to lead souls into the divine knowledge and enjoyment of those most precious privileges. But then we must remember the adjusting power of truth. There are always two sides to a question, and we find in the pages of the New Testament the clearest and fullest statements of grace, lying side by side with the most solemn and searching statements as to our responsibility. Do the latter obscure the former? Assuredly not. Neither should the former weaken the latter. Both should have their due place, and be allowed to exert their moulding influence upon our character and ways.

Some professors seem to have a great dislike to the words " duty " and " responsibility ;" but we invariably find that those who have the deepest sense of grace have also, and as a necessary consequence, the truest sense of duty and responsibility. We know of no exception. A heart that is duly influenced by divine grace is sure to welcome every reference to the claims of holiness. It is only empty talkers about grace and standing that raise an outcry about duty and responsibility. God deals in moral realities. He is real with us, and He wants us to be real with Him. He is real in His love, and real in His faithfulness; and He would have us real in our dealings with Him, and in our response to His holy claims. It is of little use to say " Lord, Lord" if we live in the neglect of His commandments. It is the merest sham to say "I go sir" if we do not go. God looks for obedience in His children. " He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

May we bear these things in mind, and remember that all must come out before the judgment-seat of Christ. "We must all be manifested" there. This is unmingled joy to a really upright mind. If we do not unfeignedly rejoice at the thought of the judgment-seat of Christ, there must be something wrong somewhere. Either we are not established in grace, or we are walking in some false way. If we know that we are justified and accepted before God in Christ, and if we are walking in moral integrity, as in His presence, the thought of the judgment-seat of Christ will not disturb our hearts. The apostle could say, "We are made manifest to God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." Was Paul afraid of the judgment-seat ? Not he. But why ? Because he knew that he was accepted, as to his person, in a risen Christ; and, as to his ways, he "labored that whether present or absent he might be acceptable to Him." Thus it was with this holy man of God and devoted servant of Christ. " And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men" (Acts 24:16). Paul knew that he was accepted in Christ, and therefore he labored to be acceptable to Him in all his ways.

These two things should never be separated, and they never will be in any divinely taught mind or divinely regulated conscience. They will be perfectly joined together, and, in holy harmony, exert their formative power over the soul. It should be our aim to walk, even now, in the light of the judgment-seat. This would prove a wholesome regulator in many ways. It will not, in any wise, lead to legality of spirit. Impossible. Shall we have any legality when we stand before the judgment-seat of Christ? Assuredly not. Well, then, why should the thought of that judgment-seat exert a legal influence now ? In point of fact, we feel assured there is, and can be, no greater joy to an honest heart than to know that everything shall come clearly and fully out, in the perfect light of that solemn day that is approaching. We shall see all then as Christ sees it – judge of it as He judges. We shall look back from amid the blaze of divine light shining from the judgment-seat, and see our whole course in this world. We shall see what blunders we have made-how badly we did this, that, and the other work-mixed motives here-an under current there-a false object in something else. All will be seen then in divine truth and light. Is it a question of our being exposed to the whole universe ? By no means. Should we be concerned, whether or no ? Certainly not. Will it, can it, touch our acceptance ? Nay, we shall shine there in all the perfectness of our risen and glorified Head. The Judge Himself is our righteousness. We stand in Him. He is our all. What can touch us? We shall appear there as the fruit of His perfect work. We shall even be associated with Him in the judgment which He executes over the world. C. H. M.

At last, after months of suffering and weary waiting, our beloved brother Mr. F. W. Grant has departed "to be with Christ, which is far better."He quietly fell asleep on Friday morning, July 25th, and was laid to rest Lord's day afternoon, on his sixty-eighth birthday.

In the midst of our grief, we cannot but thank God for this blessed release. Although hoping to the end that God would raise him up in answer to prayer, as He did so wondrously two years ago, it became increasingly evident that unless He interposed by a special act, our brother must go. He had spent every particle of strength, and all his reserve vitality was gone. He felt this, and his most acute suffering was the sense of inability to go on further in the things of God.

And yet at times he believed that God was giving him fuller capacity to understand His Word, and that it might please Him to continue the work so dear to him. But He has taken him home instead, and as we looked into his peaceful face, from which the signs of weariness and suffering had been taken away, we could but thank God for the blessed change for him.

On Lord's day afternoon, a large number of saints from the neighboring assemblies, with many others of the Lord's people, gathered for the burial. The sense of loss, of sympathy with his beloved wife and household, was mingled with gratitude for the precious ministry of this beloved brother, and a deep sense of the responsibility upon us, to stand where he stood, and to follow him as he followed Christ.

He was laid to rest, surrounded by his brethren, who felt the cheer and comfort of "that blessed hope " as they sang

"Forever with the Lord
Amen so let it be."

It is hoped in our next issue to present some outline of the work and the character of the ministry of our brother which shortness of time prevents now. S. R.

NO NIGHT THERE.

No need of feeble candle-flame, nor flare
Of fitful sunlight, oft by clouds obscure;
But light that shall eternally endure.
God giveth light, our hearts could not conceive,
These eyes could not behold, yet we believe
'Tis all light there.

NO TEARS THERE.

No weary watchings, with no heart to share
Our anguish. Yet the burdened soul finds rest
In sweet communings on the Saviour's breast;
Sweet foretaste of that never ending day,
When God Himself shall wipe all tears away.
All joy there.

H. Mc. D.

"The distinction between the terms 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'of God,' I apprehend is in this, that 'earth' is the natural antithesis to 'heaven,' as man is to 'God.' Hence the Kingdom of Heaven always relates to the whole scene, and is more strictly dispensational; whereas the Kingdom of God over man may be individual, and gives more the moral character. Thus you find the Kingdom of God is not ' meat and drink,' etc. Kingdom of Heaven could not be used here.-Helps, 1874.

(Continued from page 49.)

II. THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE SCHOOL OF GOD.

When we speak, as we are going to do, of qualifications, we have, first of all, to understand that lack of qualification can keep no one out of that which God designs for all. If there is only a sincerely willing heart, God undertakes with regard to all that is needed in the way of qualification; and what we have to do just now is to consider how fully in this way He has provided for us-how well, therefore, we may learn in God's school, whether young or old, quick or dull, whatever in ourselves may seem to hinder or indeed forbid education!

God's meaning for us all is, as we have seen, education. Apart from any choice of ours, He has ordained for us needs which peremptorily require to be attended to, or we cannot even live in this world at all. The human creature is dependent as no other creature is. We are placed at the very beginning of our history here, in our mothers' arms, to find there, assuredly, more than the mere physical nourishment that we need. We may find the latter as mere animals, but God has made us something more than this; and we may be sure that in whatever He has ordained for us, we shall do well to remember what we are as human; and not because, for instance, the beasts are fed in the same way that we are, to merge ourselves therefore in the beastly nature. We are not mere flesh; we have spirits from the Spirit, and it is thus that we have been formed in "the image of God," even naturally, for "God is a Spirit."

God can never forget this; and the first element here is that of a moral nature, which not only can gee and understand things in themselves, but weigh them, balance them, understand their worth. Here, in our mothers' arms, we surely learn, and necessarily, some lesson of that dependence from which no one can escape; but we learn more than this:we learn, and are to be assured of, and drink in, a love which meets us in this need of ours, and which is to be our first lesson, and a moral one. The mother's love is proverbial as the deepest which nature knows. How little would the child be provided for in the mere provision of her breast, if there were not under it a mother's heart, which would willingly spend itself upon the child, and which is surely a wondrous lesson of altruism, as people say, for the child itself!

Sin, of course, has disordered everything; and we shall find not only that many children are deprived of that which they instinctively crave in the way of nourishment, but are deprived still more of that meeting of heart with heart, and awakening the heart by the heart, which God would have. Sin has disordered everything; but it takes little wisdom to realize that we must separate the disorder from the natural institution which is plain in spite of it, and the love that breathes in it on the part of the Creator. How much, in fact, men owe to a mother's love! How often have we heard of the criminal in his prison-cell hardened into perfect callousness as to every other feeling, but who yet has woke up to at least a flash of self-reflection and self-judgment at the remembrance of his mother!

Under this kindly influence then, the child begins its development. In God's design the mother is the
first teacher of the babe; and if all is right, will be the first best teacher in a spiritual way also. But we have not exactly to do with this now. That which we gather from it is clearly this, that God's design for us all is education; and that for Him the moral part is all-essential to the rest. If we think of God's school, however, as we are now to contemplate it, the Book which is put into our hands, and which is in itself so unique and so sufficient that we rightly call it "the Book," "the Bible," is plainly that which is to give us all our lessons. In the authority with which it speaks, it takes only the place which the mother, for instance, must take with her child, and which is so necessary for the child.. It speaks with authority because it is the language of One who knows; and as the Book of God, who does not suggest possibilities, but teaches truth. What sort of a teacher could any of us be who has no positive truth to teach? If the Book be God's Book, then certainly it is competent, and must be so, and in this way the uniqueness which we recognize in it speaks very plainly. But while it speaks thus with authority, the simplicity of its language shows us God's earnest desire for all His creatures, and is the only thing that is worthy of the God of all. He is not the Creator of the rich or the intellectual or the man of science, or of. any other special class, but the Creator of all. And thus it is that the apostle argues with regard to the gospel and the simple ability to enter into all the gladness which it gives by faith, where-ever faith maybe. "Is He the God of the Jews only?" he asks. "Is He not also of the Gentiles? Seeing it is one God that will justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith" (Rom. 3:29-30). But thus the Book of books is in a sense all of it a primer, however much else it is, and its first and last lesson is of God.

How blessed the way in which the only Teacher possible with regard to the creation of things speaks in the very beginning of the Book! What majesty in the simplicity of it! How it naturally awakes the response of the heart to Him who speaks in it! Nevertheless we want something more in order to have aright even this first lesson, and as Scripture is put into our hands to-day, in all the fulness of a perfected revelation, one Personality reveals itself in it throughout; and that He may be perfectly understood and be realized as near us, in such a way as no mother even can be to her child, in human guise God puts Himself before us in it.

In the Old Testament, for the Messiah everything waits. In the New Testament, we wait in that sense no longer:He has come, and with all blessing in His hand. There was a needed preparation of man for this which the long previous history declares, but we are not to speak of this now. God is fully revealed, He is in the light; and then He is Himself the Light by which all other things are read. How plain that here alone it is that we are in the true place for ' learning anything whatever! and in His presence we learn first of all, ourselves. We learn what hinders learning. How great a necessity this, and how from this we realize the good of a human Teacher as well as of the Manual in our hand! We need to know how to learn, as well as what to learn. We need, too, (how often,) to be free from other thoughts that have come in from elsewhere, and which prevent our recognition even of the simplest truths! With us, according to what has been already said, we shall not wonder to find that the hindrances are largely moral. Thus if we are truly in the presence of God, we shall be occupied with ourselves first of all in order to learn in ourselves, in the way of true self-judgment, all that is contrary .to Him with whom all our knowledge is to be communion. We learn thus in ourselves that which is to help us all the way through, and we learn self-mastery from Him who is absolute Master, and whose help is found in learning every lesson.

It is a fundamental necessity for learning, in the whole range of learning, that our eye must be single, in order that our whole body may be full of light. Now here God's singular care for us is once more revealed. The Spirit of God is He who brooded at first on the face of the deep, and He is the Agent in creation everywhere. Most capable, surely, He; and He it is who now takes upon Him to be our effectual inward Monitor; Himself, as Scripture assures us, (if we are Christians indeed,) dwelling in us. How perfect, then, is such a provision! We have Christ on the one hand, as our Teacher, Himself the revelation of God in His own Person, and thus of all things else,-the Light in which we see light. But then we have the Spirit of God in us to remove that which would, nevertheless, prevent the light having its proper effect. What love breathes in all this, to subdue in us all that is contrary and to mold us to its teaching!

The Spirit must form the house before He can dwell in it. Thus necessarily, according to Scripture, and because of what we are as fallen, new birth must precede indwelling. Here we are at once faced with a mystery which yet, like all other mysteries, has within it, in fact, a revelation. We are not, of course, developing Scripture doctrines now, and therefore we cannot enter, as might be desired, into the doctrine here; but Scripture assures us that we have thus communicated to us by the Spirit a new nature which is so really a divine nature, that we become by it, in a way which the original creation itself could not make us, children of God. God's way is to meet all that sin has caused by abounding over it. It is not enough for Him simply to replace what has become no longer able to answer its original purpose. His way is to show His perfect mastery over it by bringing in that which is higher and better, controlling thus for good the very evil which has come in. Christ's work has not replaced us where we were; it has done far more than this. We are not back in Eden and are not to be back there. We have lost earth, but to gain heaven. We have lost the innocency in which man naturally was, not to regain this, nor to find a fresh life sustained by the old tree of life in the midst of the garden. All these things become but types and shadows of what Christ has made our own. In Christ we have a new life which is eternal life; and in Him we find also in a higher way, not simply un-forbidden but made fully our own, that tree of the knowledge of good and evil which gives us now a competency to enter into the whole problem of good and evil, and to find holiness when it would be impossible for us to go back to innocence. We know what evil is in ourselves, and here is the mystery of which we were just now speaking, that while in new birth we have a new nature, yet as every Christian's experience will tell him if he consult it in the light of Scripture, the old nature is not yet removed. This is a perplexity which, no doubt, we have all found ; and which yet not only experience affirms to be the fact, but we may be able also without much difficulty to realize how effectually by its means the whole problem of good and evil is thus put before us. We find in ourselves the evil and the good. We find the evil in the presence of the good, revealed by it effectually. In all the manifestation of the sin that still remains within us, we learn by reason of use to have our senses exercised to discern between these.

But let us carefully remember that this does not imply that God would have us in any sense in subjection to the evil. If the Spirit indwells us, then ample power there must surely be over whatever inveteracy of evil can be imagined. We need only to be subject to the Spirit. The power is not in us but with us. We are still with this divine Teacher, learning dependence as we learned it first at our mothers' breasts. Yet ever also our responsibility, the proper responsibility of a moral being is enforced. The very presence of the Spirit of God does not make us of necessity the victors in the conflict which is implied in these two nature^.We must be subject to the Spirit, not finding strength in ourselves, but weakness; and not needing to be dismayed because of the weakness, when the very condition of triumph is that when we are weak then we are strong. How thoroughly is it God's purpose to hide pride from man! and thus if the Spirit indwells us it is, in the strong language of Scripture, to join His help to the very infirmities revealed (Rom. 8:26, Gk.).Thus if we pray, because we know not what to pray for as we ought, "the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Here then is infirmity which is expressed even in the very groanings of the Spirit. But these groanings are perfectly intelligible to Him who "knoweth the-mind of the Spirit"; and the Spirit still "maketh intercession for the saints according to God." Thus the groan declares our infirmity. We cannot utter the wants which, nevertheless, are most real ones. This groaning which is unintelligent to us is intelligent with God, and here how truly the Spirit intercedes for us, therefore, is manifest. It is Another who, in fact, is groaning in these groans which we cannot utter; and, according to this wisdom which is beyond us, God answers the Spirit-guided prayer. How blessed to know, then, that weakness is nothing which is to daunt us, but only that which is to make us lean the more simply and more fully upon the power of God!

(To be continued.)
'NOT A -DOG SHALL MOVE HIS TONGUE."

Deep, deep as the streams that flowed
O'er the bended head of the Son of God;
As the fathomless deep into which broke down
The long descent, where at last alone-
Alone in His love with our need, must be
The goal of His agony.

Soul, hast thou heard in thine own distress
The surge of that midnight sea?
When first to the straining ear came back
The voice of One who was there for thee ?
And thou heardest nought but the strife of the sea ;-
Nought but the strife of the swollen sea,
And the Son of God in His agony!

The brooding Spirit is over the flood;
In human weakness power of God:
Laid, the eternal new foundation
Of final, fore-ordained creation,
Where the abundant streams arise
That water God's own Paradise.

Deep in the heart of God the spring
(Drink, O beloved, abundantly!)
Whence, all the fulness ministering,
Its glad evangel greeteth thee:
Light out of darkness, ever to be!
Deep to deep calleth, " No more sea! "

Drink, O beloved, abundantly!
'Tis the voice of a deep that calleth thee!
Bright with the brightness of His face,
Thy Christ the glory of His grace,
Filled with His fulness, thus to be
Witness to Him eternally-
This is the portion of the blest,
Where the eyes of the Lord forever rest,
In realms no mortal foot hath trod,
Yet the Spirit searcheth the deeps of God

Scant not the grace that calleth thee!
Nor limit the Hand that enricheth thee!
Nor turn from the blessed Voice that still

Calls from the Glory as from the Sea,
"Come unto Me," and ever, "to Me!"-
The soul that is yet unfilled to fill
With the perennial joy that He
Giveth, and only He.

O heart that the heart of God hath formed!
Whose measure but He can fill,
Deep unto deep is calling now;
Know thou His voice and will.
He for His love hath fashioned thee!
Rise up, then, to thy destiny!
No princely beggar at this world's gate
For the dole of its penury,
Throw aside the shame of thy low estate!
"Arise; for He calleth thee!"

F. W. G.

(Heb. 11:17-22.)

We have presented to us in thi53 chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews the gathering up of the scriptural testimony as to the principle of faith, and its operation in the lives of God’s People from the very commencement of time. In the Jewish system all was material, and Appealed to the natural faculties of men, while faith, he shows, goes out to the unseen, which characterizes true Christianity. It is for the possessor of it, the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen."It makes real to the soul in which it operates the very things that are hoped for and not therefore possessed, while it is also that which also gives to that soul the conviction, the certainty, of the existence of these very things that are unseen, and yet for which we hope. God then if the whole sum and substance for faith, so much so that without it is impossible to please Him. He requires that one who comes to Him must believe that He is, and that He is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. It is faith, and only faith, that can fulfil this requirement.

Moreover, faith, we know, is the gift of God. so that in its activity it must partake of His character, and always rises to its source and only sufficiency; that is, God Himself. We may therefore rightly expect to find some phase of God's own character in its activity, and of course especially so where it is acting in some distinct realization of God's all-sufficiency. It is this which we have presented in the passage before us. . The great men of Genesis are mentioned in connection with one distinct incident in their lives founded upon faith. First of all Abraham – typical above all others of the man of faith. In his case we have the offering up of Isaac. We cannot think of this and not have our thoughts turned to consider the pain and anguish of heart it must have meant for Abraham. It was for him the yielding up of the one in whom all his hope was centered, and yet how readily he gives up this object of his heart's deep affection. How beautiful a witness to the way faith counts on the all-sufficiency of God ! Abraham might have chided with God for laying such a burden upon him, and for taking away the one in whom his hope was centered. He might have questioned how the promises would be fulfilled, and what hope was left if now Isaac be removed. We say such reasoning would be the working of unbelief.

But do we not often reason this way in our hearts? It is far different with Abraham:not a word of murmuring, he promptly obeys the trying command. He "rose up early" the next morning, and goes the way he is bidden. Ah, was not He who had given Isaac when all hope was shattered, and there existed no longer any possible way of fulfilling the promise naturally, was He not able to raise up? to kill and to make alive ? Would He fail in such a way to fulfil the word of His promise ? Impossible. Let Isaac be taken ; His arm is not shortened, and His word cannot fail; He will provide.

Such is the language broad writ over the actions of faithful Abraham. Would that our own hearts spoke more on this wise, this whole-hearted yielding up to God's blessed will. Has He given us much blessing and given us the very thing our hearts longed for ? If then it be His will to take them from us shall unbelief raise its dragon head to chide with Him, the pledge of whose love is the gift of His only begotten Son f Rather shall our faith not speak in Abraham's language and say, "Thy will, not mine, blessed God." The object in such a trial is surely to turn our hearts to more simply and more completely trust in Him.

Perhaps Abraham had begun to rest a little in Isaac and the fulfilment of the promises in him, instead of continuing to look to God in the realization that even with the one given in whom all was to be fulfilled, still it must and could only be through God's own hand and power carrying all into effect. Whether he had reasoned so or not, we know not, but have we not often reasoned in this way ? God has given us the desire of our hearts and provided much in blessing us, and the heart grows lax, and coldness comes in, the eye is turned a little from our God, and we begin to find some sufficiency in what He has given-resting in that and the possession of it, instead of still continuing, after possessing the desires of the heart, to trust only in His all-sufficiency; enjoying the g|ft in the sense of this, and not in the least in any independence of Him who gave it. Very necessary, then, is the refining of our faith by the trial occasioned in the taking away of that in which we are finding any measure of sufficiency, even though given by God to us and of His will.

May God in His grace grant that we learn this lesson in His presence, for experience is not the best teacher in spiritual things, though we must mourn how often we choose this way of it.

But now in this activity of Abraham's faith we have a beautiful expression of one character of our God, as the Father in His love. We have not a more striking illustration in God's word than this is of the unspeakable gift of His love to us. It is pressed upon Abraham, "take thy son, thy only son Isaac," and so He, too, gave His only begotten Son, wrenching His heart of love and all its affections in giving up the well-beloved of His bosom to suffer for our sakes. The sorrow of the Father's heart in yielding Him up a willing sacrifice, who can tell it ? And if this be so, who can measure the depth of His infinite love for us, that He should give such a wonderful gift ? How sweet to know this One as our Father, and to be able to approach Him as such, to be known as His children, having been given the Spirit of adoption.

And then how beautifully expressive is Isaac's obedience to his father a type of the perfect obedience of the Son of God. No Voice of protest to mar the scene, but perfect self-surrender. The "Lo! I am come to do Thy will, O God," is heard here. And this is His declaration knowing full well what the accomplishment of it meant, even the awful forsaking of God upon the cross. The heart of the Father and of the Son are one in the divine, eternal expression of love to the creature, and it is this side of God's character that is expressed for us in this incident of Abraham's faith.

We pass on to Isaac, who blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Here we have a far different thought as to God's character. Faith is clearly on Isaac's part in connection with the blessing given, and not with the way that it is given. Isaac would have given Jacob's blessing to Esau. Nevertheless, Isaac's faith is seen in recognizing Jacob truly blessed. He, no doubt, saw how God had accomplished His fore-announced purpose, spite of his fleshly desires to the contrary. Thus we read of him trembling exceedingly, no doubt with the thought before him of God's word spoken at the time of the birth-"the elder shall serve the younger," and how he had sought to do contrary to it. He therefore confirms the blessing to Jacob.

But what we see in all' this is clearly the fact that God is the God of election, and that, be the desires of the saint what they may, and seek to fulfil them in whatever way he may, His purpose cannot be changed and He will accomplish it. "The children being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger." (Rom. 9:ii, 12.) So that in the case of Isaac, we see the God of election controlling events for the accomplishment of His fore-announced purpose.

How blessed a character of God this is for us ! If it had not been that He had purposed, we could not be blessed; and if it had not been that He had marked us out before the foundation of the world
according to His fore-knowledge, we should not be the "blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." And so "whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate . . . them He also called; " for if He had not called, and by His power (which always accompanies His voice when He calls) made us obedient to His will, we would have willingly gone on in the way of destruction. What sweet and blessed assurance then we have in this that He is the God of election, having all power to carry out His every purpose of blessing concerning us. We have the lesson of His matchless love for us in Abraham, and the assurance that love so wondrously manifested will provide for everything, giving every possible blessing; and now we learn that this same blessed One is He who has elected us in His unbounded grace to eternal blessing, to just all that blessing that the wonderful exhibition of His love has really pledged Him to give; for, having given His Son, "how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things" (Rom. 8:32).

In the third place we have Jacob and the blessing of the two sons of Joseph, accompanied with his worship, leaning upon the top of his staff. Here the contrast with Isaac is very marked. He shows how he has learnt his lesson, that that which is natural must be replaced by what is spiritual, the elder must give way to the younger. He crosses his hands in blessing Manasseh and Ephraim who receives the greater place. It must be so, Manasseh is typical for us of the forgetting of those things which are behind; this truly is absolutely necessary for Ephraimite fruitfulness to come in. All here, be what it may, must be turned from, and counted as dung, if the blessed fruit-bearing which pleases our God is to be developed in us.

But this is really a resurrection lesson. Why are we to turn from all earthly things to those which are above ? Is it not because we are dead with Christ, and are raised up with Him on resurrection ground? in new creation having no longer any link with the old order ? And this is God's way for us, and the accounting of His glorious counsels concerning us, so that in very deed He is the God of resurrection. All His ways exhibit Him in this character, that of bringing life out of death. The earth, as we know it, is a resurrected earth from the ruin it had fallen into; and now He is bringing a new creation out of the ruined old one, by the power of resurrection. The practical working out of which in the subjects of this resurrection work, is the lesson we learn from Jacob's faith in blessing the sons of Joseph. Here, then, we have Him as the God of resurrection, and it is a principle which characterizes His dealings as revealed all through Scripture.

To know Him in this character is the pledge to our faith of the fulfilment of His every promise and our every hope in connection therewith. He "hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power." That resurrection power that raised up Christ will also raise us up; yea, is the pledge of it, for we are now linked with Christ for eternity. It is in the raising up of Christ that God is supremely manifested as the God of resurrection, and in which we know Him as such. It is the security of everything for us since we are before God in Christ as our Representative; and He has been raised up from that place into which He has descended for us, bearing our judgment as our Substitute.

When the lesson of all this has been learnt in the soul, the consequence of it is worship from a heart filled with the riches of God's grace, and to which things present are but dung, and their loss counted gain.

Finally, in Joseph making mention of the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt and giving commandment concerning his bones, we have the comforting promise of God's sure visitation given to his brethren, from the midst of whom God is about to remove him. His faith here certifies to the fulfilment of the promise to bring them into the land which they were to be given. We cannot help but consider the fiery furnace of affliction through which Israel was to pass during their sojourn in Egypt, after which we know Jehovah visited them. How to those poor slaves, oppressed under the tyrannical sway of Pharaoh's power, all hope or prospect of the fulfilling of God's promise to their fathers must have seemed to be gone. And how, too, perhaps they counted Him unfaithful to His promise. Nevertheless, how sweet in view of these circumstances God's message for faith to lay hold of in the word spoken by Joseph! What a comfort from God Himself to any among Israel who trusted in Him. And so we know how after all the sorrow, degradation and trial which they passed through, God answered the faith of Joseph and proved Himself faithful to His promise to the fathers, accomplishing deliverance.

Here, unmistakably, we have Him presented to us as the unchanging God. Let there intervene a time, no matter how long, no matter how much filled with trial and sorrow, with an outlet only dark, through which light would seem never to break, we may be sure He will never change, and that which He has spoken He will carry out and nothing can swerve Him. How blessed to know Him as such in a path like this through a hostile world, that is, of course, if it really is a hostile world to us, and that depends much on our communion and testimony. We know this glorious One also as our Father, who has called us to communion and fellowship with Himself; to abide under the covert of His wings where harm cannot come nigh.

"We change, He changes not."

These are sweet lessons He has given us of His own character in the lives of these examples of faith. And may He in His rich grace grant us to learn them in simple faith, that we may indeed find our whole portion in Himself, in whom is a wealth of all-sufficiency for us which is infinite and divine. Let us never forget that it is the fruit of the suffering and death of our blessed Lord; and while the glorious blessing we have been brought into is the necessary result of that awful Cross, (for God will honor and magnify in this way the name of Christ who has glorified Him in connection with sin, by the bestowal of all His infinite wealth upon poor creatures whose place He took in love and atoned for their sin) yet let us remember the pit from whence we have been dug, the awful depth to which the Son of God had to descend that He might lift us up into God's glory, and to apprehend even now, in some measure, His blessed character. J. B. Jr.

Frankincense gives forth its sweetness
Most when tested by the flame;
So each trial moulds to meetness,
Every child who bears My Name,
Through the heart's deep exercise,
Tho' with many tears and sighs.

So, whate'er of earthly sorrow
May be woven with thy bliss,
Patient wait, the bright to-morrow
Surely will reveal thee this:
That in love I chastened thee,
That thou might'st be more like Me.

H. McD.

Lightheartedness and true Christian happiness are very different things. A thoughtless man may be lighthearted because he has little sense of responsibility ; but a thoughtful believer who meditates upon the revelation which we have of God in His word cannot fail to be penetrated with the sense of His love, of His grace, of His holiness, of His glory, all of which are in his favor through the cross of Christ. And what depths of genuine, unalloyed happiness will thus fill his soul! P. J. L.

In the matter of salvation it cannot be too clearly and strongly put that no one can come between the soul and Christ. Saving faith and repentance are individual things, as new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of each one singly. It is to be feared that in the effort to secure converts this may be overlooked. Great crowds flocking to hear popular and attractive preachers, even where a certain measure of the truth is preached, are not always a sign of the most effectual work. Moving narratives which touch the emotions, sweet melodies of gospel hymns, even earnest and importunate appeals, while perfectly right in themselves, may, if not properly safeguarded, sweep large numbers on the crest of emotional waves into a profession which is not justified by the after experience.

Far be it from us to say a single word derogatory to earnest effort, but we do feel increasingly the absolute importance of remembering that the stupendous work of salvation cannot be effected by twentieth century energy. God reserves, and ever will, for Himself alone, the prerogative of introducing sinners into His own holy presence by the power of His word and the Holy Spirit. Let it be ours to be so obliterated that we shall simply be the channels to convey God's blessed message to perishing souls.

There would be less cause to mourn over backsliders and false professors ? were greater care given not to intrude human energy into the domain of the Spirit of God. Does some .one say that this blocks the wheels of gospel effort and causes the hands to hang down in indifference ? We are sure that none who know what the presence of God is will dare make such a remark. It is unintentionally a slur upon the power and willingness of the Holy Spirit.

The same is also true to a great extent in connection with the life of individual communion with God of the soul. If private prayer and reading of God's word, and the daily exercise of faith, are neglected, it will be found that all the social side of our Christian life is incapable of making up the deficiency. There must be the walk with God as though there were no one else in the world but ourselves.

This being recognized as true, we can now take up the other side, which is of the greatest importance, and speak of our mutual relationships as Christians. It is striking and strange that where one side of truth is neglected, even though the other side may be in a sense exaggerated, yet its true bearing is lost. Thus to-day, where the inner life is so largely ignored, the mutual life is equally disregarded; for, after all, great concourses of Christians, conventions, and the good-fellowship of hearty greetings and pleasant intercourse, savor rather of this world's gatherings than of that sweet and quiet growth which the word of God indicates. Let us take up some of the passages of His precious word which bring out mutual relationships.

It is important, first of all, to see that there is nothing of a voluntary character, as we might say, in the relationship of God's people. There is no thought of "joining the Church " in Scripture. Thanks be to God, He has not left that to our volition. No wonder that where "the church of our choice" is made the basis of our fellowship there should be the multiplicity pf denominations which are the sorrow of every Christian heart. No, God has made Church-membership an expression of His own sovereign will, and an organic, vital connection which cannot be broken. " By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit" (i Cor. 12:13). "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling " (Eph. 4:4). The blessed truth is here seen that the same life, the same activity, permeates the entire body; every believer is united by the Holy Spirit to Christ in glory, and that same vital connection is established with all His brethren. How precious, and yet how searching a truth! Who dare dispute the connection with Christ ? Now, how unspeakably precious is the thought that our bond of union with Him in glory is a divine one, the presence of the Holy Spirit of God! While this is an added truth to the fact that we are also individually partakers of the divine nature by the new birth, yet it is closely allied with it. The two cannot be separated in the present dispensation. But how many of us realize that the link with Christ is no stronger than with one another ? We are persuaded that if this truth be grasped, or, rather, grasps us, it will work a revolution in our thoughts and ways.

Growing out of this is the simple fact that we are members of one another, because members of the same body (Eph. 4:25). " We being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members of one another" (Rom. 12:5). A most comprehensive and beautiful expression of what this means is found in another familiar verse in Ephesians:"The Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every. joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."How varied and complete are the provisions here!

But, tempting as it is, we must not allow ourselves to be drawn from the object of our present little paper, which is not so much to enlarge upon these precious principles as to glean some practical words with which Scripture supplies us, and which will appeal to heart and conscience, we trust, in a practical way.

Perhaps the first and most obvious thought in connection with our mutual relationship is that love pervades the whole body. The epistles of John are full of this, so that we need do no more than refer to them. " See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently " is what Peter says. What a blessed contrast to the condition of the natural heart described in Titus 3:3:"Hateful, and hating one another." This love is the best guide, for it is divine and not human affection, and therefore supremely subject to God in all things:"This is love, that we walk after His commandments." This explains such a passage as "Love covereth the multitude of sins," which does not mean that it seeks to "hush them up," but rather to bring them into the presence of God in intercession, and then, in faithful, gracious ministry, to touch the heart of the wrong-doer.

The spirit of love is the spirit of service. Love must find an expression for itself, and therefore is ever active. "By love serve one another " is indeed not merely the command of grace, but the instinct of the new heart. In what holy contrast is this to that fleshly activity so faithfully depicted in the same chapter of Galatians:" If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another," and "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another" (Gal. 5:13, 15, 26).

But let us look a little in detail as to the activities of this love. We have said that love desires to serve. It is equally true that it desires companionship. We long to be with those we love, and this is most graciously provided for:'' We have fellowship one with another" (i John 1:7). This is true of those who are "in the light," where "the blood of Jesus Christ," God's Son, "cleanseth from all sin." Sin is judged in the light of God's holy presence, and His provision of grace in the blood of Christ effectually gives rest and peace there. The soul can say with the apostle, who writes, not as placing himself above other children of God, " Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ," and we can say the same. But the fellowship with the Father demands, may we not say, fellowship with one another as well ? " Every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him ?"

"Wherefore, receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God." This we might call the first act of acknowledgment of the link that binds us together. Reception, does not merely mean to this or that. Nor are we referring to full fellowship at the Lord's table. In a day of difficulty like the present there may be details which require patient and careful dealing. Surely we are not to be indifferent to the claims of the holiness of God, nor to our responsibility to maintain precious truths which "one another." He has entrusted to us, but there should ever be the gracious reception and recognition of every blood-bought child of God whom we can truly recognize as such. . There should be, so far as possible, the acknowledgment of that common life and love upon which we, have been dwelling.

Such reception as this, even where of a general character, involves added responsibilities. Do I recognize one as a child of God ? Then I owe it to him, as well as to God, to seek to lead him on further in that which is our common treasure. This will at once be the delight and desire of our hearts. But how much care this involves! "Be of the same mind one toward another." Our brother may need to have many wrong thoughts corrected, and to get a view of many truths of which he has hitherto been ignorant. To be of the same mind does not mean that we are to adopt his opinions, or to allow them to go on unchecked, but to give place rather to that one mind of Christ which shall control us all. See, also, Rom. 14:5. It is not an easy thing to be of the same mind one toward another. It means the subjection on the part of us all to the word of God, and a readiness to bow to its authority. This is the only basis of a true spiritual unity of thought. To be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" when neither the mind nor judgment are those of God, would be, for faith, to leave the divine path for one of man. It is, alas, only too easy to reach accord in a carnal way; but to be of one mind in a divine way means the obliteration of self and the true exercise of divine love.

But reception and unity are not all. "That the members should have the same care, one for another."
'' Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2). '' We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves" (Rom. 15:i). Here again is the simple activity of love which seeketh not her own, but is occupied in ministering to the need of others:and oh, how much care, how much burden-bearing there can be among the saints of God! Beloved reader, we would ask, How much do you know of this in a practical way ? Could we have but one petition granted in connection with these things, it would not be that God would raise up more gifted public preachers, but rather that He would lay upon us all in love the grace of burden-bearing and a loving care one for another.

Perhaps one of the most difficult things is suggested in our next quotation:"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God " (Eph. 5:21). See, also, the similar passage in i Pet. 5:5, where the thought is not so much that of being subject one to another, but "be girded with humility toward one another," so to be ready to receive whatever of admonition may be offered. 'Connected with this, also, is the exhortation in James 5:16:"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." This does not mean merely, going to the brother whom I may have wronged and acknowledging the fault,-this should surely be done,-but rather that confidence of love in the helpfulness of our brethren, and realizing our oneness to such a degree that we are free to open our hearts and unburden ourselves to those to whom our confidence will be as sacred as though whispered in the ear of God alone. The confessional of Rome has so shocked the moral sense that there is an utter revulsion from the very name of confession, and yet we are persuaded that much of God's chastening would be lightened, as is suggested in the passage we have quoted, were there more of that true, hearty simplicity which would enable us to be more open with one another. It is fully recognized that this cannot be a one-sided matter. Alas, the spirit of speaking evil of one another has been all too common, and this is a most effectual check upon that exercise of true, hearty loyalty which could receive the secrets of our brethren into the silence of our own bosom to be spoken out to God alone!

"Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." See, also, Col. 3:13. There are many forms of bearing a grudge, from the open and avowed enmity, with its accompanying malicious evil speaking, to that secret alienation and chill upon the heart that forms such a sad contrast to the previous "sweet counsel" which the saints took together as they went to the house of God. There is nothing sadder than to see coolness coming in where once existed the most implicit confidence and fullest love. We cry out against all this, and often in our helplessness ask, Must it be ever thus ? Is there no remedy? Yes, surely, a remedy here, as for every ill to. which the saints of God are subject, though an humbling one. (But who ever was humbled before God without blessing Him in their souls ? Humility is, after all, the true exaltation of the soul.) The remedy is simple and clear-forbearance and forgiveness; and lest it should be thought that this forgiveness is a merely negative thing, in which we can go on in chilling coolness toward those we have forgiven, we are reminded that the measure of it, as well as its character, is seen in the way we have been forgiven by God in Christ. As the Father's arms of love are about us, with the kiss of forgiveness, and all the joy flowing into our hearts from the sense of that, we do not dare to confound that pride which calls itself forgiveness with that exercise of divine love which meets the erring one and loves out of him the last remnants of envy or jealousy or bitterness; and so confidence is restored.

But it may be said, we must be faithful with our brother, and lead him to a true sense of his wrong. Yes indeed so, but there is nothing like love to melt the hard heart, and forgiveness of a divine character will do this. Unquestionably, if there is pride and persistence in a course of wrong-doing, faithfulness to God will forbid the exercise of that which may be struggling for expression in the heart; but this must not be confounded with that hard and unrelenting spirit which waits in all the stiffness of self-righteousness for the first signs of breaking in the other!

Where there is this forgiving, and the other exercise of which we have been speaking, how much more will there also be! We will "tarry for one another" (i Cor. 11:33). The strong will not rush along, feeding on high truths beyond the reach of the lambs of the flock, nor will there be the over driving of the tender. We will "salute one another," as seen at the close of so many of the epistles. It may seem a trifle, but in the things of God nothing is that, and the intentional avoidance or willing omission of this act of brotherly love too often speaks of a coldness in the heart which is not a trifle. How fervent were the salutations of the apostle! What love, what confidence, what winsomeness there was in it! Let us not be too superior to hearken to the admonition suggested here.

The same applies to the "hospitality which is to be used one toward another without grudging" (i Pet. 4:9), and to that edification and admonition which will ever find a place. (See Rom. 15:14, 14:19; i Thess. 4:18, 5:n.) In short, dear brethren, let us examine these precious scriptures prayerfully and carefully as to all our varied relations one to another. We need to be stirred up as to these things, lest we drift into the helpless formalism by which we are surrounded.

" And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:24).

"My heart longs that the Lord may be glorified in the walk of His own ; that they may glorify Him, not only by avoiding evil, but by maintaining close communion with Him, and, separated from the world in all their ways, may be to Him for a .testimony, and for a testimony that their hearts are elsewhere because their treasure is." J.N.D.

A Christian, who has heaven before him, and a Saviour in glory, as the object of his affection, will walk well upon earth; he who has only the earthly path for his rule, will fail in the intelligence and motives needed to walk in it; he will become a prey to worldliness, and his Christian walk in the world will be more or less on a level with the world in which he walks.

The clouds hang heavy o'er me,
And dark, and chill the night;
Yet clouds, nor chill, nor darkness
Can shut Thee from my sight,
Nor hush the song my heart still sings,
Nor stay my soul's uplifted wings.

Thy clouds are fraught with mercies-
Tho' oft of darkest hue;
Yet faith's keen vision fears not
To pierce the darkness through,
And find the side that's toward Thy face
Alight with glory of Thy grace.

When sorrow, like the rain drops,
Falls heavily and cold, I turn me to God's sun-light,
And there mine eyes behold-
All broken into rainbow hues-
What I had thought were sorrow's dews.

Life's storms and clouds are many,
But God is in them all;
Apart from Him, nor sorrow,
Nor rain can ever fall;
No cloud that e'er o'er-shadowed me,
But drew me closer, Lord, to Thee.

The storm that broke on Calv'ry,
And hid the noon-day sun-
That made the stout heart tremble-
Was borne for me, by One
Who wrought sweet peace from deepest woe;
-God's clouds have never hung so low

They wrapped Him in their darkness,
They hid from Him God's face;
Called forth that cry so bitter,
That He might show me grace;
That storm, now passed and gone for aye,
Hath bought me everlasting day.

And now His clouds, which shadow
My sun a little while,
Remind me of His sorrow
Which won for me His smile:-
The remnants of that tempest wild
Which brought me to Him, reconciled.

So, bright, or dark-whatever,
They can not slip His hand;
Their gilded edges tell me
My Father hath command;
What tempest e'er can do me harm,
Beneath His strong, and loving arm?

H. McD.

"My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; when it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place " (Isa. 32:18, 19). In this chapter we have the blessed results of Christ's reign depicted. '' Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness . . . and a Man shall be as an, hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." How blessedly has "the Man Christ Jesus" opened, through His own pierced side, a hiding place from the storm of divine judgment, a covert from the tempest of that wrath and indignation which shall ' overtake the despisers and rejectors of His mercy; and how blessedly true it is that for those who are sheltered thus by Him, rivers of refreshing flow forth into the dry places of this life, making the desert to blossom as the rose, and the cool shadow of that great Rock gives rest in this weary land where still we wait for final rest! This is a spiritual application of that which directly refers to millennial blessing for the remnant and the restored nation of Israel. We would not, nor can we, rob them of that which shall be theirs in the coming day of blessing for God's earthly people. It is ours already in anticipation to enter into the enjoyment spiritually of that which shall be also visibly theirs.

These words have a direct and most blessed application to Israel, but this does not in the least mar their application in a spiritual way to ourselves. Everything rests upon the work of righteousness, that work of righteousness of which the Cross forms the basis and is the highest exhibition. Peace was made by the blood of His Cross, and He shall reign over His redeemed people and a ransomed earth on the ground of the work of righteousness accomplished upon Calvary. This work is peace, "peace to him that is afar off and to them that are nigh," a peace which can never be marred. "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."And the effect of this act of righteousness is quietness of soul. No more trembling, no more doubting, fears banished forever. Oh, the quietness that has come in after the storm, for those who have believed in this finished work of righteousness! And assurance forever-an assurance that is grounded upon the word of God who cannot lie; therefore which, not depending upon our changing feelings or anything in ourselves, abides forevermore. What a comfort it is when His people turn from all else to this blessed effect of righteousness, finding in it indeed an all-sufficient ground of peace and blessing!

And now we are told of the blessed results of this:'' My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places." Notice, first of all, the abiding character of all blessing here. It is not a tarrying place, but a habitation, a dwelling, a resting-place. Hail may come down 'upon the forest, the city may lie desolate, man's city with all its boasted greatness and splendor be overthrown, but the dwelling place of the people of God rests upon an eternal foundation. It is a peaceable habitation. Looking very simply at these three expressions for a moment, we can gather from them that which should characterize the believer in his present life here.

First of all, there is peace. This we have already glanced at as the work of righteousness and its effect. Who can over-estimate the blessedness of this peaceable habitation. The dwelling in Egypt, sprinkled with the -blood of the passover-lamb was a peaceable habitation. Judgment raged without. It would never enter there. The blood spoke of judgment already visited upon a substitute, the lamb without blemish, so that now that habitation which otherwise would have been a house of mourning has become a house of feasting. The palace of Pharaoh was not a peaceable habitation, nor the hovel of the beggar. There was no difference between high and low on that awful night in Egypt. There was not a house where there was not one dead, save in those habitations sprinkled with the blood of the lamb. And oh, what rest of soul it is to remember, as we tarry in this world, that we are safe sheltered by the precious blood of Christ, our habitation is a peaceable one! It may not be, and probably is not, a home of wealth and luxury. That which the world calls pleasure may be and should be largely excluded from it. It may be but a humble cottage, and yet it is a peaceable habitation, for are not those who dwell beneath its roof sheltered safe from all wrath and judgment? "My people." This can be said of no other people. Do we not thank God that we are amongst His people ?

And then these are sure dwellings. They are not only dwellings where wrath cannot enter, but where those who abide there have the assurance of their safety. It would have been a reproach upon God, it would have been a tacit denial of the truth of His Word, had an Israelite trembled as he waited in the land of Egypt during that fateful night. It would not have been humility, but presumption for him to have said:" I hope all is well." If the blood of the passover-lamb had been sprinkled upon the doorposts, he could say:"I have a sure dwelling place, secured to me by the unfailing word of God, on the ground of His sacrifice." And so now the believer who trembles, who fears lest after all God may not be as good as His word, is really, in the solemn language of the apostle, making Him a liar. Has He not spoken and is not that sufficient? Shall we dishonor Him by doubting His word? Oh, let us, each one who has rested upon this blood-bought peace which Christ has made by the blood of His cross, let us take in the full comfort of those words:"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life."

But again there is not merely peace from judgment and the assurance of safety, but that comfort which is suggested in the third expression here, " quiet resting places," where the heart is at leisure not only from all questions as to its safety, but from everything which would disturb and mar the communion of the soul. Returning to the figure of the passover, God not only provided the blood as the shelter, but the lamb as food, and those within these resting places could feed in quietness and with contentment of soul upon that lamb whose blood had ' sheltered them from judgment. So Christ Himself is the food of His people, and may we not say that those who find their satisfaction in Him, who feed, with the bitter herbs of repentance and abhorrence of sin, upon His blessed person, find a satisfaction of soul that the world knows nothing of? They are quiet and at rest.

Thus we have a three-fold cord which is not quickly broken:peace made for us by the blood of His cross; the assurance of perfect acceptance by the word of God, and the quietness which comes from the heart satisfied with Christ. May we know more of these blessed habitations! Even as Israel in the coming day will delight to dwell every man under his own fig-tree, let us delight in the fulness of blessing that is ours, and show our satisfaction with it by walking here in holy separation from everything which has the sentence of judgment upon it.

We continue our reading during this month with the life of David. In the first book of Samuel we followed him during his rejection, where we have found him to be frequently the type of a rejected Christ. We are now to see him enthroned where he still typifies his Lord, especially as the enthroned king and head of the line. Our Lord frequently referred to Himself as the " Son of David."We have already, in our last number, looked at the main divisions of the book. It will suffice to point out some of the striking chapters.

The first four chapters give us the history of the transition of the kingdom from the house of Saul to David. Hebron is here the centre, and David is there enthroned king of Judah. This in itself is rather a suggestion of that which culminated in later days under David's sons when the kingdom was again divided in two, and Judah with Benjamin – significant exception – only remained faithful to the house of David. During the period of his stay at Hebron the power of David increases, while that of the house of Saul constantly diminishes. There is much here that we cannot approve and which David himself reprobated but was powerless to control. Joab, his kinsman, had strange influence over him. He was a man of violence and without scruple, and the death of Abner unquestionably was a blot even upon the beginning of David's reign.

Finally the opposition of the house of Saul is entirely overcome and from the sixth to the ninth chapters of the book we have David in all his power, king over the whole people. Here he is a type of Christ in His Kingdom of glory when He shall reign, not merely over Israel, but -over all the nations. We find in this part that David overthrows his enemies and brings them into subjection just as Christ our Lord will do when He takes His power. Scripture clearly indicates that even after the appearing of our Lord there will be a season of conflict; of victory indeed, but that the peace to the ends of the earth will not be secured until all enemies are beneath His feet. It is the reign of David which answers to this first part of our Lord's Kingdom, as that of Solomon does to the second. We find also in this part, Chap. 6:, that the ark is brought to its true centre, Jerusalem, and while the temple is not yet built, God is enthroned in the midst of His people. In connection with this, we have the promise of God to establish David a sure house forever. This promise is fulfilled, not in Solomon, but in David's Son and Lord, Christ.

There are many precious gems in this portion. The familiar one of the king's grace to Mephibosheth, the grandson of his old enemy Saul, must not pass unnoticed. Here we have a lovely picture of the kindness of God being shown to an undeserving enemy. But this bright picture closes all too soon, and in the next portion-chaps, 10:- 12:-we have again the personal history of the king rather than the typical. The dreadful sin of the king in connection with Bathsheba is too painfully familiar to require more than a mere mention. It is well, however, to note that it was idleness on his part which paved the way to this dreadful chain of sins which left its scar and stain upon his whole after life. We see the lovely blending of God in His government and in grace in His dealing with the king, and in the midst of all the wreck we see the heart of the poor sinful monarch turning in faith to the God whom he had dishonored. The fifty-first psalm is the outpouring of a broken and contrite heart which God did not despise.

The next portion of the book (chaps. 13:-21:) is a solemn illustration of that truth which is woven throughout the word of God that, " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." God's forgiveness could not set aside the result of David's sin, and the lust, the violence, the deceit, were all reproduced in the bosom of his own family. Solemn and awful thought! A picture which God in His mercy has given us in connection with one of the loveliest characters of Old Testament history and one of the fullest types of Christ Himself, showing us three things:

1st. That it is utterly impossible for any mere man to be aught than a type of Christ. The best men that have lived have had their blemishes, yea, some of those who have been most highly honored have sinned most deeply.

2nd. Christ alone can be before the soul as the Object of its delight. " Let no man glory in men."

3rd. We see the faithfulness of God who would not cover the sin of one so dear to Him but would give the lesson for all His people. May it be written in all our hearts!

The history of Absalom is another illustration of the painful weakness there was in the character of David, and the rebellion of that wayward son is but an illustration of what we have already had in the history of Eli. If government is disregarded, there will be unquestioned shipwreck and disastrous results.

David's faith again shines out brightly in his rejection, and here again we get a glimpse of him as type of One who was rejected. Weakness is again seen in the lack of cohesion between the two tribes and the ten, sad premonition of the division which was later to occur.

In the last portion of the book (chaps, 21:-24:) there seems to be a return to-the early and brighter days of the king, and his song of triumph and last words beautifully illustrate the spirit of dependence upon God and boasting in Him. This is particularly seen in the " last words" (Chap. 23:) which together with the list of his mighty men, form a most instructive portion. The theme, we might say, of his last words, is, "Christ is all," and it is in connection with this precious fact that his mighty men and their deeds are recounted. It is only as Christ is glorified that there can be any reward for faithfulness to Him. In the day of His glory all His servants will have their place in association with Him.

The book closes with the account of the judgment of God upon the people because of David's-pride in numbering them. This is made the occasion of bringing out the faith of the king in God:" Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord " and not of man; and we have here also in the sacrifice upon the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite, the foundation, as it were, chosen for that abiding temple which was to be God's dwelling place, temporarily indeed during the history of Israel prior to Christ, but one day yet to be His temple; and the glory of that latter house shall be greater than the glory even of Solomon's.

Passing to the New Testament, it will be easily seen how Matthew, as the gospel of the Kingdom, fits in with the history of David as a type of Christ. Everything in Matthew is connected with the Kingdom. That is the key to the entire Gospel. Its seven divisions will indicate this. We have:

1. (Chaps. 1:and 2:) The genealogy and birth of the King.

2. (Chaps. iii-7:) The announcement given by John the forerunner, and the principles, as we might say, the constitution of that Kingdom as unfolded in that wondrously spiritual enforcement of the law called, "The Sermon on the Mount."

3. (Chaps. 8:-12:) This portion is devoted to the works of power which authenticate the King, together with the foreshadowing of that rejection by the people which was to culminate in His crucifixion. In this portion we have the disciples sent out by our Lord as His messengers, and His warning that they would receive the same treatment as Himself. The twelfth chapter closes this part with the twofold rejection; that by the leaders of Christ, and our Lord's rejection of them. Here we have the solemn warning as to the fearful sin against the Holy Ghost. We might say, in passing, that this sin was the deliberate accusation that our Lord did His miracles by the power of Satan instead of by the power of the Holy Ghost.

4. (Chaps. 13:-20:) This division is devoted largely to the development of the Kingdom in the hands of men. The thirteenth chapter with its seven parables gives us a sevenfold picture of this development which covers the whole time until the second coming of our Lord. It is the mystery form, with the King rejected and absent in heaven. It is also in this portion that we have our Lord's transfiguration and glory, and the government of God's house-binding and loosing in the Assembly.

5. (Chaps. 20:29-23:) This is devoted largely to those parables of the end which speak of the responsibilities of the leaders, their rejection of Christ, the marriage of the King's Son and our Lord's conflicts with the unbelieving leaders of the people. Chap. 23:is a solemn arraignment by our Lord of these leaders.

6. (Chaps. 24:and 25:) This is our Lord's great prophetic discourse in which He unfolds the future in connection with the Jew, the(Gentile and the Church of God.

7. The last portion of the book is the consummation of all, where we see the Lord offering Himself up as a trespass offering in death, and as raised again from the dead declares Himself the recognized Leader of His people. It is the King throughout.

The short epistle of Titus is also to be read, of which we will say but little. It is devoted to the great- and important truths of church-order and that godly walk which is ever the accompaniment of all true order, and from which it should not be separated. It is well for us to remember that no amount of ecclesiastical correctness will avail without that practical godliness; nor, on the other hand, should the latter be used as an excuse for indifference as to God's order in His house. Several lovely gospel passages occur in this epistle.

(Phil. 3:20.)

We look for the Saviour," the Christ, blessed Lord, '"
Who will come for His saints, we are told in His
word,
From the right hand of God, where He sits on the throne,
And waits for the day when He'll come for His own.

"We look for the Saviour," who left His bright home,
Was obedient to death, that vile sinners might come
Unto God through His Son,-the dear Son of His love,
At whose name all must bow, in earth or above.

"We look for the Saviour," He who bore on the tree
All our sins in His body, that we might go free
From death and the judgment due us for our sin;
Whose blood makes the vilest all spotless within.

"We look for the Saviour," our perfect High Priest,
Who on high intercedes for us-even the least;
Who is fitting a mansion, preparing a crown;
Who in God's perfect time will come for His own.

"We look for the Saviour!" Lord Jesus, bestow
Upon each one Thy grace, that we ever may show
To the world, such reflection of Thee and Thy love,
That sinners shall turn to the Saviour above !

"We look for the Saviour; " the sound shall soon come
Of the voice of the archangel calling us home ;
At the noise of His shout what a deep joyous thrill
Of love and contentment each bosom will fill!

Forever with Jesus! no more to depart
From His presence, but know all the love of His heart;
And forever we'll gaze on His own blessed face,
Forever we'll sing of His mercy and grace.

Forever, forever ! oh, how our hearts grieve
At the long separation :we would this world leave,
And caught up in the clouds meet the Lord in the air.
"Oh, hasten, Lord Jesus, we long to be there ! "

F.

THE MAN AFTER THE FLESH.

Chapter 3:GOD'S CARE FOR HIS OWN HONOR. (1 Sam. 5:, 6:)

(Continued from page 33.)

The latent unbelief in the heart of the Philistines is seen in the way they took to restore the ark to the land of Israel. Who would have thought of taking two heifers who had never known the yoke, and harnessing them to a cart without drivers ? Would not this insure the destruction of the ark ? And to accentuate the difficulty, the calves of these cattle were left behind, so that all nature was against the ark ever reaching the land of Israel. May we not well believe there was a latent hope in the hearts of the people that it would turn out differently from what they were constrained to believe? If it goeth up by the way of its own coast to Bethshemesh, then He hath done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know it was not His hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us." Truly, if the living God Himself were not directly concerned in it all, if it were not absolutely His hand that had inflicted the blow on account of the presence of His ark, if it were not His will to restore His throne again to His people, no better means could have been taken to manifest the fact.

But God delights in such opportunities to manifest Himself and to make bare His arm,-surely we may well believe a closing witness to the hardened hearts of these people that He was indeed God, and a wondrous testimony as He returned to His people, of the fact that His hand was not shortened that He could not save. It reminds us of that time in the history of Israel's apostasy when the prophet Elijah issued his challenge in behalf of God to the prophets of Baal, with all the people as witnesses. It was to be no ordinary test. They were to see whether it was God or whether it was Baal. So the priests of Baal are allowed to take their sacrifices and, without unusual care, to see i f they can bring down fire from heaven. When they had consumed the day in their vain cries and cutting themselves, and there was no response, and abashed and silent they had to wait for the voice of God, then it was that the prophet took those special precautions to manifest that it was indeed God and He alone who was dealing with His people. Water is again and again poured over the sacrifice, over the altar, until it fills the ditch about the altar, and when every possibility of fire has been removed, all nature's heat quenched, then it is that in a few simple words the prophet asks the Lord to manifest Himself. Ah, yes, He can do so now. He cannot manifest Himself where there are still smoldering embers of nature's efforts; and it is well for 'the sinner to realize this. The fire to be kindled by divine love comes from God,-is not found in his heart. It would only be a denial of man's need of God. Nor must the saint forget the same. truth.

And so the kine with their precious burden go on their way, unwilling enough as far as nature is concerned, lowing for their absent calves as they went, but not for a moment turning aside; and the lords of the Philistines who follow them are constrained at last to admit that God has vindicated His honor and manifested the reality of His own presence and His own care for His throne. They follow and see the ark deposited upon a great rock,-may we not say, type of that unchanging Rock on which rests the throne of God, the basis of all sacrifice and of all relationship with Him, even Christ Himself ? And here we leave the Philistines, who return to their home, glad, no doubt, to be well rid both of the plagues and of Him who had inflicted them.
The ark returns to Bethshemesh, " the house of the sun," for it is ever light where God manifests Himself, and His return makes the night indeed bright about us. It comes into the field of Joshua, "Jehovah the Saviour," a reminder to the people whence their salvation alone could come. In vain would it be looked for from the hills, Jehovah alone must save. And here the spiritual instinct of the people, weak and ignorant as they are, is shown. They take the cattle and the wood of the cart and offer up a burnt-offering, far more acceptable to God than the golden images sent by the Philistines, of which we hear nothing again.

But the lesson of God's honor has not been fully learned, and, alas ! His own people must now prove that His ways are ever equal. If He is holy in the temple of Dagon, so that the idol must fall prostrate before Him; if that same holiness will smite the godless Philistine nation, it is none the less intense when it comes to His own people. In fact, as we well know, judgment will begin at the house of God, and as the prophet reminds the people that they only as a nation had been known of God, so far from this entitling them to immunity from punishment, it was the pledge that they would get it if needed :"Therefore will I punish you for your iniquities."

The men of Bethshemesh rejoiced to see the ark, but they little realized the cause of its removal into the enemy's country, and the need of fear and trembling as they approached God's holy presence. They lift up the cover and look within the ark, and God smites of the people, and there is a great slaughter. It seemed a very simple thing to do. We may hardly say that it was an idle curiosity to see what was therein. Possibly they may have thought that the Philistines had taken away the tables of the covenant, or at any rate they would see what was there. Was it not the covenant under which they had been brought into the land ?Was it not the law which had been given on mount Sinai, written with the very finger of God, and were they not .as the people of God entitled to look upon these tables of stone? Ah, they had forgotten two things, that when Moses brought the first tables of .stone down from the mountain, and saw the idolatry of the people dancing about the golden calf, he cast the stones out of his hand and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He would not dare either to dishonor the law of God by bringing it into a godless camp, or insure the destruction of the people by allowing the majesty of the law to act unhindered in judgment upon them' for their sin. They also forgot the divine covering over those tables of stone,-that golden mercy-seat, that propitiatory ,with its cherubim at either end, beaten out of pure gold, one piece, speaking of the righteousness and judgment which are the foundation of God's throne and which must ever be vindicated or, He cannot abide amongst His people. So upon that golden mercy-seat the blood of atonement had yearly been sprinkled, the witness that righteousness and judgment had been fully vindicated in the sacrifice of a substitute, and that the witness of atonement was there before God as the ground upon which His throne could remain in the midst of a sinful people.

To lift off the mercy-seat was in fact to deny the atonement. To gaze upon the tables of the covenant was practically to deny their sin and desert of judgment, and to lay themselves open to the unhindered action of that law which says:"Cursed is he ' that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." The law acted, as we may say, unhindered, as the covering was removed. God must judge if He acts merely according to law.

How we should bless our God that His throne rests on the golden mercy-seat; that the blood of the Sacrifice has met every claim of a broken law, and faith delights to look where the cherubim's gaze is also fixed, upon that which speaks of a Sacrifice better than that of Abel-calling not for vengeance, but calling for the outflow of God's love and grace toward the guilty. Ah, no; God forbid that we should ever in thought lift the mercy-seat from the ark. (To be continued).

The journey through the world is to the child of God as a boat on a strong current:It cannot stand still; if it is not aggressive it loses ground.

Let the soul of the saint cease to be in exercise with God toward the flesh, the world, and the devil, and he will soon experience the sad results of their aggressiveness toward him.