(A Meditation on Mark 1:, il, 3:)

In those three chapters we get the divine record of two parallel lives, and, at the same time, the greatness of their contrast will be observed by the thoughtful reader. One record, perfect and divine, the other that of Iranian nature away from God, hence sinful, and in the end demonstrated (as in chap. 3:) to be exceeding sinful.

In the gospel of Matthew (the first twelve chapters), the Holy Spirit goes over the same ground, and gives the same development of good on one hand and of evil on the other, but with more material added suited to the object of that Gospel. The two, if studied together (Matt. 1:-12:; Mark, 1:-3:), give much light, and the lessons are full of profit for meditation, but we will devote ourselves in this meditation to those three chapters.

In the first chapter we are at once introduced to the Lord Jesus as the perfect Servant. How wonderful, we exclaim, the grace, that sinners ever should be brought into His presence and introduced to Him before whom seraphim veil their faces, yet it is true, and as we trace His every step we behold the face of Deity, yet veiled with a true and perfect humanity.

In these three chapters they hear Him preach, teach, and see Him heal, and also deliver the oppressed, and as a Shepherd call His own sheep by name. But if they thus behold a prophet, teacher, and servant, it was none less than the Son of God who was all this.

As we open the chapter we note the sevenfold witness to Himself given:

1.Prophets prophesied of Him (ver. 2).

2. John bore a faithful testimony to Him (vers. 4-8).

3.The Holy Spirit descends upon Him (ver. 10).

4. The Father's voice proclaims Him, ''Thou art my Son, etc." (ver. ii).

5. Satan has to leave Him, after tempting Him forty days and finding nothing in Him.

6. Wild beasts are harmless and tame in His presence, Lord of Creation (ver. 13).

7. Angels at such a period of trial and temptation, yet of triumph and victory, come and minister to Him the Servant of servants, and yet Lord over Creation. Thus, as we view Him presented to Israel
and the earth, the glory of His person is recognized and borne witness to. Blessed truth which commands the worship of our hearts now and forever.

He commences His service by preaching the gospel and calling upon men to repent, the first lesson for man away from God and in his sins, " Repent ye and believe the gospel (vers. 14, 15).

Next He calls His servants, four in number (fishermen), to follow Him. At this time we begin to trace His path as servant here below (16-20). What an honor conferred upon those men of humble life to be called to follow Him during the time of His sojourn here! They were vessels, no doubt, long thought of, and already prepared for the occasion (although, doubtless, unknown to themselves), and by their humble life fitted in this way to be companions of One who was the very embodiment of humility ; hence suited to Him they were, as suited to them was He.

Next we trace His steps from the seaside to Capernaum, and there He entered the synagogue upon the Sabbath where we are informed He "taught," as before He had preached (ver. 14, 21, 22). Then as the Shepherd of Israel He delivered one of His sheep from the grasp of a cruel foe (vers. 23-27).

When we reach this stage of His ministry we observe how the masses are attracted by His word and work. "They were astonished at His doctrine:for He taught as one that had authority, and not as the scribes" (ver. 22). Note here with care, "Not as the scribes," for the contrast between His ministry and theirs could be readily seen. The scribes were mere formalists; religion was their business, and they taught simply as they learned from their books. His ministry was far different. He came forth from the presence of God, and in the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit spake the word of God, presenting it to the heart and conscience of men. The masses felt preaching of that character was the very voice of God to their souls. This is where we note the first contrast of the two parallel lives now before us in those three chapters.

If this new teaching was received by the masses, the scribes felt their popularity as teachers would wane, and their teaching fade away. Here we see human nature put to the test, and we see it manifests itself in the presence of One the very embodiment of perfection itself. Man cannot tolerate being set aside, cannot take a low place. And if even Jesus, the Father's gift to men, is introduced, and in the power of the Holy Spirit manifests Himself, on the part of man there develops envy and bitterness. Such was the case in the history of the religious leaders of that day. These things, we observe, develop until at the end they place Him upon the cross (chap. 15:18; Rom. 8:7).

But to return again (vers. 27 and 28). The people are further amazed, and His fame soon spreads through the whole province. He commences at the seaside, then passes to the synagogue, and from there the report of His teachings and miracles spread, until all Galilee hears the message. "The Lord hath visited His people in giving them bread." Wonderful days were those days for that favored land and people!

He pursues His labor of love and enters Peter's home, giving proof of His mission by raising up his
mother-in-law from a bed of sickness. " And at even, when the sun did set they brought unto Him all that were diseased and them that were possessed with devils, and all the city was gathered together at the door, and He healed many that were sick of divers diseases and cast out many devils." Marvelous was the work and marvelous the grace and love that met their need that day.

The next day we trace His footprints, and very early; " In the morning rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed" (ver. 33). What an example is here given us for the profit of the after servant, and what a lesson for those just called, and now walking by His side day by day. What lovely perfection we behold in the lowly life of Jesus here on earth, and what a contrast to that of the scribes and Pharisees who prayed, not in "a solitary place," but upon the corner of the streets to be seen of men.

Here we behold in the early morn the Lord of life and glory upon His knees, as a man, as a servant, expressing His dependence upon the Father. Lord, may we here pause and learn the lesson more fully, drink in this sweet, lowly and dependent spirit that ever characterized Thy life when here among men, and learn from this "solitary place " the importance of following the example, using our knees, as well as hands and tongues, for Thee.

Simon and they that were with Him soon follow, and when they found Him, they said, " All men seek for Thee." A busy day had just been passed, till evening the masses had thronged Him. But again, early, the disciples say, "All men seek for Thee." Let us again pause and note another lovely perfection of that life which was perfection itself at every stage. "And he said unto them let us go into the next towns:that I may preach there also:for therefore came I forth " (vers. 37, 38). He, ever perfect in doing His Father's work, desired to press on and finish His work. He was not deterred in the least from any part of that work by the popularity of the hour. That was nothing to Him, no bait that the enemy could use to hinder Him pursuing His Father's work, caring for His glory alone while here. Yet it is a bait often used by the enemy since to turn servants aside from quietly pursuing their course with humility of heart.

Nothing could hinder Him being in the "solitary place," nor yet pursuing His work from place to place with a decided and steady purpose, seeking His Father's glory and not His own. What a lesson, we repeat, for us all. Let us know the power of those two lessons; let us know what it is to look and care for the smile of the Master of every true servant. Let us seek His approval; let us watch against the wiles of Satan, who may suggest, as a bait for the flesh, that we are important, and that all seek for us. Let us imitate what the Lord here sets before us as an example so needed if we are to be here on earth servants for Him. How much this implies. "And He preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils."

Next the record of cleansing the leper is given and the result was, as he published abroad the fact, they came to Him from every quarter (vers. 39-45).

In chapter twenty-one we see Him once again in Capernaum, where we first beheld Him casting out a demon, and now upon His return He still finds it the place of need, the field was white, the harvest ripe, the need was great. We will next see how unable were the leaders to ease the burden for the oppressed, and how little the desire they had to do so. At this time they bring a palsied man, and through the roof they let him down, and He seeing their faith grants the blessing, and even this beyond their faith; they desired the body healed, but He grants forgiveness also, and the man receives a double blessing. " Thy sins be forgiven thee." How sweet these words must have been to that man's ears; what music they contained to cheer his drooping spirit. But for the scribes it was far otherwise, to forgive and bless had no charm for them. This work was new, the ministry powerful, the results marvelous, so that the populace were carried away:"We never saw it on this fashion."

Now we note the development of a life so different to His, so opposite, and even hostile; envy was deep seated in the hearts of those men, the scribes; their popularity as teachers was on the wane, and the teaching of another was growing in acceptance. " But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies ? Who can forgive sins but God only?" This was the thought of their hearts; true, not yet expressed, but the Lord read it there. He was a teacher, so were they, and their own glory as such they sought, but with Him different. What a lesson for us as servants now! When nearness to Him is cultivated and the drinking in the lowly spirit that so characterized Him, the perfect Servant, the moral characteristics of His life will be displayed. When we see God attaching special honor and blessing upon others, when we see them advance, then let the heart beware, for the flesh within is ever ready to manifest itself as do the scribes in this chapter. They complain, look for some accusation, but the spirit of the Lord was the very opposite. An old writer wrote, " None are so slow to recognize gift in others as preachers themselves." This fact is truly exemplified by the spirit of the scribes, and here every servant, every teacher, every preacher, no matter what the sphere of service may be, needs to pause and seek to cultivate that spirit. "Let each esteem other better than themselves" (Phil. 2:3-11). Beware of the flesh within that seeks its own glory and the advancement of self. Let us turn from that unholy spirit, the envy, the jealousy, the bitter feeling which we see here in its germ with the scribes, and which when fully developed led them to put Him upon the cross. What a hateful thing the flesh is in the presence of holiness!

But all this opposition on their part did not deter the Lord in the least. The need lay before His eyes, and the desire to meet that need lay heavy upon His heart. So He adds to the palsied man:"Arise and take up thy bed." What grace! What power! How strengthening and cheering to Peter, James and John, as well as the others whom the Holy Spirit had attracted to Jesus, were these things. Yet with the scribes it was far otherwise. They watch Him with a keen eye, yet He goes on with His work, as the Shepherd of Israel, seeking the sheep however far astray. A. E. B.

(To be continued)

Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke is. 23).

The ordinary thought of self-denial, whether among saints or the people of the world, is giving up. There may be great diversity of thought as to what is to be given up. Some would limit it to certain characteristically worldly things- card-playing, dancing, the theater, etc. Others would confine it to a certain season, during which time pleasures which are freely indulged in the remainder of the year are rigidly eschewed, and even in the food and other habits the change may be noticed.

Others who see much more than this, still look upon self-denial as a matter of details. This, that and the other is to be given up, as pleasing to the natural man. Nor is it possible that such an interpretation should not tend to foster spiritual pride; for does not one deserve credit for relinquishing so much?

But is this the thought of the passage, "Let him refuse himself"? Self is to be refused, to be given up. A man may give up anything, and well-nigh everything, but so long as he holds fast to himself, he has not learned the first elements of self-denial. " I am crucified with Christ," says the apostle. Did he mean that he was doing this or that distasteful thing, and so practicing self-denial? Ah no! Paul himself was denied; he was done with himself, and now it was Christ who lived in him. Can we think of Paul as occupied with a multiplicity of questions, as to whether he had to give up one thing and another? The cross settled all that for him. There was an end to himself, as well as an end to the world, so far as he was concerned. And with this went the entire mass of questions that monasticism has tried in vain to settle.

And does not this explain the taking up the cross, which comes in the immediate connection? Let him " take up his cross daily and follow Me." ' The ordinary thought of taking the cross is doing something that is disagreeable. So people talk even of prayer and public confession of Christ as taking up the cross, But to the disciples the cross meant something very definite. They looked upon it as the sign of death, and death at the hands of the Romans. In modern language, we might substitute the word gallows for the cross. The ignominy, judgment and reproach of a shameful death go with it.'' To follow Christ, to take up the cross, then, means something more than doing a few distasteful duties. It means an end of self. Reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed to sin,

But beloved, what relief we have here, what rest of soul. The root is cut and soon the fading leaves of human pride will drop off. Does the world persecute? does it threaten with the cross? It can have no terrors for one who knows the preciousness of the cross in his own soul.'' He has already taken it up, applied it, not to a few details; and in the end of himself, he has reached the end of struggling. The whole thing has gone, he is alive now in Christ Jesus, and can walk in the newness of life which goes with that. Now he will find power for laying aside every weight, and instead of a path of sorrow, he has one of unutterable peace and joy-the path of the cross, which ends in the cloudless glory of God.

The subjoined testimony as to the condition of the heathen is inserted with the desire to remind the people of God of their true state. There is a tendency to think of them as merely unfortunate and scarcely responsible. It is even taught that many of them have the true knowledge of God, by the light of nature, or by some gracious work of God in their soul apart from revelation. The word of God says nothing of this, and leaves us to the awful conclusions stated in these remarks.

But what effect should this have upon those saved by the precious blood of Christ ? Will it give them a self-satisfied assurance that they hold the truth, or will it stir their souls afresh with ardent desire to carry the good news to the perishing millions who have never heard the gospel ? Surely every saved soul has a responsibility as to this. May we not pray to see awakened interest in sending the gospel to foreign lands, and may we not also ask that the Lord will raise up and send forth more laborers, more heralds of the gospel into the dark places of the earth ?

"The second speaker of the evening was Rev. L. D. Morse, returned missionary. Mr. Morse spoke of the doubts entertained by some Christians as to the condemnation and lost condition of the heathen. He had not to settle the fate of the heathen. But nothing could change the law of God. It is impossible that God can create sin. Paul teaches in Romans that the wrath of God is revealed against those who hold the truth in unrighteousness. The heathen have the testimony borne to God in nature;
and yet knowing God, they reverence Him not as God. It is not true that the heathen do not know sin, as their fierce condemnation of those who sin against them shows. There are plenty of words in the Telugu language to express the idea of sin. Their doctrine of transmigration and their confessions show it. Their sacrifices also show their consciousness of sin. The converted heathen never utter a word to indicate that they have hope of the salvation of their ancestors. He had not found men among the heathen seeking after God, until influenced by the Word and the Spirit, through the preaching of the Christian missionary. Let there be no doubt about these people needing the gospel in order to salvation. Of the 330 million gods of India, the vilest are the most popular. He had mingled with all kinds and castes of the heathen men, and had not found a holy man among them.

The pictures exhibited in their temples in the name of religion are altogether too vile for description. Have we any message, the speaker asked, for these people ? Let us go with the gospel to them and save them from sinning and suffering eternally. The great commission properly understood is the great condemnation of the heathen world. Christ came to save the lost, and if the heathen are not lost there is no reason why we should send the gospel to them. It was not for him, Mr Morse said, to say to any man that it was his duty to go to India but he could say to every one that it was his duty to be surrendered to God's will, and for himself he counted it joy to go where God wanted him to go and be what God wanted him to be. From the "Messenger and Victor."

It is characteristic of faith to reckon on God, not simply spite of difficulty, but spite of impossibility. Faith concerns not itself about means; it counts upon the promise of God. To the natural man the believer may seem to lack prudence; nevertheless, from the moment it becomes a question of means which render the thing easy to man, it is no longer God acting. It is no longer His work where means are looked to. When with man there is impossibility, God must come in; and it is so much the more evidenced to be the right way, since God only does that which He wills. Faith has reference to His will, and that only, thus it consults neither about the means nor the circumstances; in other words, it consults not with flesh and blood. Where faith is weak, external means are, beforehand, reckoned on in the work of God. Let us remember that where things are feasible to man, there is no longer need of faith, because there is no longer need of the energy of the Spirit. Christians do much and effect little-why ?

119 GROVE ST., PLAINFIELD, N. J., July 12th, 1900.

BELOVED BROTHER,-I trust that this may be a first instalment, so far as correspondence goes, of a large indebtedness.

I am, through mercy, daily and uninterruptedly going on towards recovery. It has been that all round, and with a steadiness which surprises the doctor, who while not professing Christianity for himself, says that the prayers of Christians, and not his medicines, have brought about my recovery. May the after-fruit manifest still more that it is indeed the work of Him who delights to answer His people's prayers ; and whose every thought is blessing for them.

"Afterward, the peaceable fruits of righteousness" should now apply, although one feels the dreadful shallowness of our deepest convictions. The negative side of the world's worthlessness I can realize in good measure, but the touch of death naturally dispels illusion here. The positive enjoyment of our own things is where one's weakness shows itself, and in the dulness that thus creeps over the soul. The medicinal effect of evangelistic activity is I think of the highest use self-ward here, which no constancy of occupation with the Word even can replace; and the lack of general activity amongst us in this respect seems to lose for us often the brightness which many have with so much less light. I long for that combined evangelistic effort among us I have often advocated and yet, alas, let drop through lack of spiritual energy to persevere in face of the indifference which seemed to greet it. However, I am not upon this theme now, though I trust the future may have something for us in this. I am only, as it were, just lifting my head to look around, and my first duty to the Lord and to my brethren is to own with a thankful heart how He has been repeating to us in living example the first lessons of Paul as to ministry in the epistle of ministry (2 Cor. i), and how God has joined the body together so as to make this a necessary consequence of membership in it. My sickness has in this way gained me much by showing me what was indeed mine already but had not had the same opportunity of displaying itself. I thank the brethren heartily for the expression of a love which is rooted and grounded in that which is beyond knowledge. May we keep ourselves in the love of God, as the apostle enjoins,-in the enjoyment of the fulness which necessitates the outflow again of what we have received from Him. Let it only be remembered that now I need prayer for the fruitfulness of the life restored, and that the hand of God may manifestly not have wrought in vain.

We were glad to hear of the many at the T– meeting, trust for permanent blessing. There has been plenty of plowing of the soil there; may the time have come for the quiet growth of that which has been sown there, which has not been a little. It was my first place of meeting with J. N. D.;-of those who gathered round then how few remain. That, in the natural way, is not to be wondered at; but the spiritual history of many, alas, what has it been? A startling warning, surely, of the need we have of Philadelphia's exhortation. God is the God of resurrection, and the old fields can blossom afresh. This lesson well learnt, the discouragement becomes encouragement. We need not, because amid the fruits of a long history of failure, dwell under the shadow of this, but under His shadow, and still " with great delight."

I have really no news, arid can only cover paper with repetition of familiar things. Yet they are not things of which we weary. Please give my love and thanks to all, and let them give me large credit for what I do not say.

Very affectionately ever in Christ. F. W. G.

(Continued from page 96.)

There are about twenty-five parables in the Gospels, as well as numerous parabolic sayings beside, although different numbers may be obtained according to the place where we put the dividing line. They are largely drawn from the various occupations of the people of that day, and cover most of them.

It has been said that the parable of the sower was given to draw the farming class, that of the merchant seeking goodly pearls, the traders, and that of the net let down, the fisher folk; and although perhaps there is room to differ as to the specific application, yet the principle is a beautiful one and serves as another of those side lights which illumine the Lord's life with their radiance. The apostle speaks somewhere of becoming all things to all men, and this our Lord was for the very blessed reason that in a certain sense, we may say, men were all things to Him. He had a wonderful and touching sympathy with toiling humanity around, entering into their daily duties in a manner that is very precious, and ready always to address the heart thereby. So there is scarcely an occupation in life from which His parables are not drawn. There are about eleven of these and though to the Christian they are, of course, familiar, it may be profitable to take a sort of bird's eye-view.

They dealt with high life and low life. We hear of the rich man's son running away and spending his all, and of the poor woman with her ten pieces of silver, of the shepherd tending his flock. We see
the merchant entering on a large venture, or the fisher gaining a precarious living in the great Deep. Then again we sit in the palace of the king in high festival, or wander with the sower at noon tide. We go with the traveler to Jericho and see the thieves strip him of all that he has, or we visit the courts of the city, where high handed injustice for long resists the cry of importunity.

But not merely is the world of man a field of illustration, but a number of the facts of animate and inanimate creation are summoned to bear their testimony. "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow," and remember that not one of the sparrows falls to the ground without your Father. Ye read the signs of the sky, and why not the signs of the times? The reader can think of other fields which are covered.

But now let us remember that no one can imitate save in a very imperfect way, our blessed Lord, and yet if our heart grow more into that Divine compassion that filled Him, we too shall be able to find in sea and sky, in life and death, avenues to the consciences of our fellow-men, and all things shall subserve the work of our ministry. Some like anecdotal preaching, (which in a certain way answers to the parabolic), and some a more purely didactic discourse, but in the parables and in the sermon on the mount we have parallels of each, and we know that His ways are divine. And more or less we can grow to be like Him in this. One man is anecdotal because he has a healthy sympathy with the pulsating human life around, and another is perceptual and doctrinal as entering warmly into God's ways and laws in Holy Writ. Both are needed and each may gain of the other as each learns more of the heart for everything that moved Him.

When we come to consider the didactic and perceptual part, we will be surprised to find how much it is illumined by metaphor and simile. There are about two dozen metaphors and similes in the so-called sermon on the mount, and much of the same is scattered through the Gospels. To examine into the examples of these and consider their beauty would be rather beyond the purport of this paper, and yet some are so beautiful we fain would pause and consider them.

"Ye are the salt of the earth," says the Lord. Salt is known for its preservative qualities. It prevents rot and decay. And so Christians are those who "having escaped the corruption that is in the world " are God's witnesses in it. But evidently the primary application is to the usefulness, the preciousness of salt-its savor, which is such that, where absent, men have risked their lives to procure it. It is as if He had said, Ye are the choice ones of this earth; but then if you lose that which makes you this, you are like savorless salt, good only to be cast away. Salt too is that which turns the fertile place into a desert. O brethren, have we so much salt in us that this world has indeed become a wilderness to us? "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid." By day its gilded domes glitter in the rays of the sun, and by night its lights shine out, a beacon to the wanderer and the weary. Christian, do you too shine in the full day of prosperity and in the dark time of tribulation?

But this use of metaphor and simile by Jesus points clearly to the amount of lesson there is in the
world around, which we might use to draw our fellow-men, and by which we might admonish our own heart. In preaching as in teaching let us remember how our great Teacher pointed his remarks by metaphor and simile.

Throughout our Lord's teaching there is also a large use of what is called antithesis or contrast. Thus in the very portion with which we are dealing, the sayings of those of old time are brought into vivid juxtaposition with His own blessed precepts.

What the disciples should do is contrasted with what the hypocrite actually does. We have the contrast of the two roads, one broad and leading to destruction, and the other narrow and traversed by few, but ending in life. Finally, a vision of two houses is presented to view, one standing on the unstable sand and swept away by the rush of the flood, and the other grounded on the rock, presenting an immovable front to all the torrent of the tempest.

What a mass of contrast there is even in this short sermon, and when you come to examine the rest of the Gospel, you will be surprised to see how often these vivid contrasts confront one another. There is at least one powerful use of what we may call suggested contrast; when He asks the bystanders, "What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? A man in soft raiment? In king's palaces?" One can imagine the people crying out:"No, no indeed, that certainly John was not." But, O reader, how much those contrasts weighed upon His loving heart. Do they weigh upon yours? The light and joy of Heaven? The blackness and doom of hell? The purity of Divine holiness? The loathsomeness of sin? How many lights and shadows are falling on the shores of time, and how miserable our thought of the things around if we fail to see them?

But do not let us close this portion of our meditation with the mere remembrance of the facts just brought to our notice; let us ponder very often the reason for their use on the part of our Lord, and let us seek to be drawn closer to Him by it. Was it to attract or move His hearers that He used metaphor, simile, and antithesis? It was; but consider that He also saw that in them which was worthy of use, and let us seek to see these parallels, these strange antitheses in Nature and in life. One philosopher has been so impressed by these likenesses that he has built up a theory of the universe, in which each atom or "monad," in addition to that which gives it its own individuality, has contained within it all the qualities of the monads beneath it.

Another thing to be observed is the frequency of the use of the specific for the general, the concrete for the abstract. Thus although we have the so-called Golden Rule given as a general principle of action, yet before it is enunciated there is much specific example of the same. For instance, we are told not to turn away from him that would borrow of us, and when smitten on the one cheek to turn the other, etc. So hell is never spoken of in a general way as a place of torment, but as a place of darkness, symbolic of its hopelessness, or as a place of fire, typical of the burning of the wrath of God, or as a place where the worm dieth not, portraying the pangs of conscience. Instead of saying, If there be something about you that causes you to do wrong, get rid of it, He declares:" If thy right hand cause thee to offend,"etc. General principles alone are too broad to probe, the keen edge of the particular must be used.

This brings us face to face with a question that is certainly worth a close examination. Does our Lord, and do the apostles in preaching, speak usually of men being sinners, or of their being committers of specific sins? Certainly they are punished for the fact that they have committed specific sins. They must give an account of the deeds done in the body. Then again, men are perfectly ready to acknowledge that they are sinners, but scarcely, that they are liars, or selfish, or of violent and cruel temper. In conformity with this, I think that examination will reveal that the Lord and the apostles too, more often charge men with the specific sin than with being sinners in a general way.

Compare His terrific arraignment of the Pharisees and His interview with the woman at the well. Take in fact, almost any of His charges and I think this truth will be made manifest. Then if we pass to the discourses of the apostles, Peter charges the people with the crucifixion of Jesus; Paul, in preaching to the Athenians, asserts that superstition is one of their prominent crimes; and even when we go to the epistles, although they do not so much deal with the individual as with doctrine, yet how largely are such charges as, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God," followed by long catalogues of detail. Even when he comes to speak of a nation, and through Timothy to them, he says, "The Cretans are liars." Is there not too much generality in the preaching of many, and should not this proposition be examined in the light of God's Word?

As to the use of the concrete for the abstract, we merely adduce the following instances, which may be supplemented at will. "I came not to send peace on the earth but a sword." "If he ask for a fish will he give him a serpent?"' This usage however is not so extensive as that of the general for the specific.

The next subject which we have to consider is our Lord's use of "object lessons." Perhaps the most familiar example of it, and one that will occur to every mind, is the taking of the young child and placing it in the midst, and saying:"Except ye be converted and become as this little child, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven." What a beautiful scene it was :the group of grown up men that had once barred the way of the children into His presence, and the little creature before them. How they must have been ashamed of their proud thoughts and felt the power of the rebuke. But how much more vividly it must have been brought to their minds, to see the little one there. To take another instance. We all remember how He asked for the coin upon which was the image and superscription of Caesar, and pointing them out, demanded whose they were and said:"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."

If metaphor and simile and object lesson be used by our Lord, if He thus summon analogy to bear Him witness, He also avails Himself of citation of authorities. This seems so obvious and plain to any reader of the Scripture that it will perhaps not be considered necessary to notice it, but there are some lessons that may be drawn which if duly considered ought to be of profit. Is it not wonderful that He should have so often cited those who held a station so much beneath Him? We say that He came to glorify His Father and His Father's word, and all that is very true. We say that it was Scripture that He quoted. Now there is truth in that remark and yet it is one of those half truths that often blind us to what is beyond them. For instance, when David went into the house of God and ate the show bread, it was scarcely scriptural to do so, although the fact itself is found in Scripture. The Lord, of course, knew that what David then did was right or he would not have cited him, but still it is the citation of David's action and in support of His own, and Scripture itself does not lend authority to the action of David. This is a wonderfully gracious thing on the part of the Lord to do. Are we always ready to cite one whom we know to be beneath us in knowledge, just because he is trusted by those to whom we speak? It is a part of true humility at any rate. But we have something further to learn. Is it not a justification of what learned men call "the argumentum ad hominem"? Is it not as much as to say, "You make your boast in David, and although a greater than David is here, yet I will take you on the ground on which you place yourselves, and so doing find justification for what I Myself have done?"

Just to touch for a moment on a subject which might better have had an earlier place in this paper, and then to pass to the Lord in conflict with those who oppose themselves. It is another of those trite remarks which when stated in all their nakedness seem so obvious as to be taken for granted, and which, for that very reason so often are passed over. The Lord said the right thing at the right time. Now a man may give a perfectly correct answer, and yet that answer may be far from the correct thing to say. This is paradoxical and yet true. When He spoke the parable of the sower going out to sow, He was seated in a boat overlooking the green fields that swept away in their verdure from the shore of Galilee. It is even quite possible that one of those sowers may have been in sight as He spoke, and the mustard-tree have waved in the fresh breeze from the lake, as He passed on to speak of the smallness of its seed. Again, the hiding of the leaven in the meal, although spoken from the same place may easily have been suggested by some domestic scene within view. No doubt too the house into which He entered, and where He talked, with His disciples about the net let down and the merchant seeking goodly pearls, was in the near neighborhood of the scene in which they had just been, as well as in consonance with the trade of those to whom He was speaking. Some of the other parables are a little hard to judge of because the place in which they were spoken is not clear, but I think that you will notice that very largely what I have been trying to bring out, has exemplification in those incidents in which locality is more prominent. There is in all these facts, much that goes to show the perfection of that Manhood which, while never in harmony with that which was evil, seemed always, in so far as was fit, to adapt itself to the environment in which it moved.

Passing now to our last topic, how often does He meet objection by a question, either in reality, to which he expects an answer, or else in interrogatory form. "Whose is the image and superscription?" "Can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?" "Whether is easier to say:Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk?" "If Satan cast out Satan, how then shall his kingdom stand?" In this latter instance He had first of all made the direct assertion that a house divided against itself could not stand, and the interrogation is a formal one. There are so many of these questions asked by our Lord and they are so familiar to the reader of the Bible, that there will be no need of further citation, but I want to pause a moment and consider the wisdom of this style.

When people are compelled to confute their own reasoning, the confutation is much more thorough, greater attention to the answer being necessarily given, and furthermore, where an answer is vouchsafed, the position of the objector is more clearly seen and there is no possibility of his falling back on some unacknowledged point after the whole argument is over, and of thus breaking its force. He stands self-convicted before all. Then too he is necessarily more open to the argument because he has already granted points, which if he had seen their bearing, he might have absolutely refused to grant. He answers truly, with unbiased mind and must necessarily, even if he afterward withdraw his concession, see that there is at least a very large amount of probability on the side of his opponent. Here then is wisdom; but how often this wisdom is adorned by a touching grace. The interrogatory method in itself is a less dogmatic, self-assertive method. Of course, the person that uses it may be the most dogmatic of all persons and may use it purely because of its advantages, but with Him, who was meek and lowly in heart, how well it consorted. I think that at times when He saw that some poor man was bolstering himself with the pride of his knowledge, and answered in this questioning way, a sort of shame must have fallen on that falsely proud heart, and inward reverence and worship must have arisen as he beheld the meekness of that mighty Miracle Worker. Surely we can pray to Him as we close:

" O teach us more of Thy blest ways
Thou holy Lamb of God!
And fix and root us in Thy grace,
As those redeemed by blood."

F. C. G.

The brief sentence which forms the heading of I this article presents to us the earnest aspiration of one who had found an absorbing and commanding object in Christ-the utterance of a soul whose one desire was to grow in the knowledge and appreciation of that blessed One who fills all heaven with His glory. The whole passage from which our motto is taken is full of power. We must quote it for the reader, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."

Let us specially mark the words, "what things were gain to me." The apostle is not speaking of his sins, of his guilt, of things of which, as a man, he might justly be ashamed. No; he is referring to his gains, his honors, his distinctions, his religious, his intellectual, his moral, his political advantages- of such things as were calculated to make him an object of envy to his fellows. All these things he counted but loss that he might win Christ.

Alas! how few of us understand anything of this! How few of us grasp the meaning of the words-the real force of the expression, "That I may win Christ!" Most of us rest satisfied with thinking of Christ as God's gift to sinners. We do not aim at winning Him as our prize, by the surrender of all those things which nature loves and values. The two things are quite distinct. As poor miserable, guilty, hell-deserving sinners, we are not asked to do, or to give, or to surrender anything. We are invited, yea commanded to take-take freely-take all. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. "If thou knewest the free giving of God, thou wouldst have asked."

All this is blessedly true, thanks be to God for it! But then, there is another side of the question. What did Paul mean by winning Christ? He already possessed Christ as God's free gift to him as a sinner. What more did he want? He wanted to win Christ as his prize, even at the cost of all beside. As Christ, the true merchant man, sold all that He had, in order to possess Himself of what He esteemed "a pearl of great price ''-laid aside His glory, stripped and emptied Himself of all-gave up all His claims as man, as Messiah, in order to possess Himself of the Church; so, in his measure, that devoted Christian, whose words form our thesis, gave up everything in order to possess himself of that peerless Object who had been revealed to his heart on the day of his conversion. He saw such beauty, such moral glory, such transcendent excellency in the Son of God, that he deliberately surrendered all the honors, the distinctions, the pleasures, the riches of earth, in order that Christ might fill every chamber of his heart, and absorb all the energies of his moral being He longed to know Him not merely as the One who had put away his sins, but as the One who could satisfy all the longings of his soul, and utterly displace all that earth could offer or nature grasp.

Reader, let us gaze on this picture. It is indeed a fine study for us. It stands out in bold contrast with the cold, selfish, world-loving, pleasure-hunting, money-seeking spirit of this our day. It administers a severe rebuke to the heartless indifference of which many must alas! be conscious-an indifference expressing itself in numberless and nameless ways. Where do we see that which answers to the words, " That I may win Christ?" C. S.

Every man has his own natural idea of heaven, according to what to him is perfect bliss. To one it is music; to another, his circle of friends; to another, rest; and so on. "To be with Christ" is the Christian's heaven, for the great sum and substance of Christianity is, Christ supremely loved and enthroned in the human heart.

I ask and entreat you to look and to see, whether in the present time, when through mercy page upon page of Scripture has been brought out before us, we are walking in the power of the truth to the eye of God, to the eye of the Father who loves us, to the eye of Christ who cares about the state of our affections and of our thoughts. He is large-hearted enough to take notice of everything in each one of us; and He desires that we should be practically consistent, since we are sons, and therefore servants of God. G. V. W.

The revelation of the grace of God, the style of the revelation of it, is as wonderful and different from all beside, just as is the grace itself.

The love of God disclosed in the gospel is a love which passes knowledge. And yet the story of it is told without glowing expressions to give it effect, or any help, as from language or description, to set it off to the heart.

This is a wondrous thing. Attempts are not made in Scripture to carry the sense of this love to the soul beyond the simple telling of the tale of it. It is told, but told artlessly. This is the style, the general style or method, of the Book of God.

O Mary, all thy sins forgiven,
Thy place beside the Master's feet,
So holy, if divinely sweet,
Had taught thy chastened soul its need-
Thou knewest thy dear Lord must bleed,
His spotless bosom bruised and riven !

Not thee rebellious pity stirred,
But deeper grief to hear His word
That told His hour of passion nigh-
That He, the Lord of life, must die
And rise again !The sorrow fell
In crushing, unresisted spell
On thy submissive heart that heard-
Thy broken heart that knew too well
Its vileness and its utter need
To dare to reason or to plead
To stay Him from the agony !

Thou knewest in thy feeble measure
That Glory veiled in manhood's dress,-
Knew He was God, heaven's priceless Treasure
Revealed in human loveliness;
Yet knew that curse and death must be,
His person crushed in penalty
And all that glorious preciousness
Atoningly outpoured for sin,
Ere even such a One as He
Thy worthless wretchedness could win
Or save one sinner righteously !

Perhaps thou knewest Jesus dying,
His God and Father glorifying,
Would fill with fragrance perfectly
(As there made sin and made a curse)
The whole created universe
For time and for eternity

At least thy faith set forth the token-
As by the Father gently taught
Thine alabaster box was brought
And by thy hands of love was broken,
To pour the spikenard, pure and sweet,
On Sorrow's head and Love's worn feet !
Thine alabaster casket white
Was like His stainless Flesh, the vase,
The temple of Eternal Light, '
Of Godhead-fulness, Love and Grace !
Broken by loving hands, 'twas like
The Father's Son resigned to spike
And cross-His being crushed-His breath
By wrath consumed for sin in death!

And even as it was the spilling
Upon His sacred Person there
That spread the grateful sweetness, filling
The house with incense-perfumed air;
So His atoning sacrifice
Unveils all beauty to our eyes
While love-outpoured in sweet libation
Upon His agony and shame-
Makes odorous the whole creation
With incense of His fragrant Name!

F. A.

It is most blessed to know that God, who alone knows what sin is, in its awfulness, has in love provided a remedy, which alone satisfies the just claims of His holiness, and as completely meets all the need of the very worst sinner on earth:while all may not be conscious of the terrible results of sin, yet surely all must acknowledge they are sinners before God. "For all have sinned " (Rom. 3:23).

I. What has man, of his own, to offer as atonement for his sin?

Anything to give man a perfect standing must embrace in its efficacy "his whole existence from his entrance into this world to his entrance into eternity. To illustrate, a person born into this world lives say eighty years here and then passes out into eternity. At the age of thirty, such an one is brought to see his sin and desires to be saved. In order to have perfect rest of conscience and heart he must see that what he proposes to present as an offering for his sin must not only atone in the fullest sense for the thirty years past, but for the future fifty years of his life, and give right to God's presence in eternity, fitting him forever for His holy eyes to look on with favor. Now what can one bring? Righteousness is what is needed; has man any of his own which will avail? (Ps. 97:2). " But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:10, 20; Eph. 2:9; Gal. 3:10, comp. Dent, 27:26; James 2:10. Thus the sinner can never get acceptance with God by self-righteous character, works, or amendment of life by law keeping.

2. What does God require for sin? " The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23), is the uncompromising sentence of God who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity" (Hab. 1:13). He further tells us, "the life of the flesh is in the blood." . . . (Lev. 17:ii), and that "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). Thus His justice and holiness demand the full requirement to be met, while for the sinner there can be no settled peace for his conscience and heart in anything less-which is death, or life given up, as an atonement. This was what made the difference between Cain's and Abel's offering; the latter, of course, was based upon faith in this very truth. Comp. Gen. 4:3, 4 with Heb. 11:4. See also Gen. 2:17; 3:24; Rom. 5:12; 6:23; Rev. 21:8; 20:15; Mark 9:42-50; John 8:21, 24.

3. God's provision and remedy for sin.

"The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls:for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev. 17:ii). Thus God speaks, not in an arbitrary manner, but according to justice, which demanded the offering up of the life forfeited by sin. It will be observed too that it was "upon the altar" where the settlement was to be made through substitutionary sacrifice. Thus the Old Testament pages are tinged with the blood of bulls, and goats, and lambs, "which they offered year by year continually" (Heb. 10:i), but which could never "make the comers thereunto perfect,"1:e. completely purged as to position and conscience. All pointed on to the one great atoning sacrifice of Calvary.

So when John stands at the Jordan and cries, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), it was an announcement that God had provided Himself a Lamb whose sacrifice should be once for all, absolutely complete.
In the Tabernacle worship, the animal was slain and burned without the camp, the blood taken by the high-priest inside the veil, sprinkled once on the mercy-seat and seven times before it, satisfying the justice of Jehovah and giving a perfect standing to the high-priest as the representative of Israel. This was repeated every Day of Atonement.

But what do we read of the Lamb of God, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ? On Calvary's cross, He bore our sins in His own body (i Peter 2:24), having offered Himself without spot to God (Heb. 9:14), endured the full judgment of a holy God for sin, and completely satisfied all God's claims as to sin for those who believe on Him. He was "delivered for our offences, and was raised for our justification " (Rom. 4:25), and by His own blood has entered into heaven itself, having obtained eternal redemption, salvation for us.

Read carefully the following, John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21; i Pet. 2:24; 1:18-20; Gal. 4:4-7; Rom. 5:6, 8, 10; viii 3; Heb. 10:12-14; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 5:9.

4. How may sinners obtain the benefit of all this?

In that familiar verse, John 3:16, we read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Here God makes a plain, clear, unmistakable promise, but for whom? Why surely for sinners- who else can it be for? Notice God "loved" and "gave;" the sinner "believeth " and "hath." Again "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Again, "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins " (Acts 10:43). Here then are three positive declarations from the Triune God, against whom we have sinned, declaring it a fact that any sinner, conscious of his sinnership and its consequences-for this must first of all be realized–believing on the Lord Jesus Christ has "everlasting life " and "remission of sins." See also John 10:28-30; Rom. 8:i; i Tim. i; 15.

But the question may naturally be asked whom and what and how are we to believe.

First, it is indispensable to believe in the Deity and sinless humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Read i John 2:22; 4:2, 3, 14, 15; John 1:1-3, 14; 5:18, etc. If our Lord was merely a man, He could never be our Redeemer, because divine righteousness would not be satisfied by anything less than itself. He was also sinless, for He "knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21); "did no sin" (i Pet. 2:22); and was "apart from sin" (Heb. 4:15).

Second, to believe that His death upon the cross was a full and complete atonement for our sinful condition, position, etc. (Isa. 53:i-6; Matt. 1:21); (read with emphasis on "He shall"); 20:28; Luke 19:10; John 3:14; 12:32, 33; Rom. 5:8; Col. i, 20; Heb, ii, 9; i Cor. 15:3; Acts 4:24, 25).

Thus it can be seen divine justice has been fully met, and the need of sinners as well-in One who was God Himself, and yet became man (Phil. 2:8).

Third, How are we to believe? (Rom. 10:8-ii); "with the heart," 1:e., a trusting confidence based upon God's word (Rom. 10:17), not on our feelings. James 2:19, shows the devils have feelings, yet they are not saved (2 Pet. 2:4).

"Dost thou believe on the Son of God? (John 9:35). B. W. J.

Envy is a diabolical passion, for it makes war against God Himself; being incapable, in its impotence, of clouding His Sovereign Majesty, it attacks Him in the gifts His beneficence has bestowed upon man.-Book of the Fathers.

"Call upon Me in the day of trouble:I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify Me" (Ps. 1. 15).

It has been said that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. So that we may be quite sure a text such as this appeals to a great many-It presents to us four points, each of which is worthy of consideration. They are:First, "the day of trouble"; secondly, what we are to do in it-"call upon Me"; next, what God will do in answer to our call-"I will deliver thee"; lastly, the end God has in view-"them shalt glorify Me."

Let us notice first how comprehensive is the statement-"the day of trouble." It is not any particular trouble that is mentioned. This is a great comfort, for if any particular kind had been referred to it might not have been ours. Troubles are so varied; and the thing that is troubling you at the present moment may be altogether unknown to some others. Indeed, someone may be reading these lines who is ready to say, "Surely no one else has endured what I am now called to pass through." Even so, the text applies in your case, for does it not say "the day of trouble," without specifying what may be its nature ? "Call upon Me in the day of trouble."

There is the trouble of ill health, pain, weakness. How many wish they had never seen this day! Time was when they could go where they would, and do what they would. Like Peter, it could be said to them, "Thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst." But now it is different. Nights of pain and days of weariness are a matter of constant experience. It is the day of trouble. What is to be done? We lately called to see one who, though once a very strong man, injured his spine, and is paralyzed. He frequently suffers intense pain, and for years has been confined to bed. This verse has been his comfort, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble:I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." This is what we are to do. It is often said by those similarly placed that they cannot understand why God leaves them here. This is the explanation-"thou shalt glorify Me." No one can preach such a powerful sermon as a bed-ridden saint. Without uttering a word he or she may be a living sermon on patience, fortitude, and joy; in the midst of suffering setting forth the way in which the grace of Christ can enable them to endure. How is it to be done ? "Call upon Me:. . . I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." Not deliver thee perhaps from the infirmity, but a greater deliverance- from being under the power of it.

But there are other troubles. Trouble which arises from poverty, or loss of property, or what is far worse, some loved one; trouble in connection with business and a thousand other things; trouble brought upon ourselves by our own failure, or what is even a darker trouble sometimes, through the sin and failure of others. Thank God, it is all included in "the day of trouble"-the anxious parent solicitous about the welfare of a child; the individual who finds life a long continued struggle; the tempted, the tried, the downtrodden, the oppressed, are all referred to here-"Call upon Me in the day of trouble:I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me."

But we surely need not enlarge upon this. "The day of trouble" is familiar to most of us in some form or other; we rather need to pay attention to the precious injunction with which the verse commences, "Call upon Me." This has a double value. In the first place it is an immense relief to be able to speak to anyone about our trouble, and in the next place that one is God.
It does not say how many times we are to call. Simply, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble." A call does, however, imply earnestness. It is not, "Speak to Me." We may sometimes speak to God as though we hardly meant what we said. But here it is more vehement-" Call upon Me," as though we were in real earnest to make God hear. A child in danger or fright calls to its parent, it does not speak as though nothing was the matter. Now while God knows everything, and can hear even a whisper and read even our thoughts, yet His direction here is, " Call upon Me." If you have called many times before and not yet been delivered, still continue calling. Deliverance will surely come in some form or other, and in the meantime the blessing to your own soul will be immense. You will learn more of God. For it says, "Call upon me." Upon God Himself.

'' I will deliver thee," "I will," not '' I may." No "perhaps." It is definite, certain-"I will deliver thee." Mark, it does not say when. We often fix a time; it must be immediately. And so we get disappointed. It does not say how. We would like it brought about in a way of our own; and because it does not appear to be coming in our way we are tempted to rebel. Nor does it say what form the deliverance will take. We have already made up our minds, perhaps, what form we would prefer; but it may be God has something better for us. Let us leave the form of the deliverance-the how and when -all to Him, resting only in the certainty of the fact "I will deliver thee."

There may be reasons why deliverance is delayed. God has other aims in connection with your life beside the immediate deliverance you are seeking. And He sees how He can in the end use the waiting time to achieve those ends. You have waited, not only days and weeks, but months or even years; and maybe you are still waiting. Sometimes you are almost tempted to think God has forgotten you; but remember, God is not to be hurried. He has His eye upon the whole of your life – yea, upon eternity; and God wants everything to work in for eternity.

"There with what joy reviewing
Past conflicts, dangers, fears ;
Thy hand our foes subduing,
And drying all our tears.
Our hearts with rapture burning,
The path we shall retrace,
Where now our souls are learning
The riches of Thy grace."

May we learn, then, to take a larger view of life, and not be occupied too exclusively with one point. The hour of our deliverance is fixed. It may take the form of actual deliverance, or it may come in the form of such an abundance of grace that, like the apostle Paul, we shall be enabled to take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in distresses, for Christ's sake. In either case may we remember these words, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble:I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me."

Yes, there is more than mere deliverance in view. "Thou shalt glorify Me." It is to come about in such a way that He should be glorified, not only in the deliverance itself, but afterwards. How blessed! We thought ourselves almost neglected, as though God had completely withdrawn His former loving-kindnesses, and we seemed like so much flotsam on the ocean of time. But now deliverance has come, and we learn the amazing fact from the very lips of the One we thought had left us to drift hither and thither, – "thou shalt glorify Me."

Can we desire anything more than this ? When we discover that God is working in and through our life, is it not complete ? Is the day of trouble a mistake if it leads to the glory of God ? When we see the end, can we regret the way which led to that end ? Not only was it not a mistake:it was a necessity. And that "day of trouble" is encircled with a threefold cord for the Christian, " Call upon Me," I will deliver thee," "thou shalt glorify Me." That threefold cord is God Himself.

But "the day of trouble," to one who knows not God, can only be a day of blank despair. Come it must to everyone, sooner or later. If one such should read these lines, may you turn to the God of all comfort through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, confessing your sins, and seeking pardon through His name.

Many of God's brightest saints have known full well the meaning of "the day of trouble." Abraham, when he had to cast out Ishmael, and when called upon to offer up Isaac. Joseph, when hated by his brethren and sold to the Midianites, who took him down into Egypt, where he became a servant, "whose feet they hurt with fetters:he was laid in iron:until the time that His word came:the word of the Lord tried him." Moses, when rejected and obliged to flee. But they were all delivered, and God was glorified. And it was not otherwise with David. Think of him at Ziklag on that day when he and his men found it burned with fire, and their wives carried away. The people too spake of stoning him. And this coming upon the top of all he had been suffering for years at the hands of Saul. Surely never did a mere man suffer more acute anguish than David at that moment. But we read he "encouraged himself in the Lord his God." Yes, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble:I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me."This was eminently true in his case, for he was delivered, and shortly after ascended the throne. One day to be stoned ; the next we might say, crowned. Such are the vicissitudes of God's people.

Reference might be made to Elijah, to Paul, and many others in a similar connection, but most wonderful of all is it to think that the Lord Jesus was not exempt from "the day of trouble." One of the most reassuring and comforting truths is this, that the Lord Jesus was acquainted with grief, and that He passed through a darker day than we can ever know, with unshakened trust and confidence in God. It is not that the human family alone knows what sorrow and suffering mean. God has taken His part in it in the person of His Son, and in a deeper way than any.

Can anything be sweeter to the heart that knows God than this-" Thou shalt glorify Me"? Who would have supposed "the day of trouble" could have yielded such rich fruit ? There are many men and women too on earth to-day who would not be what they are but for " the day of trouble." It may seem a dark foreground to the picture, but God's pictures have glorious background. "Call upon Me … I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." What a cluster of jewels does this verse contain; and "the day of trouble " is like some dark stone in the center that makes the others shine the brighter. " O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones" (Isa. 54:11, 12). In this way will God be glorified.

"Call upon Me In the day of trouble :
I will deliver thee,
And thou shalt glorify Me."

R.E. "From "Simple Testimony."

1 Cor. 4:20.

The Corinthian assembly was not walking in the truth and light as becometh the children of God, and Paul wrote his first epistle apparently for the purpose of instructing and admonishing them. They had but recently "turned to God from idols," as had the Thessalonians, "to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven," and consequently were not well instructed and established in the truth as it related to the assembly. Hence we have much of what may be called church or assembly truth set forth in this epistle.

In that part now before us the apostle admonishes them of their ways as already reigning, while here in the world, and intimating that if they did reign here it must be as men in the flesh, because the Christian portion here cannot be in the pleasures of this world. He teaches them that in this world we must, if faithful to Christ, suffer with Him. That the world is necessarily in hostility to Christians, as it was to their Master and if they are reigning here something must be out of place with them. He cites the case of the apostles themselves who are suffering here as the outcasts of the world while some of the Corinthians are reveling in sensuous enjoyment. He then tells them that "some of them are puffed up as though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the Kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power." "Puffed up" is never of the Spirit, but always of the flesh. "Puffed up by their fleshly minds " (Col. 2:18). The Spirit humbles. He teaches us our own nothingness. As to the flesh, "We are weak with Him; for He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God." So we, to faith, are crucified with Him, ended, dead men, as to the flesh; but we too, like Him, blessed One, live by the power of God !

This life is a new one. It is from above. It is out of death. It is a new creation. It is as born again. It is of God. It is resurrection life. It is beyond the Cross. It is beyond death and the grave. It is divine and eternal, therefore the power of this life is its source. It is of God by the Holy Spirit. "Of ourselves we are not sufficient to think anything, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." "We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us."

This is the power that Paul desired to see in the Corinthian assembly. It was not human power as manifested in eloquence of speech or the wisdom of human words, but the power of God in the demonstration of the Spirit. The power of the new life that is in Christians. " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." This is the power of Christian life, for worship and service of every sort and kind. Without Christ we can do nothing. With Him all things are possible. He acts in the assembly by the Holy Spirit when it is in the normal Christian condition. That is with every member conscious of his connection with the Head of the body, and of his place in the body, in full subjection to the Head, as the members of the human body, in health, are subject to its head; acting in obedience to the head. So in the assembly, all of one mind and heart, all in communion with the Father and the Son, having been once for all by the blood of Christ – cleansed from all sin. In this condition gathered by the Holy Spirit unto Christ the Head, He is there in the midst, leading by the Spirit, and His power is manifested; manifested through the earthen vessels.
It is-

" Our hearts are full of Christ, and long
Their glorious matter to declare!
Of Him we make our loftier song,-
We cannot from His praise forbear."

It is this power that is so much lacking in the assemblies of the saints. These cannot be worked by human power. It must be of God. The Holy Spirit not only dwells in individual saints but also in the assembly; and this is wherever two or three are gathered unto the name of Christ,-there He is in the midst; and "whatsoever ye shall ask it shall be done unto you." Of course, there will be no asking for any but spiritual blessings, and these God is concerned that we should ask and desire more and more. He is always pleased to give, and more willing than we are to receive.

In our normal place then as a Christian assembly there will be no lack of this power manifested, but we cannot expect it when an assembly is leavened with unbelief, worldliness and disobedience. It must be in the faith, by the power of God; man subjected, ended. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." All must be of the Spirit. Neither should the enthusiasm of the flesh be mistaken for the power of the Spirit. The former excites, exhilarates; the latter subdues, humbles, subjects; so that like Paul when caught up into Paradise, we lose sight and knowledge of the body, the flesh altogether, and know not whether we are in it or out of it. J. S. P.

IV. ASSURANCE.

One great cause of failure in many Christians as to their walk and conduct, is the lack of assurance, or confidence as to their eternal salvation. Some seem to be carrying a mirror constantly before them, in which they vainly seek for the reflection of themselves as an evidence of their acceptance with God. Others are searching their hearts, in the endeavor to discover some inward change or emotion to rest upon for their acceptance before God, and as all views of self, whether the sinner's self, or the believer's self, are discouraging, Satan takes advantage of such, and strives to draw them away into deep sin, or failing in this, causes great disquietude and unrest of soul.

Now the word of God gives no "uncertain sound" upon this subject.

In Rom. 1:16 it says, "The gospel of Christ "is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," and i Cor. 1:18 speaks of the great division which "the preaching of the cross" makes between "them that perish" and "us who are saved;" and in ver. 21 it may be clearly seen that, by preaching the gospel, God declares His purpose "to save them that believe." Heb. 5:9 shows that Christ "became the Author of eternal salvation," so that any one believing the gospel in accordance with Rom. 10:9, 10, must be eternally saved. See also I Cor. 15:2; Tit. 3:5; 2 Cor. 6:2.

This salvation includes complete Redemption,(Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Tit. 2:14; i Pet. 1:18, etc.);

Forgiveness, (Col. 2:13; Acts 13:38; i Jno.11, 12);

Justification, (pronounced clear of any charge) (Rom. 4:25 ; 5:9 ; Eph. 5:27; Acts 13:39);

Acceptance, (Eph. 1:6).

Here is where the trouble lies, souls do not see that one's acceptance with God is "in the Beloved," not in one's self or changed manner of life, or self-denial, or emotions of sense, whether good or otherwise, but in Christ, in the value of all that He is to God. It is an act of God Himself, not through any evidence in our senses, but the plain, clear proclamation of God based upon His value of Christ's atonement, and this declared to us through the Word. "Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven" (Ps. 119:89), "whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever" (Eccl. 3:14), so that the believer is proclaimed forever accepted with God in the full value of Christ, by the word of God. Thus the same basis of knowledge of one's sinnership is also the foundation of the knowledge of the believer's acceptance. It is this which gives settled peace and rest of soul (Col. 1:20; Rom. 5:i).

Should this meet the eye of any believer who has a doubt in his soul as to full acceptance with God, look away from self, no matter how marvelous a change may have taken place in your life; look away from your ever changing emotions, your resolutions, self-denials, and see Christ, in His unfailing preciousness to the Father as the One in whom your acceptance lies, and rejoice in Him and be at peace.

Eternal life, (Jno. 3:16; 5:24; Rom. 6:23; i Jno. 5:13, etc.).
The Holy Spirit, (Gal. 4:6; Eph. 1:12, 13; 4:30; Jno. 14:16).

Access to God, (Eph. 2:13, 18; Heb. 10:19).

Fitness for Heaven, (Col. 1:12; Rev. 1:5, 6; 5:9).

Such are some of the blessings obtained for us by the Lord Jesus Christ; for God "hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessing sin heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3), and assured to us by His Word.
Thus let every doubting, trembling believer be encouraged to believe the record that God gives us of His Son, and looking away from self, know " that ye have eternal life." B. W. J.

John 9:

Bodily afflictions are all wisely ordered by the Lord, In every case they have an object. But they are not always sent in judgment, though men are prone so to interpret them when others are the subject of them. The disciples, when they saw a man blind from his birth, rashly concluded that it was a judgment either on his own sins or the sins of his parents. Jesus explained that it was not for any particular sin that he was born blind, but "that the works of God should be made manifest in him."He was born blind that Jesus might have an opportunity of giving him sight. All this previous affliction must be endured by the man that, at a particular time, God might be glorified by his cure.

And is not this great consolation to any of the Lord's people who may be subject to this or any similar affliction? They must not, indeed, expect to be relieved by a miracle; but they may rest assured that God has some purpose to serve by their affliction, and that in it they may glorify God more than they could otherwise have done. There are many ways in which this may be true; and each individual may discern something in his own case in which he can realize this. Christians are sometimes tempted to question God's love when they are greatly afflicted. Nothing can be more groundless. What is for God's glory in them, must be for a blessing to them; and in the school of Christ, discipline is as necessary as teaching.

I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and all his Cardinals. I have within me the great Pope-Self. Luther.

Every event or fact recorded in Scripture is significant. There is some purpose in its being recorded. This is true not only of events or of facts that are directly stated, but also of those with which we become acquainted by comparing two or more passages. Our knowledge of those which belong to this latter class, of course depends on our diligence in the close study of the Word which such comparison of passages necessitates. But "the diligent soul shall be made fat." All effort of this kind, if really in humble faith, will result in abundant reward.

As an illustration I call attention to the fact of Hezekiah's association with his father Ahaz for about
two years. It is nowhere directly stated that it was so. But we know it was so by comparing the passages which describe the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and Hoshea king of Israel. Hoshea began to reign in the twelfth year of Ahaz (2 Kings 17:i), Hezekiah began to reign in the third year of Hoshea (2 Kings 18:i), and Ahaz reigned sixteen years (2 Kings 16:2). 2 Kings 18:9, 10 shows that the fourth and sixth years of Hezekiah respectively correspond with the seventh and ninth of Hoshea. At first sight it might be thought that these verses are in conflict with the first verse of the chapter which apparently makes the first year of Hezekiah correspond with Hoshea's third instead of with his fourth, as consistency with vers. 9, 10 requires. But it may be that in the troubled times which followed the death of Jeroboam II., the beginning of the year for the Israelitish kings was somewhat later than it was for the kings of Judah, even if it was not so from the revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam I. This supposition entirely meets the difficulty and avoids resorting to the conjecture of a scribal or copyist's error in ver. i as formerly I have done. If, then, Hoshea's third year began somewhat later than Ahaz's twelfth, it is easy to see how Hezekiah's first may have begun in Hoshea's third and yet for the most part have corresponded with his fourth. But Hoshea's first corresponds with Ahaz's twelfth, only beginning later; therefore Hoshea's fourth, corresponding with Hezekiah's first, corresponded also with Ahaz's fifteenth, and since Ahaz reigned sixteen years Hezekiah must have been associated with him for two years, or at least for parts of two years.

If now by the comparison of the passages we have deduced the fact, it is necessary to inquire what it signifies. For what purpose is it thus put on record? Has it any meaning? Is there any lesson to be learned from it ? That the fact is significant we need not doubt. Everything in Scripture has significance. That the Spirit of God had some purpose in putting it on record we must accept. That there is design in the form of the record is also evident, and the study needful in order to discover the fact and which is necessitated by the form of the record only the more emphasizes its importance. The trouble to which we are put in order to find out what the fact is fixes our attention upon it, arouses our interest in it and provokes in us the inquiry, What is its meaning ? The assertion that every scripture "is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," impels us to ask, What doctrine, reproof, correction or instruction in righteousness has this fact to give us ? If the things that of old happened to Israel were for " ensamples," in what is this, then, an ensample ? If they were written for our learning, what, then, are we to learn from these two years' association of Hezekiah with Ahaz ?

A glance at the personal charter of Ahaz and the distinguishing features of his reign will start us on the road to what we are seeking for. Unbelief seems to have been the predominating element in Ahaz's character. He had no faith in God and put no reliance on His word. This principle of unbelief was accompanied with hypocritical pretension and mock humility. (See Is. 7:10-12). Being a man of such a character we need not wonder at the sad features of his reign. He did not take David for his pattern, but the kings of Israel. Prom the beginning of his reign, and as his own deliberate choice, he turned away from the path of faith to follow the wicked kings of Israel and to imitate their example in sin and disobedience. What an unhappy choice!

But one misstep leads to another, and so we are told next that he also imitated the heathen, making his son "to pass through the fire" and sacrificing and burning incense "in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree."

In subjection to the chastening hand of God is another element in the character of Ahaz. On account of his sins God delivered him into the hands of the kings of Syria and Israel, and also to the Edomites and Philistines, who inflicted upon him a terrible humiliation. They reduced him to very great distress, but instead of bowing to God in self-judgment and repentance he appeals to the king of Assyria for help. Isa. 7:shows, too, that he does this in the face of gracious encouragement and warning from God. It is therefore in headstrong self-will that he turns to the king of Assyria for aid. He will not submit to God, but he must have at all cost the help of man. He gave to the king of Assyria, to secure his help, not only the gold and silver in the treasuries of the king's house, but also that of the house of the Lord, appropriating thus what had been dedicated to God to his own personal ends.

Having thus voluntarily placed himself in the position of dependence upon the king of Assyria, he trespassed yet more against the Lord. He sacrificed to the gods of Syria, he put a stop to the worship of the Lord, closing the doors of His house, and established instead idolatry, making altars in every corner of Jerusalem and high places to burn incense to other gods in every city of Judah. He gathered together the vessels of the house of God, cutting them in pieces, and sent them to the king of Assyria, taking what belonged to God for his own uses.

What a dark picture! How plainly the reign of Ahaz sets forth the pre-dominance of those principles of unbelief by which the people of God are turned from walking in the steps of Christ-the one blessed path of faith, to perverting and corrupting the faith, and finally to the complete denial of it. It is a very solemn warning and example.

But we must turn now to the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah. While Ahaz is yet reigning Hezekiah is in some way, and for some reason that we are not told, put upon the throne. But whatever the reason and in whatever way, this is the simple fact. We cannot be far astray in supposing that there must have been great exercise on the part of those who sought to be faithful to the Lord in those exceedingly dark and difficult times. They may have urgently demanded the exaltation of Hezekiah to the throne. Discerning in the heir-apparent one who gave promise of the energy of faith, his association on the throne would satisfy them and rally them to a brave effort to reverse the obnoxious policy of Ahaz. But we need not speculate on what may have been. The one thing with which we are concerned is the fact that simultaneously with Hezekiah's coming to the throne a new movement began which gathered the faithful and true, and which under the wise counsel of Hezekiah, and by his authority, irresistibly established itself, and this, too, while Ahaz
was still living. The predominating forces were powerless to prevent it. The doors of the house of the Lord were opened, the priests and Levites sanctified themselves and cleansed the house of the Lord, and the worship of the Lord, in the form which He Himself had required, was again established. It was a return to faith, to the truth, to obedience to God and to dependence upon His word.

What a picture this movement under Hezekiah is of the recovery of the people of God to the faith once for all given them, and of the reestablishment of that faith at a time when they have been in departure from it and are giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils!

Now the point which I wish to emphasize above all others is that this movement was initiated and established before the death of Ahaz. Hezekiah, after coming to the throne, did not wait for Ahaz to die before he undertook to reverse the policy of his father. In his first year, and at the very beginning of the year too, he began the work which so distinguished his reign. This year we have seen corresponded with Ahaz's fifteenth year. He was then associated with Ahaz for two years. Is this fact significant ? Has it a lesson to teach us ? Let us see. Principles of unbelief are predominant now- principles which destroy our precious faith. How generally prevalent, too, they are. The word of God is ignored and set aside, the truth as He gave it is trampled on, pure human inventions are substituted in place of what has been ordered of God, and divine things prostituted to purely human ends. It is a time of departure from the faith and the truth which is from God. Such is the state of things which exists to-day. Figuratively speaking, Ahaz is reigning now. The principles for which he stands, and of which his reign is the expression, still prevail.

But must faith wait till they cease to act or exhaust themselves before it claims its God-given portion? No, thank God! Faith has a right to the word of God, to the truth as God has revealed it. Though unbelief in certain popular phases usurps it and uses it to further its own interests, Ahaz-like, still it is faith's prerogative to claim it. This is what we see in Hezekiah. He claimed and used his liberty to obey the word of God, to do what was right in the sight of the Lord, to pattern after David. He had the energy of faith to do it.

We do not read of any resistance to this movement on the part of Ahaz. But whether he assisted or not is no concern to us. Our picture is that of faith in irresistible strength on the one hand and of the powerlessness of unbelief on the other to hinder.

If there is energy of faith to claim and obey the word of God, unbelief is helpless. It cannot stand before one who submits in simplicity to the Scriptures. It is weak to hinder simple dependence upon God. Unbelieving principles, however prevailing, have no power to prevent faith's enjoyment of the things of God or hinder its efforts to recover and possess itself of the inheritance which belongs to it in the word of God.

Let us, then, be like Hezekiah. Let us follow his example. Let us waste no time in brooding over the ruin unbelief has wrought all around us, and in wishing the prevailing conditions about us to change, but in the face of them and in spite of them, let us put our trust in God, go forth to obey Him and live
in simple-hearted dependence upon His Word, that Word being our only warrant for the path of faith. In such a course we shall receive not simply greater, but higher blessing than that given to Hezekiah. C. C.

" By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down ; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem ; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."

While this psalm, as may be plainly seen, applies primarily to a godly Jewish remnant in the days of the Babylonish captivity, yet it seems to be equally clear that it has a deep and very solemn meaning for ourselves, both as individuals, and as members of the true Church of God. It has lessons for these days in which, as all godly Christians must own, that which professes to be the Church has sadly departed from the truth and is, in great measure, under the control and influence of the world in its varied forms, as pictured in Babylon.

In ver. 1, we see these captives sitting down (under compulsion no doubt) by the rivers of Babylon. As these rivers were formed from the small brooks and streams which came from every part of the land, we find, in type, as they pass along before the eyes of these captives, the combined influence of the world in its most attractive forms presented to us. And what is the result? Do we, like these captives, turn away from it and with weeping "remember Zion," or does it attract our attention, occupy our time and engage our thought? Alas that such should be the case, that there should be so little weeping, so little turning away to the things of the Lord and to the city of His Name! The harp is silent, and in its place there is weeping and earnest prayer that, "in the day of Jerusalem," which to faith will surely come, vers. 7-9, vengeance may come upon those who now triumph over them.

The songs and mirth required (ver. 3) of these captives by their conquerors were probably a means of furnishing amusement and sport to these heartless victors. At least, the refusal to continue to "sing the Lord's song in a strange land" would seem to indicate as much. Surely had it been that some were really moved by the reality of these things in the hearts of the singers, there would have been no complaint whatever. As the apostle says, (i Pet. 4:14), "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye." The world, ruled over by Satan, "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4), is indeed a hard and heartless master. How sad it is to see the professing church so thoroughly submitting to his power without protest! Truly it is a cause for much weeping, prayer, and confession of sin to God.

But we can thank God that there are those who have been brought to realize that such a position is, in truth, "a strange land," and that "the Lord's song "cannot be sung there. Of the wicked, Jer. 12:2 says, " Thou (the Lord) art near in their mouth, and far from their reins." In contrast with this, John 4:23, 24; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16 all show that true worship and praise must come from the heart. If, in the first place, the heart is not right with God, we may be assured that all the cold formalism of so-called worship is nothing but a mockery. In view of this, is not the question of ver. 4 raised at once in the minds of honest Christians? If so, let us face the question squarely, let us remove that which so seriously hinders our spiritual growth, and so deeply dishonors the name of our blessed Lord, and let us not be satisfied with anything which deprives us of the great privilege of meeting together with His own where we can, "in spirit and in truth " sing "the songs of Zion."

Through God's goodness, this may now be the happy privilege of each one of us, but for the Jew of those days it was a glorious event for which, as we have already seen, faith was steadily and persistently watching, and in vers. 5 and 6 we see how this question so completely occupied the attention of this godly remnant, that other things which natural men regard as of utmost importance were not in any measure to be compared with it.

" If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." All the natural skill, energy and strength so carefully trained and developed for providing the many necessary, useful or enjoyable things of life were to be entirely forgotten or laid aside. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem." No other subject of conversation was to be considered of such importance, neither was any earthly pleasure to be allowed so large a place in the heart.

And why did Jerusalem fill such a place in the mind of the Jew? It was the city that the Lord had "chosen to place His Name there." It was here that the people came together for worship. It was indeed to them, as its name implies, the foundation of peace. To us it speaks, no doubt, of the presence of God reached through the cross, the true foundation of peace, where He "made peace through the blood of His cross " (Col. 1:20). It is on this ground that we may gather in His name to worship Him "in spirit and in truth " and to " sing the Lord's song" not "in a strange land" but in His very presence (Matt. 18:20).

In closing, I would simply call attention to the important spiritual application of vers. 5 and 6 to ourselves in the light of these things. May the sharp rebuke which is found there, right upon the surface, be taken home by each one of us and may it be blessed to us all, turning our hearts, our thoughts and our lives more and more away from this dark scene unto Him who loves us and gave Himself for us. We may be assured that such a return to the things of the Lord would be owned by Him and would result in large blessing and spiritual growth in our midst. In the words of the beautiful hymn-

Lord, let us ne'er forget
Thy rich, Thy precious love,
Our theme of joy and wonder here
Our endless song above.

O let Thy love constrain
Our souls to cleave to Thee,
And ever in our hearts remain
That word, "Remember Me."

F. W. H.

"By the grace of God I am what I am:and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain" (i Cor. 15:10).

Once, a lost and helpless sinner, Rom. 3:23.
At the cross of Christ I stood, John 3:14,15.
Saw the Son of God there dying, Mark 15:39.
Sealing pardon in His blood; Isaiah 55:7
And, by grace, on Him believing, Eph. 2:8.
As the "Lamb," who bore away John 1:29.
all my sins "in His own body," 1 Pet. 2:24.
I was saved that very day. 2 Cor. 6:2.
.
Refrain:

Saved by grace, to God be glory ! Eph. 1:6.
I would sing it o'er and o'er- Col. 3:6.
Gladly sing redemption's story- Eph. 1:7.
Saved by grace for evermore. Heb. 7:25

I had often heard the gospel, Heb. 4:4.
And, as often, failed to see 2 Cor. 4:4.
That the Son of God, in dying i John 4:14.
For lost sinners, died for me. i Tim. 1:15.
But my rebel heart to Calvary Rom. 5:10.
By the grace of God was led, Titus, 2:2:
There to find that, for my ransom, i Tim. 2:6.
Jesus' precious blood was shed. i Pet. 1:18, 19.

Now I love to tell to others Psalm 40:3.
How, a fellow-sinner, I Gal. 3:22.
Found a loving God had given John 3:16.
His own son for us to die ! Rom. 5:8.
Found that Jesus, once for sinners, Heb. 9:26.
Was "made sin " upon the tree, 2 Cor. 5:21.
And from judgment all believing John 5:24.
Are for evermore made free. Rom. 8:1:

G. K.

Ps. 122:and 127:

Notes of an Address by S. R., Saturday Evening, Dec. 30, 1599 Philadelphia. "''

These two psalms form part of those songs of degrees, beginning- with the hundred and twentieth psalm,-fifteen of them. They are all of a similar character, evidently connected together and developed in a very beautiful and orderly way. You know that in the last or fifth book of the Psalms, from the hundred and seventh to the end we have that which answers, as we have learned, to the book of Deuteronomy. It is the book of results going over again with God the lessons which have been learned, and getting the completion of all.

It reaches on to the very end, so that what you have at the close are just the repeated hallelujahs of a ransomed people for whom there is nothing left but worship and joy and praise. God has taken every other occupation away, and so filled them with His blessing that praise is their occupation. Thus the book of Psalms ceases amidst an outburst of hallelujahs in which not only ransomed Israel, but all the redeemed and all the earth-nature animate and inanimate, even the trees of the field-join in praises and worship that are the fruit of all that God has done.

Therefore I think, as it is the closing book of the Psalms, that the nation is before us as having begun again a national existence. It is not merely private experience, as you have in the earlier psalms, but it is now the whole people, their corporate place, and they are gathered in connection with Jerusalem and the government of God's house.

It is very suggestive to notice that the psalm which precedes these songs of degrees, is the hundred and nineteenth, that longest of all psalms. It is entirely occupied with setting forth the perfections and sufficiency of the word of God. It is divided into twenty-two parts, each part named after one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and each verse in that part beginning with that letter. It is as though the psalmist would say that he had exhausted the whole alphabet, the whole language, to give expression to the fulness and perfection of the literal word of God.

Then, as there are eight verses in each of these divisions, it seems to suggest the new creation of which we were speaking to-day, that new covenant that is made with the house of Judah and the house of Israel, which is characterized by the law being written in their hearts. The law, not written on the tables of stone, not a condition now, but written in their hearts, so that they can say:"Oh, how love I Thy law. It is my meditation all the day." That is the word of the regenerate nation, the law of God is now in their hearts, and you have, as a blessed result of that, their ascent up to the house of God.

These songs of ascents, songs of degrees, suggest the approach, drawing near to God's house. You have, for instance, in the eighty-fourth psalm one longing and crying for the courts of the Lord. He is at a distance. It is one of the Levites, the sons of Koran. His "soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord;" his "heart and flesh crieth out for the living God," as he thinks of that home where even "the sparrow," the lonely bird, worth nothing in itself, "hath found an house" for itself; and the "swallow." a restless bird, flitting here and there, moving about, finds "a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God."

There it is the longing, and what we get here is the longing fulfilled. Now their "feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem." They are drawing-near to the house of God, and these fifteen psalms, songs of ascent, seem to mark the approaches, the steps. They tell us that they sang these songs on the steps that led to the temple, to the house of God. Be that as it may, the truths which we have in them beautifully set forth the principles on which God's people will draw near to Him and be indeed in His house.

We turn now to the first psalm that I have read, the 122nd. It has been pointed out that these fifteen psalms also form another little pentateuch in themselves, in which three psalms are grouped together. The 122nd is the third, the Sanctuary psalm of that first division. You have, for instance, the lowest step in the 120th. "In my distress, I cried unto the Lord." How simple it is, dear friends, and how blessed that the very first step in approach to God is taken in distress.

Just here, one feels tempted to say a word in case there should be a single soul here in distress as to salvation. Do you know the first step to God is in your distress ? There is where Christ meets the soul -in its distress and away from God. And if there is one needy soul here to-night that has nothing but distress because of sin, nothing but a sense of guilt and helplessness and the oppression of sins, like enemies all about them, remember that where Christ meets the soul is in its distress. He does not ask you to leave your distress before you find Him, but He meets you in your distress. He took our place in a distress which, thank God, we shall never know, in order that He might meet us and take away forever that distress of soul which the guilty sinner has.

I do not apologize for stopping just to ask any stranger that might be here to-night, to come and join us in these songs of ascent in going up to the house of God. You can begin now, if you take your place in distress of soul because of sin; and you can find that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is for you just as much as it has been for any of us. How good it is, as we are enjoying the precious things of our Lord, to be privileged to hold out an invitation to the stranger, to those young men who have not known Christ though they have heard of Him all their lives; to offer Christ to them and assure them that their fathers' Christ, their fathers' Saviour is ready to be their Saviour too, ready to meet you as you are, in your sins,-to save you.

The next psalm-121:-gives us the help that cometh. It is another step, as it were, "the hills from whence cometh my help." "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."

When you come to the third one, which we want to look at to-night, you get the sanctuary:"Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem."

Thus we have three plain steps:first, the distress; second, the help,-salvation; third, the access into the place of blessing. How simple this little ascent is for every soul who desires to draw near to God. Your distress, your salvation only in Christ, and then access into the sanctuary, the presence of God.

But, of course, all these psalms apply to Israel. They refer to the nation in the last days. Redeemed Israel is the people, as I said, who have the law now in their hearts, and who are learning and have learned to sing these songs of access into the presence of God. So you find,-in a way that I do not propose to go into, for I want to speak of something quite different-that the whole thought of this psalm is corporate blessing for Israel. They go up unto the house of the Lord, at Jerusalem, the beautiful city, compact and built together. The tribes all go up there to the testimony of Israel to give thanks to the Name of the Lord. It carries us back to Deuteronomy and to Leviticus, where God made provision that wherever He put His Name, all the tribes of Israel should go up to the feasts of the Lord three times a year, to give thanks to the name of the Lord; at the Passover, where they celebrated redemption; at Pentecost; and then at the feast of Tabernacles at the close of the year, the feast of ingathering after the day of atonement, to give thanks to His Name.

In the epistle to the Hebrews, after having spoken of the blessings of the new covenant, the apostle contrasts the old covenant under the law with the new. He says:"Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched," that is, to mount Sinai, but "ye are come unto mount Zion," the earthly Jerusalem. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion."

We need not be reminded that as Christians we have not come literally to the earthly Jerusalem; so you will remember that the apostle goes on immediately to say that we have come also to the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. That is, we have come to our proper and appropriate blessings as Christians. But it is on the basis of grace, of which mount Zion speaks, and that is in one sense suggested by the new covenant. Mount Zion is where God will establish His blessing with the people according to the new covenant, and therefore, as the earthly place is a figure and shadow of the heavenly, it seems to me that it is doing no violence at all to the real meaning of this psalm to apply it to ourselves as members of the Church of Christ.

Remembering that our mount Zion is simply the grace of God which has brought us into His presence, and that our Jerusalem is not an earthly city nor an earthly government, but that the house of God for us is a real place and that the government of God's house is a real thing; what I want to do to-night is to try and point out for us some of the thoughts that we gather in that way from this Psalm. Grace is always the same, though it may act in different connections; and holiness is always the same, though it may act in different circumstances. I feel sure that we can get for ourselves, as Christians, some lessons both of grace and holiness in connection with the house of God, from this psalm.

"I was glad when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord." How our hearts have often responded in the same way! How blessed it is to be able to say, from the depths of our hearts, that we are glad to go unto the house of the Lord, that we are glad to have to do with that which speaks of the presence of the Lord and His government.

For that is what is suggested by the house. It is not a question of individual salvation, nor is it a question of individual communion. When you speak of a house, I suppose you might say the simplest thought of a house is a place where more than one person lives. It suggests the thought of society, of association. The place where God dwells is called His house, in relation with His people.

But here we are confronted with a contrast. For an Israelite, God dwelt in solitude in His house. He might in His mercy call His people about the gates of that house, but then they had no access, no entrance into that house, no way of approach beyond the outer court. It was only for the few privileged priests to enter any nearer than that. Thus in connection with the house of God for Israel, we have suggested that distance which the veil down and un-rent always implies, distance and not nearness. But how blessed the contrast is for us, beloved. We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. There is access right into the house of God where God Himself dwells. More than that, and most wonderful is what the apostle Peter says; that we have come to Christ, the Living Stone, to be "a spiritual house." We ourselves are built up to be the house of God, or, as the apostle Paul puts it to the Ephesians:" Builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

So the thought of a house with us suggests association with God. It is God's house, and first of all there must be association with God. Beloved, fellowship is a sweet thing, but what is it that binds us together, that makes us in any sense the house of God? It is because God is recognized in the house. It is God's house, and our association is first with Him, or we could not have any true fellowship one with another. I put it to you, dear brethren, when you say, "I was glad," what is the first joy? Is it not to meet the Lord Himself ? Is not that the first joy of all, dear as it is to meet one another and to have the sweetest association together, the gladness that is so spontaneous in our hearts is that we are going to meet the Lord.

Now, I want to be very simple to-night, so simple that we will think of the real lesson and riot of the way in which it is put. "Where two or three are gathered together unto My Name, there am I in the midst." There is the house of God for us, where the Lord is in the midst; and, brethren, if our gathering together is going to be a real spiritual thing for us, it is always to be a gathering together unto Christ Himself.

We hear people sometimes say they are leaving this and that, leaving system and all that kind of thing. Yes, alas, we have to leave our fellow-Christians oftentimes, if we are to be faithful to the Lord. But it is not anything that we leave that puts us into the house of the Lord. It is not a negative thing that makes us right. People that are always occupied with negative things never have anything real for their own souls. You will find them too often occupied with the failures of their brethren, rather than with the blessings and glories of Him whom they have come to meet. The true coming unto the house of the Lord is to meet the Lord.

You remember, in the early part of the book of Judges we are told that the name of Bethel was Luz at the first. Its natural name was Luz; its spiritual name was Bethel. Luz means "separation," "cutting off," " separating from." The monk is the most separated kind of man. He is separated from his home, separated from his friends; gives up his own name even, goes behind stone walls and leads a life of rigid separation. That is Luz, the natural name of separation. What is its spiritual name? Bethel, "the house of God," the presence of God. The Lord makes manifest Himself, and, if we are going to have any enjoyment of Bethel, it must not be a negative thing,-separation from,-it has got to be the actual positive attraction to the Person of the Lord Himself.

It is being gathered unto Him; and beloved, let that mark us, let that be the thing that characterizes us, a people who have to do with the house of God. Let it not be that we are sharp critics because others are not clear as to those priceless things, but let us rather be those whose souls are absorbed in one precious thought, that we have met the Lord Himself.

You remember that when they came to this place, Luz, and wanted to get possession of it, they did not seem to have the courage of faith to take it. Thank God, faith can always take what He has given us title to; but they spied out the city and found one of its inhabitants whom they promised to spare if he would show them the way in. So they got possession of Luz, and called it Bethel. But they let the spared inhabitant go off, and he, as will always be the case, went and built another Luz, a city after the same name as the one which had been captured:I sometimes think there have been many inhabitants of Luz who have been spared and gone off and built the same old city again, marked by the mere separation . from and not by the presence of the Lord Himself.

That is as to the general principle of gathering. Take now, in a very simple way, our gathering on a specific occasion. We will say, take any Lord's Day morning meeting. I am sure as the Lord's
Day comes around, hearts glow with gladness. O brethren, is there a joy like it this side of heaven? To be gathered to the house of God! Again, let us remember that if it is the house of God for us it is that we go to meet the Lord Himself personally. We do not go to hear gifts and all that kind of thing. We go to meet the Lord; you have an appointment, as it were, with the Lord Himself.

Sometimes we complain of dull meetings. Do you think meetings would be dull if we were really meeting the Lord Himself and not meeting one another? Ah no, " In Thy presence is fullness of joy "-a joy that must find expression in fullest worship. I am sure that we need to remember that as we come together it is to meet the Lord in person, so we will be glad when they say:" Let us go unto the house of the Lord." Our feet then "stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem."

That is the first point, and I want to press it. I trust, if the Lord tarry a little season, that which will characterize us will be this positive sense of the presence of the Lord. As we go on further, we will find other things coming in too, judgment and government and all that, but the first thought is His actual presence.

Do you remember what Jacob said when he awoke out of his dream after he had seen an exhibition of God's grace? He says:"How dreadful is this place." "It is the gate of heaven." We do not say it is a dreadful place, but surely if Jacob felt the holiness of the place, realized the holiness of God's presence, how much more should we who have the full blessing of that grace shining in the face of Christ, realize how holy is the house of God where we meet Him!

"Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together." When you have a given center of attraction and many drawn together, you have compactness. You remember in the epistle to the Ephesians, after the apostle speaks of the body, the whole body joined to the Head he shows the results in the body:"The Head even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth." Here you have the house of God, Jerusalem built as a city compacted together. What is going to compact the saints together? Holding the Head. How much that implies, of individual, living communion with the Lord Jesus, constant, individual fellowship with Him. From that comes the outflow all around. There will be not only the inflow of communion with Christ, but the outflow, compacting the body together by that which every joint supplies; the outflow of grace one toward another. Here you have a center, and every one is attracted to the Center. If every one is trying to get as close to the center of this room as possible, they will be close together.

The secret of real unity in the assemblies of God's dear people is for each to be drawn personally to the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, we cannot legislate that kind of compactness. We can talk about our duty to be close together, but if we are drawn to Christ, as, thank God, I am sure our hearts are being drawn, are we not knit together? is not heart knit with heart?

It is not because we are loving one another first. We are not ashamed to say that we love Christ better than one another. The nearest natural tie is nothing compared with that which binds us to Him. We do love one another, just for the simple reason that we are drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. That will be used of God to heal the things which you cannot describe. Are things holding together very loosely? Saints not knit together? You cannot force them. Saints are distant toward one another, suspicious of one another, whispering comes in? You cannot deal with it as if it were some overt act that you could discipline about. But if you are drawn, if Christ takes hold of our hearts and draws them together, I defy all the power of the world and all the power of Satan to keep us apart from one another.

Beloved brethren, is there not a need of our being drawn to Christ, not as a means of being drawn to one another, but because the distance from one another tells of a greater distance of heart from the Lord Jesus Himself? If we recognize these things, if any of the assemblies represented here recognize these things here is the blessed remedy. "Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together," a united, a living, really vital connection one with another, that the world looks upon and can no more understand than it can understand Christ Himself. "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not."

Now, you have the tribes going up. "Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel." We hear a good deal sometimes about a testimony. We want to be a testimony. You notice it is a single word, one united testimony. As we were seeing in the second chapter of 2 Corinthians, the saints are "manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ." It is not epistles, as if there might be many of them, but only one-one testimony, one commendation. Think of God, as it were, sending a letter of commendation in His living people, that even the world itself can read and understand, that which recommends the grace of God.

Here we have the tribes going up to the testimony of Israel. The Lord's people are to be a testimony for Him, and, dear brethren, let us not forget that if God, in His infinite grace and mercy, has raised up a testimony to the truth of His Church, it is one of the highest honors that can be conceived, to be connected with that testimony. Do you thing lightly of the privilege of being associated even with two or three who are gathered on the principles of God's truth to the Name of Christ ? I tell you, brethren, next to the salvation of your souls there is no more momentous event in your history than your being brought by the Spirit of God to see the truth of the testimony which God has raised up.

It is no light thing. It is no trifling thing, which God has put into our hands. It is no trifle, brethren, that we are connected with a testimony like this. From the depths of my soul, I can bless God that in His infinite grace, He has entrusted me with a share in this holy, blessed testimony. O beloved brethren, think of it, a testimony in a time when everything is going to pieces. It is not merely a testimony to God's way of salvation, but a testimony to that which is nearest and dearest to the heart of Christ- of anything in the created universe. That is the Church, the Bride. We are associated with the testimony to that blessed fact. If you believe it honestly-talk about possession of wealth, or learning, or anything of that sort, it is trash, rubbish, compared with this commanding truth.

If Israel, in looking around, could say, "We have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks," beloved, how much more can we acknowledge the amazing grace that has connected us with the testimony as to the Church of God. It is not the testimony of a few people-do not think for a moment, that we are the only people, it is the testimony for the whole people of God. Just as Israel meant the whole twelve tribes, and just as Elijah with the ten tribes and in a day of ruin, builded the altar with the twelve stones that spoke of undivided Israel, as a testimony of Israel, so we, a feeble remnant,-often that which is despised as to its numbers, and ability, and endowments, and things of that kind,-are standing for the whole Church of Christ.

Unless we are sure that we are a witness for all the people of God, we have not a sense of the responsibility and dignity of the position. You may say that is high Church doctrine; but the Church is high ; we cannot tamper with it; we cannot trifle with it; we cannot adopt half-way measures in connection with the Church, the Church of Christ, the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, as the apostle declares it. We cannot speak slightingly of it. If we are not connected with a testimony of that kind, we had better at once give up the whole thing. If it is not a testimony for the whole Church of Christ, I am not surprised to see disintegration and every thing of that kind.

If it is a testimony for all the people of God, you need not be surprised that it is going to be assailed and mocked. As in Nehemiah's time the enemies did everything to break up the little feeble testimony to the truth of Israel in that day, so he will do in this. If the enemy lets us alone as to our testimony, we may be afraid that it is not a clear testimony. If there is difficulty in connection, we may thank God that He permits difficulty, because Satan would never trouble a thing that was not a real menace to himself.

So it is the testimony of Israel-all the people of God. That will keep the heart large. What a despicable thing it is to see a man looking down with contempt upon Christ's beloved people ! You will not have that feeling if you realize that the testimony which, by God's grace, you are seeking to maintain is for the whole Church of God. Ah, brethren, we are, by His grace, standing firm and seeking in our little measure to obey God, for whom ? Who are these brethren and companions for whose sake He says:"Peace be within thee " Brethren and companions are the whole people of God, whoever they are. The very ones who may despise us and hate us for what they call our exclusiveness are the ones for whose sakes, next to God's glory, we are seeking the peace and prosperity of the house of God.

What a dignity, what a wonderful thing to be entrusted with such a testimony ! I repeat it, that if you realize it, you will thank God every day of your life that you are put in connection with it. You will realize it to be the highest dignity and honor that could be given to any creature on earth.

They go up "unto the testimony of Israel." Then you have:"To give thanks unto the name of the Lord," and that shows what we are gathered for. We are not gathered, as you might say, to be a testimony. That is a result of it, but a man who is always trying to be a testimony will be occupied with his testimony, rather than with the One for whom he is to testify. But we are gathered unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

What a lovely thought the Lord gave that poor sinful woman of Samaria, when He said, "The Father seeketh worshipers." It is expressing the appreciation of the heart of God. It is offering back to God the appreciation of hearts to whom He has given the knowledge of Himself. We give back to Him our appreciation of what He has made known to us. He is seeking hearts that will respond to the manifestation of His grace. What is your thought of heaven ? Is it not worship ? It is offering eternally the apprehension of the glories of the character of our blessed God, which He has made known to us through Christ, and which we will there know in its infinite fulness. We are together to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.

We come together to the house of the Lord in our little weekly meetings, realizing that it is the testimony for all Israel. What do we give? It is worship, if we are rightly gathered. It is the Lord Himself who is to be before us, and worship will characterize our meeting. Surely our hearts must be in a cold state if giving thanks to the name of the Lord does not mark our gathering as a testimony.

Is praise stinted ? is the spirit of worship feeble amongst us ? Oh, brethren, worship feeble in the house of God, with all the display of what grace has done for us, with the presence of the Lord Jesus amongst us, with the Holy Ghost unfolding His word to our wondering souls,-and worship feeble?

Take the Levitical offerings. Suppose a company of God's people attempting to offer back in praise and thanksgiving the truths connected even with the burnt-offering. Suppose they sought to present before God the perfections and beauties of Christ as seen in the bullock-in its full strength. They see Him without blemish and without spot, with the outer covering removed, all the hidden springs laid bare, and with the word of God applied, but bringing out only the perfections and purity of His character. They see Him divided apart, head and feet, and all the various parts, speaking of Christ, His thoughts, His ways, His deeds, everything connected with Him. They think of all that going up in death before God. The memory of all this is presented at the meeting for worship where we come to give thanks to God. Would there be any dearth in the praises ? But that is only one; take all the offerings. Take all the types. Leave the types. Come to the plain, simple word, the wondrous unfoldings of Christ, as you have them in the Epistles.

Talk about stinted praise, silent lips! My dear brother, is there any one here who never opens his lips to give thanks to the name of the Lord ? What are you thinking of ? Yourself ? Stop that, and think of Christ, and as you think of Christ, I am sure that you cannot keep your lips closed.

" Our hearts are full of Christ, And long the glorious matter to declare."

As you have it in the forty-fifth psalm, "My heart is bubbling up with a good matter ;I speak of the things which I have made touching the King." "Thou art fairer than the sons of men." If I could only be used here to-night by God's grace to unseal a single heart, to unclose a single mouth in the assemblies of God's people, I would bless Him from the depths of my heart. Silent brothers in the meetings where we give thanks to the name of the Lord ! Is it a characteristic weakness amongst us? We want to be stirred up about it. It is a dishonor and shame for those who have had such grace and such love shown them. Let us go into our closets. We want no formal praises, but living praises, from loving hearts that have been set free in the holy presence of our God.

That suggests a whole line of thought, a whole connection that I will not enlarge upon. Our own conscience, our own sense of need, will lead us on in that line. Beloved, let us remember that we are gathered unto the testimony to give thanks.

Think of a man who is able to defend the position, who has not a word of thanks when he comes to the Lord's table. Beloved, if there is one thing that ought to mark us, it is the spirit of worship. What is it in that little hymn-book that makes it different from any book of praise you ever saw before ? It is Christ who is before the soul there. And if Christ is before your souls as you gather to His Name, the praise and worship of your heart will not be the form of singing hymns, but the irrepressible bubbling up that will bring refreshing and joy to our blessed God. He seeks worshipers. We are only giving Him what His blessed heart of love craves, to see His people happy in His love, pouring out their souls in thanksgiving.

"There are set thrones of the house of David." They speak of government and rule. What we have had thus far is grace, that which brings out the love, the attractive side. He is the God of all grace. But now right in the center, in Jerusalem, in a very real sense in the sanctuary, you have mention of thrones. What was the mercy-seat ? Do you know, we have a very selfish way of looking at the mercy-seat? We think of it as a place where we have access. It was more than that, it was the throne of Jehovah in the midst of His people. What a wonderful thought that the place where God has His throne is the place where His grace is magnified in the acceptance of the guiltiest sinner, and the blood upon the throne and before the throne, tells us of our perfect acceptance according to the will of God, and that His righteousness and judgment have been fully vindicated. His throne established in that which is the foundation of peace, the work of Christ.

There is no doubt the psalmist had in his mind the government of those thrones of judgment, in connection with Messiah's rule. But, applying this to ourselves, as before, that which is to characterize the assembly of God, is judgment, the throne, the ordering of divine government. What is it that makes an assembly differ, we will say, from a sect? You will say, we have no denominational name. Is that all ? Why, such are scattered all around-any little company of Christians that chooses to come together- and is that an assembly ? No wonder God's people are harassed and scattered if they think that is God's mind of an assembly. An assembly is marked by a throne of judgment, government exercised. It is the place of divine judgment. Of course, I am only adapting the language to spiritual things. The throne of David suggests the Lord's place of supremacy that we recognize in the assembly.

You cannot have true worship unless you have a true sense of the governmental authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not subjection to my brother, not obedience to the assembly, but it is the whole assembly in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the throne of judgment. How much it suggests ! Do we recognize that sufficiently, the absolute supremacy, the Lordship of our blessed Saviour ? Where is self-will when that is recognized ? Where is there any room for self-will ? It is no question of my will against my brother's will. It is no question of seeing who can gather the most saints and pull in opposite directions. It is only the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He rules, and by His word He makes known His will; and whoever may point to that will, to the authority of Christ and His word, beloved, we have got to bow to that word as absolutely as though it were sounded in thunder from Sinai itself or from heaven.

Bowing to the authority of Christ ! Think of Christ being enthroned amongst His people. He is our Lord and we own His absolute authority. But, then, the throne of judgment suggests another line of things. In the East the ruler had to judge the cases of wrong doing and everything of that kind, and in the assembly of God, the throne of judgment not only suggests in a general way the authority of Christ, but in a specific and particular way the investigation and the dealings with all matters connected with the government of the house of God. That is just as characteristic of an assembly, as is the relationship that we were speaking of.

Discipline begins with the examination of persons to be received, Some one comes and says, I have
brought my friend with me and he is a dear child of God, and I would like to have him break bread. Does that settle it? Is that the throne of judgment? Is that letting the Spirit of God discern for us? Is that the solemn weighing and testing whether or not the Lord Jesus Christ desires that this one should be received into the company of that which is to be a testimony for the whole Church of Christ? Reception is a solemn thing, it is not dropping in and then dropping out again. Beloved brethren, it is no violation of the unity of the Spirit, and surely it is no denial of the unity of the body, to exercise the greatest discrimination and care in receiving those who seek to have a share in the solemn responsibilities of the house of God.

Trace the troubles in the assembly of God back to their source and you will find that one fruitful source of trouble has been the reception of those who have not been properly exercised in conscience as to the immense responsibilities of the place they have come into. They have come in lightly, without learning in their souls what it is to be in the presence of God.

They have not learned the end of themselves, and so they bring in that which can only bring discord and sorrow and trouble. Is it not so as we trace our common sins, and common shame? Has not much of it originated with just this, the failure to exercise judgment in reception?

Apply it to the spiritual condition of every one of us in the assembly of God. We were saying that we ought to be intimately acquainted with the spiritual state of every one in the assembly,-not by being a busy body in other men's matters. Never make the mistake of prying into the details of others' lives; let them alone unless God brings it out for you. It is always a mistake to do that. It brings fresh sorrow and trouble oftentimes. But we can be acquainted with the spiritual condition of every one in the assembly without prying, and without pretending, any of us, to be better than the other. Surely each of us ought to have a godly love, a jealous care for the spiritual condition of our brethren. May the Lord revive amongst us a sense of that real genuine love for every one. May provoking one another unto love, be aroused amongst us more than ever, that we may, as it were, get close to the heart of every one in the assembly and find out just where they stand before God. How often would the evil be checked.

Why is it that evil springs up in the midst of gatherings? Who is to blame for it? If there had been more exercise, more prayer, more discernment, more true fellowship one with another, how much would be checked and cut off that now, alas, is al-lowed to come out to its full fruitage, to the shame and sorrow of all! May the Lord make us more jealous in this phase of judgment in the house of God!

I do not speak of discipline, except to remind us that it has its place, it must have its place amongst a company who are to be a testimony for the people of God. Painful,-who can tell the sorrows connected with it?-and yet, beloved, it is that which makes us realize that we are together, because we have passed through common sorrows. There must be and will be the exercise of discipline indeed in an assembly of God. Let it be marked by prayer, by a humble spirit. Let the government and discipline spring out of worship, and be but a needful part of that.

Peace is the result of all that. If that characterizes the house of God, peace is the result. So we find that it comes next. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." That does not mean peace at the expense of truth and divine principles. It is in connection with the thrones of judgment that you have praying for the peace of the Lord's people. And, dear brethren, " They shall prosper that love thee." Have you seen brethren who began to awaken to the needs of the assembly? They have made comparatively little growth, perhaps, for many years. They have gone on in a quiet kind of way; perhaps you have lamented that there has been so little progress. But now there has been an awakening to the sense of the needs of the assembly of God, and they have been praying for the peace of the assembly of God, really awakened and exercised. The result is, their souls prosper. " They shall prosper that love thee."

Christ loves the Church. Christ loves every little testimony to His truth. Oh, from the depths of my soul do I pray for the whole gathered assembly of Christ in connection with the grace in which He has put us! "Peace be within thy walls,"-that which separates us from the outside,-and "prosperity within thy palaces,"-the assembly of God which for us is a palace, even the palace of the King. And, as I was saying before, "for my brethren and companions' sake," for all the beloved people of God throughout the world that meet not with us, will now say, "Peace be within thee." It is for His house, and whatever we may do, no matter how menial the service, I am sure that the least thing and the most menial thing, the most self-denying thing that is done for the house of the Lord has His approval upon it.

Psalm 127:emphasizes the lesson of faith in connection with the house of God. We must ever be reminded that all our effort, all our poor, puny work is nothing in itself. As Solomon says here, or David, who writes for Solomon, as the temple is growing up there in its beauty:"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it." I am sure we are not sorry to say this. We will be willing to let our labor be in vain if the Lord is not building His house. If the saints who are being added in grace,-if it is not the Lord's work, all our Bible readings and trying to unfold Scripture is useless. Unless the Lord is working, "They labor in vain who build it." Thank God, He is working, we can count upon Him. Let us never forget it. As Solomon watched that temple rising with its beautiful proportions, and could say that all the labor that was done upon it would be in vain and worthless if the Lord did not build it, so let us remember that it is God who is working and not man. It is not the instrument He may use.

It is none of ourselves who are building. It is God who is building the house, and unless He does it, all our work is in vain. That stops your trying to pull the fruit before it is ripe. It stops all these unseemly arguments about truth that oftentimes are humiliating rather than edifying. If it is God who is doing the work, we can leave it with God. When He is done with us, we drop into our place and the work goes on, for it is God who is building.

Here the watchmen go around the city walls, looking to see that no unclean person comes around.
Watchman, what of the night? They go about, looking, but there is an Eye that never closes, there is One who never slumbers nor sleeps. How sweet it is to know that it is not our watching, it is not our care, it is the Lord, who keeps the city, and unless He does it, all is in vain. Will the watchman go home and go to bed? Not at all. He will watch all the more vigilantly. He will be careful to do God's work with pains, the porter will be careful to see that no unworthy person draw near. His faith in God will only make him all the more careful as he seeks by His grace to keep the city where the name of our God is placed.

How restful it is, how sweet to know it is God who is working. " If God be for us, who can be against us?". How that stops all restless Martha-service. "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows:for so He giveth His beloved sleep," or sleeping.

" O earth so full of dreary noises;
O men with wailing in your voices,
O delved gold, the wailer's heap;
O strife, O curse that o'er it fall-
God makes a silence through you all,
And giveth His beloved sleep."

What is a house without children? A house where the children have all gone out, and found homes for themselves,-what a lonely kind of a place it is to the old people who are left behind! They miss the prattle, they miss the dear little hands and feet, busy perhaps in mischief, running around the house, but they miss them. " Children are a heritage from the Lord." What we have been saying applies to Christians. But my heart has often wept, as I have thought how few spiritual children there are in God's house.

Where does God get most of His children born? Outside. Evangelists who know little about the truth of God, earnest men and women, knowing a little, gather precious souls, saved souls. Why should there not be some of this heritage of the Lord amongst His gathered people? Oh, you say, but we are not evangelists. I do not believe it takes evangelists to see souls saved. Beloved, I sometimes wish there was no such thing as a platform in the meeting room of the saints. It is not preaching that we are after. It is souls born again,-children born. How? By the word of God. There is that mother in the assembly, she has her little children. Are they going to be born again? Who are going to be the ones used of God to bring them into the marvelous light? Some teacher in a mission school, or some one off yonder? What a reproach! Our older ones, are they going to get their blessing in the house of God amongst us or elsewhere?

"He rewardeth them who diligently seek Him." It is the reward. " Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them." It is as though they were' weapons. How many souls have been saved in connection with the assembly where you are, during the past year? "Oh,"you say, " don't put it that way." Why not put it that way? Why not have exercise in that direction? Souls born again! "When Zion travailed, she brought forth," and, beloved brethren, if there were that pouring out of soul in prayer, if there were that which would take no refusal from God, if there were that which would plead and claim from Himself this token of His favor and approval amongst us, we would hear the prattle of the new born souls, praising and rejoicing in our God.

It is said of our Lord Jesus:"Thou hast the dew of Thy youth."He never grew old, blessed be His Name, fresh in communion with His God in His whole life, He never lost it for a moment. How is it with our souls? Is Christ just the same for us as the day when we first found Him for our souls 'Is He? Then may you not expect some "children of youth?"If your soul is fresh and tender in your first love, that is what is going to be rewarded in this way.

I was thinking of this in connection with what we always have, thank God, on Lord's days at these meetings, the gospel of the grace of God. What for? Just to hear how nicely this or that brother can put the gospel? Is that what we have been thinking? "A nice gospel," we say. What is a nice gospel, brethren? It is that which will bring some soul to life. What I want to pray for, is that if it be God's sovereign grace to do so, we will see some child born. I do not care who preaches. If we all got down here and wept and owned our departure from God, and some child of some parent would, as a result of it, cry:"Oh, I must find God to-day!" that would be a reward from God.

We want to hear the assemblies of God sounding with the speech of infants. Our own dear children, shall not these be born in the house of God? Where is the natural source of supply for assemblies? I assure you, I do not believe it ought to be picking people out of the sects. I would far rather see souls brought to Christ and find their homes in the assembly, than to have people gathered out of the sects even. Thank God for every one who sees the truth and comes out clear. Who would say nay? But, O brethren, for a distinctive work in the gospel of God's grace in connection with the house of our God. We would not be ashamed then. Go right into the gate, right into the place of judgment. Let the enemy come, let him say, "You brethren do not have much blessing in the gospel." But we are ashamed, and sometimes we say, "You know brethren's distinctive work is to edify Christians." Why do we say so? Because we have so few children to show. But if we turn to our God, thanks be to Him, the fresh dew is ever ready for us, and if that freshness of dew is upon us all, I do not believe that He will refuse us this token of His favor that He is using His beloved people.

May God grant it! Amen!

The following circular is inserted in the belief that it may be of interest to all our readers, as manifesting somewhat at least the unity of the Spirit in which the Lord's beloved people are held, together, and which it should be the endeavor of all to keep " in the bond of peace." ED.

To the Saints gathered to the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ:TORONTO, July 2, 1900.

BELOVED BRETHREN –

Having been assembled here from various parts, it is on our hearts to send a word of loving greeting in recognition of the unity that binds us together in the body of Christ, and in the endeavor '' to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Our conference has been a happy and profitable one. Saints gathered in goodly numbers both from points near by and a distance, and we have enjoyed together sweet fellowship in the things of God. Our time has been occupied with the study of the Word

-the first part of the epistle to the Romans,-meetings for mutual exhortation and prayer, and in addresses to the saints, with a good hearing for the gospel, both within doors and upon the streets. We have been reminded of our common privileges, warned of our common dangers, and aroused as to our common responsibilities. If was indeed a joy to sit down together at our Lord's table in such large numbers, and to have a foretaste of that worship which shall soon be given by all the saints when we are gathered to our Lord on high.

Truly, beloved brethren, we are a "happy people"

-blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ; pardoned, justified, made nigh; possessors of eternal life, members of the family of God; sealed, baptized, and indwelt by the Spirit; members of Christ's body, enjoying the precious ministrations of our glorious Head, by the Spirit through the various "joints and bands"-yea each of us privileged to be a channel of blessing from the Head to our fellow members. We have in our hands the precious word of God, which unfolds to us these and other wondrous truths. Surely we can thank and bless our God.

Nor can we ignore the fact that we have been intrusted with grave responsibilities corresponding to these wondrous blessings. What manner of men should we be in walk and testimony! How we should prize the precious word of God, and how careful we should be to maintain the holiness and order of His house! Sadly true it is that we are living in days of ruin -even the people of God do
that which is right in their own eyes-but let us never forget that the truth of God remains unchanged, the word of God is ours, and the Spirit abides with us.

When we remember the watchfulness of our adversary the devil, the allurements of the world, particularly for the young, and the deceitfulness of the flesh, we realize in some measure our dangers. Surely, beloved brethren, we are living in. difficult days, and need to "put on the whole armor of God."
How unfeignedly should we thank our God for the mercy which in these days has left a testimony, even if comparatively feeble, to the truths of His grace and of His Church! With no lofty pretensions, and with much brokenness because of our manifold failures, we would bless God for the mercy which has put us in this place-as gathered to our Lord's Name – of privilege, responsibility, and danger. Knowing, from our own experience, the dangers by which we have been beset, we would mention in a few words some of the responsibilities which concern us as individuals and as gatherings.

I. ESTABLISHMENT IN THE GOSPEL IN THE GOSPEL. We need to remember the exhortation to "keep ourselves in the love of God." Let us never lose our "first love," that tender, lowly apprehension of His grace, which will compel us also to tell out the gospel to others. May we all realize that we have been "put in trust with the gospel," and in public and private may we, out of full hearts, " testify the gospel of the grace of God." Oh, to see souls saved through the gospel amongst us! Let us all awake more earnestly to this work. To this end we trust to see an awakened interest in tract distribution, – a work in which all, sisters and brethren alike, may constantly engage.

2. A WALK WITH GOD. May we be a holy people, truly separate from the spirit and ways of the world, walking in all lowliness, and thus adorning "the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.'' To this end shall we not afresh turn ourselves to the word of God, and devote more time to its prayerful study? May the written ministry be used to this end, and may we not urge one another to read and circulate the periodicals, tracts, and books devoted to unfolding the word of God ?

3. ASSEMBLY CARE AND ORDER. We are deeply impressed with our responsibilities in connection with the assembly, realizing that God's thought is that our entire lives are connected with it. We would point out a few matters of great importance in this connection:Care in reception-that none be received without prayerful and faithful examination. How much sorrow would assemblies be spared were there more care, and above all more prayer, in receiving those who seek fellowship. We would also emphasize the importance of giving letters of commendation to saints visiting gatherings, and thus maintain scriptural order (2 Cor. 3:1-3).

Pastoral loving care. Reception is but the first act, and if the Lord's beloved saints expect to see His work prospering, there must be that self-denial of love which " seeketh not her own." We long for ourselves, and for all the Lord's people, to exercise more pastoral care and oversight. This leads us also to refer to our great need of wisdom, gentleness and love, as well as faithfulness, in all matters of discipline. Let us guard against the extremes to which we are so constantly exposed, of laxness, weakness and indifference on the one hand, and undue haste, harshness and severity on the other. We rejoice to know that we are learning these lessons and our desire is that we may enter more fully into these grave responsibilities.

We also desire, beloved brethren, to point out our mutual responsibilities as assemblies in the various localities where our God has placed us. We are separated upon the wall, and the work is great, but the wall is one. We have been drawn very closely together at our conference, and while not desiring to intrude into purely local matters, feel the need of common principles of divine truth being clearly understood and maintained in all the firmness of divinely given conviction. May we present, beloved, a united front against every form of attack upon these principles.

We would also send a word of cheer to our beloved brethren and sisters who may be standing alone, or who are but few in number. Let such remember that one Eye is upon them, one Heart cares for them, and that they are not forgotten in prayer by their brethren at a distance. Let them not be discouraged nor cast down. "David encouraged himself in the Lord His God" (i Sam. 30:6).

May we not also express our earnest desire for the recovery to the Lord of any who have grown cold and wandered far? Nor can we refrain from praying that those who have sacrificed truth in any measure, may be brought to value it afresh, as that which God has committed to us.

Our present meeting has impressed us anew with the great importance of frequently gathering together thus. Saints from small assemblies, and those who stand alone, received great encouragement; the faith and love of all is revived, and heart is knit to heart. A little earnest faith will overcome most obstacles, while the gain resulting will far outweigh the needed labor.

May our God bless us "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."

Affectionately your brethren in Christ our Lord, for the saints gathered.

C. B. Street
F. L. Nicholson
F. J. Enefer

"What hour like thine is clothed in depth of gloom,
O Cross! thy speech is that of judgment for man's sin.

For in that hour the Christ of God is seen,
The Sinless burden Bearer of man's sin,
His breast all bared to ward the Judge's stroke;
The gathering clouds of wrath divine on Calvary's
hill-
They burst with anger on the center cross,
Whereon that precious Victim hung, the Life of men.

That cry speaks forth the sorrow of Thy heart,
And yet Thy voice sends forth its note of victory
Which tells of judgment passed, the work all done,
The darkness of that hour now pierced; the cloud,
too, gone,
The scabbard holds the sword; the sinner freed
And all the claims of righteousness are fully met
Whilst now the stream of love has found it's course.

O Cross! Thou tellest forth that God is love;
Thy story, too, the summing up of ages past-
The consummation of the sin of man.
Yet fully in it all we trace Divine decree
And see the shining of eternal truth!
There from the Lamb of sacrifice the blood has flowed
Which washeth every stain of sin away
And changes all the depth of sin's deep scarlet hue
To snow-white purity.

Thus opened are the channels of eternal love.
The purposes and counsels of the past eternity
Converge and meet, encircling round Thy thorn-
crowned brow-
Their answer fully given ; the heart of God is satisfied
In that blest One the cross has borne twixt earth
and heaven
For us to gaze upon, and life be given to every one
Who, with the heart believing, looks upon that
stricken One.

But, now we see Thee on the Father's throne
No longer stricken ; Thou art now the Glorified.
Thy once pierced brow is crowned with many crowns,
And with eternal glory Thy blest visage shines.
We gaze upon Thee there, we wait Thy call-
The Victor's shout, heraldic note, the angel's trump;
And with Thee we shall rise, and, like Thee; then
Forever in the glory Thou hast made our own
With Thee abide.

J. B. Jr.

VI. SALVATION AND REWARDS

Heretofore we have been looking into God's Word with reference to the necessity, assurance, and blessings of salvation, and now it might not be amiss to look at the same unfailing source of truth concerning the distinction between salvation apart from the effort of man; and rewards as the result of the faithful service of believers. Some of God's saints seem to be confused upon this point, and are in distress of soul, or at least, not in assured peaceful rest, in consequence.

I. Salvation is God's free gift to any one who realizes himself or herself a poor, lost sinner.

In the fourth chapter of John's Gospel Jesus is seen speaking to a poor woman whose life was stained with sin of the most open and defiling kind. She "had five husbands " and he whom she then had was not her husband, and yet to her a despised Samaritan, Jesus breaks the blessed news that salvation is a free gift. "If thou knowest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water " (John 4:10).

What marvelous love, amazing grace, wonderful picture, the spotless One of heaven offering to the sin defiled of earth salvation as a free gift.

See also Rom. 6:23; Is. 55:1:2; Rev. 21:6; 22:17; John 3:16; 5:24; 10:28 etc.

So that the very first thing required of a sinner is that he or she accept the gift from God, and He publicly proclaims to all who take their place as such, forgiveness, justification, eternal life; in other words, salvation with all its attendant blessings.

On the contrary rewards are mentioned in Scripture as the outcome or result of faithfulness in the life and service of the believer, 1:e., the one who by simple faith, believing God's statement as to salvation accepts it as a free gift; so that while salvation is obtained by faith, rewards are obtained by works.

2. The apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian saints distinguishes clearly as to the distinction this article is intended to bring out.

In the third chapter of his first epistle to them he says the foundation "is Christ," and in vers. 14, 15 he speaks of those on the foundation as being saved, apart from their works, for which however a reward will be given if the works will stand the test, otherwise they will be burned up. " If any man's work abide which he hath built, he shall receive a reward.

" If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved:yet so as by fire." The believer is saved, because his salvation is the result of Christ's work-His death on the cross -but no reward for his works, unless they be able to stand the searching eye of God's holiness. How God's grace is thus seen in saving sinners apart from their works (Eph. 2:8, 9), and how His holiness is magnified in a test of the believer's works afterward, in that all that is done must have as a motive, not the benefit of man merely, nor in expectation of a reward, but for "the glory of God." "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (i Cor. 10:31). This last verse will govern decision in every doubtful moment, and action.

See also Matt. 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:7, 8; i Cor. 9:24, 25; Rev. 2:10; Phil. 4:i; i Thess. 2:19; James 1:12; i Pet. 5:4, etc.

3. God's salvation is a present possession of the sinner the moment he accepts it by faith.

" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life "… (John 3:36).

"As many as received Him, to them gave He power (right or privilege) to become the sons of God " (John 1:12).

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life "… (John 5:24). See also John 6:37; 2 Tim. 1:9; i John 5:ii; i Cor. 1:18; Tit. 3:5. Notice the words " hath life," "are saved," "saved," "hath saved," as clearly showing a present position and standing before God.

We are nowhere told in Scripture that we have to wait until we come to die, either to be saved or to have knowledge of it. i John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know"-that salvation is ours now, the moment we believe.

4. Just the reverse is the matter of rewards which will be future, conferred upon the believer at the judgment-seat of Christ, and manifested before the world at the coming of the Son of man. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to "his works" (Matt. 16:27).

The apostle realizing his course on earth was about over, writes to Timothy:"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day "… (2 Tim. 4:8). Surely he could not mean salvation here, or righteousness conferred, for he claims in his first letter to his "dearly beloved son " that he was saved, see i Tim. 1:9; and writing to the Corinthians claims that as sin and its judgment were borne by Christ, so he was made, as all believers are also, the righteousness of God, in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

It is only necessary to read 2 Cor. 11:24-29 to see that Paul did not receive any reward here for his services, although in all his utterances stating he was saved.

See also i Pet. 5:4; 2 Tim. 4:8; Luke 14:14; Rev. 22:12; 2 Cor. 5:10; Matt. 25:19).

Thus as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ we have God's free gift now; and, with purpose of heart to serve Him, for "the glory of God," by life or in death, we may expect a reward hereafter, when with our blessed Lord in the glory. But we are not to labor or live with any lower standard than to be "acceptable" unto Him (2 Cor. 5:9); and even as Abraham looked for a city, so we have an expectation, we look "for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20).
May reader and writer ever have Him, and Him only, before them. B. W. J.

We thank our brother for his notice of what indeed seems a more correct view then what is given in the passage referred to. He is probably correct in his view, which is the usual one. This does not invalidate the force of what was deduced from the passage, simply applying the same thought to her being sufficed before she could give to another. ED.

Luke 8:3.

Jesus, who could supply others by miracles, lived Himself by the providence of God. The Lord of the universe, who at first created the world, and who still by His providence makes the earth fruitful for the supply of man and beast, instead of supplying His wants by immediate creation, drew His supplies from His people. Wonderful humiliation! The Lord of heaven and earth condescends to live on the bounty of those who are supplied by His own providence! Thus He gave the most amazing instance of humility, and afforded an opportunity to His disciples to manifest their faith and love. In this way He still acts. He makes some of His people poor, that others may have an opportunity of ministering to Him by ministering to the saints; for what is done to His people is done to Himself.

[It is with deep gratitude and joy that we insert the above from our beloved brother, feeling that it will be received by the saints in the same way. As widespread prayer for his recovery was offered, and deep and general exercise of soul before God resulted from what we realized to be a chastening upon us all, it is but proper that now in equal measure thanksgiving to our God should abound. May we not, too, take earnestly to heart one of the evident lessons intended for us-a fresh interest and deeper concern in the salvation of souls? Our brother has himself referred to this, as it has also been laid upon many other hearts. May our God's mercy to us awake us as never before, and deepen in every way His work among us. ED]

QUES. 24.-What is the New Testament teaching as to the Lord's day ? I have been much exercised as well as grieved to see the carelessness of many as to that day, who might be expected to know better. Some have quoted Rom. 14:5:"One man esteemeth one day above another ; another esteemeth every day alike." They have said this provides for entire liberty on the Lord's day. Is this correct ?

ANS.-Our brother's question, not the only one on the same subject received of late, touches upon a most dangerous error, and a very common failure among the people of God. In the first place, the scripture adduced from Romans has nothing to do with the subject, but refers to the observance of Jewish days and ordinances, and is similar to the passage in Col. 2:16, 17. "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day " (Rev. 1:10), shows that the day is one of spiritual and not carnal observance. But does the fact that we are not under law but under grace give us license to live in carelessness? Supposing even that it were not contrary to the New Testament, have we not a responsibility to give no occasion of stumbling to the world ? What does the world think of a Christian who engages in unnecessary labor on the Lord's day? What is the effect upon a man's own family ? Further, what can be said of the spiritual state of one who, with all the week for secular work, takes the precious hours of the Lord's day for his own use ? Surely there is more than enough to fill and occupy the few hours of that day of privilege. We meet to remember and to worship our Lord, and again to preach His precious gospel, and to teach the young. There are sick or needy ones to be visited, and a few precious hours to be devoted to reading and meditation. Oh, the folly of wasting such a day with temporal labor. Let the beloved people of God turn from the thought with abhorrence. We are persuaded that it is one of the signs of the latter day apostasy. God is despised, His word neglected, aud the day of our Lord's resurrection made a time of carnal enjoyment or worldly business ! May we be aroused as to this, and make conscience before God of our conduct on this day.

QUES. 25.-Please explain Isaiah 28:23-29.

ANS.-The connection shows that the prophet is pronouncing God's judgment upon both Ephraim and Judah. He foretells the conflicts of the last days-the coming of the overflowing scourge, the Assyrian, or king of the north ; the alliance with the Beast, or head of the western empire, in order to ward off the attack ; and the end in overthrow and death for those who thus make lies their refuge. Then God tells of His provision in the "tried corner stone," Christ, and of the security of those who believe in Him. It will thus be seen that the scene is laid in the last days, and the purposes of God will be fulfilled in His "strange work " of judgment. In this connection he asks, Is it always plowing time? After the land is plowed, is not the seed sown-each in its appointed way and place? Then later comes the threshing-time. So with His people :God is longsuffering, but He will not always be preparing the soil. Nay, He has plowed His people and cast in the seed of His truth. Then conies the harvest aud threshing time when He will beat out and thresh-the time of judgment. All will be done in divine wisdom and suitability. But judgment will surely come.

This principle can also doubtless be applied in other connections. Everything is to be done in due proportion. In preaching the gospel, we are to plow the ground and then cast in the seed. Souls are to be convicted of sin and then the precious gospel has a place in which to take root. Then comes too the time of discrimination when souls are set free from the chaff of unreality and manifested as precious grain. But this is only a secondary application of the figure.

QUES. 26.-Referring to the article in the October number on Verbal Inspiration, where it is shown that if all the periods of captivity during the time of the Judges were added together, it would be found that exactly this number of years was to be deducted from the entire period from the deliverance out of Egypt till the building of the temple. The lesson was that God cannot use lost time, spent in captivity to evil. But there is another captivity of eighteen years which was omitted, and which seems to overthrow the teaching. Judges x, 6-9 was not included. What is the reason for this ?

ANS.-This has been noticed before, and the answer given, which seems probable, that this captivity was not a complete one. They were oppressed by many enemies, but we are told they were "sore distressed." For instance, the Ammonites only threatened, had not completely taken possession. We see that Jephthah prevented them from going further. Thus the lesson remains, and we see God's desire to count as much as He can. It might be well to mention that another explanation is that these periods of oppression were not necessarily at different times, but some of them may have occurred at the same time in different parts of the nation. Of one thing we may be certain. God's chronology, as all else, will be found to be absolutely correct, and apparent contradictions are not really that.

QUES. 27.-What are the four fasts referred to in Zechariah 8:19?

ANS.-They could not be regular set times such as the day of Atonement, for these were never abrogated. The whole connection would show that they were special commemorative fasts connected with the captivity. We find these dates given in Jeremiah-

The fourth month, Jerusalem was taken (Jer. 52:6).

The fifth month, the temple was burned (Jer. 52:12, 13).

The seventh month, Gedaliah was slain by Ishmael, and the remnant scattered to Egypt (Jer xli, 1, etc.)

The tenth month, the siege of Jerusalem began (Jer. 52:4).

These would seem clearly to be the events commemorated by the fasts referred to, and therefore in the restoration they would be changed to feasts.

THE MAN AFTER THE FLESH. INTRODUCTORY.

In a certain sense, a king is the product of the times in which he lives. He represents the thought and condition of the masses, and while he may be beyond the individuals composing the nation, he will represent the ideal, which they exhibit but partially in their several lives. The king, though above the masses, must be one of themselves, only a greater. Just as the gods of the heathen are but the personification of their own desires and passions enlarged.

In a similar way, every man is a representation of the world at large- a microcosm. He is a sample, as we might say, of the whole, having certain characteristics in greater or less proportion, certain ones obscured by the overshadowing prominence of others ; but all features which compose the mass as a whole, present in greater or less degree. It is a solemn thought, and illustrative of our Lord's words to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."

We have been looking simply at the natural man and from a natural standpoint. Every observant and thoughtful man will confirm what has been said. Water will not rise higher than its source, and the great leaders of men have been but great men, like the rest of their fellows, only with enlarged capacities and greater force. In fact, the world would boast of the truth of this, and glory in the fact that their great ones are but the exhibition of the qualities that mark all. Thus it makes demigods out of its heroes, and then claims kinship with them, thus climbing higher and exalting themselves. It is man's effort to make good the lie of the serpent, "Ye shall be as gods."

It need hardly be said that there is a distinct limit to all this greatness. Between man and God there is still the "great gulf" impossible to pass. Nor is this merely the gulf between creature and Creator, fixed eternally, and which it is the joy of the child of God to recognize-for our happiness is in keeping the creature place of subjection and of infinite inferiority to "God overall blessed forever"-but sin has made the impassable gulf between man and the true knowledge of God. All his development, knowledge, excellence and greatness, is on the side away from God, and every fresh instance of human greatness but emphasizes the fact that man is away from God. "Ye must be born again."

Looking, then, at this mass of humanity,"alienated from the life of God" – solemn and awful thought-we see here and there, towering above the rest, some prominent and striking character who naturally attracts our attention. Opportunity, ability, force of character, have separately or unitedly put him in the place of eminence. It will surely give us a clearer idea of humanity to study it in this more excellent form, just as the mineralogist would seek for the richest specimen of ore to determine the quality of the entire deposit. Having found that, he would then remember that this was the best, the rest not yielding so much as his specimen.

So we take up the great men of earth to see what is in man. We take the best specimens, where natural character, opportunity and education have combined to produce the nearest approach to perfection, and having learned thus what he is, we remember that the mass of humanity are but poor specimens of the same class. We will have to confess with the psalmist that "every man at his best state is vanity." Nor must we leave out the religious element in all this, but rather expect to find it prominent. Man is a religious being, and we will see where his religion leads. This may be a religion based upon God's revelation, and in outward connection with the ordinances of His own establishment. It may make "a fair show " in all this, and under the influence of God-given ministry seem well nigh to have reached the true knowledge of God, and be born anew. We will find food for most solemn thought in all this.

Such-a man was king Saul, the ideal of the times in which he lived, and combining in himself traits of character which all admire, and all possess in some degree. Added to this natural excellence, he was the favored son of a favored nation, with abundant opportunities for the knowledge of God, both by revelation and prophecy. He will be found to have possessed in himself those qualities of ability and excellence most admired by man, and added to them the nearest approach, at least, to the true knowledge of God. It will be our duty to decide, so far as man can decide, whether he was in any measure a true subject of grace.

But we have said that every man is but a specimen of the mass-possessing in greater measure what are the common characteristics of all. We can thus get help in determining the character of Saul by seeing the general state of the nation, more particularly at the time just prior to his reign; and our knowledge of Saul will in turn enable us more fully to put a just estimate upon the people.

We must also remember that Israel was representative of the whole human family. A vine was taken out of Egypt and planted in a fruitful hill, surrounded by a hedge and tilled with all the skill of a divine husbandman. He asks, "What could have been done more in My vineyard, than I have done in it?" (Isa. 5:4.) But it was a natural vine. It was simply the vine of earth given every opportunity to show what fruit it could produce. We therefore, and all humanity, are under review in this examination of king Saul.

So far we have looked merely at the natural man, leaving out of view that gracious work of God which imparts a new life and gives new relationships with Himself. This has doubtless gone on from the time of the fall; God has always had His children-"the sons of God" in the midst of an apostate, godless world. These, His children, have been born of the Spirit, and faith has ever been the characteristic of their life. Whatever the dispensation or the circumstances, faith has been the mark of the people of God, those possessed of life from Him.

We find, therefore, in the history of Israel, no matter how dark the days and how great the apostasy, a remnant of the true people of God who still held fast to Him. It will be for us also to trace the workings of this faith which marks out God's people from the mass of humanity; and here too we will find, no matter how bright the individual instance may be, that this divine life has a character common to all the saints of God. We may see it very clearly in a Hannah, and very dimly in an Eli; but there will be the same life in each. To trace this in contrast to the activities and excellences of the natural man will help us to understand each more clearly.

But here again we will find that our subject is more than a question of persons. We will find that in the same person both these principles may exist, and that this will explain the feebleness of manifestation of the divine life in some, and apparent inconsistencies in all. We will find, and Scripture confirms the truth, that the nature of man remains unchanged – flesh remains that, and spirit also remains spirit; '' that which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

May we not, then, expect real profit from this study of Israel's first king ? Should it not give us a clearer view of the helpless and hopeless condition of the natural man, of the utter incorrigibility of "the flesh " in the believer, and enable us to discern more accurately than ever between these two natures in the people of God ? Thus we would answer more fully to the apostle's description of the true circumcision:"who worship by the Spirit of God, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh."

Lastly, we will more fully understand the dispensational situation, and see how fully is illustrated the fact that all things wait necessarily for God's true King, for the Man after His own heart, of whom David was the type. King may succeed king, but it will be but the ever varying forms of human excellence as displayed in king Saul. Alas ! the true King did come, and the people desired one of the class of Saul – a Barabbas – rather than the True, for their king is but the expression of their own heart and life. Therefore it is only the "righteous nation " who will desire and have that King who shall "reign in righteousness."

(To be continued.) p. 320

As earthward the Eternal from His throne
Gazed on His offspring earnestly and long
To know if any sought Him-found not one,
So o'er mankind this feebler eye hath hung
Wistful and sad and burning Searching around, within,
And through the grievous file of ages gone,
My aching vision yearning
In scene of curse and sin
Some purity of man to rest upon!

So flew the bird of sorrow and of love
Forth from her sanctuary in the ark,
With gentle eye strained anxiously above
The weary waste of waters wild and dark,
Dread depths of devastation
Wrapping with sullen shroud
Foul earth, whose guilt the wrathful heavens reprove-
Flew, in her desolation,
Restless above the flood,
Till homeward to the ark fluttered the dove!

Not so, alas! the brood of natural birth,
In sin conceived and cankered from the womb:
Once, like the raven, kindred with the dearth-
That evil spirit flapping through the gloom
Guided by vile attraction
Unto congenial rest
On the stale carrion floating o'er the earth-
Sin's ghastly satisfaction
Sated my filthy breast
Amid the wrath, lust, misery, and mirth!

Anon my quickened spirit, purified,
Forth from the Saviour's bosom like the dove
Flew with glad tidings o'er earth's troubled tide,
Expectant messenger of peace and love:
Found but rebuff, rejection,
Lewd man's imperious jeer-
Wedded to vanity in the bonds of pride,
With mine own heart's defection,
Her sin and legal fear-
Then to God's boson fled back terrified!

Vanish vain arts that flatter and allure,
That travesty the tragedy of life,
Tuning to ditties of the troubadour
The raging fury of man's covetous strife!
Ye bards and minstrels singing,
Ye weary the ear of God-
Piping to pride and glossing lusts impure!
Earth's cries to heaven are ringing
For wrath's avenging rod!
Think ye forever God's patience will endure?

Genius, thou spirit fallen, wouldst thou call
All things to pause to embalm thy rank conceit?
Thy painted forms and chiseled figures pall!
The slime-worm lurketh in thy poesy sweet-
Be it Homer's bloody story
Of lusting gods and men,
The pomp of Milton o'er hell's pride and fall,
The passion, filth, vain-glory
Reeking from Shakespeare's pen!
Away! away! degenerates are ye all!

On Thee, Thou Son of man, on Thee alone
My fainting soul may rest her weary eye,
Lost in a Life of love whose pureness shone
From God's own Self-to such vile worms drawn nigh !
Here in our land of mourning,
O lowly Man of grief,
Thy spotless Radiancy from heaven's throne
Passing through hate and scorning
Reached depths 'beyond belief-
For the hard hearts who mocked Thee to atone!

To me dost Thou the rest of God disclose-
Crowning each circle of Thy ransomed host,
The stainless purity of Love's repose
Shall flow from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
With Thee shall I inherit
Thy filial joys and place
Whilst God the riches of His love bestows;
And by Thy power and Spirit
In Love's own perfect grace
The current of communion ceaseless flows!

Thou vast Infinitude of love and light,
Bosom of God, abyss of bliss divine,
In Thee I hide me from the pain and blight-
In Thee, my Rest, my Refuge, and my Shrine!
By love-chains nought can sever
Bound to Thy Godhead-breast,
Enshrined in Triune depths of pure delight,
With deepening joy forever
Profoundly shall I rest
While endless ages trace their blissful flight!

F. A.