Dear Brother-

In perusing the article on " Ruth " contained in January Help and Food, I found a little difficulty in reconciling a statement therein, with what had appeared to me as a correct rendering of the portion in point. On pages ten and eleven it says-

" After she had beaten out the barley-a grain itself suggestive of poverty and feebleness-she returns to her mother-in-law, and shows her little store, sharing it with her. It will be noticed that she first satisfies her own hunger, before giving to Naomi," etc. Now the difficulty I had was just here, as I had previously understood that what Ruth shared with her mother-in-law was what she had left over of the parched corn given to her by Boaz. That, in fact, the passage would read somewhat in this form-

17-"So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned :and it was about an ephah of barley.

18-"And she took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and she brought forth, and gave her (Naomi) what she had reserved (of the parched corn) after she was sufficed (at the house, or at the table of Boaz). It seemed to me that Naomi saw what had been gleaned, that being so, Ruth need not have "brought it (the barley) forth, the results of the gleaning had been seen. It was in all probability understood to be common property. Then Ruth "brought forth" what she had reserved after she was supplied. It was at the table of Boaz she had been sufficed, and had some over. Then again, it would appear to me somewhat out of harmony with the affectionate relationship existing between Naomi and Ruth, to understand it so, to the effect that, Ruth should first cook a meal of the barley, then eat, and that to sufficiency, before giving any of it to Naomi, for this is what it would amount to, and would be very different to Boaz's treatment towards herself. H. G. M.

All true service of God and His people will be distinguished by a consciousness of being sustained and guided in it by God. But in order to do this, there is commonly a hard lesson to be learned by painful discipline-the lesson of our own nothingness, and the vanity of all our own devices and resources.

Moses occupied the highest place in Egypt under Pharaoh, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in word and deed. All the treasures of Egypt were at his command. We know that even then he was a believer, and by faith turned away from the wealth, honors and pleasures of the world, "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God." He had a conviction that God would use him to deliver His people. And no doubt he supposed that all these worldly advantages, which had been so wonderfully bestowed on him, were important means of accomplishing this end. In such a confidence, he chose his own time to interfere in their quarrels; and supposed that they, too, would think as he did, that one possessed of such advantages was the very man to deliver them. But in this expectation he met only with disappointment, and learned that it was not by the strength and wisdom of Egypt that God was to be served.

At the age of forty, in the vigor and maturity of all his natural powers, Moses is a fugitive in the wilderness, and there he spends forty years in tending sheep. The fires of natural zeal and ambition have burned out; all the advantages he once possessed are lost; if remembered at all at the court of Egypt, the remembrance will render his return thither perilous. He is now an old man, well stricken in years. But God's time has now come; and in solitude with himself He has been preparing His servant; and the last step of the preparation was the manifestation of His own glory to one who was to act in His name. The mode of this manifestation was instructive-"a flame of fire in a bush;" and the wonder was that, frail and perishable as it seems, "the bush was not consumed." That fire which devours the enemy, and will at last consume every evil work, is as a wall of defense to God's people, few and feeble as they appear by any carnal estimate.

There Moses stands unshod in the presence of the divine holiness, while God proclaims His name, and reveals His compassion for His chosen but afflicted people. "And now come," He says, "I will send thee into Egypt." Where is now the forwardness and self – confidence which assumed the office of Israel's deliverer, uncalled and unsent ? Now, when God sends, Moses is filled with a humbling sense of his incompetence. "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ?" He has learned his own insignificance. And never yet did a believer go forth in a service to which he was truly called of God with any other feeling than that which Moses expressed when he said, "Who am I ? "All in which nature glories, and on which nature would count, go for nothing when we come to this point. "Who is sufficient for these things?"Brethren, have you been brought to this point ?As has been remarked, "There would be much more profitable and happy service if we only served God's order."It is delightful to see activity in service; but then it should be connected with communion with God in secret, and the acknowledgment of God's sovereignty. Thus we should serve joyfully, not as though God needed our service, but as desiring to glorify Him in our bodies and our spirits, which are His; not lightly, but "with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire."

To "offend," in a scriptural sense, is a vastly different thing from the worldly thought. "We study to please," is the world's motto. It is ours also, only we seek to please God, not man. We may most surely "offend" a brother by trying to please him. To offend is to put a stumbling block in a person's way, something by which he is made weak. This is often done by trying to please him.

If it was of sovereign grace that Abraham was called out of his heathen state and made to know the living and true God; it was no less of that grace to be one born in his house, for Abraham was one of whom God could say:"I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment."

To know God was no small matter now to Abraham ; he appreciated it, he found his delight in it, and to communicate it to his house would be a moral necessity in his soul, and thus subject it to that God to whom to be subject is the height of man's blessing and honor.

To be born, therefore, in such a man's house is but a part of the sovereign grace that called and separated him from his heathen state and position.

What a high and blessed, as also responsible position, therefore, is that of a Christian at the head of his household – God's means of perpetuating the knowledge of Himself in a world where everything tends to destroy it. Alas, for the Christian who fails to realize this, and who allows his house to drift at will. Woe also to the child who fails to recognize the grace of God in having been born in a Christian household, where God's character was manifested, the truth daily taught and practiced, and everything ordered to maintain what God loves and delights in.

As Abraham's children got more and more remote from him, they lost more and more the knowledge of God, until finally God Himself-the God whom Abraham had so readily recognized, and adoringly entertained, when He passed by his tent door-visiting them in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ, was unrecognized, hated, and cast out by them. Their punishment is not small, but how much greater must become the punishment of those who sin against greater light and blessing.

Oh, that every Christian man, in the energy of the Spirit of God, would shake off all this guilty indifference, this unholy pursuit after earthly goods, this dreadful idleness of soul, which cannot trouble itself with the pains of household government; this self-will, which forbids the government of self; and, looking at himself and all his house in the light of the glory where our Lord is now, which is soon to be manifested and we taken into it, take up his task in faith, and give honor to the God who has shown us such marvelous grace and love.

Much failure in detail will even such a man of God have to confess as he goes; but as Abraham will yet behold the glorious ending of his faith in his house when Israel is in her glory, so will every man who has treasured up in his heart the promises of God, and, in faith, turned them into practice.
P. J. L.

Substance of an Address by A. E. B.

"And it came to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord" (i Kings 6:i).

There can be no mistake in the understanding of this statement, can there, beloved friends? .There is nothing ambiguous in it, as if it feared contradiction, is there ? But it has been contradicted-by bishop Colenso. He says he discovered that from Egypt to Solomon there are 573 years.

I believe we shall find blessing in looking into the matter.

In the thirteenth of Acts, eighteenth verse we read:"And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness." This gives us 4 years

Twentieth verse, "And after that He gave them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years." 450 "

Verse 21, "And afterward they desired a king:and God gave them Saul, the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years." 40 "

"And when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king." 40 "

Now turn to our chapter in the book of Kings-"The fourth year of Solomon's reign," gives us 3 years

Making a total of 573"

Is it not good that a man who does not believe the Bible should give us something ? Perhaps we would not have looked it up if the bishop had not disputed it. But Scripture is right, and the bishop wrong spite of appearances. Let us, my young brethren, take the shoes from off our feet and worship as we turn to Him who has inspired every iota of His word.

There are 573 years from the inspired record itself and yet we have seen in that same inspired record that there are 480 years. Where are we going to get light about the ninety-three years of difference? Go back to Judg. 3:7, 8, "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forget the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia:and the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years." Put down these 8 years

Vers. 12-14, "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord; and He gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel and possessed the city of the palm-trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years." Note down . … 18 "

Chap. 4:1-3, "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead; and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord:for he had 900 chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel." Note down ………… 20 years

Chap. 6:i, "And the children of Israel did evil, in the sight of the Lord:and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years." Note down ……. 7 "

Chap. 13:i, "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years." Note down 40

Now sum up there are the these five captivities and-
there are the 93

Job says:"Doth He not see all my ways and count all my steps?" God goes over the whole history -573 years. The first eight years they were away from Him, and He will not count that. Next there are eighteen years of being away from the Lord; He says, Drop those out. The next twenty years under Jabin – drop those. Again seven years in captivity to Midian, the Lord drops them out ; then forty years they fall under the power of the Philistines, and God drops them out. He could not-He would not count the time when His people were out of their right place. Ninety-three years altogether His people were away from Him, and God counts them out and says, "Four hundred and eighty years." What a solemn lesson for us all, my brethren.

I was wondering what was going to be accomplished in our souls as the result of our coming together these few days; and I thought that among us, as Christians, I would like to see a deeper, a truer, a fuller work of the Spirit produced in us through the meeting, to the glory of God. I wonder if, in our meetings, some of God's people are not right with Him-if any of them are walking at a distance from Him and not in their right place. Let me tell you, dear brethren, at the judgment seat of Christ our time is all going to be counted. Abraham came out of Mesopotamia, and when they got away, as we have seen in the book of Judges, that is the place where they are carried back – carried back to the very place from which He brought them. We used to have card-parties in our parlors, but earnest evangelists came who gave us better things, and we gave them all up. If we should get the card-parties back there again, will that be to our reward? No, it is all lost for eternity. When we, as Christians get away from our God and under the power of any form of vice or evil, or wrong, mixed up with any worldly association whatever, walking in any wrong company, the Lord whose eyes are holy, who sees us through and through, says I cannot count that time, and that will all be deducted from your account of time before the judgment-seat of Christ.

A brother said to me once, " I see now, as I have never seen it before that the judgment-seat of Christ is going to be pay-day for believers. I had been absent from my work two weeks," he said, "and on the monthly pay-day I went down to get my wages; they handed me the slip, and there were just two weeks of time. There was not a word said about the two weeks I was away from my right place. I see now at the judgment-seat of Christ it is pay-day for the believer." Everyday, yes, every hour, yes, every moment that is spent out of communion with the Lord, He is going to deduct it from your time and you will get no reward for it.

And now dear brethren, receiving the truth is a sacred trust. We are responsible to commit that truth to others. Notice the difference between the little butterfly and the honey-bee. The butterfly will start out in the morning and go out in the garden, light on one flower after another, and then return. If you could talk with the butterfly and ask, Where have you been? it would say, "I have seen many things; heard many things, but brought nothing back. And sad to say, that is the way sometimes with people. They say, " I have read forty-five chapters this week." Well, what have you got from those forty-five chapters ? They cannot take and write down one thought that the Holy Ghost has given them. Now go to the little honey-bee, and ask, Where have you been? " Oh, just to one or two spots; I went to a flower and I went right down to the heart of the flower, and took a lot of honey there; then I brought it back, and here it is." I have thought as to this verse we have considered in the sixth chapter of Kings:Oh, that God would make us like that little honey-bee, to drink the precious honey we can find there.

Although for well-nigh nineteen centuries, the people of God have been assembled to commemorate the Lord's supper, how wonderfully touching still are the thoughts that gather about it and what precious moments do those spend who weekly assemble to carry out our Lord's injunction "This do in remembrance of Me." To such one scarcely need apologize for treating of this theme and the search for the better comprehension of its veiled glories, and even should the search be unproductive of new discovery, it may prove an incentive to further effort.

Those, who spiritualize the memorial, miss one of its first, and a very salutary and blessed, lesson. The commemoration has to do with the "material;" it is not merely a memorial, but as being material, it becomes a reminder. It is a voice to those who are in the flesh, who are creatures of the dust and need as such a divinely given ordinance to remind them of Him, who instituted it and who was figured forth therein. It teaches us to be humble. O brethren, what a sweet, sad thought is here! We need reminder of Him. We stand in need of continual reminder of what He has done, of what He is. It is a sad thought. The " material" must speak to that which is still subject to the influence of the "material." It is a sweet thought. One thinks of the words of a little child, who when asked what was one of the sweetest things replied, " Repentance; it is so sweet to lie humbled before our God." Brother, do you feel thus, when you partake of that bread and wine? Do you recognize that it thus speaks?

But it is a simple memorial. Rome surrounds it with great pageant and forgets two things. Its simplicity is well adapted to commemorate the One who was despised and rejected. It is not so much the Son of God as the Man Christ Jesus, who is set forth therein. But she forgets also that frailty of which we have just been speaking. God ordained it to be simple. The "material" is needed to speak to our frailty but we are so frail that should we surround it with pageant, it would obscure Him, the material would become all. The simple ordinances of Christianity have been chosen with wonderful wisdom, but as with everything else, man has added his foolish adjuncts, and turned a help to a hindrance.

From Corinthians we find that the supper was instituted on the same night in which our Lord was betrayed, and from the Gospels that it was at the feast of the Passover. God's works are all wrought in "due time" and the proximity of the "delivering up" and the "feast" make an impressive combination.

The Passover was a commemoration of Israel's deliverance from judgment and is now associated with our Lord's "delivering up " to judgment. They who had just been celebrating their own deliverance, the deliverance of the first-born, set in judgment upon and condemn the "First-born" of God. Man's enmity and God's love are drawing nigh to that "crisis" of the ages wherein they meet, in the cross of Christ. What a wonderful juxtaposition. What awful hatred, what divine compassion! and as in Adam all die, how much more, in Christ shall all be made alive. Here is bread and wine; true sustenance for life.

But now please consider a fragmentary clause from Luke. "And gave unto them, saying" etc. I want you to notice that participation was a memorial of Him, though He was still with them. He does not say, " In the future this shall be done for remembrance of Me" but "this do in remembrance of Me." It was, if one may so call it, an anticipative retrospect. They were with Him and yet were called upon to remember Him. Him, not His death; Him! We show the Lord's death in partaking of the bread and wine, but in the act in which each too has part, though it be performed by one, we act in remembrance of Him. Oh that we might remember, that even though to-day He be present in our midst, and faith's vision may often behold Him, that it is still Him whom we have to call to remembrance, (strange word!) by His life given up. Not merely what He has done, brethren, but Him in what He has done. How sad when we think only of what He has done as a reminder of what we have got. " This do in remembrance of Me."

He distributes bread and wine to the group around. It is a domestic scene. It speaks in its character of home, the home where we shall be with Him. This He, in His death, has brought about. In such a scene He shone pre-eminently. He had such a way of breaking bread and inviting to a feast that upon two occasions after His resurrection, the disciples are overwhelmingly convinced that "it is the Lord."

No wonder then that the apostle in Corinthians remembers that we keep it until He come. "He will make them sit down and come forth and serve them."

"And He took bread and gave thanks and brake it." There are here several thoughts worthy of consideration. Let us notice first that He gives thanks before He breaks, while it is over the cup, wine already out-poured, that He gives thanks again. Here is divine order, and one may read easily the simple lesson. That time of agony would indeed be bitter to Him. He came for affection and found hatred; He came for a kingdom and found a cross; He came bringing in His own person, life, eternal life, and found death; and yet that Body, that holy Temple which they should destroy was gladly offered. He gave thanks that He had still an offering to bring. Of old had Abraham the father of the faithful found a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, but here is one not caught, only held. He gave thanks. Often may we find one who gives" thanks when he has already endured, but not often that he has means wherewith to endure. Surely, herein is love made manifest.

The bread speaks of the Person, His body given, the breaking, of His dying; while I think the cup speaks of life already outpoured, and thus it is wine that we find therein, that which gives joy to God and man. He gives thanks after its outpouring. It is the cup of blessing. How appropriate the symbol. It is wine-joy. How appropriate the time of thanksgiving; death past, judgment gone! Rememberer, enter now into the joy of your Lord. We have the fruit of the Vine, the result obtained.

" Now He praises in the assembly
Now the sorrow all is past;
His the earnest of our portion,
We must reach the goal at last."

He breaks the bread. " No man taketh it from me; I lay it down . . . and I take it again." The breaking of the bread is, as we have said, His dying, and so we get no pouring out of the wine, for the breaking of the bread is that, and there before us is the Cup.

Oh may the Lord grant us as we gather from week to week and year- to year and as the rolling years pass on "until He come," fresher, deeper, more real participation in a memorial which as divinely instituted, should so present Him as to make us cry yearningly, "Come Lord Jesus," and more and more may we, as images grow brighter unto the shining of the real, ourselves be merged into His image, until "these broken lights of Him " be swallowed up in His glory, who is "more than they." F. C. G.

6.THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER.

Continued from page 15. Chapter 3:

Ruth’s diligence in gleaning has not only supplied the wants of herself and her mother-in-law, but has evidently awakened in Naomi the slumbering hopes which had apparently been dead. The knowledge of Scripture becomes her guide, and as faith has increased, so it will now make use of that which, though well known, before, had seemed to be of no special value. How true this is in every case. How Scripture seems to lie dormant in the mind of the child of God away from Him, and yet when once faith and desire are quickened, the neglected Word is found to be bright indeed with its provisions exactly suited to the needs.

There was a merciful provision in the law (Deut. 25:5-10) that no man's family should be allowed to die out, while a brother survived to perpetuate the line. In Israel, to be childless was a reproach, and for a man's name to be blotted out-his family to become extinct-was regarded as a special mark of God's displeasure. The Sadducees, in our Lord's day, might seek to ridicule the truth of resurrection by bringing in this merciful provision, but they only showed their ignorance of "the Scriptures and the power of God." It was provision for the earthly not the future life, that God had made. Most appropriate was it, therefore, that He should see that names should not be blotted out in Israel, save to mark, as in Achan, His solemn judgment of an awful sin. There seems, too, to be a recognition in His provision of that hope in the heart of every Hebrew woman, that through her in some way the promise of "the woman's seed " might be fulfilled. This was to be done literally in the line which was to be preserved through Ruth.

Naomi is the leader here. It is her knowledge both of the kinship of Boaz and the law of Deuteronomy which guides Ruth in the most trying of all her experiences. " Shall I not seek rest for thee ?" Ruth had been gleaning food, but it had been through constant toil, and but for present needs. She was now to have rest, all her needs met, her labor over. What a change in the state of Naomi, from her unbelief at the beginning, when she would have turned Ruth back to find rest in the heathen home of some Moabitish husband. Would she not now be ashamed of such unbelief, and shudder at the thought of her own folly, which might have resulted so disastrously both for herself and her daughter-in-law ? Yet unbelief in the nation checked any turning that it saw in the people to our Lord when He was here, and did not rest till there was no hope-as they thought -of a national acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. So too in the days of national return to the land, the spirit of unbelief will turn the newly formed hopes of the nation, to seeking rest in some union not of God. False prophets and false Christs will claim, and receive, recognition from many-the man of sin will draw off the most into alliance with "the beast." But faith and the word of God will seek rest for the widowed remnant only with One who is a Kinsman, with a divinely given right to redeem the inheritance and perpetuate the name of those whose hopes had long since died.

In the history, too, of every soul, there comes a yearning for something more than the merest satisfaction of pressing hunger. Every gift from the hand of such a Giver makes us long, not merely for more gifts, but for the rest which can only be found in Himself. It is a blessed fact that the Person of Christ is the necessary goal toward which the Spirit of God ever leads. Nothing short of the Lord Himself will do:" Our souls were made for Thyself, and can never rest save in Thee."

It is this longing after the Person of our blessed Lord which gives the peculiar charm to the Song of Solomon. The affections are the same in all dispensations, and anything that describes the longing of the heart after Christ meets a response in every Spirit-taught heart. From the beginning of the Song throughout, there is a good measure of acquaintance with the Lord, and a conscious though not clearly defined sense of relationship with Him. In Ruth this is not so clear. She is rather seeking an acknowledgment of relationship, which she is not sure will be recognized. But the resemblance between the two books can be seen. We must, however, return to the narrative.

Harvest time is now over, and threshing and winnowing have succeeded. All work will soon be over, and Naomi recognizes that if anything is to be done, it must be immediately. The plan is a simple and bold one; Ruth is to prepare herself, and on that night, at the threshing-floor present herself to Boaz, claiming kinship and pleading the divine provision for cases such as hers.

It was a bold stroke, and would either succeed or ignominiously fail. She would either leave the threshing-floor recognized by Boaz as the proper and honored object of his affection, or, spurned from his feet, be forever after branded as a bold and shameless woman. All hung in the balance; how would it be decided ?

Is it not significant, when we pass from the narrative to its spiritual application, that this trial was to be made at the threshing-time and at night? It is in connection with "the great tribulation,"-literally the great threshing-time,-when the remnant will put forth their claim to the Kinsman, whom yet they so dimly recognize. This is the testing time for the nation, when, through the trials of persecution, the wheat will be separated from the chaff of mere profession. When all goes well, it is easy to profess, but " when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word," the stony-ground hearers are manifested. Thus the time of threshing is the suited time for faith to be manifested as truly that, and for all else to fall away.

The figure of threshing is found quite frequently in the prophets, and nearly always as applied to the nations (See Isa. 21:10 with Jer. 51:33; Is. 41:15; Mi. 4:13; Hab. 3:12). Israel herself will one day thresh the nations, but before that time she herself must pass through the purifying chastening, which will result in the chaff being driven away, and the pure grain alone remaining. It is during this separating time of suffering and trial that the remnant will in faith lay claim to Him who is Lord of the threshing.

Is it not also suggestive that the site of the temple was the threshing-floor of Oman, and that it was at the time of God's chastening the people that He revealed Himself to David, and thus established the basis for His dwelling-place ? David offered sacrifices, and the place where sacrifice and chastening had met was to be the lasting abode of a holy and faithful God. So at the last will the Lord reveal Himself to His people, and re-establish His sure house to all generations.

Ruth is now to lay aside the garments of her widowhood, washing and anointing herself, and thus to present herself as a bride to Boaz. So too the remnant will lay aside their hopelessness, and washed by the Spirit and the Word, will array themselves in a beauty not their own, claiming in faith Him whose mercy they have tasted. They will have learned of Him who gives "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." They will have heard the voice calling to them, " Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem the holy city . . . Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem:loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion."

Carrying out the directions of Naomi, she is recognized by Boaz at midnight, the darkest hour, and makes her bold claim. Instead, however, of being repulsed, she is blessed by Boaz, who declares it is kindness on her part, greater even than she had shown to her mother-in-law at the beginning. She is reassured, he promises to do all, and affirms that which slander might have denied :"All the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman."

So will the King, reassure the trembling remnant who draw near to Him in the dark midnight hour of trial and persecution. The joy of His own heart in their faith will be greater far than their own. " He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing." Who indeed can measure that joy, save He who wept over Jerusalem ? Who can know the delight of seeing then turn to Him, save the One who was rejected by His people ? " As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

All this part of the narrative is so entirely typical of Israel's relations to our Lord, that we can only in a secondary way apply it to the history of the individual in the present dispensation. Yet, as we have seen, the affections are the same in all dispensations, and faith nourished will develop in strength and intensity. It is most blessed to know that God has provided infinitely beyond our highest thoughts and strongest faith. So that we have not to obtain, as did Ruth, a place of the nearest and closest relationship, but to apprehend that which is already ours- the gift of grace.

But in the soul's experience, there is much that answers to this progress which we have been tracing. We come as poor outcasts, gleaning bits of blessing with faint heart,

"Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs,
With trembling hands, that from Thy table fall,
A weary, heavy-laden sinner comes
To plead Thy promise and obey Thy call.

Such is the language, not surely of intelligent faith, but of the soul as it dimly sees mercy even for it. But grace leads on, as we have seen, encouraging and strengthening, until at last the soul, entering into the marvel of divine love, lays hold upon the wondrous secret of Christ's heart-" we are members of His body". . . . "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it …. that He might present it to Himself." We see Him not only as Saviour, Lord, Shepherd, but find our rest upon His bosom the beloved of His heart, forming with all the redeemed of this age the Bride who shall be His companion throughout the endless day of God. "That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace."

Not at once does the soul grasp this wondrous relationship; alas at best how feebly do we respond to His love. But if the soul follow on under the leading of the Spirit of God, it will surely find its place at the feet of Him who is indeed " a near Kinsman," "not ashamed to call us brethren."

Ruth returns to Naomi with the distinct promise of Boaz, to do all that her heart desired, should there be no obstacle. That possible obstacle is, as we shall presently see, a nearer kinsman. But, even during the suspense of waiting to know the outcome, she receives from Boaz ample provision for all needs.

What a contrast are the six measures poured into her veil, to the ephah of barley gathered by painful gleaning. He would not allow her to go empty to her mother-in-law, and this in itself was a pledge of more bounty to come, yea of himself lord of it all. Thus Joseph feasted his brethren and sent them back with full loads before the union with his family was consummated. And thus the Lord in grace provides for those who yet do not know the fulness of blessing that is theirs.

Naomi meets her returning daughter-in-law, not with her previous question " where hast thou gleaned to-day?" but " Who art thou my daughter?" It was not a question of benefit, but of relationship. It was not "What hast thou," but "Who art thou." For the bride is called by the name of the bridegroom. "One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." Fitting words are these to describe the changed relationships of one but lately called Ruth the Moabitess.

But, as we have seen, there must still be a brief delay. Brief indeed it is, for, as Naomi declares, "The man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day." Ruth can well afford to "sit still" and wait, for all is now in the hands of Boaz himself.

What a glimpse these words give of the tireless love of our Lord both for His Church and for Israel. He did not rest till He had accomplished redemption, and now His love will not rest till all is consummated. What force this gives to those words "the patience of Christ." How He longs to have His people with himself.

"Thy love had not its rest Were Thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest."

He waits now, He longs and looks for the time appointed. How is it with us? Can we say "Lord tarry not but come."?

(To be continued.) 157

Read Judges is. 6-21,

*An extract from "Lectures on Judges," now publishing in No. 13 of "The Treasury of Truth."*

Gideon has died, and his son Abimelech has r risen up as king. His very name, "My father was king,", which was given him by some one, (perhaps by his mother, to show his relation to the great man of Israel, and to cover the shame of his birth) shows how the subtle spirit was to work among the people. A "king" is the very thing that his father was not. His father refused to be king, and said God alone should be their king. And yet here is the son of his father who declares that his father was king, and, furthermore, in the strongest way declares that his son also is going to be king.

He sets himself to exercise authority over the people of God, and in order to do so he builds his throne upon violence. There must be violence if there is rule of that kind; if there is the rule of man, it must be by violence. Therefore, he slays all his brothers, all the many sons of Gideon, with a single exception. Having thus cut off all rivals, he goes to Shechem, the town of his mother, the town according to nature, which is significantly in that very tribe of Ephraim, which is always, as you know, reaching out for rule, and gets the men of Shechem to endorse and recognize him as king. Then it is that his brother Jotham, the one who had escaped, propounds his parable, which is most striking, and embodies the whole lesson of this chapter. This parable on rule and government explains all that occurred, and shows what human government always is in the house of God (chap. 9:7-21).

You have in the parable a picture of what government, or rule, is. The tree itself is a picture of government. You remember that Nebuchadnezzar was a great tree, head of the Gentile kingdom. The mustard seed grew into a tree.

The trees of the wood ask for a ruler, and they naturally turn to those bearing fruit. First comes the olive; they ask it to be king over them, and the olive's answer is that of all the other trees, " Shall I leave my fatness, wherewith they honor God and man, and go to wave over the trees ? " In other words, the olive declares that fruit-bearing is its work and not ruling. The fig-tree and the vine return the same answer. When we apply the parable to the government of God's people, it is beautifully simple.

Who is going to rule over God's people? Naturally, the saints turn, of course, to those who are bearing fruit for God. Here is one, for instance, who will represent the olive. The olive with its oil suggests the energy and illumination, the power and fruits of the Holy Ghost. They say to those who are manifesting the fruits of the Spirit in their lives, "Brethren, do you be rulers." Or, singling out one particular brother, who is full of faith and the Holy Ghost, they say, "You take charge, and be governor of God's people." He says, "Ah, brethren, I am too much engaged in the things of God, to attempt to rule His people." "I am too much engaged in the blessed communion of the Holy Ghost, in that which refreshes the people of God, that which is an honor to God (for God is honored and glorified by the fruits of the Spirit in His people), too much engaged with bearing fruit to be a ruler or a lord."

The fig-tree represents more particularly all that gracious nourishment and healing which is ministered through fruitfulness to God. The fig-tree producing sweet, wholesome fruit says, "If I am to rule, I must stop being fruitful, and I would far rather provide food for the people of God, than I would govern them." And so if the Spirit of God has empowered one in any way to bear fruit that nourishes and refreshes, heals and sustains the people of God,-suggested in the pastor and teacher – who would exchange that kind of a place for any pre-eminence over them as master or lord ?

The reply of the vine is only another lesson of the same kind. The vine, perhaps, reminds us more particularly of the gospel ministry, that ministry which emphasizes the precious blood of Christ, of which wine is a type. Here is an evangelist, one whose delight it is to hold up the cross, the finished work of Christ, and the people say, "He is the right one to rule; give us a good evangelist to rule over and govern us, to take charge of the saints." Ah! he says, shall I leave that which refreshes God, as well as man ?Shall I leave that which cheers the fainting heart of the dying saint, brings peace to the guilty conscience, and glory to the grace of God ? Shall I give up my ministry of the gospel of His grace for an empty honor of ruling over the people of God? Who, then, is to rule over them ?If those who are bearing fruit for God will not be rulers over His people, who really is to be the ruler ?Ah, the lesson, dear friends, of government, is the lesson of service, and he rules best who serves best. He is really, practically, a head of the people, who is at their feet serving them ; the ones who bring them the precious fruits of God's grace, the olive, the fig, the vine, these are the ones, and the only ones, by their service, who rule or lead the saints of God.

The spirit of rule is the spirit of service. The moment it passes into that of rule merely, it passes away from that of service and of fruit bearing. The moment you get away from fruit-bearing, you get emptiness, and that is what you have here. A bramble-bush is elected to be the ruler of the trees, and the bramble's answer is a very significant one, "If I am to be ruler, then you have either got to bow to me, or fire will come out and burn up all the trees, from the cedar of Lebanon, in its height, down to the smallest of them." It is rule or ruin.

What is a bramble but a mere fruitless thing, that, instead of giving its energy, sap and vigor to bearing fruit, has shriveled up and turned in upon itself? Just as the thorn, it is the curse of the earth, an abortive branch. That which might have, if it had opened out, been a branch and borne much fruit, has shrunk up and centered upon itself. So the bramble, nothing but a thorn-bush, figure of a self-seeking, self-desiring man, becomes now a ruler. This rule is of that character which says, You must bow to me, or be burnt, no matter who you may be.

What a lesson as to what rule is amongst the people of God ! How it searches our hearts, as we think of it; how it makes us realize how easy it is to become mere brambles, and to seek a place, not at the feet of the saints, but over their heads. Beloved brethren, he rules who does as Christ did, ministers amongst them. "Whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth ? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as He that serveth." Do you want saints to look up to you ? Ah, you are a bramble, if you covet that. The people who are looked up to are those who do not take the place, but who are seeking to bear precious fruit for God, and for the blessing of the saints. Let us be occupied with that fruit-bearing in our own souls. S. R.

In the widow's mite we see that our Lord values work not by the quantity but the quality. It is not how much we do, but how we do it. "By Him actions are weighed." Oh for devoted hearts.

VIII. THE BELIEVER’S POSITION AND CONDITION.

It is important to a correct understanding of Scripture as well as to peace and rest of soul to the child of God, to see clearly the distinction between his position, or righteous standing before God, and his earthly walk. The former is unalterable, unchanging, while the second may be, and alas is, variable.

1. Position, before God, is alone by the finished atoning work of Christ, and from the moment He is appropriated by faith, is permanent and eternal. Faith alone is the means of obtaining this priceless boon of God's grace, and no works of the sinner, or deeds of the believer, can add or aid in any way to obtaining it, or keeping it when once obtained. The title to it is Christ, and it is the free gift of God's grace as fully to the youngest, weakest, most ignorant babe in Christ, as to the oldest, strongest, most learned saint on earth. It is a position of new relationship.

"As many as received Him, to them gave He the power (right, privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name " (John 1:12).

"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26; see also i John 3:2; 5:i). Joint heirship with Christ.

"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17). Royalty and nearness.

"Unto Him that loved (loveth) us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father " (Rev. 1. 5, 6). Complete forgiveness, justification, and peace.

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38, 39).

" Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ "(Rom. 5:i).

These and many more blessings as to position before God are the unvarying portion of the believer and are dependent upon Christ alone.

See also i John 5:i; i Pet. 1:4, 5; Eph. 1:ii; 2:13; 1:13; 5:30; 1:3; Heb. 10:19; i Cor. 6:19; John 6:47.

2.This position is unchangeable and forever.

Every one of these gracious blessings is the portion of every child of God, the moment such by faith receives, or believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and is entirely apart from religiousness, character, ordinance, or prayer of the recipient either before or after such faith displayed.
Being then dependent upon Christ's work, they must be the permanent possession of all to whom conferred, for "whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it:and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him" (Eccl. 3:14).

Hear the words of the Lord Jesus:

" I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My
hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand " (John 10:28, 29).

" And ye are complete in Him " (Col. 2:10).

"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost (forevermore, margin) that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25).

"For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14).

"Clean every whit" (John 13:10), "no condemnation" (Rom. 8:i; John 3:18, 36). "Sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). Thus backsliding Peter could say, " Kept by the power of God" (i Pet. 1:5:see also Jude 24; Eph. 5:25-27 etc.).

3. A believer's condition may be far below his exalted position and yet not affect it.

This is, alas, only too true. The church at Corinth were "sanctified in Christ and called saints" (i Cor. 1:2), and yet it is only necessary to read through the epistle to discover the truth of this.

The apostle writes of them,

"But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the flame of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (i Cor. 6:ii), and yet he speaks of them as "carnal" (3:1-3), "puffed up" (4:18), and resorting to law (6:7). A striking evidence of this is seen in the apostle Peter; compare carefully Matt. 16:17 with ver. 23. And of the same Corinthians even while in the above state it is written, that their body was "the temple of the Holy Ghost" and they were not their own but God's; see i Cor. 6:19 20.

4. The effect of this should be a holy obedient walk.

It should not for a moment be thought that because all this is by the free undeserved favor of God, that a believer has no responsibility consequent upon it, or may walk loosely, or in self-will; far from it, God in grace having placed one in such a position requires he should walk as becometh the dignity of the same.

To the same Corinthians the apostle writes,

"The love of Christ constraineth us" … because "He died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

"Be ye therefore followers (imitators) of God, as dear children," "walk in love," "fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks. . . . For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord:walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:1-8).

" As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation" (i Pet. 1:14, 15).

" For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries" (i Pet. 4:3).

"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (i Pet. 2:ii).

"Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances" Col. 2:20).

" If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth" (Col. 3:i, 5; see also Eph. 4:17-32; 6:1-9; Phil. 2:3, 12-16; 4:5-9; Col. 3:i; 4:6; i Thess. 5:12-22).

"And the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (i Thess. 5:23). B. W. J.

QUES. 17.-What path is described in Job 28:7?

ANS.-The connection shows it is the path of wisdom. ''Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding (ver. 12) V Part at least of the answer is given in ver. 28, " unto man He saith, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."

QUES. 18.-What was the vow of Jephthah the Gileadite regarding his daughter? If the thought of putting her to death is here, kindly explain in full.

ANS.-" If Thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Am-mon into my hands, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me . . . shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering " (Judg. 11:30, 31). Ordinarily there would be no doubt that Jephthah meant to sacrifice in death whatever came out. It being his daughter has raised the question with thoughtful students of God's word whether he could have put her to death, so repulsive to nature and forbidden by the word of God. On the other hand, remembering the sternness of the man, his rashness and the generally lawless state of the people, it does not seem at all improbable that the first impression of every reader of the account is correct – that she was put to death as a sacrifice. This view can be seen at length in " Lectures on Judges."

QUES. 19.-Why were only eleven tribes mentioned by Ahijah the prophet, to Jeroboam (1 Ki. 11:31, 32).

ANS.-Benjamin is the one tribe who, with Judah the tribe of David, makes up the twelve. See chap. 12:21.

QUES. 20.-Please explain the words, " take, eat, this is my body." Do we in partaking of the Lord's supper literally partake of His body and blood?

ANS.-" I am the door," " I am the true vine." No one for a single moment mistakes the meaning of these words, or applies them literally to our Lord. As symbols they are beautiful ; force them in a literal way and all beauty and meaning is lost. So with the symbols of our Lord's body and blood. As symbols they are the sweet precious memorials of One who loved us unto death; taken literally, they become the food of superstition and a carnal religion. We need but to look at the blasphemous use Rome has made of the Lord's supper to see the danger of which we speak. Think of a few words of the priest creating Christ, and that in His divine character!

But even where such gross and blasphemous use is not made of the Lord's supper, any teaching that leads us to look at the bread and wine as anything but simple memorials, feeds superstition. It is Christ with whom we are to be occupied, arid we simply " do this " to call Him to mind.

QUES. 21.-What was involved in the act of Samuel in honoring Saul before the people (1 Sam. 15:30)?

ANS.-In refusing to obey God in the utter extermination of the Amalekites, Saul had fully manifested his unfitness for the throne. This Samuel faithfully and unflinchingly presses upon him, and refuses to sacrifice with him on that ground. As a last resort Saul, tacitly admitting the right of Samuel's refusal to go with him as one In whom God was pleased, asks simply that his office be recognized. There was nothing amiss in this, as it was not God's purpose Immediately to overthrow the disobedient king.

QUES. 22.-What does Scripture teach about Satan's ability- or inability-to know man's thoughts? Are all evil thoughts in man the product of his own wicked heart apart from Satan?

ANS.-We are not aware that Scripture directly teaches as to the first part of the question, and would be slow to assert positively as to it. We would suggest however that Satan, being a spirit, can detect the movements of man's mind, as man in the body could observe the physical movements of men. As to evil thoughts, Satan cannot give them, save as there is a readiness to receive them. Thus man Is fully responsible for what Satan has suggested. " Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost" (Acts 5:3)?

QUES. 23.-What is holiness according to Scripture? Was Adam holy before he sinned?

ANS.-Holiness is a positive, inherent character, the product of a nature. We would therefore prefer not applying the term to Adam, but rather to say he was innocent. Holiness is the character of God, and it is His children who through chastisement are made partakers of that.

In conflicts, not only is Satan defeated, but the tried saint learns fresh secrets about his own feebleness and the resources and grace of God. So, in the wanderings of the heart, in departure from the power of faith and hope, not only is the soul chastened and exercised, but it learns, to God's glory, that it must come back to that posture in which the Lord first set it. J. G. B.

(A Meditation on Mark 1:, 2:, 3:) (Continued from page 86.)

We were seeing the patient service of our Lord, and will trace Him further in His lowly mission. Levi (Matthew), hears a word behind him "follow Me," and he rises up and follows Jesus. Matthew knew the Shepherd's voice and beheld in Him the grace that came to save the lost. This man makes the Lord a feast, and invites a number of publicans and sinners to meet Him and hear His word. This was a double feast, a feast for the Son of God while a Servant among men; a feast such as these scribes and Pharisees had never afforded the Shepherd-Servant. A true love feast this was, and then a feast that widened out and thought of men just like what he had been, whom he desired to see, taste and share the grace of a Saviour-God. What a treat Matthew must have afforded Jesus that day! publicans and sinners heard that day the wonderful words of life. How beautiful to see this grace, the Son of God sitting among publicans and sinners. This heavenly life of Jesus unfolds itself in those chapters like the rose of Sharon, and as it unfolds itself, at its every stage it emits its sweet fragrance of love and grace. But for those, as we have first noticed, who had feelings of envy because He was advancing as a teacher and then because that envy was not judged, we read they "reasoned." Now we observe their character also unfolding itself side by side with His. He the very perfection of good; in them the principle of evil.

At this stage they speak out (not as in vers. 6, 7, in their hearts) but not yet directly to the Lord. They move cautiously and drawing near, ask the disciples, "How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?" (ver. 16). These words are proof of how far their hearts were away from the God of Israel, and also of the wickedness that lay therein, in thus seeking occasion against the Lord of life and glory as He went about doing good. The Lord when He heard it takes up the question Himself and gives the answer, in lowly grace making it the occasion to present to them the very glory and joy of His mission.

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (ver. 17). Such was Matthew, and such were those whom Matthew had invited there that day, and hence the whole work was according to God's plans. The grace of Christ was expressed among that company.

At this feast, the Lord was enjoying another feast, "meat to eat they knew not of." What a contrast between those two lives! He delighting to meet the need of the needy; they opposed to such grace flowing out. By this time we observe the Pharisees have joined the scribes. (In ver. 6, we read of the scribes, in ver. 16, the scribes and Pharisees.)

At this juncture we observe another question asked. Till the end of chap. 3:the contrast develops, and becomes more manifest. But this question was not to the disciples, but to the Lord. If Matt. 9:14 be consulted, we observe the questioners here were John's disciples. Yet even in them we learn how far all were from understanding Him who was in their midst. "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?" The previous question was addressed to the disciples and concerning the conduct of the Lord; this question is addressed to the Lord, but concerning the conduct of the disciples.

The Lord's presence among them was truly giving character to their lives and others could see the change. Observe the contrast, and the answer which the Lord gave them truly and fully explains this. "Can the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? "

What grace is expressed in this answer. Not only do we observe the grace and patience in answering such questions and waiting on them for a response, but we would pause and meditate upon the grace expressed in the words of the answer. The Son of God was present among men, His own voice was heard following that of His forerunner John. This voice sought to reach men and draw them to Himself. Men were refusing, but the few fishermen respond. The publican does also. The sinners hear His words, and oh the blessedness, we exclaim, for those whose hearts God had touched. For there was the Messiah long looked for by Israel. There was that great Prophet. There was the Son of God, there the Bridegroom and there the grace waiting to reach them and bless. Would they respond? The Lord saw they would not. His rejection by them becomes clear to Him, and this He now intimates. " But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away." The condition of the leaders was as old bottles which could not contain the new wine. This precious ministry of love and grace the Lord had already begun to unfold, and although the Bridegroom is absent now, yet the Spirit is here and the work still continues among sinners of the Gentiles.

But we will proceed another step and observe another objection to what was transpiring:"Why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?" He had taught in the synagogue and they refused His teaching. He healed and forgave, and they find fault. He gathered publicans and sinners around Him to tell them of the grace that would save, and they question about it. Now as the disciples walk through the cornfields, we might say despised and rejected as associated with their Lord and Master, their conduct is questioned. The Lord again answers, and every answer only develops the grace of His heart, as well as the truth of His ways. At this time He refers to David's course when the nation had refused him. In this typical history they might have seen the parallel. They were careful about the sabbath, the shadow, and to this they clung; but the One the sabbath pointed to ("the body which is of Christ") they had no heart for. They were jealous of Him, the Lord of the Sabbath. What a contrast we here behold in those two bands – Christ and those following Him, and the scribes and Pharisees.

But we observe none of those things move Him nor deter Him from His holy purpose to bless, if they curse. "And He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had a withered hand, and they watched him " (chap. 3:1,2).

"They watch Him,"not to admire and adore Him for the love and grace there expressed, but to detect something "that they might accuse Him." This is the very character also of Satan as given in Rev. 12:"The accuser of the brethren," and by this we see how much they were under his power and unholy influence.

Let us also pause here and learn the contrast as developed in that lovely life of Jesus, a contrast still pursued by Him in the courts above; for there He acts as Priest and Advocate; there He prays and intercedes with God for His own redeemed by blood- His own blood. But He never " accuses." This is the enemy's work as seen in Satan and in the scribes and Pharisees. It is recorded as one of the unholy characteristics of the last days prevalent among professing Christians (2 Tim. 3:3).

Let us be warned ourselves by these scriptures, and "watch," not that we might detect defects and flaws and "accuse," but watch against that unholy work of the flesh and judge the spirit of it, and cultivate the lovely graces of the Holy Spirit. Let us look upon others, not with the cold, heartless suspicion that characterized those who opposed the Lord. Eventually this very spirit of criticism and accusation, largely the development of envy, was that which said, "Away with Him, Crucify Him." Let us cultivate what the divine word enjoins upon us. "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report:if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things" (Phil. 4:8, 9).

This life so beautiful and lovely, when developed as the Holy Spirit here unfolds it, was a life foreign to that of scribes and Pharisees, but it was most fully and perfectly expressed by the very One they accused. As often since, the evil, the wrong is with the accusers, not the accused. Let us then be warned by this example and choose the side true and lovely, that of Christ.

But, to proceed. He healed the man with the withered hand, a fit emblem, had they but known it, of their whole condition, a lifeless withered up profession. Grace was there even for them, but another purpose was theirs. They no doubt felt their weakness, and so we are informed; "The Pharisees went forth and took counsel with the Herodians against Him how they might destroy Him " (ver. 6). First we saw but scribes, then the Pharisees, now the Herodians. Things which have begun, develop very fast; He came to give life, they would take His away; He came to save and bless, they to condemn and destroy.

But we note also the grace of Christ, "Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea" (ver. 7), foreshadowing what would soon be true in reality, His final withdrawal from them, and the grace that would flow out to the Gentiles. Great multitudes now follow Him, and even already some of those Gentile. The Lord ever perfect as a Servant discerns the great need and retires to the mount. There He selects the twelve. The need and press was great, "So that they could not so much as eat bread." What a life was that of Jesus here below, full of love that desired to serve others, unselfish and self-denying and that side by side with a life as seen in others, full of malice, hatred, selfishness and self-indulgence. May we here again pause and meditate the contrast, and copy that life so true and unselfish. The very perfection of servants was He, given us here as an example. Well might we pause and admire as well as worship and adore as we behold Him in dependance "the solitary place" in prayer, our example. In His grace at its every stage, our example. Unwilling also to be hindered in His service by the popularity, unswervingly devoted to His Father's interests, and not seeking self-glory; in this our example. The diligence, the faithfulness and self-denial, "They could not so much as eat bread," our example was He and they with Him at this time. (At this stage His friends cannot understand Him, but the Father did) (ver. 21).

But we will follow on one step further and behold another stage, the seventh of the contrast and the close of our meditation. "The scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth He out devils " (ver. 22). By this we learn how far away their hearts are from the God of Israel, how far their hearts differed from that of the Lord before them, and how opposed were their words and ways to the work of the Holy Spirit there working in such a wonderful way. Their cup of iniquity was full. Their life and ways but manifest the heart they bear about, and now the Lord answers them (not plainly as before) by parables. There was little use reasoning; little use waiting longer. The more grace is shown the more do they take advantage of it to accuse and gainsay. They had heard Him preach, teach, and seen Him heal, and this every part of it as a man, their Messiah, anointed by the Holy Ghost. Yet they say that all was by " Beelzebub."

At this stage we behold righteousness. They are given up; they are set aside by the just judgment of God (vers. 28, 30). They commence with envy, when Jesus comes to the front and is honored of God in His ministry of grace, and in these three chapters their wickedness develops in all the stages of their opposition and accusations until now we behold violence there, and murder is before them, which terminates eventually in the Cross. Man's life here has been before us in the religious leaders of that day, not only proven to be a failure, but tested in every way and proven to be evil. But the life of Jesus in all His ways, in every answer, in all His words- how beautiful and lovely, worthy of our admiration and imitation.

At the close (chap. 3:) He turns from them; all links with Israel (man as in flesh tried, tested, and proven bad) are broken. We observe the grace that rises over every barrier and the word, "Whosoever" appears. Next He goes to the seaside (typical of where He works now, among us Gentiles) and there as Mark describes by parables, He has labored ever since (chap. 4:).

True He has been crucified, but now risen and glorified at God's right hand. This is the testimony of chap. 16:at its close. His servants who began then and have continued since "went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them." He still abides the Servant, He still labors with those sent forth. He still, blessed be His glorious Name, maintains a hearty interest in the gospel. Let us cultivate hearty fellowship with Him in this service, which will continue "till He come." Then He will still be the Servant, He will serve us, His people, His redeemed (Luke 12:35-37), and this service will be as the Hebrew servant,-reckoned for thirty shekels of silver-a service that will abide forever. "He shall serve him forever" (Ex. 21:1-6, 32). May the choice of our hearts be Himself, not in doctrine and theory only, but in deed and in truth. A. E. B.

When Cyrus gave one of his friends a kiss, and another a wedge of gold, he that had the gold envied him that had the kiss, as a greater expression of favor. So the true Christian prefers the privilege of acceptance [fellowship] with God to the possession of any earthly comfort, for the light of His countenance is life, and His favor is as the cloud of the latter rain.-Buck

The righteous doth bear calamities with patience, but also with joy. For they do not look upon the labor, but upon the reward; not upon the pain, but upon the crown; not upon the bitterness of the medicine, but upon the health which it bringeth; not upon the grief of the chastisement, but on the love of the Chastiser.-F. Lewis, 1590.

There is as much difference between the sufferings of the saints and those of the ungodly, as there is between the cords with which the executioner opinions a condemned malefactor and the bandages wherewith a tender surgeon binds his patient. The effect of the one is to kill, of the other to cure. Believers undergo many crosses but no curses.-Salter.

As announced last month, the first number of a Sunday School paper, to be known as the "The Sunday School Visitor," is sent to our subscribers as a sample. As will be seen, it is specially intended for Sunday School, and to encourage the study of God’s word among children of all ages. It can hardly be expected to be what we wish at once, but the prayers of the Lord’s people are asked that it may be a blessing in many a home and Sunday School.

For prices see order-sheet in center of this month.

The bands of death Thou brokest,
Almighty Saviour Thou,
And to Thy rest hast brought us;
No more at distance now.

Thou hast Thy work completed
Which was for us performed;
Thy sufferings are ended,
And our heart's fear disarmed.

In Thee to us is given
Salvation ever sure;
Thyself our precious portion,
Our life that shall endure.

And by the Spirit guided
Thy yoke is light to bear;
Thou hast the way made ready,
Dost go before us there.

Who can Thy mercy fathom,
Who what Thy love has wrought!
To Thee, while on our journey,
Let constant thanks be brought.

(From the German.)

7. NEARER THAN THE NEAREST.

Chapter 4:Continued from page 225.

As we have already seen, Boaz takes Ruth as his wife in the presence of the kinsman and of the witnesses. Nothing is "done in a corner," no righteous demands are ignored, or any necessary claim set aside. The very law which witnessed against the apostate nation will witness also to the righteousness of Him who restores to Himself on the basis of grace the penitent and believing remnant. The prophets bear abundant witness to this, linking, as we have already seen in some measure, the people's past unfaithfulness as Jehovah's espoused, and the future grace which will restore them. "Of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest playing the harlot" (Jer. 2:20). God had rescued them from Egypt, and they had promised, at Sinai, not to transgress. Alas, the golden calf was set up before the law was brought into camp, and the long list of subsequent idolatries told how they had broken the covenant."High places," for idolatrous worship had dotted the whole land, while in the shade of every green tree the abominations of heathenism had been practiced. Spiritually and literally did these unholy and unclean rites deserve the name of harlotry so frequently given them in the prophets. What could God do with such a nation but put them away?

"They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord." "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you." "Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. . . . Return ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold we come unto Thee, for Thou art our God" (Jer. 3:). This whole portion of Jeremiah is exceedingly beautiful and touching. The tender pleadings of divine love to a bold, faithless, and wanton people, the assurances of forgiveness and everlasting mercy are touching in the extreme.

"Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant, . . . and I will establish My covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 16:60, 62). Here again, after depicting in the utmost faithfulness, the originally helpless condition of the people, their "time of love" and the beauty with which He adorned them, their wanton shameless, faithlessness, and hopeless degradation. God assures them of a recovery and a re-union in the bonds of a marriage covenant "never to be broken or forgotten."

Similarly, in the familiar passage in Hosea, the past unfaithfulness of the people, their present rejection as "Lo-ammi," and their future restoration are presented. " Behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her.

And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. . . . And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness:and thou shalt know the Lord" (Hos. 2:14-23).

These touching and beautiful passages may well serve as the link between Naomi and Ruth. The nation departed as Naomi, they are restored-the remnant of them-as Ruth, in deep and true penitence and a faith which renounces all claims in themselves, yet for that reason cleaves all the more fully to the Lord and His grace.

So, as Boaz calls the elders and all the people to witness to his having purchased all the forfeited inheritance and the Gentile widow Ruth, will our Lord call all to witness to His redemption of His desolate people. "Comfort ye, comfort, ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (Is. 40:1, 2). "With a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, the Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob" (Is. 48:20).

The grace too which will redeem the people will also restore the land to them for their enjoyment. In fact all during their captivity and estrangement from God, the land has enjoyed its sabbaths-sign of the covenant between God and the people. So in a sense the very desolations of the land are a reminder of the unfailing promise of God, who would not give to others that which was reserved for His own. "Thus saith the Lord, Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. . . . Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses . . . for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord " (Jer. 32:42, 44). "And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me. . . . Again there shall be heard in this place . . . the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts; for the Lord is good; for His mercy endureth forever; and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land as at the first, saith the Lord " (Jer. 33:7, 10, 11). Mercy to the people must necessarily be accompanied by mercy to the land. The one will not be without the other. "He will be merciful unto His land and to His people " (Deut. 32:43). "I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth (or land); and the earth (or land) shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel" (Hos. 2:21, 22).

This is dwelt upon at length in the beautiful sixty-fifth psalm. Praise silently waits upon God in Zion until the hour appointed for the overthrow of enemies and the final establishment of peace in the land. Then God's mercy to His land will be celebrated; "Thou visitest the earth and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water. . . . Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness, and Thy paths drop fatness. . . . The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing" (Ps. 65:9-13).

Thus the purchase of all that was Elimelech's and his two sons', the land and inheritance, includes also Ruth the widow. And Christ's redemption of His people includes the land as well. How suggestive it is that at this present time we have not only a people without a land, the Jews, but a land without a definitely settled people. Each is waiting for the other, and both, yea all things, wait His time who surely will fulfil all His word. "If My covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances, of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob" (Jer. 33:25, 26).

Gladly do the witnesses respond to the declaration of Boaz. "And all the people that were in the gate" -the ten men, representing the law, and all the others-said, " We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel." These two mentioned were the mothers of the twelve patriarchs, the founders of the nation. When all has apparently failed, the Mighty One comes in and restores, nay far more, the nation to its original greatness. The original redemption from Egypt will no more be the standard, but that last and final one, when He will gather His beloved people, and Rachel, to whom allusion is here made, will refrain from weeping for her children. "There is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border" (Jer. 31:17).

They also allude to Tamar and her children-the one who, we might say, founded the tribe of Judah to which Boaz belonged. Looking back at that history, we find it a sadly blotted page. Sin seems to be written all over it, yet a faith that desires, and Jacob-like will get by artifice, the blessing. Here is the blessing without the stain, but reminding us, as we have been seeing, of grace to a sinful and unworthy people.

Thus the law, magnified and made honorable, not only transfers all its rights to Christ, but claims for the people-unfruitful so far as the law was concerned-a blessing beyond its own through this new relationship.

All is consummated and Boaz takes his bride to himself. Ah soon will the poor cast-off nation be gathered to the arms of Eternal love and "as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

A son is born to Ruth, but in a beautiful way it is not Ruth but Naomi who comes into prominence here. The aged mother, with blasted life and bitter memories, is before us now with the young babe in her arms. All the past is forgotten save to contrast it with the joyful present. They bless the Lord, as they rejoice, who has not left His desolate people without a Redeemer, and who is indeed "famous in Israel." Ruth too is not forgotten, and her faithful devotedness is acknowledged by all. " Thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him." Israel according to the flesh would indeed have been utterly worthless towards restoring blessing, but this Gentile daughter-in-law-speaking, as we have seen, of faith and penitence-is better than all excellence of the flesh.

This child is to be, as they tell Naomi, "a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thy old age." So the child is called Obed, "servant."

Passing to the spiritual meaning of all this, we can hardly fail to connect this child with that other wondrous Child born of this same line, and who will invert while He makes good all we have been seeing, being Himself also Boaz, the Risen and glorified One; "For unto a Child is born, unto us a Son is given:and the government shall be upon His shoulder:and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace " (Is. 9:6).
It is fitting too that He should have this name of "servant." Israel was God's servant, but how unfaithful ! Then this faithful One comes, who is indeed God's servant, "Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth." Through Him and by His grace the remnant is called out and they too are designated by that same title; while finally all the nation will be restored and rejoice, as once they did in disobedience, to be called the servants of the Lord.

And how perfectly has our blessed Lord illustrated the beauty of faithful service! He came to do God's will, and His meat and drink it was to do it. All along His earthly path He was ministering to the suffering and the sin-sick. Upon the cross He served – blessed forever be His Name!- that we might never know the awful penalty of sin. All this He did gratuitously. He was one who owed no
service-the heifer upon which no yoke had come. Yet He took the form of a servant and did a servant's work-to God and for man's need. Even now in glory He serves His needy people by His Spirit, His word and His all availing work as advocate and intercessor, and His crowning act of service will be to gird Himself and serve His own faithful ones- faithful only by His grace-in token of His approval. Well has He gained this title, and for us no higher honor exists than to follow, in our measure, His own lowly path.

'' And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom." So the aged Simeon took the Babe in his arms and, as we might say, vanishes out of sight in his own song of praise, leaving us to gaze upon the cause of his joy. How the aged widow found joy and warmth as that fresh young life nestled near her heart. Ah, there is the nation's hope, and till He is taken to the people's heart they abide in widowed loneliness.

Returning to ourselves, here we see the one great remedy for all our wretchedness. Has the heart grown cold ? Has our joy like Naomi's waxed faint? It is our privilege in reality, as it was hers in type, to clasp to our bosom Him who once a Babe, still in glory yields Himself to His people's embraces. We never grow warm save as He has His place in the heart.

Grant, Lord, that we may know more of this- Thyself held fast to our hearts by a living faith, as we realize too a mightier love that holds us fast, for-evermore to Thee.

Concluded.

" Much food is in the tillage of the poor:but there is that is destroyed (ruined) for want of judgment" (Prov. 13:23).

The truth of this statement is confirmed in the natural world every day, and in the spiritual also, among the redeemed of the Lord. How often in the humble cottage with but a few acres of ground around the dwelling, yet the home warm and cozy, the well filled table, all bear witness to the fact, while it is the humble dwelling of but a poor man, yet he has been diligent in using all he has, and there is "much food in the tillage of the poor." The spade and the hoe are well used :he digs and sows, he weeds and cares for his little crop; and his precious time is utilized and the result is the comforts of home are there. Wise, and happy in the end, is such a poor man. "The diligent soul (if even poor) is made fat."

But on the other hand, how many a man is ruined (destroyed) financially and morally "for want of judgment. " With every advantage and much ground to use, yet through "lack of judgment," in improving time, and talent, and diligence in using all within reach, in the end there comes a crash. The fields may be large and the house great and wide, yet there is a lack, and all bears witness to the truth of what we have just read.

But we will turn from the scenes of nature that afford us seasonable lessons indeed, and take a look at this passage in the light of our lives spiritually. " Blessed are the poor in spirit :for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven " (Matt. v, 3). This is one of the characteristic marks of the Christian life, till the bright day of manifested glory.

As we thus rightly view the Christian life, as associated with Christ in His rejection, while He is in heaven, we ought to see these marks distinct and plain. " Blessed are the poor in spirit." The whole life now takes shape from the place Christ occupies. He is rejected and so are we (if true) rejected. He is outside this scene altogether, and we are also separated and to walk as strangers.

He is in heaven, and our life and walk, aims and objects are to be all heavenly, formed and shaped by His present place above, and in view of His return so soon, when we will have the blessedness of association with Him forever.

The world has another sphere of existence altogether, that is the life of the unconverted as away from God; and, to a man of the world, people with such aims and objects and characteristics are a poor people indeed. And, in truth, compared with what they aspire after, we are poor. See what the priests and elders of Israel said concerning the apostles, "Ignorant and unlearned men." They had not much of what gives men a place in life, nor what makes men heroes in the world, yet they were all this in the eyes of the Lord. But they were linked by the Holy Spirit to Christ in heaven, while associated also with the assembly, or Church of the living God on earth.

Now from this house of God, the home of the poor in spirit till He come, let us look for a little and see if we can discern the well filled table-"much food in the tillage of the poor."

If the two things are kept distinct and clear, it will be seen that one is dependent Upon the other, "the field" and "the house." What a poor farm if it has no house to turn into as night comes on, and hunger is felt ! What a poor house and table if there is no field around to replenish and sustain it ! This is what the same preacher meant when he wrote, "Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field :and afterwards build thy house" (Prov. 24:27).

The poor man's place, then, we, as Christians, can associate ourselves with (Zeph. 3:12), and these the Lord has left here while He is away. But let us first look at the field without, and see how things go there. For the application of what is upon the writer's mind, as to the ground which surrounds the dwelling-place, we will partition, or draw a fence-line, and call the field that lies to one side of the house the field of study and meditation, and this comes first; and just on the other side lies the field for service. In both these places we require diligence of soul, and the assembly, the house, depends upon both to be replenished and sustained.

To grasp rightly the truth of what the assembly of God now on earth is dispensationally and locally is a great help in Christian life, serving as an anchor in many ways, and furnishes each believer with a true home. We know there have been abuses of this important truth from the assumption of Rome for so long, down to those among ourselves, with whom we have gone into the house God and taken sweet counsel together, yet the extremes of some, or arrogant assumption of others ought not to hinder us using and enjoying what is dear to the heart of God and Christ.

To these two fields we will briefly turn, and look at what they furnish our home and table with. The first field lies open before us,- it is the precious word of God, our Bible. We see written over the gateway as we enter, "In the beginning God created" etc., and we exclaim as we enter such a sacred enclosure, What need for diligent carefulness and prayer! There lies before us, the whole book, not for preachers and teachers merely, but for the weakest and feeblest of Christ's flock. From the start then, we feel what neglect there is here by the mass of Christians; what darkness prevails for the lack of the light which the Word supplies; how much worldliness and failure we perceive – as weeds growing up – that mar and in the end ruin the believer's testimony for want of knowing ana following the holy precepts therein given ! As we enter this gateway, as before said, we are introduced to the gracious Giver of all good, the Author of the book. "God created" "made" "gave" and "said." (See also John 3:16.) As we enter this sacred enclosure, we feel truly it is not a newspaper, nor book of fiction that is before us, but the precious words of the Eternal. Who is sufficient for these things? human nature here is often heard to say. Yet at the same time we feel the warm clasp of a Father's hand, guiding His children through those fields of profit and blessing.

Oh what a privilege, beloved reader, to be in possession of such a book, such a revelation. May we know better this year than last to use our pick and shovel, our spade and hoe, and gather from its precious fulness as the man who diligently works every foot of ground around his dwelling, or as the miner that turns up the mountains and discovers the wealth beneath. (See Job 28:, J. N. D. translation.) "That is a path which no fowl knoweth and which the vulture's eye hath not seen." No! none but the busy miner knows these places and discovers this wealth. Let us beloved, be more diligent to use our time and remember every foot, every inch of that holy ground is ours (2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Josh. 1:3).

The historical lessons are there full of interest and profit from the examples set before us for instruction.
The typical lessons are so closely woven into the texture of these histories of old, that,-while the mind needs always to be curbed in this study, yet, having the guidance of the Holy Spirit, on the other hand to neglect this portion is to neglect one of the most fruitful and profitable parts of Holy Writ.

Then there are the prophetic lessons also, as the apostle terms it "a light that shineth in a dark place till the day dawn and the morning star arise " (2 Pet. 1:). All these things furnish the child of God and equip him for testimony and service.

Then the practical lessons are not to be forgotten, as we study the historical, typical, and prophetic in communion with God; and under the guiding of the Holy Spirit with the glory of Christ before us, we will welcome all that is practical and be sanctified by the Word; we will gather from those fields, fruit, and food to supply the table. Oh for more hearty diligence in this line of things! our hearts would be full of matter; our assemblies week after week would be supplied and the table laden with this food. Never would souls then turn away disappointed and unfed. The little assemblies all over the land would be as the humble home, with a well filled table, if we were in the field of reading, study, and meditation upon the precious word of God. "Much food is in the tillage of the poor." Beloved, my heart is stirred as I think of the neglect here, and would fain abide here, and exhort and expand further, but now must close this part. As we pass on from this field of God's word to the side opposite, we are encouraged, comforted, and strengthened, for there falls upon us as dew from heaven as we enjoy its pages and themes, bringing a divine benediction, – "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Christ and His glory is the theme of the whole Book. It is the written word of God; He the living word of God. His work is seen in creation and His glorious power manifested therein, but in the four Gospels we are brought face to face with Him in all the perfections of His humanity. Then, as we stand beside the cross, we view Him as the sin-bearer and at the sight we are lost in wonder, love and praise.

But, passing on, we soon discover an empty tomb, as well as a vacant cross; and now as the Man Christ Jesus rises, and the cloud receives Him, we behold the throne filled with His presence, and the heavens with His glory; and from that scene He sends down the Comforter to abide with and instruct His people, and conduct them through life's journey "till He come." The Book, the precious word of God, is our chart along the way. May we use it and feed upon it, as the prophets of old, until we see Him face to face.

We verily believe the carelessness and indifference in other parts of the Christian life are due to the neglect of the word of God, in prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit. When the Word is diligently fed upon and enjoyed, it will awaken desires to impart to others. Such is the gracious spirit of Christianity, which takes its shape and pattern from God's great love in the gift of Christ " (John 3:16).

Let us now look over into that great field of need close by the assembly,-the world of living beings, hurrying on to eternity:and, beloved, as we look upon each one, weigh well the fact that each human being that we see and know has a soul which will spend eternity either among the redeemed in a scene of bliss, or among the damned forever. Let us think again seriously, and carry the fact to our quiet room, and, as we bend the knee in silent prayer, ask, " Lord, what will Thou have me to do," in respect to this great need around us ?

Some of our gatherings are dwindling down in numbers, and is there not a need for examination with care, and a search for the cause ? and may not this worm-neglect of earnest gospel zeal-be what is sapping the life, and hence leaving us without fruit in build up the gatherings. Eccl. 10:18, is a picture of many an assembly, once fair and beautiful, but now decay has set in. The assembly is dependent upon the field of service. Just as it is dependent upon the field of study for the building up and profit of all within as to ministry, so it is dependent upon the gospel for keeping from decay. As time passes on, some are taken home, and the [young soon become old, and who are to take their place ? Here is the need of constant gospel energy and zeal, and where this is lacking there is a loss for us now in the gatherings, and then loss in eternity.

May we find here '' much food in the tillage of the poor." True, we will need to work, and in this work there will be need, of self-denial; but again, as we note the joy of souls born into the family of God, delivered from the coming wrath and saved for the coming glory, even here the soul is well repaid for any outlay, any self-denial.

God's mind is surely that the assembly is the proper place, and only proper place, for such people as those born again. (See Song 1:8.) Any ministry that fails of this end, falls short, we are sure, of being like the apostle Paul's. The field here is large, and the need great and varied. Oh what need of a faithful united testimony among the people of God according to the Word, of earnest and hearty interest in the preaching of the gospel to the unsaved, of prayerful interest and sympathy with those wholly given up to such a service, and a generous use of the printed matter which is so accessible in our day.

The zeal of Adventists, Millennial-dawnists, Christian Scientists, and even Mormons, scattering their pernicious and soul destroying doctrines ought to stir us up to scatter the truth of God's word. If we are thus earnestly and heartily engaged in this, doing what we can according to our measure, we are sure God will honor His Word. He cannot deny Himself, and there will be "much food in the tillage of the poor,"-fruit in the salvation of souls and in the advancement of Christians. Thus the gatherings will be kept from decay, by the infusion of new blood, new material.

But on the other hand we are as assured of the truth of the other portion of the verse:'' there is that is destroyed (ruined) for lack of judgment. When there is not a prayerful godly united assembly, how
can we look for anything but a blighted testimony. When the hours are spent in criticism and gossip instead of prayer and conference as to the interests of Christ, how can we look for fruit in the gospel? When there is indifference as to preaching the gospel, distributing the gospel and truth furnished by the press to-day, how can we look for fruit ?

And again, when there is a neglect to care with pastoral hearts for the weak and young among us, and when over severity is manifested instead of love and gentleness caring for the weak and even erring, how can progress and development be expected in the assemblies? Ezek. 34:1-6 is a word we all need to weigh well, and ask ourselves how far we have had a hand in these things. In many places we are assured the testimony among the people of God has been destroyed for this lack of judgment. We are now near the end of the journey. While grace may linger a little longer, and we be left here, may we beloved reader, have grace to keep from the evils around us, and profit, and reap, and enjoy food, and feed others by the diligent toil in those two fields; the first, the study of the word of truth; the other, earnestly winning souls for God our Father and Christ our Lord, and for an eternity of bliss. A. E. B.

Of course, the Christian grows. Jesus Himself grew as a human being, in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. It is a great law of the natural and spiritual kingdoms. First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. In first John, you find repeated mention of little children, young men and fathers, 1:e., different grades and stages of Christian life. "Desire the sincere milk (or spiritual milk, Rev. Ver.) of the Word that ye may grow thereby (i Pet. 2:-2; i Cor. 3:1-6; Heb. 5:12, 13). A man may have been a Christian for years and yet be only a little, puny babe in Christ.

It is a most blessed privilege that we may depend on our gracious God and Saviour to direct our paths and supply our needs.

The old man or our old man which is spoken of as crucified with Christ I understand to be the man. I, myself, as I was born, a descendant of fallen Adam, an individual reproduction, a living specimen of the old stock, with a selfish perverted will, a darkened mind, unholy affections, corrupt tastes-dead in trespasses and sins; as such a man I had a perverted, diseased, degenerate nature.

I, that old man, died, was crucified (Rom. 6:6) with Christ; I live no more, Christ liveth in me, a new self substituted in place of the old I. Now although the old I is dead and gone before God and for faith, yet the old nature is left behind, is here with its evil tendencies and desires. It wants to do this and does not want to do that. It is ready to flare up and get hot, or get cold and indifferent, to stuff itself with anything that tastes good, and to gratify or indulge any desire or appetite that is excited for the time being. But the new man is a human being of a Christly, Divine order. Christ in you, with a nature that is marked by love, joy, peace; that is gentle, patient, etc. One nature is fleshly, the other is spiritual. One wants to do just as it pleases, the other just as the Lord pleases.

These are contrary the one to the other, and if left to fight it out between themselves the old nature will get the upper hand.

But God by His Spirit, through the Word, teaches us that "our old man has been crucified with Christ." That Christ "died unto sin once," and rose again and "liveth unto God," and that we, who are His, are to reckon ourselves to be dead to sin by His death and alive to God with His life, by reason of the fact that we are in Him now by new birth as we were once in Adam by the first birth. And we are not to let the sin (to which we died in Christ our substitute) have dominion over us, but yield ourselves unto God as alive from the dead, and let Him have control of us and rule us by His own almighty loving Spirit.

Not only that but being dead to sin, and dead to law (by the body of Christ), we are married to another, even to Him that was raised from the dead, joined to the Lord (by the one Spirit by whom we are baptized into one body) and are now one spirit (Rom. 7:1-6; i Cor. 12:12, 13). Depending on our adorable Lord and Head, occupied with Him, we bring forth fruit unto God. And thus though sin the old slave master is present, yet his authority and power over us are gone. We know the truth (the truth of Christ as our precious Redeemer, Deliverer, Emancipator. We know Him as the truth, and the way, and the life) and the truth has made as free. Hallelujah.

IN VIEW OF QUESTIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN LATELY RAISED.

7. RECONCILIATION, AND THE REMOVAL OF THE OLD MAN.

The presentation of what is claimed to be the truth as to reconciliation is a very good example of the style of argument which largely prevails among teachers of the school we are reviewing; with whom boldness of assertion seems to make up for lack of demonstrative force. It is amazing in these reports of conferences from which our knowledge of their utterances have mostly to be gained, how little serious attention is given to the Scriptures which are professedly before them, and how little serious attempt there is to hold them to Scripture. Texts are cited, of course; and sometimes a feeble demurrer is made, sure to be silenced immediately, though it were only by an emphatic repetition of the statement questioned. It is easily seen, as the present leader, though with a certain wise caution, says himself, that they are not "simply!" – who are "simply?" – expositors of Scripture, but only of what Scripture has taught them ; but we are right in expecting that what Scripture has taught them shall be able to stand an appeal to both text and context ; and this one finds here indeed little asked or proffered. There are remarks, to be sure, upon texts many, the effort to connect which with the context, and so with serious exposition is sometimes remarkable enough.

For instance, in a question raised with regard to the assertion that " fellowship with the Father and the Son," as spoken of in John's first epistle, was limited to the apostles, reference is made to the sixth verse of the first chapter, " If we say that we have fellowship with Him." The answer is ready:"That is saying, if we say we 'have it. It does not say we have it." And here is the exposition:"The pretension is, that you have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness. The truth is that we walk in the light, and have fellowship with one another " (!!) But the pretension then is, in fact, to be apostles; and the walking in darkness (which cannot be part of the pretension, but is the mournful reality which exposes the pretension) is a strange and round-about proof in denial of so exceptional a claim. The "we," as spoken by an apostle, would in that case be as strange as all the rest. For manifestly he would not exclude himself or any one else from the searching test of such a principle; and in this is putting himself in the common rank of Christians, and not separating him-self from them as one of a peculiar class. The "we," all through his various use of it, is that of Christian profession, and the light or darkness characterizes the true or the false profession-nothing else. Notice also whence the light shines:it is that of the sanctuary, where God Himself is revealed. He is in the light; and that light is just what creates Christian fellowship:" we walk in the light, as He is in the light;" and that establishes the true fellowship for us all, into which every true Christian enters. The apostle is bringing to bear upon this the great central truth of Christianity-the open, holiest, and thus has already shown the fellowship to be divine, as to which he is now concerned to maintain the fact that no Christian can be found outside of it. "Our fellowship "is thus not a different one from this, but that into which (by the ministry of the apostles indeed) all believers are introduced; and in the "we" so constantly repeated here, we have the apostle put- ting himself thus with all the rest, instead of claiming for himself or others a peculiar and exceptional fellowship.

Fellowship is rightly said to be participation in common; but community of thought is strongly objected to:"they that eat of the sacrifices have fellowship with the altar; it is evidently not community of thought there." But if we look at this more closely, we shall surely realize that it is after all the principles which are identified with it that the altar embodies. The altar itself literally is only an inanimate structure, with regard to which the term can only be used as it is idealized. But as to all mental objects, ideas, fellowship in these may be rightly spoken of. One might quote, I suppose, every dictionary that exists, only that, as we shall see directly, the dictionary goes for nothing with those whose views we are examining. Let us take Scripture then, and the very Scripture which they cite against it, and it may be maintained without possibility of successful denial that the altar in this case, apart from the principles which it represents, would mean nothing -be utterly senseless in the connection in which it stands. And just so with the idol of which the apostle speaks in the same relation:the idol in itself is "nothing in the world." Take it in connection with all for which it stands, and for idol you may write "devil."

But there is another interest in maintaining things like these:" Is it not helpful to see that on account of the difficulties and opposition around, there must be a fellowship? " "The word (fellowship) implies to me a special bond in a scene of contrariety; that is, I believe, the force of it in Scripture. And there will be nothing in heaven to call for fellowship." Thus we see how to preserve consistency, and rule fellowship out of heaven, it must be denied that any element of it exists that would entitle it to be there. Thus it is another of those terms, whose number seems continually increasing, which in the hands of these teachers lose their significance for eternity, and are lowered from heaven to earth; and thus error to be maintained requires continually fresh concessions to be made to it. Alas for him who has committed himself in any wise to it, and has not lowliness to judge his departure and draw back his foot from the ever more devious and downward way!

But to come to what is our theme at present-reconciliation ; we shall, as usual, put together the statements made regarding it, and without comment, that they may speak thus for themselves, and make their own impression. Afterwards I shall examine them. It is a pity that the doctrine is only to be found in these conversational remarks which, as already said, can hardly, save by courtesy, be called "readings." Yet the sense is after all sufficiently clear, and the extracts are, save where noted, from one speaker who is entitled to be considered the foremost leader in a movement which is rapidly changing the aspect of many of the central doctrines of Scripture for those who are being carried by it.

Reconciliation, then, we are told, "is one of the terms the force of which you must find from its use in Scripture. The dictionary would not give you the scriptural use of it. In the ordinary use of the
word the sense is that two persons estranged have been brought together. That is not the scripture-idea. It is not minds that are reconciled. There was no enmity on the part of God towards the world; and certainly the mission of Christ was not to make people more pleasant. Yet in Christ God was reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. If you say that 'it came out in the Lord's ministry of grace here on earth,' then you will be bound to admit this, that His ministry was ineffective," "The truth of reconciliation is plainly stated in 2 Cor. 5::God was in Christ; He ignored every other man in a sense, for the moment; there was one Man before Him, and that was Christ." "The ministry of reconciliation began with Christ Himself, and meant that in the presence of Christ here everything was under the eye of God on a wholly new footing in connection with Him. That was the effect of the presence of Christ. The new footing was grace and favor. God was in a new light towards man. He saw what was perfectly suitable to Himself in Christ.

"The ministry of reconciliation was effected in Christ in His life. God approached the world outside of it. He was favorable to the world in Christ, not hostile; but when you come to the word of reconciliation it is the testimony that reconciliation has been effected in death. It is not now simply that God has approached the world in another Man, in Christ being here, but the man hostile to God has been removed. So you have both things now, God's approach to man, and the man antagonistic to God removed in death. That is what I understand by the word of reconciliation, and we have to accept it."

"The difficulty," says another, "with many of us as to reconciliation is, that we have looked at it as reconciling us to God, instead of seeing it as the abolition of us, that all might be in a new Man."

"That is the idea."

And now in opposition to the dictionary meaning:-

"We have stopped at this, Alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled."

"How could that man be reconciled? you could not reconcile a man who is an enemy in mind by wicked works. He can only be so as being in another individuality."

Again:-

" You cannot reconcile what is alienated; it is impossible to reconcile that which is at enmity. If enmity is there, it is there; it is enmity of will; that is not to be reconciled. 'They that are in the flesh cannot please God.'"

" It is you that were alienated."

" But the point is that you are reconciled by being removed, and where the distance was complacency is, because Christ has come in. Hence it is that reconciliation involves new creation."

'' That which you are morally has to go; personally you are reconciled. Is that the thought?"

" I don't object to that, but you may depend upon it, if you press that on people you will give them the idea that reconciliation is some kind of change of sentiment in them. I have no doubt that this is in the mind of the vast proportion of Christians." . . .

" That is, in new creation the saints are presented 'holy, unblamable, and unreprovable.'"

" It must be that; you could not conceive of any process which would change the man who was an enemy in mind by wicked works into holy, unblamable, and unreprovable; no such process is possible, even to God."

Elsewhere we find:-

"The reconciliation of things is remarkably simple. Everything is taken up in Christ. The reconciliation of persons refers to individuals, and has to be individually accepted. 'Through whom we have now received the reconciliation.' In Corinthians it is, ' We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.' Reconciliation has to be accepted when it is a question of persons, .therefore there was the ministry of reconciliation."

" Is there any thought of the enmity being brought to an end in reconciliation?"

"The enmity is only brought in to show that the one marked by it must go. You cannot improve with reference to enmity. You cannot reconcile what is at enmity. It is the purest folly to think of reconciling what is hostile."

" It says, 'When we were enemies we were reconciled."

"Yes; but it was by learning that what was at enmity had been removed by the death of Christ. That is the way of it. I do not think that the apostle refers to a change of feeling on the part of people, but to acceptance of the truth that what was at enmity has been removed. They had received the word of reconciliation-' When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.' They had accepted that as their death. This is the truth on God's side-on the experimental side it is somewhat different."

Once more, even though it may be ad nauseam :-" Do you think a man, an enemy to God by wicked works, could ever be changed into unblamable and unreprovable in His sight? It could not be. That person could be, but not that man." …

"How would you explain our identity remaining?" "That is the point; the complacency is where the distance was; that is in you. It is not that God sweeps all away and brings in an absolutely new race. He does so morally, but not actually. The old man has gone, and where he was Christ is; this has come to pass in the Church." What then is reconciliation?-

" I think the idea of the text is a bringing into conscious complacency with the divine mind and pleasure." "What I understand by it is, that where distance was there is complacency. . . . The distance has been removed in the removal of the man. I don't see in what other way God could remove distance. The distance came in by man, and the removal of the distance means the removal of the man. But the point is that where the distance was now there is complacency."

"Would you preach the ministry of reconciliation to sinners?"

" It would not be much good to them." "Where is the ministry of reconciliation to be exercised?"

" I think very much amongst those who believe." " But do they need to be reconciled? " "I think so, if they are to be for the satisfaction of God."

"When the apostle says, 'Be ye reconciled to God,' had they touched it?"

" I do not think the Corinthians had touched it. … I think it is practical; the Corinthians had not left Adam for Christ. They were practically very much in Adam. They had believed in Christ; I don't doubt for a moment they were Christ's, and had received the gift of the Holy Ghost. But certainly, judging by the epistle, they had very little readiness to leave Adam for Christ."

"The truth for the Christian is this, that in the acceptance of reconciliation he has put off the individuality connected with sin, but at the same time he has put on the new man which after God is new created."

We have now before us – produced, some will think perhaps, at unnecessary length-what ought to enable us to arrive at a sober and sufficient judgment of what is presented for truth with regard to the doctrine. Truth there is in it also, along with much that is new, as generally in these teachings. The misfortune is that here, as in so many cases, the true is not new, and the new is not true. Not merely so, but some of the statements seem absolutely wild and reckless, easily as they were accepted by those who heard them when first made. Only the knowledge that they have been and are being so by so many could make it worth while to repeat or challenge them now. Their currency and the gravity of much with which they connect themselves, give them an importance which in themselves they are far from having.

At the outset we are warned against the dictionary meaning of the word; though it is not and cannot be denied that it is the correct translation of that which has been chosen by the Spirit of God as fittest to convey His meaning, and it would not seem to be one of those words for which, as is well known, when Christianity came in, it had to coin a meaning of its own. Scripture also, at first sight, would certainly appear to confirm the dictionary use. Any simple person would suppose so upon reading that "when we were enemies, we were reconciled," "you that were alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled," and "to reconcile both to Himself, having slain the enmity." The general consent, one may say, of Christians for many centuries has without suspicion accepted Scripture and the dictionary as speaking in the same way.

It is startling to find, in what might seem to be the same line of things,-that is, in arguing against some kind of change of sentiment, as from enmity to friendship (which the dictionary use favors, if not involves) the strong assertion that no process of changing a man who is an enemy to God by wicked works, is possible to God! To save the speaker's character for sanity, we have to assure ourselves that he is only using the word "change," so confusing in this connection, for " whitewashing," perhaps. God cannot whitewash a man, of course, and take him for what he is not. And we are encouraged to believe that is his meaning by what he says elsewhere, that "it is impossible to reconcile that which is at enmity; if enmity is there, it is there." Truly; we shall not dispute about this; but why so earnestly and with such extraordinary emphasis, insist upon this? was it ever in dispute? while another passage still, very similar to the one we have been trying to mend, seems to assert for it that "change" is really meant:" Do you think a man, an enemy to God by wicked works, could ever be changed into unblamable and unreprovable in His sight? It could not be. That person could be, but not that man."

So it is evident that we must walk very carefully, and define very closely, to suit these leaders of the poor perplexed sheep of Christ! How good to have a Bible that always remembers that God has chosen the poor! But we may say then that a "person," an enemy to God, may be changed in this manner; but a "man," an enemy to God, may not! Is that intelligible? Let us go on and see what is to come of this.
Some one asks, seemingly in the same perplexity with ourselves, " How would you explain our identity remaining? " Perhaps he wants to know whether he is after all still a "man,"or only a "person." But happily he is assured that his identity remains:-" That is the point; the complacency is where the distance was; that is, in you. It is not that God sweeps all away, and brings in an absolutely new race. He does so morally, but not actually. The old man has gone, and where he was Christ is."

'' The old man has gone! " Ah! does not a ray of light break in there? Is perhaps the old man the "man" about whom our guide was thinking, when he spoke of the impossibility of the man being changed? But then why distinguish so carefully between the man and the person? The old man is in fact the person that was, before grace had brought him under its dominion, the child of Adam in all the sad inheritance of his fallen father; and because we were all naturally alike in this pre-Christian state, Scripture speaks of "our "old man. But it is not the nature-the flesh-which still remains in us, and with which so many confound it; " our old man was crucified with Christ," and for every Christian is put off, and non-existent. Thus the question is never raised of "changing" the old man, nor could be raised by one properly acquainted with its force in Scripture. This new man does not dwell in us alongside of the old, but displaces it; yet it is the same man who was once "old" who now is "new." He has put off his former self, which the cross of Christ has ended before God in judgment, but from which it has thus liberated him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that henceforth he may no longer serve sin (Rom. 6:6).

The old man cannot then be distinguished as man or person distinct from the one individual alone existing throughout. The assertions made are false and preposterous; and, of course, you do not find a trace of them in Scripture. They are simply the inventions of a fertile but unbalanced mind. It is the man who was once alienated and an enemy to God by wicked works, who in every case of conversion becomes the holy, unblamable and unreprovable child of God. There is no impossibility with God of changing the one into the other; and there is no unchangeable " man " to pronounce or speculate about. And reconciliation, instead of being so far on in Christianity that persons who are indwelt of the Spirit (as the Corinthians) may yet be strangers to it, is at the threshold of Christian life. "When we were enemies, we were reconciled;" not as Christians, but as "alienated and enemies to God by wicked works, He hath reconciled us;" "God was in Christ, reconciling the world"-and not believers – "to Himself." No subtle distinctions can take away from us what God has thus written with a pencil of light in His immutable Book. "If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

How plain, therefore, that the reconciliation does involve a change in the man from this alienation and enmity, wherever it takes effect! How plain that the answer given to the invitation, "Be reconciled to God," involves the dropping of resistance and estrangement, upon the assurance of gracious provision made by which His banished may be restored to Him. The weakness of God is stronger than man, and the foolishness of God is wiser than man; and the amazing spectacle of the Son of God dying for His enemies has power still, through the might of the Spirit to subdue enemies to the love that seeks them.

Consequently the testimony of reconciliation is not that of the removal of the old man; nor can this be found in connection with it:it is merely forced in this way where it does not belong. One wonders at the feebleness that can either put forth or accept such triviality as the following. . In answer to the objection that Scripture "says, When we were enemies we were reconciled ; " it is replied-

"Yes:but it was by learning that what was at enmity was removed by the death of Christ. That is the way of it. I do not think that the apostle refers to a change of feeling on the part of people, but to acceptance of the truth that what was at enmity had been removed. They had received the word of reconciliation-' When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.' They had accepted that as their death."

Now the whole of this is necessarily and at once overthrown by the very sentence which it is supposed to explain. We have the testimony of the very man who says this, that [such a] ministry of reconciliation preached to sinners "would not be much good to them;" and the very words he is explaining assert that it is enemies who are reconciled! Where are we told that it was "by learning that what was at enmity had been removed"? One can only answer, "Nowhere." Instead, we have confessedly the speaker's thoughts:"I do not think!" And where does it say or suggest that "they had accepted that death as their death," in any such sense as the removal of the old man? Not a hint is given of this in that part of Romans from which the text is quoted. It comes afterwards in the sixth chapter, and in quite another connection from what is given to it here. Would it not be well if there were indeed an expositor to help us, instead of men whose knowledge is of fragmentary texts, threaded together with their own thoughts, and in supreme disregard of context?

Before we close we must look at what is said concerning the ministry of reconciliation on our Lord's part, as it is stated in the second of Corinthians:"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Here, as it was in the ministry of Christ on earth that this was accomplished, there could, of course, be no word of the removal of the old man; but here is the comment:-

"God was in Christ:He ignored every other man in a sense, for the moment; there was one Man before Him, and that was Christ. The ministry of reconciliation began with Christ Himself, and meant that in the presence of Christ here everything was under the eye of God on a wholly new footing in connection with Him. That was the effect of the presence of Christ. The new footing was grace and favor. God was in a new light towards man. He saw what was perfectly suitable to Himself in Christ."

Now that it is the truth that in every intervention of God for man Christ was before Him, the justification of the love manifested, is fundamental truth, surely; and that when Christ was born into the world, His good pleasure in men had not only decisive expression, but its justification in the Son of man. But that does not make the interpretation of the apostle's words which has been given us the more exact. True as what is said in itself may be, it is yet assuredly not the truth which is stated in them. God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself is not at all the same as God having Christ before Him; and one may say, manifestly not. God in Christ as seen in His gracious ministry to men, is that identification of God with Him who represented Him on earth which showed Him in a grace which did not deal with men according to their trespasses. It does not speak of Christ as the ground of such favorable regard, but as the One who expressed this regard on God's part. The effect or otherwise of the Lord's revelation of God in this way is not in question; and His sorrowful complaint through the prophet, of laboring in vain and spending His strength for nought, should have hindered this being pleaded as an objection. Yet was His work with His God, as He declares. It could not be in vain, whatever the effect among men, to reveal God thus; and where must one be to say it? God's attitude is what is declared:" He was favorable to the world, not hostile," is the truth of it. But the whole object of the proposed interpretation of this passage is evidently to make reconciliation in it as far as possible in accord with what I can only call the theory that reconciliation means the removal of the old man. The reconciliation here, therefore, cannot be permitted to involve the invitation to a change of attitude on man's part, however much this is favored by the direct appeal of those to whom the word of reconciliation is now committed, " Be ye reconciled to God." This too is enfeebled as much as possible by being turned into "accepting the reconciliation." You must guard this from any suggestion of minds being reconciled, which we have been told is not in it! You are only to think of enmity being removed as this may be contained in the old man being removed.

"Minds are not reconciled"; and yet to be reconciled is, according to another definition, to be "brought into conscious complacency with the divine mind and pleasure!" How is this to be done without the mind? But indeed there is no putting together the various and conflicting statements. Reconciliation is, of course, on God's part towards man-He reconciles; man is reconciled-not reconciles:reconciliation is that "where distance was, there is complacency;" and this means divine complacency. God has removed the distance by removing the man; that is the reconciling to Himself, and no work in us comes into this.

Well, then, is the whole world reconciled? Why no! we must accept the reconciliation. After all, then, if divine complacency is to be where the distance was, and that is in us, reconciliation there is not until we are reconciled:the "be ye reconciled" must take effect. Reconciliation awaits, then, the response on our part before it is accomplished; that is, before it is reconciliation. This is the opposite of what has been so strenuously contended for, and is proved by the very statements which are meant to be the denial of it! Scripture does not negative the dictionary after all.

But more than this; if this is true, and it is as asserted, Christians who have to be reconciled-people, it may be, as in the case of the Corinthians, who have already received the Spirit of adoption, and cry, "Abba, Father,"- then they must be doing so, and rightly doing so, while yet in them the distance is not removed, and divine complacency has yet no existence! There is no divine complacency, but distance unremoved, for those whose souls refuse the distance and draw near to God in the place of children! This is the contradiction into which men fall who "do not read Scripture in the letter," in which God has been pleased to give it, but in that which their own minds have distilled out of it, and which they call, the spirit. How plain it is, that if reconciliation means divine complacency now where distance was before, then, unless there are believers who are not in the value of Christ's work before God, reconciliation must be coincident with the very beginning of true faith in the soul, and not in the place in which these teachings put it; and then, as a further consequence, that the word of reconciliation is not the announcement of the removal of the old man, but the simple story, than which nothing deeper or more wonderful exists, that "while we were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly," and that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son " for the salvation of the lost! By and by those who have received the message of reconciliation will still need to know about the crucifixion of the old man; but God's reconciling kiss waits not for this, but meets us in our very rage and wretchedness. When we are enemies, we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. F. W. G.
(To be continued.)

With the year 1900 the publication of the "Believer’s Almanac," so long edited by Mr. Walter Scott, has been discontinued. The effort has been made to take the place of this valuable little book, by the publication of the Treasury of Truth Almanac, compiled by S. Ridout, on largely similar lines.

It will be sent as a supplement to all subscribers of the "Treasury of Truth" for 1901, and can be had separately, for prices see list in the center of this number.

With many the associations of Christmas are suggestive of childhood's joys and of tender reminiscence of scenes of delight in the home circle. In this spirit it is perhaps still observed socially in the family, for the children's sake, by some who are aware that the day itself, in its religious claim and character, has no foundation in Scripture. " The question that presents itself therefore is:Can the day be observed innocently in this social way, apart from its false religious character ?

It is said that the day celebrated as Christmas, was once the day of a wicked heathen feast called Saturnalia; and the season suggests the winter solstice as the occasion of the feast-the period of daylight being about to increase. The day being handed down as a Christian festival, and its name, "Christ – Mass," tells the rest. A corrupt church, a corrupt ritualistic sentiment, introducing a novelty among many other novelties, to please-not God, but men."?:This consideration, of course, is a very serious one, and calls to mind a fertile source of shame and sorrow to the Church:self-will at work-human choice in place of obedience; as among the Galatians, giving occasion for the rebuke, "Ye observe days and months and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain."

Let us consider the serious nature of this departure from simplicity. It is that setting aside God's word which, as an evil principle at work, has wrought confusion and corruption far and wide in the Church's history, as of old it wrought the ruin of Israel.

This, then, is the meaning of the day-the establishment of a religious custom, of a sacred day without any command from God. If we do this, where shall we stop ? There is no stopping place; and the evil result we have referred to in the previous paragraph.

What, then, is the obligation of the faithful Christian ? Should he not consider the observance of the day as a dishonor to the Lord, being disobedience, and therefore opening the door to further departures and dangers, as we have seen ? "And as to observing it socially with the children in the home circle, ignoring its origin and ecclesiastical claims, can this be done if we have at heart the things that are Christ's ? Can we do it without giving up our character as warriors-leaving to others more faithful than ourselves to fight the Lord's battles and defend the truth ? Would it not be a compromise as to the truth, a provision for self indulgence, and a dangerous allowance of the enemy within our borders ?The very notice that may be taken of a refusal to observe the day becomes a testimony to the truth, both to people without and to the children at home. And the absence of such testimony tends to perpetuate indifference to an evil which the day represents.

The day is enjoyed with zest by the world in common with the Church, and this is a sufficient warning to us. It is one of the wiles of the devil, against which we need to take to ourselves the "whole armor of God." It is a victory of Satan if he can get our hearts attached to a thing that is unscriptural and worldly in its origin and character. Such an attachment must enfeeble us in the conflict for the enjoyment of our Canaan possessions, and mar the clearness of testimony in the family that should direct the children in the way of reverence for God's word and uncompromising obedience.

" The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it" (Prov. 10:22). E. S. L.

VII. THE GREAT FOES.

The child of God has three great enemies in his life on earth-seductive, selfish, unrelenting in their warfare. They are:

I. The World.-In the New Testament, "the world" is used for "the habitable earth," "the people dwelling on it," and the customs, habits, ways, usages etc. of the people (Rom. 12:2); and it is in this last sense we use it. "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (i John 2:16). The child of God having been delivered from this present evil world (or age) Gal. 1:4. is to remember its "friendship is enmity with God" (James 4:4), and so is not to love it (i John 2:15), nor to be conformed to it in any manner (Rom. 12:2). Because "the whole world lieth in wickedness" (or the wicked one), (i John 5:19; 2 Cor. 4:4; i Pet. 4:3). The customs, society, usages, etc. of the world, would allure the child of God from whole heartedness to Christ, by their seductive attractions, amusements etc. ; just as the "mixed multitude" coming; out from Egypt with the Israelites "fell a lusting," and caused them to sigh for "the cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic" of Egypt (Num. 11:). Following those who were sheltered from judgment by the blood of the Lamb (Ex. 12:), and delivered by passing the Red Sea (Ex. 14:), their heart goes back to the fruit of that from which they had escaped. Do we try to excuse or justify our action, by saying many "good people" do likewise? This, alas, may be only too true, but "thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil" (Ex. 23:2). It is not a question of approval or disapproval of "good people " but whether it is of God or not. 1 John 2:15 and i Cor. 10:31 should be decisive. It may be a matter of dress, some "harmless amusement" in these days of summer relaxation, the desire for the worldly position, or wealth, but, alas, if yielded to it may sever the saint's communion, grieve the Spirit, and cause much prayer, and brokenness of spirit ere it be restored.

" In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, in shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array" (i Tim. 2:9).

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things" (i Tim. 6:9-11). Beware of "the little foxes which spoil the vines" (Song 2:15). It is against a disposition to this "the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy," 1:e., earnestly desireth the whole heart for Christ.

2. The Flesh.-This is self, the most subtle enemy of the three; we may withdraw from the world's alluring power, and yet so vain is the natural heart, that it may gender in a Christian, a spirit of self-complacency, near akin to self-righteousness, or a "holier than thou" spirit, or self-gratification, vain display, either in dress or speech, or manner, so different from Him who has left us an example (i Pet. 2:21), "meek and lowly" (Matt. 11:29), and "made Himself of no reputation" (Phil. 2:7). The injunction is "Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul" (i Pet. 2:ii). Is it some habit, considered by many as not inconsistent? "That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him, which died for them and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:15), and so we are not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh, for it is just as bad in the believer as in the unbeliever and cannot please God (Rom. 8:7). Thus we are to have no confidence in it (Phil. 3:3) and make no provision for it (Rom. 13:14).

3. The Devil.-He is the one who gives activity and power to the two former enemies, bringing them into living action against the child of God, with an energy which only the Son of God can overcome. " For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil " (i Jno. 3:8). Sometimes he appears in a most attractive garb, as "an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14) often hindering the movements of God's people (i Thess. 2:18), calling in question the truth of God's word and His love (Gen. 3:4; Matt. 4:3-11; Luke 4:3-13; Eph. 6:ii, 12), and in open opposition i Pet. 5:8. His great aim ever is to cast a slur or dishonor upon the name of our blessed Lord, or to mar His work, if such were possible. Imitation is his most powerful weapon in these days especially presenting "the form of godliness." Thus he works through the world by suggesting conformity to it, and through the flesh by pandering to its taste and gratifying self.

The relief, deliverance, and victory. There is but one method for this, and this is complete subjection to the word of God. God places every believer on His blessed Son before Him, as dead.

"For ye are dead" (Col. 3:3).

"Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him " (Rom. 6:6).

"The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world " (Gal. 6:14).

Such is the position in which the weakest, youngest believer is placed before God, just as the Israelites were sheltered from judgment by the blood of the Lamb, and brought out of Egypt (a place of bondage, type of the world) given victory over the Egyptians, and Pharaoh (types of sins and sin) by the passage of the Red Sea, as God, in the death of Christ grants each believer shelter from a worse wrath, deliverance from a worse bondage; victory over spiritual foes, and places His people in a new position, on the resurrection side of the grave, and with a new life to live for Him. Victory is then not a matter of personal attainment in holiness of character, accomplished by some struggle, or yielding process, but is a matter of believing God's word, and reckoning oneself in the place practically in which God places such positionally (Rom. 6:4).

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead " (Rom. 6:11-13).

"And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him " (2 Cor. 5:15).

But it must ever be remembered that this is only accomplished by the energy of the Holy Spirit applying the word of God to the heart, for practical effect in life, and the believer recognizing his responsibility by complete obedience to the Word.
"Therefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. 8:12, 13).

"This I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:and these are contrary the one to the other:so that ye can not do the things that ye would. If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit " (Gal. 5:16, 17, 25).

"And this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith" (i John 5:4).

'' And take . . . the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17).

Thus and thus alone can the child of God be fortified against these three foes or overcome them, and should he succumb to any of their attacks God's grace still provides a relief in the advocacy of Christ, and deep contrite confession of the sin.

"If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (i John 2:i; 1:9).

As to the devil, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (Jas. 4:7). He is a conquered foe, whom Christ has "destroyed" (Heb. 2:14). We need not fear one already overcome, but can overcome him practically in our daily life " steadfast in the faith." B. W. J.

QUES. 7.-Please explain 2 Cor. 5:10, "That every one may receive the things done in the body." Has this any reference to our life before we were born again ?

ANS.-"The things done in the body" seems clearly to show that the entire life is contemplated, and not merely that part after conversion. In the government of God all must be answered for from the time when responsibility begins. Grace has blotted out all sins, past, present, and future, through the precious blood of Christ, but as this does not affect the appraisal of the life after conversion, neither would it that before. All will be manifested, that God may be glorified, and we receive the blessed lessons to be learned.

QUES. 8. What is the Lord's table ? Is it where any truly and with brokenness remember the Lord, or does it exist only where saints are gathered to the Lord's name according to His word ?

ANS.-The Lord's table is the opposite of the "table of devils " (see 1 Cor. 10:20, 21). Saints of God may be thoroughly unintelligent as to the scriptural ground of gathering, and be remiss, through that ignorance, in maintaining the Lord's honor at His table. But it would be dreadful to speak of their remembrance of Him, as being a " table of devils." We could not consistently be identified with what we know to be disobedience to His word, and so could not break bread with those going on in disobedience to the truths of Christ as to His Church; but let us not sin against God by calling their ignorance the "table of devils." Alas, individually, many may put to blush, by their devoted and adoring love, those far more intelligent.

On the other hand, we would shrink from applying the title "Lord's table," to the idolatrous service of the "mass" in the Church of Rome, or to the act of those holding fundamental error, such as denial of the atonement or any other foundation truth.

QUES. 9.-Will the " great multitude " mentioned in Rev. 7:9, be on earth or in heaven ?

ANS.-The entire chapter shows that the earth is in view, and not heaven. The Church has been taken up, and the martyred remnant is not yet seen. This is the multitude of Gentiles, who, with the spared remnant of the nation of Israel, are brought " through the great tribulation," into the millennial blessing of the earth. That they stand "before the throne and before the Lamb," has seemed to indicate that they are a heavenly company. But this language is the general usage of the book, and suggests that close intercourse between heaven and earth, to which, alas, earth is now a stranger. Then, "I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth" (Hos. 2:21). This multitude has a place of priestly nearness and access to the earthly temple. The Church is seen above.

QUES. 10.-Please explain John 12:32, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."

ANS.-The next verse shows, " This He said signifying what death He should die." He was "lifted up" (John 3:14) on the cross, rejected by earth, forsaken of God, and accursed for us, but drawing weary sinners to Himself.
QUES. 11.-What is the difference between "the Kingdom of heaven," and "the Kingdom of God"?

ANS.-The Kingdom of heaven is used in Matthew, and almost always means the kingdom or rule of the heavens over the earth, in a dispensational way. It may, and often does, include mere profession as in Matt. 13:"The kingdom of God" is used similarly in Luke, though it seems to refer in many cases more to the moral than the external. Thus it is used by the apostle in the Acts and Epistles.

QUES. 12.-If a man is scripturally separated from his wife, for no fault of his own, can he marry again ?

ANS.-The tie that bound them having been broken, it seems clear that the brother or sister would be free to marry in such a case. But on the other hand, one can understand and sympathize with the spirit which would go on in widowhood, walking softly and alone the remainder of the pilgrim journey. Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind before God, and the conscience of the, saints and of the world be respected.

QUES. 13.-In the Lord's supper, should thanks be given only at the breaking of the bread, or at the cup also ?

ANS.-Our blessed Lord's example gives the answer. "And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them" (Mark 14:23). We give thanks at the breaking of the bread, and " after the same manner " we give thanks at the cup. Both acts are distinct parts of the same feast, and it would maim it to omit the thanks at the cup.

The opposite error is for one brother to give thanks at the breaking of bread and another at the cup. This makes two separate acts, and is equally foreign to Scripture. It is one feast, and if one is led of the Spirit to give thanks at all, it should be both at the bread and the cup.

III.–SONSHIP.

One of the most frequent expressions which one hears now in public, is "brother," and while it is true that God was creator of man, and consequently all men in that sense are equally His creatures, yet if such a word is used to express " the universal Fatherhood of God," Scripture very clearly shows the untruthfulness of such a theory, which at present has become quite common in "religious circles." Of course, such a thought ignores the fall of man, denies the atonement of Christ as a necessity, and does away with the need of being "born again." But "to the law and to the testimony:if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20).

I. Our position naturally.

"Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"

"Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Eph. 2:2, 3). " Because the carnal mind is enmity against God:for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7, 8). And our blessed Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." . . .
(John 8:44), and this latter is spoken too by that blessed One who was to undertake the work which . was to free from the bondage of Satan and bring all believing on Him into the place of sonship before God. It is said of Him that " He knew what was in man," (John 2:25) and no one was more tender and compassionate than He, and none more frank in all His words and manner, and yet dealing in complete justice as to sin. See also Eph. 2:12; James 4:4, etc.

2. How Sonship is obtained.

It might be well to recall the fact that "sons" in Scripture, refers to dignity of position, while "child " or "children" refers to relationship of the believer with the Father. Jacob in his parting blessing to his sons, calls, " Reuben thou art my firstborn . . . the excellency of dignity " (Gen. 49:3).

It is also noteworthy that while "sons " are found in Paul's Epistles, believers are always called "children " in John's Epistles, which have reference to the family relationship. Faith must precede filial relationship to God:"As many as received Him, to them gave He the power (right or privilege) to become the sons (children) of God, even to them that believe on His Name:which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God " (John 1:12, 13).

It is to be observed all this honor is conferred by actual spiritual birth which takes place when any poor, guilty, condemned sinner, receives by faith, not by feeling, the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Saviour.

The expression:-
"Not of blood," means not by lineage.

"Nor of the will of the flesh," not anything flesh
can do, or any improvement in it. " Nor of the will of man," not anything man can do, no resolves, such as " I am going to be a Christian, and live a good life." "But of God" means it is a work of God in the soul, the moment a poor guilty, lost sinner, conscious of his condition, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, as made known in the gospel (i Pet. 1:23-25; 2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 2:10.)

3.When obtained.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not."

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God." . . . (i John 3:. i, 2).

Much of the truth of Scripture is missed by passing over the small words in the verses, which often give special force to the expressions; as for instance, the little word "so" in John 3:16, "as," and "so" in Heb. 9:27, 28, etc, and the word "now" in the verse quoted above. See also Phil. 2:15; Gal. 4:7; John 1:12; Eph. 2:19, 20; Rom. 8:14; 2 Cor. 6:14-18. These with many other verses, show this to be a present blessing, the portion of believers now, in this world (Gal. 3:26).

No wonder the apostle seems struck with wonder, as the Holy Ghost speaking by him, calls attention to the "manner of love" 1:e., the character of God's love. Oh wondrous blessing, marvelous grace; that God who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" (Hab. 1:13), would and does confer this precious honor upon any and every poor sinner, who with repentant heart turns in faith to our Lord Jesus Christ.

4.Present blessing, and future glory.

"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."

"Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ" (Gal. 4:6, 7; Rom. 8:14, 15). Beloved Christian reader, do you really believe these things, that they are yours, aye, for the very weakest, youngest, babe in Christ, not merely to be possessed by some old saints who have endured a long life of conflict, but they are the free gift of God to the youngest in the faith? and all by sovereign grace-think of the dignity, the wealth, the cause, as the words "a son," "heir of God," "through Christ" come prominently out in the verse.

And think of the future,

"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me, where I am, that they may behold My glory" . . . (John 17:24), "and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (i John 3:2).

"For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile (humiliated) body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" etc. (Phil. 3:20, 21).

For the manifestation of this the dead in Christ wait (i Thess. 4:14-18). Creation waits with groaning (Rom. 8:19-22). Space does not admit of more extended research into these gracious blessings, which if the Lord please may come before us later, for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" (i Cor. 2:9, 10). O believer, how rich and honored thou art of God thy Father. How responsible too to walk worthy of the dignities conferred. B. W. J.

Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week. See Mark 16:2, 9. Was this the Sabbath-day? See Mark 16:1:

Who came "early in the morning when the Sabbath was past" to the sepulcher? See Mark 16:i, 2.

Why did they wait till the " Sabbath was past ?" See Luke 23:55, 56.

Which Commandment was this? See Exod. 20:u ; 31:12-18.

"Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, . . . being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" (Rom. 7:4, 6).

God's new creation begins with the rest of a First Day, instead of the Sabbath of a seventh, and we esteem the Lord's Day to be holy, not because of a legal commandment, for there is none (the legal commandment applying to the seventh day Sabbath, and any violation of it, the picking up of a stick even on that day was death. See Num. 15:32-36.) but upon far holier ground, because the name of the Lord who died for us on the cross, and who was raised for us from the grave on the First Day of the week, as head over all things to the Church, His body-is placed upon it. How strikingly the Holy Spirit points to this day, the First day of the week, the Lord's Day, when in the book of Leviticus, chapter 23:verses 9-11, He speaks to the people through Moses of the "morrow after the Sabbath" and the offering of "first fruits," and sacrificed on that day. It has been said, "That if we fail to see Christ in every portion of the Old Testament, we miss the aim of the Holy Spirit which is to unfold Him." With what plainness and sureness do these words spoken through Moses to the people of Israel, carry us to the resurrection on the " First Day of the week" after the Sabbath was past. "The morrow after the Sabbath "and to the first fruits of " spices of ointment" an offering "prepared" for their Lord. God has manifested His delight in His Beloved, and in the work He has "finished"by raising Him from the dead on the First Day of the week. Christ is God's rest. We keep the Lord's Day, because we can rest from all fear of wrath and judgment, He having endured the wrath of a just and righteous God in our stead and for us, and because we are "new creatures in Christ Jesus," "old things passed away"-"all things made new"-"quickened together with Him "-"justified from all things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses" -and " sealed unto the day of redemption " (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:12, 13, 14; Rom. 3:24; 5:i, 9; Acts 13:39; Eph. 4:30).

The soul that has been touched by the Grace and Love of God in the gift of His Son, and has been set free from the curse of the law by faith in the death and resurrection of Him who has borne the curse, and can say, "Who loved me and gave Himself for me; " that liberated soul will be occupied, not with the law and its demands, but with Christ and be engaged with themes of worship, praise and thanksgiving on the Lord's Day, other than "Lord incline my heart to keep this law." R. D.

"Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone ? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent ? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" (Matt. 7:7-11).

These words are indeed the key of an inexhaustible treasury. The apostle James draws from them a simple and irresistible conclusion (4:2, 3):"Ye lust, and have not:ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (or pleasures)." How blessed, how divine, how solemn a word is here ! If we do indeed simply and without qualification, believe it, what an admonition we have as to the secret of so much poverty that our lives manifest, when all heaven's abundance is, as it were, poured out around us, with an earnest invitation to possess ourselves of it !

The words seem only too wonderful to be laid hold of as the simplicity of a child would lay hold of them :and yet here, if the lips of absolute truth are speaking to us,-if they are the words of One upon whom we rest with assurance for the fulfilment of all our "exceeding great and precious," yea, eternal, "promises,"-are we not to depend upon them, as having that fulness of meaning and literality which the Lord emphasizes in the reiteration, "every one that asketh receiveth," and the apostle in his application of them, "Ye have not because ye ask not"? Yet can that be the whole account of the matter ? We look back upon the long list of unfulfilled prayers – prayers put up, as we cannot but think, with much sincerity, often with much importunity, and ask, "can this be the whole account?" Were this the record of our own lives alone also, we might better accept it ; but think of how our own history is echoed in the experiences of all around us; listen to the testimony on every side:how can we disregard this ? And can we write upon all this tale of sorrow and unmet need, as the simple and sufficient account of it, "Ye have not because ye ask not" ?

And yet again we hear the words of Christ to His disciples that, " If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you "(Matt. 17:20). And again, "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mk. 11:22-24). And again, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do; that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (Jno. 14:13). And still again, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you " (Jno. 15:7). And yet once more, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name:ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (16:23, 24).

These are all familiar texts to us, no doubt; but how much in earnest is the glorious Speaker, that we should believe their testimony! And this is no wonder, surely, when we hear with what He associates such petitions and their success:the Father's glory, and for His disciples, fulness of joy. Nor is it hard to understand this:heaven opened to men after this manner and its gifts poured out without stint upon earth; the people of God enriched, and proclaiming the fulness and glory of their ascended Head. This, as the end of such a testimony, is at once an enlightenment which makes it easy to realize the importance, and so the naturalness, of it. If God is acting for the glory of that beloved Son who on earth glorified Him and still does, by the revelation of His love and righteousness,-how much will suffice to show the delight He has in the Accomplisher and His accomplishment ? We stand before God as those who are the demonstration of its value, "made the " very "righteousness of God in Him," as well as to declare to the principalities and powers in heavenly places the exceeding riches of His grace. We bow our heads in adoration as we ask ourselves, What may we not expect from divine love which has displayed itself in such a place so given us ?

Yet it has been asserted, and not by an enemy, but by one zealous for the authority of Scripture, that "many there are, who in intensest earnestness have claimed such promises, and have reaped bitter disappointment which has staggered their faith. It is easy," the writer goes on, "to explain the failure by reading into the promise conditions of one kind or another, though the Lord Himself made no conditions whatever."He proposes therefore an-other solution of the matter in this way:-

" Here the striking fact claims attention that while the record of the Pentecostal dispensation presents us with the practical counterpart of all such promises, the epistles, which unfold the doctrine of the present dispensation, and describe the life which befits that doctrine,-the life of faith,-inculcate thoughts about prayer which are essentially different, and which are entirely in accord with the actual experience of spiritual Christians.

"Some perhaps may urge that while the earlier Gospels may be thus explained, St. John cannot be treated in this way. I can in reply but plead with the thoughtful reader to consider whether every word addressed to the apostles is intended to apply to believers at all times. Take Jno. 14:12 as a test of this. Is every believer to be endowed with miraculous powers equal to, or greater than those exercised by the Lord Himself? We are prepared at once to limit the scope of such words:is it so clear, then, that the words which immediately follow are of universal application? We have the fact, I repeat, that both these promises were proved to be true in the Pentecostal dispensation, and that neither has been proved to be true in the Christian Church. So also of chapter 15:16, and of 16:23, etc.

" But it will be asked, Is not the promise explicitly repeated in St. John's first epistle (i John 3:22 and 5:14, 15)? I think not. It seems to me that the apostles were in a special sense empowered both to act and to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, where-as the Christian should bow in the presence of the words, ' according to His will.' As dean Alford remarks, ' If we knew His will thoroughly, and submitted to it heartily, it would be impossible to ask anything, for the spirit or for the body, which He should not hear and perform. And it is this ideal state, as always, which the apostle has in view.' But the Christian too commonly makes his own longings, or his supposed interests, and not the Divine will, the basis of his prayer; he goes on to persuade himself that his requests will be granted; he then regards this 'faith' as a pledge that he has been heard; and finally, when the issue belies his confident hopes, he gives way to bitterness and unbelief. True faith is always prepared for a refusal. Some, we read, 'through faith,' 'obtained promises;' but no less 'through faith,' 'others were tortured, not accepting deliverance.'"* *"The Silence of God," by E. Anderson, App. 187-189.*
I have quoted so much because of the great interest attaching to this subject; and because the quotation also furnishes us with most of the points to be considered. The discussion of them will involve all, or nearly all, that I have in mind to say with regard to it.

Now, in the first place, what Dr. Anderson cites from the late dean of Canterbury is undoubtedly the truth, and may be accepted heartily. The apostle has certainly in view an ideal state, and one below which we may be indefinitely; while nevertheless the attainment of it is to be our aim, and capable of being reached with regard to the matter of our prayers indefinitely also. We can hardly suppose that in the Lord's words, "Ye shall ask what ye will," He meant that His disciples were empowered to set aside God's will in favor of their own. An apostle could here have no advantage (if it were an advantage) beyond the least of all that have ever followed Him. And His connected condition, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you," remind us plainly of this. It is only as Christ's words have place in us that we are capable of effectual prayer:and such conditions necessarily underlie all promises of this kind, whether they are expressed or not. They are fundamental in order to blessing; and no one with one right thought could desire it otherwise. As the Lord reasons with us in the passage with which we began, it is to a Father that we come, and that which is our fullest encouragement in coming, and the guarantee of abundant answer to our prayers, is that also which guards from abuse of privilege,-guards, therefore, our own best interests. Our Father will give good gifts to them that ask Him:could any other be counted or coveted as gifts at all? No distinctions to be made between any imaginary Pentecostal dispensation differing from the present need to be insisted on, therefore, to explain what is said to stumble so many. God never meant to put the reins of His own government into the hands of even the apostles; and Pentecostal times were not different in this respect. The need of miracles to call men to give heed to heaven's new proclamation has passed:no earthly wealth was ever so trumpeted abroad as the riches of God's grace have been; and it is no wonder if with the need of them, the miracles themselves have passed away. No paralytic need now arise and take up his bed to make men know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins; and if he did, it would scarcely add an appreciable particle of evidence to that which, through all the progress of the centuries, has been, in fact, piling itself mountains high. For the unbelief of the heart, alas, miracles are no cure; and that is all that hinders the knowledge of the glory of the Lord even now covering the earth as the waters cover the sea. This accounts for a wide difference, as to the display of power, between Pentecostal times and our own,-a display which none with intelligence of His Lord's will could seek or expect to revive now. What has been foretold as to the closing days of Christianity as a dispensation is rather the revival of Satan's power; and this is really what we are beginning to see in the marvels of spiritism and kindred things. But the limit which in this way we may find to the "all things whatsoever ye shall ask," and which is only part of that which has been already freely acknowledged, is no reason for taking away from us all promises of this nature, and relegating them either to past or to the future, in the manner attempted here. We may concede also "that the apostles were empowered in a special sense to act in the Name of the Lord Jesus," if by that is meant that they had authority to act in a certain way. That, of course, is implied in the fact that they were apostles. Nevertheless that does not in the least interfere with the fact on the other side, that we are to "do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus," as an apostle himself teaches the Colossians (chap. 3:17). Where we are taught that the apostles had any special right to "pray in His Name," I have not found; and I think no one can produce the passage. An official place, God-given among men, we must all acknowledge to be theirs:but as approaching God, Scripture does not teach us that apostleship conferred any special rights:it belonged to another sphere; and there all Christians as such are of a holy priesthood,-their one High-priest is Christ alone.

In fact, no Gospel is so unofficial as that of John, which furnishes us with the passages which speak of prayer in the name of Jesus. The very word "apostle " cannot be found in it. Christians would not readily resign, it may be hoped, their interest in these precious promises; and, instead of finding in that ideal state of knowledge which, according to dean Alford, they imply, a deterrent from putting in their claim to them, should surely recognize with joy and gratitude that God in them is calling them to a higher elevation and a nearer intimacy than they have yet perhaps even imagined possible. He has opened all His heart to us. And this privilege of praying in the Name of Jesus imports for us, not a mere asking for His sake, but God's identification of His people with Himself-with all the value that this Name has for Him. We represent Him; and His Spirit given to us is the practical qualification to represent Him. We are to do in His Name whatsoever we do, as those for whom their own wills are ended; their interests in His omnipotent Hand,- men who have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him:where there is neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free; but Christ is all, and in all (Col. 3:10, 11). How complete is this change of view! What a clearing of spiritual sight for those who have gained it!

Now to pray in His Name, how different is it from the mere dependence upon the efficacy of His atonement for our acceptance, the putting His Name in this way at the end of our prayers. It is the taking a place which at once declares what is to be the character of our petitions. It does not by any means rule out the personal element:on the contrary it opens before us a wondrous inheritance into which we are invited already by faith to enter, and make it our own. Here we may covet-covet-covet; and the more we do so, the more pleasing shall we be to God our Father, whose glorious gift to us it is. Here is a sphere in which prayer will never be denied, if it be the prayer of the whole-and not the halfhearted. Here are precious harvests to be reaped, of which yet the indifferent shall and can know nothing. While on the earth there are precious harvests too, and still spiritual harvests, in which the fruit of labor shall abide with us forever; when the very scene of man's gaudiest achievements in art, in science, in the various conquest of a world put under him, but in which he knows little more than a great Babylon which he has builded, is passed away like a shriveled scroll in the fire of God's anger!

But as fellow-laborers under God, there are still limits to successful prayer. Nor is it because the thing prayed for is in a certain sense undoubtedly according to His mind, that we can necessarily pray with full expectation of answer. There was with Paul, as we know, a heart that yearned after the salvation of Israel; yet the voice of the Lord sent him out from among them with the assurance, "They will not hearken to thy testimony concerning Me." And if all Christians were to unite in heart and voice to Him who willeth not that any should perish, for the salvation of the world en masse, who could rightly expect answer to such a prayer ? The word of God has barred it in the emphatic statement as to the Spirit of God, that "the world cannot receive Him" (John 14:17).

These are words absolutely plain, surely; but can we then wonder if we find the same principle applying in other relations ? If in the things which seem most manifestly according to the character of God we may yet need the check of His ever perfect will, how evident it is that we may much more need it in things of more doubtful nature. Here we are privileged still to make our requests to God, and never in vain; though the answer may be like that of the apostle's for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, in a very different way from that which we anticipated. Can we never, then, rise to that perfect certainty with regard to these which is implied in the exhortation, to believe that we receive them and we shall have them? Most surely we can; but there is no way to this but by drawing near enough to God to gain such assurance. Here is the high place in which we ought to dwell; nor can we expect to attain it when sought temporarily under the pressure of some present need, while content in general with a greater distance. Our weakness may indeed claim His strength, our ignorance His wisdom to enlighten us, but not our waywardness ability to use and cast Him off again,-to claim His gifts, with the best and highest of all unvalued. In the Christian place, where the Lamb is the light and glory, and in His light all is seen, what may we not attain ?

Beloved reader, how far do you and I know the reality of praying in His Name ? F. W. G.

Ere seeking to answer this question, which seems to be a perplexity to some, it might be well to state, as briefly as possible what is meant by the period of judgment, as this paper will probably fall into the hands of some, who, as yet have given but little attention to prophetic teaching. In doing this it will be necessary to do little more than refer to a large number of passages of Scripture, many of which lack of space will forbid quoting in full, but it is hoped the reader will refer to any that are unfamiliar to him.

First, then, let it be noted that Old Testament prophecy never refers to the dispensation in which we live (extending from Pentecost to the Lord's coming for His own) save in a most indefinite way as, for instance, in Dan. 9:26, a passage which will come before us a little farther down. From Moses to Malachi, Scripture is mainly occupied with one nation, Israel, (Amos 3:2; Deut. 7:6; Ps. 147:19, 20) and the hope of that nation, namely, the raising up of the Prophet (Deut. 8:15), Priest (Ps. ex. 4; Zech. 6:5), and King (Is. xxxii; Ps. 2:6), who is to bring them into everlasting blessing as a people (Ps. 132:11-18; Is. 35:10; 51:ii; 61:7), though not until they have been born again (Ezek. 36:24-30).

The Gentiles shall share in that blessing (Is. 56:6; 65:i) but not as on the same footing with Israel; rather in subjection to them (Is. 14:1-3; 60:3-5; 62:2, 3).

Ere the ushering in of that day of Jehovah's power and Messiah's glory the prophets, however, predicted the rejection of both the looked-for Redeemer (Is. 53:) and the nation (Is. 1.), the former by Israel to whom He came, the latter themselves set aside by God (Zech. 7:13-14) while the rejected Messiah takes His place in the heavens on Jehovah's throne (Ps. 110:i) which He will occupy until the future repentance of the people (Hosea 5:15). This setting aside of Israel is, however, not final, as the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters of Jeremiah, together with many other portions of the Word, plainly declare. But before their restoration to divine favor and the land of Palestine they must pass through a short period of unequaled persecution and chastisement called the "time of Jacob's trouble" in Jer. 30:7. At the close of this time they will be ready to acknowledge the crucified as their Lord and will '' mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son" (Zech. 12:10-14; 13:6, 7). In the darkest hour of their sorrow when Jerusalem is compassed about with armies and they are in direst distress, He will appear as their Deliverer and to the destruction of their enemies, after which the tabernacle of David will be raised up and the reign of righteousness ushered in (Zech. 14:; Amos 9:8-15).

Thus far, the Old Testament. Turning now to the later revelation we find many new data introduced without which the present working of the Spirit of God in the world would be inexplicable. In Rom. 11:we are told that upon the breaking off of the natural branches (Israel) from the tree of promise, wild branches (Gentiles) are introduced in their place; in other words, Israel's rejection has but made way for unforetold grace to be shown to the nations though Old Testament prophecy of blessing to the heathen can be quoted as proof that such grace is not in collision with the Word. This special work among the Gentiles is not to go on forever though, for if these continue not in divine goodness they too shall be exit off and the natural branches grafted in again, for God is able.

God, then, is doing a work, unmentioned in the Jewish oracles during the time that His earthly people are " Lo-ammi" ("not My people," Hosea 1:9:) and unacknowledged by Him, and "blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in " (Rom. 11:25). This, however, is a "mystery" (of which there are several), one of the secret things (Deut. 29:29) till now unrevealed. The Lord Jesus confirms this (but rather from the political side) in His prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem-the long period of desolation and Gentile supremacy following it, and finally the end in His personal appearing (Luke 21:). In verse 24 we read, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

This connects us again with Dan. 9:where we get the great prophecy of the "seventy weeks." A lengthy exposition of this passage cannot be attempted here, but we briefly notice the main points. From the cycle of time, seventy weeks (or sevens) of years (note the periods before the prophet's mind in ver. 2) making in all 490 years, are "determined" or "cut off " and given to Daniel's people, of course, the Jewish nation.

Ere this length of time expires six important events will have taken place:1st, transgression will
be finished; 2nd, an end will be made of sins; 3rd, atonement (rather than "reconciliation") will be made for iniquity; 4th, everlasting righteousness will be brought in; 5th, vision and prophecy will be sealed up, or finished, 1:e., all fulfilled; and 6th, the most holy, or holy of holies of the millennial temple at Jerusalem will be anointed (see Ezek 40:-xlviii).

The seventy weeks are divided into three unequal periods; 1st, seven weeks or forty-nine years; 2nd, sixty-two weeks, or 434 years; 3rd, one week or seven years. During the first seven weeks "the strait times " (see margin) the city and wall of Jerusalem were to be rebuilt. The date from which to count is found in Neh. 2:, when a "commandment went forth to restore and build Jerusalem." The sixty-two weeks seem to have immediately followed and ended in the coming of Messiah. After the conclusion of this period He was cut off and had nothing, but by this, atonement was made. Then comes in the present long interval of Jerusalem's treading down. The city is destroyed as our Lord foretold also, and "even unto the end shall be war "until one arises who confirms a covenant with the mass of the Jews for the last final week. Clearly, then, this week is still future. The prophetic clock stopped at Calvary. It will not start again till "the fulness of the Gentiles become in." The present is a timeless epoch, parenthetically introduced between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks, in which God is taking out from among the Gentiles a people to His Name (Acts 15:14). Not that He has utterly given up the Jew now, but both Jew and Gentile stand on one footing, "there is no difference for all have sinned" (Rom. 3:). Both alike are saved through faith in Christ, and all such are made members of the One Body, the Church, by the Holy Ghost, and united to the Lord Jesus Christ as Head in heaven, another mystery, hitherto unrevealed. (See Rom. 16:25-28; i Cor. 12:; Eph. 4:; Col. 1:24-29). This began with the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:; i Cor. 12:13). It will be completed at the coming of the Lord to call His Church to be forever with Himself, an event which may take place at any moment (i Thess. 4:15-18-; i Cor. 15:51-54; 2 Thess. 2:i). Then the long delayed seventieth week will begin to run its course. At its conclusion Daniel's prophecy (as all other millennial prophecy) will be entirely fulfilled. Atonement was made for iniquity after the expiration of the sixty-ninth week. Everlasting righteousness will be brought in at the end of the seventieth.

This brief period, though, will be one of judgment throughout, and that threefold. It will include judgment on apostate Christendom, on Israel, and on the nations at large. It is to be the awful result of the rejection of the Prince of Peace.

The book of Revelation from chap. 4:-19:is occupied entirely with its solemn events. The saints-of all prior dispensations, as well as the Church – are seen enthroned in heaven, as the twenty-four elders who have been redeemed with the blood of the Lamb (chap. 5:) at the beginning of the week. They ride forth as the "armies of heaven " with "The Word of God " at His glorious appearing at the close. The last three years and a half will be especially the time when Israel shall receive "of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (Is. 40:2), the "time of Jacob's trouble " of Jer. 30:7 and Dan. 12:i, and the "great tribulation" of Matt. 24:and Rev. 7:14. The covenant-breaking prince of Dan. 9:is doubtless the beast, the head of the Roman empire who makes a league with the wilful king of chap. 11:36-39-the Antichrist of prophecy (i Jno. 2:18), the idol shepherd of Zech. 11:15-17, who will "come in his own name" as foretold by the Lord Jesus in Jno. 5:43, and be received by the mass of the Jews as Messiah, but who will become the cruel persecutor of a faithful company designated as " the remnant" (Is. 11:ii; Ezek. 6:8; Rev. 12:17, etc).

Trusting that the above will be clear to any who "search the Scriptures" to see "whether these things are so," we will now devote our attention to the subject proper of the paper. To many the preliminary remarks were doubtless quite unnecessary, but others may find them helpful.

The seventh of Revelation, with its sealed 144,000 of Israelites and white-robed multitude of saved Gentiles, is proof positive that many will be brought to know the Lord after the taking away of the church and before the establishment of the millennial kingdom. These are not saved for heaven, though we have an additional martyr company who are (Rev. 14:13; 15:2-4); but the companies of chap. 7:are saved for the earth. They will be "left" to enter into the kingdom as set up in power at the appearing of Jesus Christ, when others are "taken" away in judgment (Matt. 24:40; Luke 17:34-36), and are probably identical, as to the Gentiles, with the "righteous" of Matt. 25:31-46 who "inherit the kingdom."

Where then will they be found ? Will any who have rejected the gospel as now presented be among them ?

In 2 Thess. 2:we read of the hindrance to the full manifestation of the evil of the period of judgment referred to, which is evidently the presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church on earth. He "lets" or hinders until " He be taken out of the way." When He goes up with the Church at the Lord's descent into the air, "then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of His mouth and shall annul by the appearing of His coming; whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and in all deceit of unrighteousness to them that perish, because they have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason God sends to them a working of error, that they should believe what is false, that all might be judged who have not believed the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. 2:8-13, J. N. D's Trans.)."

This is certainly a most solemn passage deserving to be carefully weighed. It refers to something which may take place very, very soon; a state of affairs many living now may enter upon shortly. The more minutely it is examined the more clearly it will be seen that it cuts off all hope of any being saved in that coming "hour of temptation "'(Rev. 2:10) who have heard the gospel of the grace of God in this "day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2), but heard only to reject it. It puts a terrible responsibility on those who listen again and again to the proclamation of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet have never rested in Him for themselves. To believers' children and unsaved members of their families it speaks loudly and warningly, for soon those who know the Lord will be "caught up"; then dire judgment will rest upon those who trusted Him not for themselves.

All who "believed not the truth" and who "received not the love of the truth" when it was presented to them are given up to a "working of error" or "strong delusion" that they might be judged. In the day when the truth was preached they turned carelessly from it because they had pleasure in unrighteousness. They were "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God " (2 Tim. 3:4). Now they are given up to error, and that by God Himself. Like Elymas the sorcerer, who rejected the light of the gospel and was smitten with blindness, so upon these, having turned from the truth, God sends the delusion that causes them to believe the lie of the Antichrist.

For former instances of God's sending men delusions and visiting them with judicial blindness, see the cases of Pharaoh (Ex. 11:10), of Ahab (2 Chron. 18:), and of the nation of Israel (Is. 6:9-10; Matt. 13:13-15), all who hear the gospel and believe it not are "condemned already " (Jno. 3:18). If the Lord comes while they are still in that state, the condemnation is final, and we note their dreadful doom in 2 Thess. 1:7-10, together with the contrast of the blessed place that might have been theirs, had they but believed the testimony so graciously given. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day." There could be no stronger declaration that all who reject the testimony now, will be unable to avail themselves of the testimony then, while the result of the outpouring of divine wrath upon the scene will only harden in place of bringing to repentance (Rev. 16:9, 10, 11, 21).

The teaching has become current among many that the taking away of the saved will result in an awakening in nominal Christendom, so that many who now have a name to live, but are dead, will in that day turn to the Lord. As to this, Scripture, as we have seen, states exactly the opposite, which is confirmed by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels. At the end of the age the tares are gathered in bundles and burned (Matt. 13:30, 40-42); the man without the wedding garment on, is cast into outer darkness (Matt. 22:13); the unfaithful servant is appointed his portion with the hypocrites (Matt. xxiv 48-51); the foolish virgins, though they go for oil, are shut outside the door (Matt. 25:ii); the unprofitable servant has even his profession taken away (vers. 28-30); those who neglected to enter in at the strait gate seek in vain to enter then (Luke 13:24); even as those who refused to be warned by Enoch and Noah perished in the flood, and those who listened not to Lot were destroyed in Sodom (Luke 17:26-30).

In short, we search Scripture in vain for one hint that any gospel rejecter will be saved in that clay. Nor does the expression in Rev. 7:9 militate against this:"Of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," for manifestly none of Israel will be among them, as we see the 144,000 of the twelve tribes quite distinct from the great multitude. The expression really declares the universality of the response to the everlasting gospel among the heathen nations, but Christendom, as Israel, is not counted, unless indeed, there be found even there some who never heard the gospel before. We leave then this solemn part of the subject, to look at the other side of the question, Who then can be saved?

And, first of all, we are reminded that this will be the period of Israel's awakening, as we have already seen in several passages. In Dan. 12:3, we read, "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever," and this, as the first verse assures us, during the time of trouble, but "at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

The hour of their darkest trouble and deepest sorrow will result in the elect among them returning to the Lord. The 144,000 of Rev. 7:picture to us those who will say, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord:for He hath torn and He will heal us; He hath smitten and He will bind us up " (Hosea 6:i). Zion's sore travail shall result in a great bringing forth of children as predicted in Micah 5:3, and Is. 66:8. We quote the latter passage, "Who hath heard such a thing ? who hath seen such things ? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day ? or shall a nation be born at once ? For as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children." The verses following are deserving also of special notice in this connection. See too Zech. 12:and 13:

And so the "blindness in part" is to be done away, the "fulness of the Gentiles" having come in, as shown also in Hosea 3:4, 5. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim; afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and His goodness, in the latter days." This is true not of the nation as a whole. (See Zech. 13:8, 9; Is. 24:13, also Ezek. 20:31-44), but of the remnant. The mass will be destroyed for their apostasy. The remnant will be acknowledged as the nation, "and so all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11:26). To be of the sons of Jacob even, does not insure an opportunity of grace. None who refuse the truth now, whether Jew or Gentile, can be saved then.

Through the Jew, the gospel of the Kingdom will, during this time, be preached in all the earth for a witness, ere the end shall come. Sent forth by the Spirit from on high they will proclaim far and wide the approach of the Kingdom and call upon men to repent as John the Baptist did of old. See Matt. 24:14.

The everlasting gospel of Rev. 14:6, 7 is probably identical with this. There it is the calling on the creature to acknowledge the Creator God in a day when all the world will be wondering after the beast (Rev. 13:). Is. 66:18-21 is instructive in this connection:"It shall come, that I will gather all nations, and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. And I will send a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Jovan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles, and they shall bring your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses and in chariots and in litters, and upon mules and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord." Here we doubtless have the ingathering of the ten tribes, for the Lord will "save the tents of Judah first" (Zech. 12:7). Connected with it however we see grace going out to the Gentiles who have not heard the truth previously. The great result of this is seen also in Zech. 8:20, 23.

A word on the judgment of Matt. 25:and we have done. This takes place at the Lord's coming to the earth. The living nations are gathered before Him. The separation is made according to the treatment accorded the Jewish missionaries mentioned above whom He owns as "My brethren." Intelligence in divine things is not marked in any, but at least they did not reject or neglect the messengers. They are saved and enter into the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. They are the " blessed of [His] Father."

And so even though the sword of judgment is unsheathed, grace is still exercised according to the word, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy "(Rom. 9:15). From Israel and the Gentiles a countless number will go into the millennial kingdom and acknowledge the sway of the blessed One, once made a curse for them, as for us. But not one who has spurned the Lamb of God in the present period will be among them.

There will, as briefly noticed above, be some who will be numbered with the heavenly saints after the Church is gone. They will be exclusively Jewish as evidenced by the fact that they sing "the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb" (Rev. 15:3). Their part will be, not with the Church, the body of Christ and Eve of the Last Adam, but doubtless with those of old who "desired a better country, that is an heavenly" (Heb. 11:16). In Rev. 20:we see them enthroned with the rest who live and reign a thousand years. With the Lamb they will be forever, but not theirs will be the special place enjoyed by those who now believe in Him and who are identified with Him in the present hour of His rejection. H. A. I.

There is nothing in Scripture more beautiful I than the truth as to the Church of Christ. It is called "His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." Our risen and glorified Lord is the Head, and all believers are united to Him by the Holy Spirit, and thus baptized into the One Body. This determines the dignity, permanence, and heavenly character of the Church. Let us never forget this holy and wondrous truth, nor let us ignore the responsibilities connected with it.

Our Lord has made ample provision for the "nourishing and cherishing " needed by His Church during His absence. "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men." These gifts are as varied as the needs of the Church, and are included under the general heads of apostles, prophets , evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These three last would include the various activities which remain until the Lord's coming-the supernatural gifts of apostle and prophet being connected more particularly with the foundation, or still active through the "prophetic Scriptures" (Rom. 16:26, r. 5:)

The special gifts above referred to are for "the perfecting of the saints to the work of the ministry " (Eph. 4:12). That is, special gifts are for the preparation of all to the general exercise of a mutual ministry in which each one in the body of Christ has his share. " . . The Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love" (Eph. 4:15, 16).

There is nothing more contrary to God's truth than clericalism, nothing that quenches the Spirit of God more effectually. What is evidently contemplated in the scripture just quoted is a vital organism, where each one has a distinct function. It may be truly said there can be no testimony to Church truth which does not hold and exhibit this fact. Every member of the body receiving and giving; mutual edification in love ! How beautiful ! What a privilege to be connected with the feeblest testimony of this kind !

But it would be the greatest folly to ignore the special gifts which our Lord has bestowed through the Holy Spirit. To do so would be to introduce the principles of socialism into the Church. "Are all apostles ? are all prophets ? are all teachers ?" (i Cor. 12:29.) "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, etc." (Rom. 12:6). It is the purpose of our present inquiry to ascertain the relation between the special gifts, as evangelist, pastor, and teacher, and the assembly as a whole, and with the local gathering as an expression of that assembly. We wish to learn the mutual responsibilities of assembly and gift, and of each to the Lord with regard to the other and themselves. It is an inquiry of great practical importance and not a mere theoretical question.

The source and authority for all ministry is our Lord in glory. He calls, and bestows the gifts, and to Him is the responsibility for their exercise. The Holy Spirit is the agent and power; all ministry is through Him alone. No man or men dare intrude between the Lord and His servant, between the Spirit .and those whom He uses "as He will." It is therefore true that the servant is responsible to His Lord, and to Him he stands or falls.

The usual thought of ordination is a contradiction of all this. Here a man, or body of men-it makes no difference which-undertakes to pass upon the call and fitness for service of those purposing to enter upon "the ministry."If they decide the person is qualified, he is ordained, set apart to the work, by his fellow-men. We say nothing of the intrusion into the priestly functions-the common portion of all the saints-but confine ourselves to this ordination to ministry. It was something even apostles did not do. No gift of ministry was ever hampered in this way. "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (i Pet. 4:10).This is the simple and apostolic provision for their own and all time. But we are creatures of extremes. In the reaction from human ordination, the tendency is to ignore entirely those divine safeguards against merely human energy. Most certainly the opposite of ordination by man is not self-ordination. Were we compelled to choose between the two, we would undoubtedly prefer the choice of the many rather than the self-appointment of the one. But we can thank our blessed God that we are shut up neither to the one nor the other. The word of God makes a sufficient provision here as everywhere. A careful examination will show the provision.

In physics all action necessitates reaction; in the animal organism every organ that ministers must also receive nourishment. The heart, the wondrous organ of circulation, has a circulation which supplies it with that which renews its waste. So it is with the whole body-all activities are mutual and reciprocal. The equilibrium thus preserved is what we call health. Wherever there is failure sickness comes in.

Now the Spirit of God has used the natural body not merely as an illustration, but as a type of the spiritual body. The details of the twelfth chapter of i Corinthians and the fourth chapter of Ephesians forbid our thinking of the Body, the Church, as superficially and not really a living organism.

Let the reader carefully examine the passages referred to, particularly i Cor. 12:12-31. He will find here the unity of the Body, with diversity of members and of function. He will note too the interdependence of the various members, and the sovereign disposal by the Spirit of the members in the Body. Thus all are affected by the suffering or the health of any one member.

But it is not our purpose to dwell upon that which is well known by every one with even an elementary acquaintance with Church truth. We wish however to show how this means the closest vital connection between individual gifts and the entire Church. The evangelist is not merely an individual servant of Christ, but a fellow-member with all saints in the body of Christ. So with the pastor and teacher. These not merely give to, but receive from the Church all needed nourishment. All flows from the fountain head-Christ our Lord-but through every channel in the Body. Thus responsibility to the Head does not mean the overlooking of the will of the Head as expressed through the agency of other members.

Let our readers elaborate the truth barely hinted at. They will find that the "gifts" are just as dependent upon the other members of the Body, as these are upon the "gifts." They will find that it is just as true for the humblest member of the body of Christ that he is responsible to the Lord, as for the gift. In other words, to distinguish thus between gift and private member is the essence of the clerical system.

Nor let it be thought that this will in any way degrade the servant of Christ in the eyes of the saints. No official position can add to the honor of one who serves the Lord and His people, nor is that truly honor which belongs to him in contrast to the humblest believer. All who are Christ's are dear to Him, and honored by His people. We may and should value those specially useful to the edification of the body, but the esteem and honor will not differ in kind from that given "to one of the least." We recognize those who take the lead among us and admonish us, and "esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake," but this does not give them a "place." Their work will bring love and esteem, as will the work of every child of God, but it will not put them in a class as distinguished from the mass of the people of God. This is always adjusted where there is spirituality and subjection to the word of God.

The "gifted brother" is therefore simply a member of the Body of Christ, dependent upon and responsible to the Head, as is every other member of the Body. He will exercise his gift, just as every other member will exercise his, subject to the limitations and benefitting by the ministries provided by our Lord. It is for us then to see what these ministries and limitations are. His gift is larger, more prominent, and in a certain sense more useful than that of some quiet, humble saint, whose voice is never heard save in the priestly function of prayer or praise; but he takes his place simply as any other saint in the Body of Christ.

The local Assembly is but the local expression of the whole Church. If it be truly an assembly, it will possess the features that mark the entire Body. The chief of these are the recognition of the Headship and Lordship of Christ, the unity of the Body and of the Spirit, with all that goes with these:- subjection to the entire word of God, the maintenance of godly order and discipline, and the freedom for the Spirit of God to act unhampered by human restrictions. The local assembly will also acknowledge, on the principle of the unity of the Body, all other local assemblies gathered in the same way, each assembly being but one of many expressions of an absolute unity-which includes the entire Body of Christ.

Even in these days of ruin and confusion there is still the path for faith to walk in as to these truths, and a testimony to be maintained, feeble though it be, to these essential characteristics of all Church order. It may be called high-handed exclusivism to seek to maintain these truths practically among a little circle of those who in their souls bow to them, but that can safely be left to the Lord, who marks the path of obedience for His saints, and sees if their desire is to walk in it. But we must return to our theme.

The local assembly, then, is but one of a number of such gathered in various places throughout the
world, who are seeking to maintain a testimony as to the Church of God. The brethren of gift, may or may not, be confined to one such assembly; they may pass in their service from one to another of these companies, and reach out, as the Lord enables, to His beloved people everywhere.

From what has been said, it will be seen that there is no such thing as separate membership in the local assembly. All membership is in the Body of Christ; we can join nothing else than that to which we have been joined by the Holy Spirit (i Cor. 12:13). But it follows equally, that if one recognizes his place as a member of the Body of Christ, he will also see his place with those locally gathered to the Lord in any one place.

Thus the evangelist, pastor, or teacher, is like all the saints of God, a member of the Body of Christ, and, wherever he may be, is locally connected with the assembly at that place. He simply falls into his place as naturally as though he had long lived among these saints, and takes up in his measure whatever of service or responsibility the Lord may put into his hands as one of the assembly. He is also as subject to the discipline and order of the assembly in exactly the same way as any one else in it.

No doubt as to details there will need to be care as to undue activity in matters or with persons with whom he may not be familiar, and similarly the assembly will recognize that their acquaintance with the brother has been limited. But the general facts remain as stated, and it will be a great relief to see and act according to them.

We disabuse our minds entirely, then, of any thought of difference between " visiting" and "local"
brethren-save with the limitations intimated-and will again ask, What is the relation between the assembly and the individual gift ?

The assembly is the home of all the Spirit's activities. Every act of service has effect, and receives influence from the assembly. Gospel work, even if done outside, pastoral visitation, Sunday-school work and all else, is, or should be, done with the fullest fellowship of the assembly. So far from quenching the Spirit, this but furnishes fresh opportunities for Him to act through the various channels He has at His disposal. How much of cheer and brotherly counsel and practical fellowship does this suggest. No one stands alone to do his work as best he may, but is assured of loving fellowship in prayer, counsel, and all that may be needed.

We have a beautiful scriptural illustration of this in the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas from Antioch (Acts 13:) There was the normal, perhaps we may say more intense, work of the Spirit, among the gifted men and the assembly at Antioch. The Spirit of God made known His will for Barnabas and Saul, who are sent forth from the assembly, with fellowship, prayer and fasting. On their return they narrate God's work to the assembly, who unite in thanksgiving for the blessing.

So it should ever be. There are special features, what we might call " supernatural," yet the prayer and fasting, the ministering to the Lord, the asking and receiving His mind, the fellowship and prayer should mark the Spirit's work to-day as always. When we think of the vast fields of labor practically untouched, of the needs that cry aloud, of the fewness and feebleness of the laborers, do we not see the need for assemblies to come thus before the Lord in prayer and expectation for rich and lasting blessing ? Might we not expect to see one and another separated unto special service to "the regions beyond " ?

But we need to trace from the beginning this mutual relationship between the assembly and the "gift." We have already seen that all activities are exercised in fullest fellowship with the assembly. In fact, we would not be far wrong were we to say that the assembly will be the first to recognize the beginnings of a helpful ministry. A young brother shows a love for souls, an aptitude for speaking a word in season, or a grasp of divine truth and ability to state it plainly. His brethren see and rejoice in this perhaps before he is conscious of it himself.

Just here is where the divine provision of mutual helpfulness comes in. One may have his future usefulness marred by undue praise or blame, be puffed up or crushed. But if the assembly wisely meets its responsibilities, how such a gift may be nourished and developed by the Spirit under the faithful counsel and prayers of the saints.

The apostle warns against any of God's people engaging in work while still novices. The quiet of the assembly is the divine school till the young servant has gained experience, knowledge, and prudence, and where he profits by the encouragement and counsel and prayers of the saints. How much sorrow would saints be spared if this were always remembered. There is real danger in despising this time of training, and of having a restless spirit which would be "out in the work." Let us never forget that most of God's work is done by those who never go "out," that souls are saved, saints taught and cared for, and much other service done by quiet saints, who never dream of having "gift." It may be trying, but it will work "peaceable fruits of righteousness," for brethren to "bear the. yoke" in the assembly, and "first be proved " before attempting to give up work with hands to devote themselves exclusively to "prayer and the ministry of the word."

We would emphasize this matter, and seek to press upon assemblies their responsibility as to these things. If the Lord has called out "gifts," He has also provided assemblies to help, counsel, uphold in prayer these gifts in their service. How many a servant of Christ craves the fellowship and counsel of his brethren. How it cheers him to be assured of their prayers and loving interest. How he would profit by their advice, and, if needs be, correction. There need not be a spirit of criticism in this. In fact, criticism is far more apt to flourish where the responsibilities to which we have alluded are neglected. How often has a work of God been blighted by fault-finding, which would have been advanced by a few faithful words to the ministering brother. We do not enter into details, which will suggest themselves to most, but would affectionately point out the vital principles involved here.

Summing these up, we would point out that the scriptural and usual way for the manifestation of gift would be in the local assembly, which would encourage and help the brother by loving counsel and prayer, seeking to develop what was of God, and by wise counsel to correct any mistake to which those are liable who engage in the Lord's service.

The local assembly is at all times responsible for the walk, doctrine, and associations of the Lord's
servant. This responsibility may be, and ordinarily will be, met by loving and prayerful counsel and fellowship. Any error in teaching may be pointed out, and part truths supplemented, thus preventing him from becoming one sided in his ministry.

We are quite aware that this will seem to many impracticable and needless, a menace to freedom for the Lord's servant on the one hand, and a heavy yoke upon the assembly on the other. It will at once be admitted that there are dangers in both directions indicated, but is there not the greatest danger of all in ignoring or neglecting the grave responsibilities which must be apparent to all ?

We are persuaded that the Spirit of God already exercises both assemblies and the Lord's servants in these things, and we rejoice at every evidence of mutual care. But let it abound. Should not assemblies be much engaged in prayer that God would raise up, equip and maintain the needed gifts for His Church ? Should they not be looking for an answer to these prayers ? And may they not expect the answer to come in connection with fresh exercise as to the whole subject of the relation of the gift to the entire assembly ?
And for those who are engaged exclusively in the Lord's service, may we not have the deepest sympathy, the fullest fellowship and confidence, and the most ceaseless prayer and care. May our God lead us into His mind regarding these things.

Whenever a truth is ignored and neglected, the enemy will pervert it, and introducing error into it, will make it the basis of some evil doctrine. No doctrine that appeals to professing Christendom can afford to throw off the mask of scripturalness, if it claims to be Christian at all. All heresy contains a measure of truth, which acts as the bait upon the hook to attract the unwary. It will also usually be found that the truth so used is that which from general neglect has become unfamiliar to most.

This association with error renders the truth itself obnoxious to those loyal in heart, so that they are confirmed in their neglect, not realizing that neglect has made the evil use of scripture possible.

In this way the precious truth as to our Lord's corning, and the general outline of the events of the last days, had been for long years neglected by the Church. We might almost say that since the days of the apostles, they had been ignored save in a most general and vague way. As a consequence the enemy linked these truths with the wicked, extravagant or absurd blasphemies of some system of error. In this way Irvingism, Seventh-Day Adventism, Mor-monism and various schools of Restorationism and Annihilationism have obtained the ear of the uninstructed conscience, by making use, in greater or less degrees of accuracy, of the neglected truth of prophecy. Thus prophetic truth became identified in the minds of most with these errors, and this in turn has served to render it all the more neglected. On the other hand the enemy has intruded his poison into the minds of many by the cunning admixture of truth.

We can never afford to ignore truth, any part of it. Were a single book of Scripture ignored, generally and persistently, we might expect Satan to draw from that book some doctrine and cunningly mingle it with deadly error. What an argument we have in this, if there were no other reasons, for constantly and systematically reading and studying every portion of the word of God.

What has been said of the truth of the Lord's coming, applies with equal force to the subject now before us. Rome has always claimed the power, through her saints, to heal the sick, and the false systems already mentioned, with scarce an exception, claim a similar power. It is, on the other hand, a well-known fact that evangelical Christendom has almost entirely shrunk from looking at the subject at all. Wherever there has been reaction from this, the teachings of Scripture on the subject have been distorted or placed in undue prominence, or given wrong connections. Thus "Faith Healing "in its varied forms, has become a doctrine of such prominence as well-nigh to eclipse the truths with which it has been associated, if nothing worse; while such awful blasphemies as that of "Christian Science" have found an acceptance among the many, which shows the need of a clear understanding of what the word of God has to say upon this subject.

We may truly say that nothing is more common in this world than sickness. What a comment this is upon its condition and relation to Him who, when it came all fair from His hands as the habitation of man, pronounced it "very good." Every sickness is a premonition of death, and is but the echo of that solemn word to fallen Adam, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return." Sin has come in, and death by sin, and the universal sway of death is witnessed by the universal prevalence of sickness.

How infinitely pathetic it is!-all humanity groaning under suffering or in sympathy with it ! Think of the anguish of mothers over their little ones, whose entrance into this world was at the risk of their own lives, and who sicken and linger and die at the very threshold of life. Think of the blight that sooner or later falls upon every home-the support taken, or the tender loving mother, or the pride and hope of the family removed in the fresh vigor of young manhood or womanhood. Sickness is but the precursor of all this, even when there is recovery for the time. We need not be surprised then at the efforts to restore the suffering. It is a witness of that natural affection which lingers in fallen man, a relief to the all-prevailing selfishness of the race.

And can we think that God is indifferent, the only indifferent One, to all this suffering? Of course, we reply, No. But is there not a real danger of our shutting Him out, in our thoughts, from the sick room ? Are not the thoughts of most, even of most Christians, that God is good, merciful and pitiful, but that we must let things take their course, do the best we can, and hope and pray ?

Far be it from us to say a single word against most of that. But the fact is that God is looked upon as at a distance by most of His own, and it is considered presumption to bring Him too near. As a result little comfort is obtained, save of a most general character. Thus there is failure to see the hand of God in the sickness. It is regarded as "providential," but not by many as a distinct voice to sufferer and to all concerned.

We should recognize His special presence and attention in sickness. All comes through Him, and if a father who calls to his son expects to be answered, so does our Father when He calls to us in sickness. Oh, that the saints of God realized this more fully ! We have to do with Him; sickness is His appeal to us, and our first care should be to say from our hearts, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth."

If God has spoken, He has said something. It would be wanton cruelty, if He had afflicted us without a definite purpose. We dare not harbor such a thought for a moment. Let us not then act as if we had such a thought. Of whom do most of us think first in sickness, of God or the physician ? Far be the thought to despise any human means to relieve suffering, but God must be first. Asa sought to the physician rather than to the Lord, and he was not cured. How much restless anxiety would be spared if we immediately turned to God, and submitted the entire trouble to Him. We would be none the less faithful in the use of means, but the heart would have found its rest with God at the very outset.

And what needful and holy lessons He would be teaching us. Many of these are necessarily personal, but there are certain general features that we may point out.

Perhaps one of the first lessons to be remembered in sickness is that we are part of God's creation, and subject to the governmental consequences of the fall. None are exempt from this. It brings home to us in an unmistakable way the reality of disobedience. It bridges, as we might say, the distance between Eden and ourselves, and we hear God saying to us what He said to Adam. It is a holy and profitable lesson to bow under His mighty hand as one of His creatures. Our salvation has not affected that, and while His grace has put us into a new place, our bodies are still in the groaning creation, and we wait for their redemption.

We will thus be reminded of our frailty, our dependence. How prone we are to forget that! Man's breath is in his nostrils, and yet he exalts himself and does and plans as if he were his own master. God lays His hand upon him, and what is he ? a poor feeble vessel of clay. His boasted strength is gone, and, helpless as an infant, he must fall into the Arms of everlasting strength. The child of God cannot because of that expect to be immune from sickness. He must, as to his body, take his place with all mankind. This will keep him humble. He will not presume upon grace, as though it granted an immunity to nature in a place where sin is inherent in that nature.

And what wholesome exercise, of heart-searching, prayer and patience will result from thus being with God about our sickness. We will "hear the rod and Him who hath appointed it." Faith will be called into exercise, and the purpose of the affliction will be understood. We have been speaking of some of the general lessons common to all. Without doubt there will be many a lesson known only to the soul and to God. Even in the most blameless life outwardly, there is much that the holy eye of Love has seen which it cannot pass by. Devotion that has seemed well-nigh complete, has had the stain of spiritual pride. Conduct that has seemed most loving, has concealed the feeling of envy. Duties have been neglected, spiritual sloth fostered, opportunities have not been availed of. Ah, brethren, when we are in the holy presence of God, our best things need to be judged, the iniquity of our holy things is disclosed. We need not suspect or accuse one another of grave outward evil, but there will always be room for searching of heart, and for confession to God.

But there are others concerned besides the sick one. "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it !" There is surely a voice, not only to the immediate family, but to the people of God who are connected with the afflicted person. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." It does not necessarily follow that the sickly ones or those who fall asleep are the ones who have failed to judge themselves. They may be godly ones whose departure would be most sorely felt, and thus their sickness would be calculated to affect the assembly far more than that of some careless or useless one. "The righteous perisheth," said the prophet to the careless nation. God removed the faithful if by this means the indifferent might lay it to heart. Alas, he had to say, "and no man layeth it to heart." Is it not to be greatly feared that this has been the case in our day too ? God lays His rod upon His people; it matters not who the individual directly afflicted may be, the voice is for us all. '' Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord" (Lam. 3:40).

Is not this the great object of all affliction, to turn us afresh to God ? How prone we are to forget, to neglect, to grow cold by imperceptible degrees, until some chastening is required to bring us unreservedly before our God. His love must have us in His presence. There only can we walk in holiness, and be conformed to the image of our Lord. " If thou wilt return . . . return unto Me" (Jer. 4:i). He wishes no mere reform, no mere correction of this or that point of conduct; He desires the entire change of the attitude of the soul that has wandered from Him.

Ah, brethren, when a company of His people thus recognize the hand of God upon them in the affliction of a single individual, how precious are the results. Instead of being confined to the immediate circle, the peaceable fruits are produced among all. Is not this the purpose of our God, and shall we not lay it seriously to heart ? Corporate truth is most wide-reaching.

We have now reached the point where we can act together. The tendency of nature is to drift asunder. Grace unites. A common object, a common life, and a common Spirit dwelling within us – all these draw us together. Thus too a common trial has the same effect. Have the saints been growing cold ? Have they been falling asunder ? Ah, how a common affliction, laid to heart will draw them together, because it draws them to God. United humbling and confession will be the result, and a practical unity be again manifest.

Until some such state has been reached, individually and collectively, all the objects of the affliction have not been attained. How can we ask for the removal of the chastening if we have not learned in some degree its lesson ? We might almost as well apply to a physician to heal as to the Lord, if only healing is our object. May this not explain much of the delay in answering our prayers ? It would but harden, if God granted the prayers of unexercised souls.

But affliction has had its blessed results, and the saints, humbled under the mighty hand of God, seeing the needs-be of the chastening, and turning with all their hearts to Him, can now see what His word offers for comfort and help.

"Peter therefore was kept in prison:but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him" (Acts 12:5). Never was case more hopeless than this, so far as man was concerned. The thirsty sword of persecution had just had its appetite whetted by the blood of James. One more day and Peter must die. But the church, the assembly, not a few but all, were before God in prayer. The word suggests both the intensity and the perseverance of their supplications. We know the result. And He is the same God to-day.

But we have a special scripture upon this subject which we are now ready to examine.

"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is there any merry ? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you ? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain:and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit" (Jas. 5:13-18).

James writes, as we know, to the nation, "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad." He looks upon them still as the people of God, and seeks in the spirit of one of the prophets to draw them to God. He recognizes of course that Christ has come, but he does not take up the truths of redemption and the descent of the Spirit, as Paul, Peter and John. He is thus, we might say, the last voice of God to the nation. It is a book of moral principles for the conscience, rather than dispensational. Rightly to answer to the word here they must have new birth and faith in Christ, but the question of outward separation from Judaism is not raised as it is in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Hence we have allusion to the synagogue, with the respect of the rich to which the Jews were specially prone, as not being heavenly people. We need not be surprised therefore, to see the governmental side of truth emphasized, and special directions for the comfort of the sick. But it is striking at the "very point where we would think the Jewish features most prominent, we find the Assembly. But let us look at the passage somewhat in detail.

The general resource in times of affliction is prayer, just as joy also leaves us in the presence of God, with thanksgiving for His mercies. Nothing is to take us out of His presence, we pour out our sorrows in prayer, and our joys in praise. How simple is the walk with God.

But now sickness has come. We first see the exercise of the one who is laid low:"Let him send for the elders of the assembly." This shows a heart that bows under the hand of God, and that recognizes the share His assembly has in all that concerns each one. The elders are the representatives of the entire assembly, and more particularly of its oversight, care and government. They are of course godly men of faith, age and experience, who have themselves been trained in the school of God, and who know what sorrow is. They were appointed by the apostles under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and thus had in that day an official position under the designation of inspiration.

This official position seems to accord with the anointing with oil spoken of in connection with prayer. It was used we remember by the disciples when sent forth on their mission of healing to Israel (Mark 6:13). It was the invariable mark of official designation of kings, priests and prophets (when the latter had any designation). It is a well-known type of the Holy Spirit, who alone can fit for service, or restore to it.

But it is the prayer of faith, and not the oil that saves the sick. This is evidently the essential and permanent part of the direction. Prayer links us with God, forms never can. These men of faith and experience, with the care of the assembly upon them, unitedly pour out their hearts to God. In faith they lay hold upon Him, and he does not disappoint. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." The affliction was recognized as from the Lord, His mercy was sought, in
connection with the order and government of His house, and His hand of power raised up.

More than this, if sins had been committed, they would be forgiven:This does not mean that sin necessarily had been committed, save in the general sense we have already seen, but that the sickness might have been as chastening for some special sin. The restoration to health in that case would be a witness of the restoration to communion also.

This leads the apostle to speak further of this feature of governmental dealing for sins, and the place of confession. It will be noticed that he does not speak of confession to the elders, though that may have been done, but "confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." Grace has brought us into the light. The holiness of God manifested our sins, while His grace has put them away. We abide in that light with all naked and open to His holy eye. This sense of being in the presence of God will give real fellowship with all who are in that presence. " If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another." Thus confession of faults will be natural and unforced to those whom we realize are in the light. If we have been before God truly about our sins, pride is gone, and there will be no hesitation on that account to speak to one another. This does not mean that we should be constantly pouring out the tale of our failures into our brethren's ear. There may be those who are in no spiritual condition to receive such confidences. The lesson may have been learned with God. All will one day come out at the judgment-seat of Christ, but there are times when it can most profitably come out now. If there is the confidence in the Lord and in one's brethren, it may often be a most sanctifying lesson to all concerned.

This confession of faults is spoken of as mutual, and so with the prayer that follows. It shows that it is to be done whenever there is need and faith for it. Most surely it could not be made a condition of prayer, nor be held before the sick one as the priest would hold up the confessional, as the only door to absolution. This would be neither grace nor holiness.

The apostle closes the subject with an example of the effectual – "the energetic"-prayer of a righteous man, one who is walking with God. Elijah closed and opened the heavens by his prayer. He was a man like ourselves, weak, liable to attacks of unbelief and discouragement, and yet he wrought with and for God, and obtained the answers to his prayers. What an incentive to do likewise.

But it will be said, and truly, that we are not living in the days of the apostles, that elders cannot now be officially appointed, and therefore this scripture is inoperative. Most surely there can be no assumption of official dignity, and more sad than that, there is a state of ruin which makes us even ask, Where is the assembly ? The world has crept in, discord and strife have followed, till the church of Christ, to man's eye, is a rent and divided thing. Elders of the assembly ! Alas, the assembly itself has crumbled into fragments, and if grace has enabled a few to act upon the truths of the assembly, it is but the feeblest of remnants. Weeping and shame become us. Elders and anointing would then seem to be out of place where our common ruin witnesses against us.

But blessed be the God of all grace, He has not failed. Christ and the Holy Spirit have not changed, and the word of God, with its precious promises, remains the same. Eliminate then that which speaks of the unfailed church, and we have still, fellowship, experience, care, and above all the prayer of faith. Nothing can alter that. God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

Nor is it presumption to recognize those gifts of rule which abide for the church. Brethren of age and experience, of piety and faith-there are these, thank God, whom faith can call in to unite in the prayer that lays hold of God. There is still the brotherly confidence that can pour out sorrow and the failure into the ear of loving sympathy.

How much, then, dear brethren, we have left from this scripture for our comfort and guidance even in a day of ruin. Shall we not then make practical and experimental use of it ? "Prove me now herewith," may we not plead if we have morally complied with the conditions (Mal. 3:10, 11).

We cannot dictate to our blessed God, nor would we demand the restoration to health of the sick. We would however ask if it be His will that He show us mercy. Thus was Epaphroditus raised up. May we not count upon the same mercy ? Particularly when it is some useful and faithful servant of Christ and the Church, either locally or more generally, may we not claim the promise, in submission ever to higher wisdom and purposes than ours ?

Nor is this the least inconsistent with the believing use of means for recovery. The same prophet who announced Hezekiah's recovery in answer to prayer, prescribed the means which was to be used for that recovery. It is pernicious to antagonize God and His instrumentalities, to turn the back upon His mercy because brought in the hands of a physician. This begets a pride which will need humbling so surely as any other sin. Some may be, mislead, and humbly refuse the use of means, but the system which does this is based in pride. It dictates to God.

Let us now turn to the house where God has raised up the loved one in answer to prayer and exercise. Joy and gratitude are there, chastened by the memory of the sorrows and exercises passed through. The glory is given to God, and this by a circle as wide as was engaged in the previous exercise. Let the reader ponder "the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness" (Is. 38:9-22). There is the memory of the bitterness of the chastening, the hourly expectation of death, the cry to God. Then comes the grateful acknowledgment that "Himself hath done it," and the sense of a holiness in God that will impel him to walk softly all his days.

So may it be with us, beloved and sorrowing saints of God. Let us learn from the great Teacher, and while bereavement does come, and blessed be God is not a sorrow without hope-nay, is far better for the one who departs-let us learn too to make use of this resource for faith in times of sickness. Lord, awaken Thy people, and sanctify to them all Thy ways.