(Luke 9:49, 50.)

While our Lord was on the mount of transfiguration, an agonizing father besought His disciples to cast the demon out of his child, "and they could not." Spite of call and authorization to do this very thing, they were helpless in the face of the "strong man " who held captive the child. They can only meet the Master’s indignant rebuke, with the helpless inquiry, "Why could we not cast him out? " In His answer they learned the secret of dependence and self-denial-prayer and fasting-as the only means by which Satan’s power could be overcome.

Would we not naturally think that the humbling sense of their own weakness would beget a charity that could recognize the workings of grace in others? But no. "John," speaking for all, "answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils, in Thy name, and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us."

Notice, this man is doing the very thing they had been unable to do-casting out devils. Further, he confessed the power of the name of Jesus. He was not arrogating to himself a power that belongs only to God. But "he followeth not with us." Their jealousy seems to have been for themselves, not for their Lord. One would have thought that the power manifest in this individual worker, would have provoked them to shame, and stirred them to prayer. Ah! they will reduce him to their level of weakness, rather than recognize what is of God in him.

But would it do for us to reason that the twelve were wrong in following Jesus? Can we imagine John urging that they must be mistaken in their position, because of their weakness, that it would be better to launch off into independency in order to obtain spiritual power? This surely would be fully as sinful as the other. Let us take the lessons that lie here upon the very surface.

God’s grace is sovereign. He works where and by whom He pleases. Wherever He finds one willing to bow to that Name above every name, willing to be used by Christ, He makes such an one the instrument of His mercy. Let it be remembered that God’s mercy must find an outlet. It cannot be fettered and hindered from going out to a lost world. We are living in the day of God’s grace-may we not say at the close of that day?-when infinite love yearns with the same longing as at first to bless poor sinful man, and to deliver him from the thraldom of Satan. Whom is He going to use for this blessed service? Can those to whom He has intrusted more perhaps of His priceless truth than others, arrogate to themselves the exclusive right of declaring the gospel?

More sad yet is the weakness only too manifest. Where is there the power in the gospel that casts out Satan? Where that love for souls, that heart-breaking longing, that travailing in prayer for their new birth? Alas! alas! we must hang our heads and own with shame it is not with us. Is God making us characteristically a gospel testimony, is He using us as the honored channels to convey the glad tidings of His mercy to perishing souls? Blessed be His name for every conversion, for every cloud though but the size of a man’s hand, amongst the assemblies of His gathered people.

But souls are being saved, the gospel is being preached by many who have not a tithe of the precious truth known to us-what shall we do? rebuke them because they follow not with us? or hide our faces with shame to think we have been passed by! Ah! let us ask, why could not we cast him out? Let us hear the answer that cuts pride and indolence from us, and casts us upon the living God. How quickly would He turn our mourning into joy, our weakness into love and power.

If Paul could say to the Philippians that he rejoiced even where Christ was preached in pretense, because it was Christ who was preached, shall we not thank God for every earnest seeker after souls though "he followeth not with us"?

May we not, too, confess to a pharisaic spirit of contentment with our knowledge and attainments, that ill suits our actual condition ecclesiastically as mourners for the common ruin of Christendom? Is there not too much of the thought (never expressed in words) that we are "just right," and every one else wrong? Place this self-satisfaction alongside of our service for Christ-let us prayerfully examine our works; let us see how much we are sowing broadcast the precious seed of the gospel, with weeping (Ps. 122:6). Let us ask ourselves how many children we are reaching with the pure word of God, remembering that the large majority of those saved are brought to Christ early in life. Let us ask how many of the outcast and fallen we are reaching, remembering who was the Friend of publicans and sinners. Dear brethren, we will honor rather than forbid those whom God is using, and we will beg Him to fit and use us also.

Far be it from us to exaggerate-there is always a levity about exaggeration that reacts by hardening the conscience. We would thankfully own God’s grace given to many a quiet tract distributor, many a faithful witness for Christ at daily work, many who visit the poor and needy with that which is better than temporal succor. We can thankfully own too the boldness given to some to go out into the highways and lift up their voices as the maidens of wisdom. But is it characteristic of us all? Do we all see our work and are we engaged in it?

Let us be sober-minded, avoiding all false zeal, all undue excitement. Let us compare ourselves with Scripture standards, and then upon our knees confess individually how little power we have against the hosts of Satan. Will we rebuke those who follow not with us, or will we learn from them? May our ever gracious God pierce us with this heart-searching fact, and awaken us to the love that labors because it must. We will see results, and apart from special "gifts," as well as by means of them, will know the joy of being channels of blessing to others.

But will this make us indifferent to following Christ in His word ever more and more closely? Will we lightly esteem the narrow path of obedience to every word of God, and lay upon the path the blame due only to our coldness of heart? Nay. Obedience and service are sisters. Only, pride is not obedience; knowledge, now as ever,-mere knowledge-puffeth up. He who has his heart truly enlarged to take in all the people of God, will find his feet in the narrow path.

Love and sentiment are widely different. There is nothing weak in love; it is stronger than all else; it is firm and uncompromising, unyielding. Weakness is but another name for selfishness, which will not let itself be disturbed by the disobedience of others. Love can weep and watch, can rebuke and smite, can do all things but yield in that which would injure its object or dishonor God. Such a love has God’s, will, God’s word, and His glory as its standard. It does not imitate men, it cannot sacrifice principle. But it is not puffed up and does not behave itself unseemly by a pharisaic spirit of pride.

May there be a revival of God’s work in all our hearts:an awakening by His Spirit, restoring the freshness of the early days, the spirit of prayer and faith, and love for souls. Oh, to be fresh! The taste of the manna was like fresh oil. When Christ is truly fed upon, in the power of the Holy Spirit, there is a freshness of joy and power that must find an outlet in happy service.

So we will not rebuke those who follow not with us, however much we may seek to guide them and help them in God’s truth. But, by God’s grace, we will stand ever firmer in His place, seeking in that place a freshness and freedom of service whose lack we now deplore.

Ques. 10.-It is frequently said that though the believer is born again and has a new nature, he also has the old nature. Scripture says our old man is crucified with Christ, and that means death. Is the flesh the same as the old nature, and what is the difference between the old man and the flesh?

Ans.-"The old nature" is not a scriptural expression, though its meaning is sufficiently clear. "The flesh "is the scriptural term and refers to that which belongs to the nature of fallen man. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." "The old man" refers to a person, responsible before God- what we were in Adam. This old man, this responsible man in the flesh, has come to an end in the cross. He has ceased to exist before God. But the flesh, the nature that belonged to that old man, still exists and has to be constantly judged and its lusts abstained from.

God ordained governments for man in his unredeemed condition in the world. The Christian is saved out of the world, and is no more called upon to go back into it to engage in politics than was Israel called upon to go back into Egypt; though governments are for the Christian, as well as for the world-as they are for all men. As a doer of good in the world the Christian is not to decide for himself what he is to do. His path is marked out by the word of God. The Word marks out for him a far higher witness and more powerful influence for good than he could ever have as a politician. In separation from the world, he sheds light upon it, praying, interceding for all men, and for those in authority. In mingling with men in politics he belies his own character at the start,* as if Israel had gone back into Egypt to reform it, or as when Lot went down into Sodom and sat in the gate. *Suppose a soldier slays an opponent, a fellow Christian he had been with in prayer a month before:this he professes to be ready to do, in war, if he is a voter.*

But it may be said we are to mingle with men to reach them. But we are not to give up our character, which is separation from the world, and from every unequal yoke, or we cannot reach them with the testimony of God. As in Noah’s time the ark was his testimony and the place of refuge, so now the Christian’s testimony is the gospel:"As sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life " (Phil. 2:15)

In short, God ordained governments in mercy to men and to the Church; but He ordained the Church for a different purpose, a purpose upon which thorough confusion is thrown by the very thought of a Christian in politics. The very thought is a refusal of God’s purpose, and a determination to substitute one’s own purpose, and be a doer of good on mere human grounds.

And this brings to mind the root of the difficulty- the heart not submissive to the truth of God as to the fallen condition of man. This pervades the Church to its confusion and exposure to heresy in many ways. The heart is not serious, not in the realization of man’s awful condition by sin, not really submissive to God as to His judgment of the world. Any link with the world defiles. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." As to God’s providential interfering or overruling in the governments of men the Christian is to be fully alive. He is a priest, and is to intercede, to pray, to give thanks " for kings " and "for those in authority " and "for all men," that we may lead godly and peaceable lives (i Tim. 2:i). He is to be an example of orderly conduct, and ready submission to the law (Rom. 13:1-8; i Peter 2:13-17).

How precious a true Christian testimony! how jealous should we be to maintain it pure; how falsified it is and ruined by politics, as by any kind of worldliness.

A second general consideration is this, the exhortations of Scripture imply separation from politics, as for example the one above referred to in i Peter 2::"Obey every ordinance of man." Evidently men who make these ordinances are a company of whom the Christian forms no part, he is outside of them, but he is to obey the laws the make. It is like that word in Heb. 9::"As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Here again "men " are a company of which the Christian forms no part, he will never come into judgment and may not come into death, and will not come into it as having the sting of sin, and approaching judgment. It is an appointment for "men" but not for the Christian. So "men" are law-makers, but the Christian is separated from that company by the cross. He is a new man under Christ, the Head of a new and heavenly race.

A third consideration is this, already suggested necessarily but it may be more definitely stated:a Christian engaging in politics must act without guidance from the word of god, and therefore without faith and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23).This alas, is no difficulty with many, and reveals afresh a root of confusion in this matter:in submission to God and to His word, human judgment displacing the spirit of obedience from the heart, and so lowering the tone of life and testimony of the Church in general. But any one who knows the blessedness of peace with God through the assurance of God’s word is glad to apply the Word at all times, and is consciously weak if he goes beyond it or acts without it. "Thus saith the Lord" he must have for every step, and he finds guidance in the Word for everything. Otherwise how could it be to him, "a lamp to his feet and a light to his path"? (Psalm 119:105).

Let us apply this briefly to various relationships and duties. In the relationship of a parent, of a child, of a husband, of a master, of a servant, of a subject under the government – in all these relations light is shed on the Christian’s path; but none at all on his path as a politician, he has gone beyond the Word, and must act without it. In fact he is acting merely as a man, a natural man, not as a spiritual man, not as a Christian. We have an illustration of the Christian place of honor and sanctification in the place accorded Mephibosheth by king David. "Mephibosheth shall eat bread alway at my table," was the king’s word. Ziba and his servants and his sons were commanded to till the land for Mephibosheth, and to bring in the fruits to him, but Mephibosheth was to eat bread at the king’s table as one of the king’s sons. Ziba was the servant of Saul. Saul’s kingdom a type of the power and governments of the world that are to pass away before the coming Kingdom of Christ. Ziba’s servants and sons may speak to us therefore of the men of this world, and of its governments who, occupied with earthly things, really serve the children of God. Whatever is done to promote good government and prosperity is a service by God’s appointment for His glory and for blessing for all men, but especially for His own (i Tim. 4:10). But the Christian, like Mephibosheth, is at the king’s table as one of the king’s sons. He is a priest unto God and has too high and holy an occupation to turn aside to the work of the servants of Saul.

For a Christian to be even prime minister or President would be but a misuse of time and opportunity. Saul’s servants are doing this work. The Christian is a worshiper of God, and one who is to hold forth the word of life, and to be a witness for Christ, to walk as He walked, to " follow His steps"-leaving us an example (i Peter 2:21).

No steps of His can be found in the arena of politics. The following His steps will most certainly lead in a direction wholly apart from anything of that kind. Even the world can see this. They know very well the inconsistency of a Christian in politics.

Peace and joy are in the way of separation from the world, and the taking up our cross and following Christ, afar from Egypt’s turmoil and unrest, and ungodly principles and ways. What we need is to have a clear perception of our heavenly calling. We wait to be taken to heaven where Christ is, and then He will appear and rule this world at last with perfect government, and establish a Kingdom that shall be forever (Dan. 7:27).

Israel departed from Egypt and commanded repeatedly to be carefully separate from the Canaanites; and Abraham, called to leave his country, answers plainly to the equally plain teaching and commandments of the New Testament, as to the path of separation from the world, enjoined upon us.

Let us rejoice in our happy deliverance, and let us give thanks to God that we have been called to such an honorable testimony. May we by example and exhortation help one another, and seek the salvation of souls.

May we abide in Christ. In Him we are blest with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. By Him we have access to the very presence of God. No defilement is admitted there. Nothing that is of the spirit of this present evil age, but what must unfit one to approach Him.

Let us walk upon our high places, and see that no wile of Satan mars our worship and our testimony.

"Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown." "Behold I come quickly."

What if the priests who marched round Jericho with the ark and blew the trumpets, had left the ark and had gone into Jericho to work reform. Yet such is the course of Christians who go into the world to make it better. It is confusion and disobedience. Let us suppose Paul to have been turned aside from his work in the gospel to a political career however great, the thought is heart-breaking, and yet how many are ensnared and robbed of their crown, in this and kindred ways; for the unequal yoke is a snare in every line, whether in business, or marriage, or benefit societies, or politics. Do we not desire to honor the Lord, not to dishonor Him; to comfort our brethren, not to grieve them-to be true witnesses for Christ? "If any man serve Me let him follow Me." "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols, for ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said:I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty."
E. S. L.

1 Cor. 6:19, 20.

I am not mine. Christ Jesus gave
His precious life, my soul to save;
My mortal body also is,
By right of purchase, even His.

Lord, I am Thine:Thy temple fill
With incense of Thy holy will,
And grant that I may ever be
Responsive to Thy ministry.

Forbid, dear Lord, that I refuse
To rightly use, or e’er abuse
That which, in grace, Thou lendest me
To glorify and honor Thee.

I am not mine! Be this my song-
My joy, that I to Christ belong;
He paid the price, in blood, for me,
And owns me for eternity.

G. K.

The clouds are the dust of His feet, Nahum 1:3.

Lord, when the clouds hang dark and low-
Clouds of affliction, pain and woe,
Of conflicts fierce that press us sore,
Of trials, galling even more;
When by loved ones misunderstood,
Life taking on its bitterest mood,
Temptations hedging us about,
Faith giving way to fear and doubt,
And, seemingly, hope also fled;
When to us unjust things are said;
When everything just hurts us, so
We know not how nor where to go-
Grant us this consolation sweet:
Clouds are the dust of Thy dear feet.
Dust of Thy feet.

Oh. blessed thought! The lowering clouds
But form light drapery which shrouds,
Just for the moment, our dear Lord
And dims the luster of His Word.
If we remember, as we should,
That clouds are meant alone for good,
To help us in our life of trust,
And are, at most, but transient dust-
And dust falls on the earthly clod,
While life is hid with Christ in God-
Then evermore, when clouds appear,
We’ll know a blessing hovers near;
And, as we rise our Lord to greet.
He’ll see the dust of His dear feet.
Dust of His feet.

G. K.

When the Lord was here He mingled freely among men of every class. He had come to serve men, even to the laying down of His life for them. He loved men, and their needs drew Him on.

But it was not hard for men to see that He was not as one of them. That He had come from another world, was actuated by motives different from theirs, loved not what they loved, and in His ways and words shed a light upon them which condemned them and made them either repent and follow Him, or resist and hate Him.

When He returned to His glory He left His people behind to continue this on earth. His Church as a whole should practically be here a Nazarite as was her Lord. But if, wedded to the world, she has ceased to be that, it is still both the privilege and responsibility of individual members of the Church to be what, as a whole, she ought to be.

This necessitates their separation from the church world as well as from the world itself. Nor is such separation to be confounded with that made by heresy:Heresy separates to be free to have its own way, and to make a center of itself. Nazariteship separates because it cannot otherwise be free for Christ. Christ is its all. At whatever cost it must yield Him the obedience which is His due.

Nor is it the obedience of a hireling who works for pay. It is "faith which worketh by love." It is from a heart captivated by His grace. It is that living water which having first quenched the sinner’s thirst, becomes "in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life " (John 4:).

The coming of our Lord is near. The heat of the day is well-nigh spent. What an encouragement for the hearts of His beloved people to be true to Him. P. J. L.

In the year 1879 when sailing north of Scotland, which is a very rocky coast, and therefore specially dangerous, I asked the captain if he knew where the rocks were; he replied, "No, but I know where they are not." The night was dark, the sea was rough, but he was calm and undisturbed. I felt at the moment there was a moral in his words and behavior for me, and for all Christians. We are mariners. We are passing over an ocean with rocks and shoals, and often with billows swelling high, and the night dark. We, therefore, need a sure chart for our guidance, showing us the track where "the rocks are not." We have that chart in the sure word of God, which is indeed a light pointing out the path in the sea along which we may safely steer our vessel, and we be without danger or dismay, knowing that God will care for us, and save us from disaster, if sailing according to the chart He has given us.

In order to sail to the heavenly port, we must first see and own our deep need as sinners, and flee to the refuge which infinite love has provided for us in the atoning death of Him who is now the Captain of salvation. Being thus saved, the heart is to be won in view of the price paid for our redemption, and by the love which paid the price. The soul, being thus saved, becomes satisfied with Him who saves. Then it is his or her meat to do the will of God, in other words, to keep the ship in the track of His revealed mind,-in "the paths of the sea," plainly laid down in the chart of His infallible word. When the heart is thus with God, and the purpose is simply to do His will,-to sail strictly according to His expressed thoughts, He will care for the frail little vessel so that it will ride the troubled sea safely along, and will come into port without any serious mishap or loss. Those who thus sail may suffer, for the enemy is on the lookout for any who sail according to the divine chart; but that does not interfere with their safety, but may increase their speed toward the desired haven.

On that dismal night, in the North Sea, two vessels, not far from us, were lost. Perhaps if those in command had the wisdom, skill, and care of our Captain (Turpin) they might have been saved. We should remember as Christians, that though we have a new nature, being born of God, yet we have the old nature also; and if we allow our love to grow cold, and the word of God ceases to have its true place with us, in this way the reins slip out of the hands of the new nature into the hands of the old nature, and we know well in what direction it will drive us. Christ and His word are not enough for a soul in that state; nay more, they are, or may be, really loathed, as the Israelites loathed the manna suited for them on the way to the goodly land. A person in this condition, begins to look around for something to meet the cravings of the nature which now holds the reins, and he sees that professors of religion, church-members, are enjoying all sorts of worldly amusements, and belonging, even ministers, to the different secret societies; and he begins to ask, Why may I not do the same? He soon persuades himself that there is no harm in these things. Next, he is sailing his barque in these waters. Should there not be entire shipwreck, the person may yet, through grace, sorrowfully see and feel the dishonor he has done to the Lord. The full amount of loss will be seen at "the judgment seat."
But it may be so with some that they have to own that their love has waxed cold, and that the things of Christ have lost their freshness for them, and that they have a drawing to these worldly things, and may be, with some honesty, asking what they are to do. Dear souls, your way is plain as to what you must do, if you wish to pass over life’s sea in safety, and not come to grief and loss. You have simply to go to God just as you are, and tell Him all your backslidings of heart, and all your hankerings after worldly associations, and amusements. Hide nothing from Him. Honestly confess all. Cast yourselves on His grace, and its provision in Christ; and thus you will recover your lost treasure, joy and delight in the things of God, and then, as a happy consequence, your desire for worldly pleasures and company will be gone, and you will be able exultingly to sing,

"I have seen the face of Jesus!
Tell me not of ought beside;
I have heard the voice of Jesus!
All my soul is satisfied! "

Being thus graciously delivered, and the joy of God’s salvation being restored to you, you might ask yourselves, Could we have asked the blessing of God on those worldly things to which we inclined? Could we have asked Him to go with us into those things and places? Or could we have expected Him to meet with us there, and given us sweet communion with Himself, thus telling us that He was pleased to have us there? Surely in your very worst state of soul you would have had to answer, No. Rather you would have wished to hide your desires and ways from Him. It is hard for one who has known the truth to silence conscience. But now being restored, and finding Christ, as before, to be an ample and satisfying portion, you can say to the votaries of earthly pleasures, "What, alas, charms you, charms us no more. We have returned to something sweeter and truer, and abiding,-forever abiding." Praise God. You can now join those who are crossing the ocean according to the heaven-given Chart in singing what the devoted Thomas Kelly wrote nearly a hundred years ago:-

"Led by faith, we brave the ocean;
Led by faith, the storm defy;
Calm amidst tumultuous motion,
Knowing that the Lord is nigh:
Waves obey Him;
And the storms before Him fly.

"Rendered safe by His protection,
We shall pass the watery waste,
Trusting to His wise direction,
We shall gain the port at last;
And with wonder
Think on toils and dangers past."

O beloved, let us ever keep before us what it cost to sever us from the world. The apostle Paul writes that the Lord Jesus "gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father " (Gal. 1.4). Then, how could we, with the agonies of the cross before the eyes of the mind and heart, and the word of God in our hands, go into " the evil " of that from which we have been separated at such a cost! "Be not conformed to this world" is written in our inspired Guide-book. Christians, let us sail our ship where it tells us the rocks are not. R. H.

"And upon His Head Were Many Crowns." (Rev. 19:12.)

(Continued from page 8.)

CHAPTER XII. Head of the Body.

We read nothing of any " Body of Christ " (in the sense in which we are now considering it), until Christ is a man in heaven. Figure, as of course it is, the appropriateness of the figure depends upon this, that it is a relationship to Christ as Man of which it speaks. Being a figure, we are to examine its force as such, as Scripture develops it, expecting to find in it the instruction which all figures have:for, as in Israel’s history, the ‘’ things that happened to them " (not merely can be used in a typical sense, but) " happened to them for types" (i Cor. 10:ii), so we may be sure also that in nature everywhere, according to the design of God, the clothing of the natural is but the veil of the spiritual; nor shall we " materialize too much ‘’ by allowing the glory of the light to shine through its earthly tabernacle.

This at once reminds us that the Lord compares His body with the temple of God, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up:He spake of the temple of His body " (John 2:19 and 21). And this is directly in the line of John’s testimony, that "The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us; and we beheld His. glory,-glory as of an Only-begotten with the Father, full of grace and truth "(chap. 1:14). Here it is said, "was made flesh,"not because He assumed nothing but a human body, but because in taking flesh, He came within the sphere of human observation and knowledge,- here the direct revelation of His glory "began:He was in the world and the light of it.

The body prepared Him was as the instrument of His Spirit by which His words and works made known the unique obedience which proclaimed Him the Second Man; while over all, through all, shone, in strange yet blessed harmony with this, the higher glory. Thus the body of Christ was the tabernacle or temple of God on earth.

Now the apostle, speaking of the responsibility of Christians, as flowing from their relationship to Christ, uses the same figure and connection of thought. The Church, as baptized by the Spirit of God, is one body, and that the body of Christ (i Cor. 12:13,27). Christians are also the temple of God for the same reason, the Spirit of God dwells in them (chap. 3:16). These thoughts are here no further connected, but in another place in the same epistle (chap. 6:15-20) he does connect them further, and applies them to the individual Christian and to his body as indwelt by the Holy Ghost. "Your bodies," he says, "are members of Christ . . . Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; wherefore glorify God in your body."

Here in the Christian, as in Christ, the body is the temple of God, He being glorified in it by the devotion to Him of those members in which humanity even in its highest faculties is manifested. The practical life glorifies Him, not only in the character exhibited in it, but this as the fruit of divine grace acting in virtue of Christ’s blessed work, and by the Spirit of God.

It is not, of course, of the Church that the apostle is speaking, but of the individual; and therefore it is that he says that "your bodies are the members of Christ"-he could not go further. Yet the basis is the same, the being "joined to the Lord" by the Spirit; and the individual is thus in the same way the temple of God as the whole Church is. Thus far, at least, the individual represents the whole, the "living stone " represents or shows the nature of the whole building.

As the "body prepared" Him was that in which the Word was manifested, and the Life, thus seen, became "the Light of men," so now in the night of His personal absence, He has a Body in which (though not in that original brightness) the same Light shines. Thus the Body of Christ is always spoken of as here, in the place of manifestation. The Church is "the epistle of Christ, read and known of all men, written with the Spirit of the living God upon fleshy tables of the heart,"-written with the rays of that glory hidden from the world, but to faith unveiled:"for God who caused the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give out the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 3:-4:6). Thus "we have the mind of Christ" (i Cor. 2:16):in the body of Christ, as energized by His Spirit, and controlled by the unseen Head in heaven, the life of Christ continually renews itself on earth. For the body speaks of living activities, of an organic unity in which communion is wrought out in the ministry of every member to the whole:for no member of a body liveth to itself, and the love of Christ to His own is reproduced in the mutual service which is love’s outflow, and for which He who knows best our interests has provided by the variety and inequality of the gifts He has given, that we may be bound the more together by our mutual dependence.

Such is the Church which is Christ’s body, in the thought of it which Scripture gives. The hindrances to realization of this, Scripture dwells upon also fully, and we are made to feel them painfully and continually. But these do not come within our purpose to consider now; as, indeed, it is not even the Church itself which is the object before us, but Christ in His relation to it. This, while it is in Him unspeakable condescension and grace, is even thus His glory forever, and shall fill the hearts of all the hosts of heaven with His praise. Yea, "unto God" shall "be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all the generations of the ages of ages" (Eph. 3:21, Gk.).

In Corinthians the Church is contemplated in its order, fellowship, and service. It is the Body of Christ (i Cor. 12:27), and therefore Christ is its Head, but the Head is not explicitly brought before us, save incidentally, "nor again the Head to the feet, I have no need of you." I apprehend no difficulty in applying this to Christ. The Church is, in that divine purpose which is the glory of divine grace, His "fulness:" the Head must have a body; and it is because of this wonderful relationship, that it is said, where speaking of the unity of the body notwithstanding its many members, "so also is the Christ." Some are beginning to apply even this to the Church exclusively-"the anointed Body." And they tell us even that, its being the complement of Christ is not the idea of Scripture, and that, if here we take in Christ, the eye and ear which the apostle instances as parts of the body would belong to the Head; but even in Ephesians and Colossians the "Body is looked at as complete in itself, though deriving" from Christ. Nay, even "the force of ‘He gave Him to be Head over all things to the assembly which is His body," is said to be only "that He might in all things have the pre-eminence-be chief." " All these things," it is finally urged, " are only human figures;" " we have been materializing too much."

Now it is granted, at once, that the "body of Christ," as applied to the Church, is a figure, and therefore also the Lord’s headship. They are figures of realities, to convey which all words are feeble. To materialize them would be profanity; but to take them as language the most suited that could be found to make us know what may be known and what God would have us know,-to take them at their fullest worth, therefore, instead of diminishing that worth, and so casting slight upon the communication of the Spirit who gave them,-this is what surely becomes us. The apostle himself assures us that we do " see by means of a mirror, in an enigma " (i Cor. 13:12, Gk.). Must we not, therefore, scan the more closely, look the more heedfully into, all the words of the enigma?

Now, it is certain, the apostle vises these terms, "head" and "body," very distinctly and determinately, in reference to the relationship between Christ and the Church. They are words not once merely, or casually used. We can see, indeed, that the figure fails before the full reality:for the body has to grow up to the stature of the Head (Eph. 4:15), and from the Head all the body maketh increase to the upbuilding of itself (16). Yea, Christ nourisheth and cherisheth the Church:for we are members of His body (5:29, 30). And in Colossians we have a similar statement (2:19).

Thus the Body does surely "derive from the Head; "but that does not show that Headship of the body does not (so we are told) express authority. Certainly it is the very thing which in relation to the body the head would express; and this is, I think, why the apostle can speak of the eye and ear as in the body rather than the head. For eye and ear are not the governing part:the hearing ear goes with the spirit of obedience; it is the very part anointed with the blood in the Old Testament to express this. While the Church sees also, and is governed intelligently. But the head presides – governs. The crown is put on the head. To say, "not even the head* to the feet" is to say as much as can be said. *If the body is " complete in itself," and Christ is not here the head, what is this "head of the church," (if it mean any thing) which is not Christ?*

Again, " wives submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto the Lord:for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church" (Eph. 5:23). Will it be said that here there is no question of authority?

Mere authority, it is true, does not give the proper thought of headship, which springs out of relationship, with common interests, and generally implies a representative character. Head and body, while of course they may be contrasted with one another as such, are yet in union so intimate that any completeness of one without the other could only be the completeness of a corpse. Scripture certainly does not contemplate it as to the Church in Corinthians, as we have seen. It is negatived three times over by "the Head to the feet," so also is the Christ,"and "ye are the body of Christ."

We might leave the passages in Ephesians and Colossians to speak for themselves; only it is good to realize how God in them would lift us up as much as possible to the height of His glorious thoughts. Thus in Ephesians (1:22, 23), "He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." There are the words, but how are we to interpret them? That Christ should be Head over all things,- that is not difficult to understand if He be what He is, the Creator of all things, the One for whom all was created, the One by whom all things subsist, and, yet again, the One who has been pleased to link Himself eternally with this creation of His Joy the manhood which He has assumed. But the apostle says, "Head over all things to the Church:" why and how "to the Church"? That cannot mean to limit what is absolute. It cannot mean (what would be a small thing to say in such connections as we have here) that to the Church God has made Him preeminent in all things,-even if that were the meaning of "Head over all." No, but this headship over all shows the fulness of His resources for that to which He is Head in such sort* that it is His Body. *ητις έστί τό σπμα αύτoύ.* The Head over all is Head to a people so by the Spirit united to Him, that they are one with Him as a body is with its head; thus His fulness, as the head must have a body in order that there should be a complete man. Yet, most marvelous to say, He who is in relation to this Body as His fulness, is Himself divine and filling all in all!

We can trace these thoughts in Colossians also, though with characteristic difference of presentation:"For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power . . . the Head, from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God " (Col. 2:9, 10, 19).

It has been said by some one that we never read of the body of Christ in heaven:and true that is, surely, of the whole present time. The Church is not yet in heaven, and is never spoken of as part here, part there. The condition of the dead is not the question, though every saint absent from the body is present with the Lord. But against the Church the gates of hades cannot prevail; and it remains upon earth until caught up to meet the Lord in the air, completed then by the recovery of all the many that in the meanwhile have been removed by death.

Till then the Body will not have reached the full stature of its blessed Head, so as to be perfectly fitted to Him, a work which is now being carried on by the continual energy of the Spirit of God, working by the gifts of His grace to accomplish this result. When this is accomplished, we cannot for a moment suppose that what has been carefully wrought out will come to an end, and serve no eternal purpose. We might as well think that our own bodies, perfected by the change of the living or by resurrection from the dead, will then have fulfilled their purpose and be laid aside forever. Into the future of each we are indeed given to see little; but this should no more in one case than the other, hinder our belief in that future. We feel also that we can evidently infer from the service of the body here, a good deal as to its future purpose. What the body is to us now, that (only perfected) will it be to us forever. May we not as rightly infer that what the Body of Christ is to Him now, that (only perfected, for perfected we know it is to be) it will be to Him forever? And we have seen the actual link in meaning between our bodies and His:the scripture figures given us of God for our instruction may be counted on to instruct and not deceive us.

The body is the servant of the mind, and in all its parts speaks of special adaptation to its various needs. As we think of it often, and prove it in the diseased and maimed conditions which are the result of sin, we may deem it little beside a hindrance to the activity of the soul-a clog upon it. Yet the simple fact that we are destined to an eternity in the body should make us dismiss such hasty inferences. The body is, as we are at present constituted, a necessity even to the work of the mind itself in many ways; and the mind trains it, disciplines it, as well as uses it according to its will.

In how much may one apply this to the Body of Christ, while of course fully remembering how entirely it is of grace, not of necessity, that He is found in such relationship as this implies with men His creatures. Here, indeed, how often seeming an obstruction to His will, the light of life how little shining out of us so as to be His commendatory "epistle" in the world, the Body how little, as to display, the temple of His glory yet! Still, the very discipline of His hand upon us, the experience of a grace which abides with us and does not give us up, the learning however slowly and imperfectly, something of His path, His cup, His baptism, all this assures us, of what His word reveals-a purpose to have us with Himself and for Himself, a drilled, disciplined, at last perfected "Body," through which His Spirit will work out purposes of His love, of which as yet we can know little, but which will reveal a special, divinely given oneness with Himself, in which He will be glorified, His heart satisfied, as He sees in it the fruit of the travail of His soul. And to God shall be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, through all the generations of the age of ages. Amen. F. W.G.

(To be continued.)

What was Thy crime, my dearest Lord ?
By earth, by heaven, Thou hast been tried,
And guilty found of too much love;-
Jesus, our Love, is crucified !

Found guilty of excess of love,
It was Thine own sweet will that tied
Thee tighter far than helpless nails;-
Jesus, our Love, is crucified !

O break, O break, hard heart of mine !
Thy weak self-love and guilty pride
His Pilate and His Judas were;-
Jesus, our Love, is crucified !

O love of God !O sin of man !
In this dread act your strength is tried,
And victory remains with love,
For He, our Love, is crucified !

"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold :them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock (Gk.) and one Shepherd." (John 10:16.)

"And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." (Eph. 2:16.)

The question has been raised, no doubt with the best intentions and by godly sincere persons, whether the Jew by virtue of his birth, may not continue after his conversion to Christianity to consider himself still a Jew and to observe the ordinances, such as circumcision and the passover.

It is the object of this present paper to examine the question simply in the light of the word of God. Of its importance many we believe can scarcely be aware, for it involves the very truth of the Church of God in its corporate testimony upon earth, and, if carried to its legitimate results, in its unique and heavenly glory as well.

Let us begin by asking what is Judaism and what is Christianity, and what is the connection between the two.

Judaism is the name given to that system originally established by God in relation with His covenant-people Israel, but which, as its name implies, had come to mark the disruption of the twelve tribes, and the consequent annulment of that covenant. (Jer. 31:31-34.) Naturally this annulment was, to outward appearance at least, gradual. Practically this covenant was never fully established with the nation, for they apostatized and set up the golden calf before Moses had brought the tables of the covenant into the camp (Exodus xxxii). God's relation with the people was at that time marked by the removal of the tabernacle or tent to a place outside the camp afar off (Ex. 33:7). It will be interesting later on to connect this scripture with one in the New Testament.

After this apostasy there was a re-establishment of intercourse but upon a somewhat modified basis. God was proclaimed as merciful and gracious, yet as One who would by no means clear the guilty (Ex. 34:6, 7). The first declaration permits Him to go on with the stiff-necked people; the second shows the legal nature of the relationship. The effect is seen in the fact that Moses was compelled to veil his face (Ex. 34:32-35), showing that there was no full, complete restoration to God's favor. How could there be if law entered in as a factor ? (See 2 Cor. 3:)

The removal of the ark from Shiloh (i Sam. 4:-vii), first to the Philistine's land, and, on its restoration to Israel, not returned to the tabernacle, is but another illustration of the same truth. The relationship of God with His people was in mercy, not on the basis of mere law; and all that witnessed of standing in the flesh, such as the pre-eminence of the tribe of Ephraim, had to be set aside.

David again is an illustration of this setting aside the flesh, and a fresh interposition in mercy. Saul was king according to the flesh, but was rejected for the simple shepherd called from his flocks. The eighty-ninth psalm presents all this in a most beautiful and interesting way, which is of especial value in the study of prophetic truth regarding Israel's future.
But David was merely a type-though also the ancestor of our Lord according to the flesh-and when his throne is established under Solomon God again reasserts the principle of the uncertainty of everything under law. See the solemn statement of this after the building and dedication of the temple. (i Kings 9:1-9.)

It is significant that when Stephen reaches this point in his wondrous discourse (Acts 7:) he goes no further in the recapitulation of the people's history. The highest glory which they as a nation attained did but emphasize their own alienation from God. Paul similarly (Acts 13:) leaps from David to Christ. Nothing marked the interval save instance after instance of their enmity and of God's long-suffering mercy. The darkness ever deepened. The ten tribes-long severed from Judah-were carried captive by the king of Assyria, and to this day are hidden from view, (i Kings 17:6-23.) Deeper gloom follows as Judah also is carried to Babylon, the temple burned and the "Times of the Gentiles" introduced. The " Ichabod " pronounced long ago, when the ark was taken captive, is now finally the doom of the nation, and Ezekiel beholds the departure of that reluctant glory which took its flight, never to return until the nation as a nation is born again and restored, after the great tribulation, in peace and blessing in their land, never more to go out so long as sun and moon endure. Let the reader compare the following passages for one of the most solemnly magnificent and yet most mournful occurrences described in the word of God:Ezek. 1:1-28; 3:22-27; 8:4-18; 9:3; 10:4-22; 11:22, 23; 43:1-6.

The return from Babylon was not a setting up again of the nation as such, but a provisional restoration under Gentile protection and authority, with no glory, no Urim and Thummim (Ezra 2:63). But had there been a heart for God the promise of the prophet, "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former" (Hag. 2:9), would have been fulfilled. Alas when the Lord came to the temple, it was but to find it a house of merchandise, a den of thieves (John 2:13-17; Matt. 21:12, 13* ). *It is interesting to note, as an illustration of the perfection of Scripture and its absolute inspiration, that there are two cleansings of the temple :in John it takes place at the beginning of our Lord's ministry, and in Matthew at its close. This is in entire accord with the theme of each book. In Matthew our Lord is presented as King, as it were tentatively, and it is after His rejection is fully manifested that He purges the temple; in John He is seen as rejected from the beginning and thus early pronounces judgment upon that which was called God's house.* At the close of His ministry He can but weep over Jerusalem and pronounce the doom upon an apostate nation:"Behold your house" (not God's house) "is left unto you desolate; for I say unto you ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in name of the Lord" (Matt, 23:34-39).

The cross is the people's answer to God's presentation of His Son, and their words, "His blood be upon us and our children," do but state the solemn and awful judgment upon a guilty people. Surely it is the mark of Cain who slew his brother, which while it preserved his life, forever branded him (Gen. 4:15) as the shedder of blood. Blessed be God, when the nation turns to Him with the prayer, "Deliver me from blood guiltiness" (Ps. 51:14-19), that precious blood which now witnesses against them, will then speak "better things than that of Abel," and the walls of Jerusalem will be built. But meanwhile Jerusalem is "trodden under foot of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24).

The first part of the book of Acts-the first seven chapters-presents to us the wonder of God's lingering mercy loath to depart from a people still blind and hardened. We know the descent of the Spirit marked a new epoch in God's ways-a new dispensation. The Church, into whose character and destiny we will presently look, had its beginning at that time by that Baptism of the Spirit which is its distinguishing feature and glory. But though the new era had thus dawned, one last call is made. The gospel begins at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47), and in connection with the preaching of repentance and forgiveness through the name of Jesus, His return is promised. (Acts 3:18-26.)

Alas, such patience but manifests the incorrigible hardness and blindness of the people; and when Stephen addresses them in a discourse which sounds like a judicial summing up (Acts 7:) their answer- final as in any sense a nation-is to stone him, the national method of judicial execution (Josh. 7:25). Stephen, like his Lord, prays for his persecutors, and passes into the presence of a Christ rejected on earth but glorified in heaven. Most beautiful is it to see, rising as it were red handed from the murder of the first Christian martyr, the chosen vessel who, arrested by the revelation of that rejected Jesus of Nazareth in the glory of God, becomes the apostle and minister of the Church, Christ's body. But we pause, ere entering upon the subject of the Church, to ascertain the connection of the ordinances with Israel as a nation.

If our readers have followed us thus far, they will have seen the absolute rejection of Judaism as having any status whatever before God. And we have no doubt that some may say this was already sufficiently clear without taking the time to prove what all admit. Our purpose, however, has been to show that there is nothing arbitrary in this rejection, and that with it goes the whole fabric of Judaism as a system, with its ordinances as well. Let us look at this last more closely.

"Moses gave unto you circumcision; not because it is of Moses but of the fathers, and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man " (John 7:22). We have here two of the principal ordinances of Judaism- circumcision and the Sabbath-connected with the law of Moses and yet of far earlier institution. We find the Mosaic ordinances of circumcision in Leviticus (chap. 12:3, with Luke 2:21, 22):the sabbath of course we find in the fourth commandment, where its previous observance is at least suggested (Ex. 20:8-11).

As to circumcision, it was given to Abraham as a distinctive mark of the covenant God made with him and his seed to bless them and to give them the land of Canaan for a perpetual possession. (Gen. 17:with Acts 7:5-8.) It was the ordinance of Judaism, so completely indeed as to be used as the designation of the Jewish people. (See Rom. 3:i, 30; 4:9; 15:8; Gal. 2:9, 12; Eph. 2:ii; Col. 4:ii; Titus 1:10.) Any one who failed to receive it, lost caste in the nation, was to be cut off. (Gen. 17:14, see also Josh, 5:2-9.) It was the initiatory rite in the reception of the stranger (Ex. 12:48). Other nations were stigmatized as "uncircumcised" (i Sam. 17:26, 36; Jer. 9:26). . We see thus that circumcision was woven into the very structure of Judaism as a whole. They stood or fell together.

As to the sabbath, it opens up a most needful and important line of truth into which we can enter but briefly. It was commemoration of the completion of the work of the first or old creation:it is contained in the law "written and engraved in stones," which was "done away" (2 Cor. 3:7-11). Its observance was enjoined because of Israel's redemption out of Egypt (Deut. 5:15); it was particularly made known to that nation (Neh. 9:14). The sabbaths were a special sign given as a covenant to them (Ezek. 20:12, 20 etc). Any fancied violation by our Lord, as to the observation of the sabbath, always aroused the special enmity of the Jews. (John 5:16-18, and frequently. ) It is linked with other ordinances as to meat and drink, holy days and new moons (Col. 2:16, 17). It has its place with these and when, as we have already observed, the penitent nation is truly restored, the sabbath will, with the other feasts, have its appointed place (Ezek. 45:17, etc).

The same can be said regarding all the feasts or set times. They were called, when given, "the feasts of Jehovah" (Lev. 23:2, 4, etc.); in days of decline, "your new moons and your appointed feasts" or, as frequently in John, "feasts of the Jews." Any national recovery was marked by their resumption, as the passover in Hezekiah's and Josiah's day (2 Chron. 30:and 35:); or the feast of tabernacles, after the return from Babylon (Neh. 8:14-18). These will all be resumed with the restoration of the nation. (Zech. 14:16, 18, 19; Is. 66:23; Ezek. 45:21.) Meanwhile they have been set aside with the nation to which they belong, while they serve as most beautiful shadows of things to come.* *We have but touched upon the whole question of the law and the Christian's relation to it, as a subject too large for the limits of the present paper. Its importance however in this connection is immense. Where it is not understood little successful resistance can be made against the assaults of such evil systems as Seventh day Adventism. "Are you under the law?" say they, "then keep the fourth commandment." Those who desire to look carefully at the subject will find it set forth in "The Law, the Sabbath and the Christian Ministry," "What is the sabbath and what is the first day of the week," " The Seventh day Adventists and the Sabbath"-pamphlets to be had of the publishers of this magazine.*

We pass now to consider the second question of our paper, What is Christianity.

Christianity is marked by two great and related facts:-Christ glorified in heaven and the Holy Ghost upon earth. We have already seen these as marking the setting aside of Judaism; they likewise introduce Christianity. About these two great facts cluster those precious characteristics which are the unique treasure and joy of the Church:-a present and eternal forgiveness of sins, justification, access, deliverance from sin, from the law; the sealing, unction and guidance of the Spirit, with His illumination and power for a walk in the world, to witness and to suffer for Christ; Sonship and Heirship, the hope of the glory of God and Himself our joy. Such are some of the special individual blessings characteristic of Christianity, set forth chiefly in Romans and Galatians. Coming to Ephesians we find a heavenly position in Christ and the believer quickened and raised up with Him and seated in Him in the heavenly places-in heaven already, as it were. In Galatians the believer
is seen as crucified to the world; in Ephesians as in a new world; in Colossians as quickened with resurrection life, and seeking the things which are above. (Col. 3:1:) In Ephesians the great mystery of the Church as the body of a glorified Christ is presented (chap. 1:22, 23)-a mystery till Paul's day unknown (chap. 3:i-ii). In 1st. Corinthians we have that body as upon earth, formed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, with its gifts and responsibilities set before us. Hebrews is filled with the contrasts between Judaism and Christianity, presenting, among other precious themes, the finished sacrifice of Christ, His priesthood, access into the holiest and a pilgrim walk here. We must select from such themes only such matter as bears directly upon our subject, and this can be brought out in our third and final inquiry as to the relation between Judaism and Christianity.

Our answer is brief:They are mutually exclusive. This, Scripture most abundantly proves. We will present a few reasons for this, gathered from the general character of Christianity and the Church, before taking up the specific arguments so frequently set before us in Paul's Epistles.

Judaism had to do with the old creation; Christianity with the new (2 Cor. 5:16, 17). Judaism was promised earthly and temporal blessings on condition of obedience to the law; Christianity has received spiritual blessings in heavenly places, through faith in Christ alone. Judaism had to do with shadows; Christianity with the substance. The hope of Israel is to inherit their land; the hope of the Church is to be caught up to meet the Lord, and to share His heavenly glory in the Father's house.

All are familiar with the presentation of the '' no difference" doctrine in the epistle to the Romans. Jew and Gentile are alike proved to be under sin- the one under law, the other without law. Both alike are partakers of the free grace of God through the sacrifice of Christ, for faith. The advantages of the Jew (Rom. 3:) are shown to be great, chiefly because of their having the revelation of God in His word:but this only enhanced their guilt. Abraham and David, the two chief figures in the nation, are shown to have received blessing not by law but by faith, Abraham particularly having received the promises before circumcision (Rom. 4:). The third section of the epistle (chaps. 9:-11:) is taken up with showing how the doctrines of grace, while superseding the blessings of national Israel, are not inconsistent with the promises of ultimate earthly blessing when the nation shall have repented. Chapter 9:gives us the sovereign election of God as the assurance of blessing, and not the blood of Abraham. Chapter 10:contrasts the faith, which accepts, with the unbelief which has rejected the Lord; while chapter 11:declares that even now a remnant is preserved-according to the election of grace, and therefore not of the first covenant-while in a day yet to come "all Israel," Israel as a nation, "shall be saved" (Rom. 11:26).

The passage as to the olive tree is of special interest (Chap. 11:17-25). The olive tree suggests those privileges and outward blessings connected with the manifestation of God. Its root we may say was Abraham who received the promises, and its branches his natural descendants. Israel had not continued in God's goodness and therefore were cut off from the privileges and blessings of the olive tree; the Gentiles who professed faith in Christ had entered into those privileges and were responsible as the channels of blessing to others. But it is all profession:were this not real they would be broken off. As a matter of fact the Gentiles have not continued in God's goodness and will, when the Church is caught up to meet the Lord, be broken off, as containing only the lukewarm self-righteousness of Laodicea and the blasphemous iniquity of Babylon. (See Rev. 3:16; Rev. 17:) After this the "natural branches" will be grafted in again, at the time of national restoration already frequently spoken of.

In other words this olive tree does not touch the question of nationality, but of privilege. Hence circumcision and the ordinances are not in question at all. Were they, then the Gentiles now partaking of the "root and fatness of the olive tree" would have to be circumcised.

Corinthians is largely occupied with the Christian Church and as such must be noticed later. We have already alluded to the striking passage in 2 Cor. 3:where the law is absolutely set aside for the "ministration of the Spirit," and to the fifth chapter where new creation is so strikingly spoken of. We must look for a moment at this. "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after flesh:yea though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more" (2 Cor. 5:16). Of Israel the apostle has said (Rom. 9:5):"Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God blessed forever." To know Christ after the flesh was to know Him as of the nation of Israel, as their rightful king. In Christianity, the apostle knows Him only as the risen Head of the new creation.

Galatians is so full of the subject we are considering that well nigh the entire epistle might be commented upon. The first chapter shows how Paul received the gospel, absolutely independently of Judaism, even of Jerusalem:the second shows how he maintained it clear of all such influences:the third shows, like Romans 4:, how grace antedated all law and ordinances:the fourth shows us the liberty of the Spirit and sonship as contrasted with the bondage of Judaism with its "days and months, times and years" -"weak and beggarly elements," as the apostle calls them:chapter five emphasizes the walk in this liberty of the Spirit, giving amongst much else this most pungent word, "If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law " (chap. 5:2, 3). After a few practical exhortations in the sixth chapter, he closes the epistle with those "large letters" (Gk.) written with his own hand, "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised:only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh" (Gal 6:12, 13; see also vers. 14 to end).

If it be objected that the apostle in all this is referring to the attempt to Judaize the Gentile Christians, the answer must be that he is on the contrary establishing the great salient features of Christianity for all. One passage of a character similar to those to which we have alluded refers exclusively to those who are "Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles" (Gal. 2:15-21).

But if we turn to the epistle to the Hebrews we find, as its name imports, a message to those of Israel's race who had professed Christianity, and the burden of it all is Christ, setting aside all else that the Jew might glory in-angels, law, Moses, and Aaron with his priesthood, the law, the sacrifices, the first covenant, the "worldly sanctuary," yea this world. As gone on high He has opened a path for those who have believed in Him to follow, and the heavenly city and the "kingdom that cannot be moved," are just in view.

Most solemnly again and again throughout the epistle are the professors warned against going back from Christ. Who could think that there was the least thought in the apostle's mind of the Hebrews going on with circumcision, the passover and the like as he wrote, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. . . . Wherefore Jesus also that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Heb. 13:10-16).

We can but pause to notice how the death of Christ, in Colossians, has taken out of the way the handwriting of ordinances:The only circumcision recognized is the circumcision (death) of Christ, made without hands (Col. 2:11-23). Most distinctly does the apostle declare (chap. 3:10, 11), as to the new man, that there is "neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision."

This brings us to the similar statement in Ephesians (2:11-16) where the division between Jew and
Gentile is seen broken down, and a complete reconciliation in one body (the Church) effected by the cross; a new man created, ordinances all set aside.

This truth of the one Body we find presented with much fulness both in the epistle to the Ephesians and that to the Corinthians. It is the basis of all true apprehension as to what the Church of Christ is. In Ephesians it is presented as in union with Christ its head in heaven (chap. 1:22, 23); a body formed of both Jews and Gentiles (chap. 3:6); with gifts for all needed service in its upbuilding-bestowed by the ascended Head (chap. 4:8-13). This Church is destined to be the heavenly bride of Christ, and even now should have the affections and obedience which such an union suggest (chap. 5:22-33).

First Corinthians (chaps. 12:-14:) gives us the Church as formed by the Spirit upon earth (chap. 12:13) with gifts bestowed, energized and directed by the Holy Spirit. Love is the main spring of all activity (chap. 13:), while prophecy – speaking to edification, and exhortation and comfort-is to be earnestly desired. Directions as to meetings follow (chap. 14:). Previous to this we have (chaps, 5:, 6:) the exercise of ordinary and extraordinary discipline, and in chaps. 10:and 11:the privileges and responsibilities in connection with the Lord's supper. In short, in 1st. Corinthians we have the Church and its responsibilities upon earth, as in Ephesians we see it (largely) enjoying its privileges linked with Christ in heaven. We ask, Where is there room for any of the features of Judaism in either epistle? They are both explicitly and impliedly excluded. In both epistles the unity of the body of Christ is emphasized. How could that be where the distinction between Jew and
Gentile was preserved! We have Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two ordinances (if we may use such a word) of the Church. How could we conceive of part of that church also observing the passover and circumcision, with all other Jewish ordinances?

But it will be replied this is just what we find in the book of Acts. We must then, ere closing, look at that book.

We have already alluded to the beauty of God's lingering over the nation, as seen in the first seven chapters, as though He would say "How can I give thee up." This gives the key to the whole book. We see the good Shepherd leading the sheep out of the fold, so gently and tenderly that even the weakest need not falter.

After Stephen's death the gospel is carried to Samaria-a step off the plane of Judaism (chap. 8:). Saul's conversion is then narrated (chap. 9:), while chap. 10:marks a most important step in the conversion of Cornelius, the first Gentile. Jewish persecution closes this part of the book (11:, 12:). Chaps. 13:and 14:show the gospel going freely among the Gentiles of Asia Minor, with the Gentile city of Antioch as a sort of center. When however the question of Judaizing is broached from Jerusalem, it is brought back there and settled by the apostles. Peter and James are prominent and while neither presents the truth as to the Church, both practically declare the end of exclusive Judaism; Peter even acknowledging that it was a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear (chap. 15:10).

Thus far we see gradual emancipation from the domination of Judaism. Yet, respect for weak consciences is most carefully enjoined. Timothy, as no necessity had been made of it, and unquestionably for the time being, was circumcised, in order that the gospel might go on unhindered. It reaches to Europe and great and wide-spread blessing is the result (chaps. 16:-19:).

We have no heart to appear as critics of that devoted servant of Christ, the apostle Paul, but simply applying the tests which he himself has furnished us in the epistles, his course as he turned himself toward Jerusalem seems to have been backward. We remember that he declared that once he wished himself accursed from Christ for his brethren's sake (Rom. 9:3, Gk.). His love for them was a passion. Gladly would he sacrifice anything to win them to the knowledge of Christ-to become as a Jew to Jews. In the face of known persecution, nay of what seems like actual prohibition (Acts 21:4), he pressed on, burning with love to Christ and His earthly people. Well did that faithful Lord appreciate the devotion, but alas, poor indeed was the reception given by the Jews. Instead of winning them, he stirred all their prejudices to the depths, and was thrown into prison.

Surely God overruled all this, and from the lonely prison came those wondrous epistles which set the distinctive truths of Christianity before us-notably Ephesians and Colossians-epistles which cast no uncertain light upon the mistakes of a love rarely equaled.

In the face of such an ending can we say the Spirit of God encourages compromise? Gently as God had led on His beloved earthly people, the break had to come at last, and we find Paul himself severing the last strand, "Be it known unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it" (Acts 28:28). Shortly after this Jerusalem was destroyed and the last step in the break with Israel was taken.

Judaism is at the present time absolutely cast off. The Jew must take his place with the Gentile as a lost guilty sinner. He finds Christ and in Him stands before God no longer in a righteousness which is of the law, but which is by faith in Christ. The apostle (Phil. 3:) describes the true circumcision, as contrasted with that made with hands. He arrays everything that he might have gloried in and sets it all aside. "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews . . . but what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ."

It is useless to urge that this was only for salvation. This is analogous to the reasoning that the believer is not under the law for salvation, but is under it as a rule of life, and both are similarly injurious. We can understand that the timid faith of the Jewish convert might cling to the ordinances of his fathers, and it is barely possible that he might escape persecution by so doing. He would, we firmly believe, be opening the way for less worthy ones to enter the same path. But, after all, these are not the things we are to consider. We may pray for our weak brother, but we should seek to deliver him from a yoke which can but mean a failure to understand God's ways, and his own privileges. To make provision for him to go on in Judaism is but to provide for the dividing of the Church of Christ into Jewish and Gentile.* *It may be argued that 1 Cor. 7:18, 19 warrants a continuance of Jewish ordinances for the new convert. Let it be noted that the apostle set aside both circumcision and uncircumcision. Grace takes one up where it finds him-and he cannot undo the past. If married he remains so; if a slave he remains so, though he was to seek freedom if possible. But he was to go on with God (verse 24). Now if his original position were contrary to the mind of God, he must abandon it. Quite a similar argument is used regarding eating meats offered to idols. In one sense it was nothing, in another it was eating of the table of devils (1 Cor. 10:16-22). The most that could be gathered from the passage we are considering is that a man remains a Jew just as a man remains married-neither having the slightest relation to God. But to go on with Jewish observances as unto God, would be going back to the flesh after having begun in the Spirit.*

But it may be asked what is the converted Israelite to do? The Church is divided, where can he go? Our reply must be, just where every Christian whose eyes are opened to the evil about him must go-to the Lord Himself. He never changes, and He is just as ready to meet those put out of the synagogue to-day, as when He found the man whose eyes He had opened, and revealed Himself as the Son of God.

Oh, beloved, to be at the feet of the Son of God- worshipers ! what place have ordinances here ?

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

CHAPTER V. (Continued from page 65.)

The Son of Man.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now He openly declares Himself :-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(To be Continued.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER VIII. (Continued from page 238.)

The Anointed Priest.

It is by His baptism at the hands of John, that the Lord, coming forth out of His thirty years of private life in which He had fulfilled His own personal responsibility as Man before God, devotes Himself to that work on behalf of others for which He had come. He is "baptized unto death," of which Jordan is the well-known figure; and this implies for Him both sacrifice and priesthood. As the Lamb of sacrifice John therefore proclaims Him, while as Priest He is anointed with the Spirit; the Father's voice proclaiming Him that which, as we have seen, marks Him as the true Priest-His beloved Son. Here then begins His ministry, which is characterized by all that grace which priesthood implies, and by those works of power which are the broad seal of His commission as the Anointed of God.

As Son of God He is now also the Prophet, God Himself now, as never hitherto, speaking among men, and as Man, which makes the intimacy of this grace complete. But His feet have to take for this the way of Calvary. Every word is in this sense an evangel; every act of power is as it were an anticipation of resurrection from the dead. The glorious Voice has to be hushed in silence, the Mighty One to be crucified through weakness, the Priest of men to offer up Himself, the Son of God to suffer as Son of man, the Seed of the woman to set a bruised heel upon the Serpent's head. It is a conflict of good with evil, in which all vantage of power is to be on the side of evil, the victory gained by suffering, in the awful place in which the fire of God also searched out all the inward parts, and no deliverance could be but on the ground of absolute perfection-a whole burnt-offering, sweet savor every whit. He was "heard for His piety." No grace could be in His case, but simple righteousness, which at last drew Him out and justified Him in resurrection from the dead.

Thus the pure white linen robe was seen to be upon Him before He entered the Sanctuary; but more,- the blood was provided:the penalty upon man was met, death and the forsaking of God,-the governmental penalty, and that which was and is the necessity of His nature,-of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and who cannot look at sin. Thus the hindrance-not to going (for He could always go) but to bringing into the sanctuary is removed:and this, of course, means His going in officially, as Priest for others. And thus it is that it is the blood of the sin-offering, (and only of that when in its fullest character,) not of any other, that opens the way into the sanctuary of God. For, sin being removed, God is free to draw near to men, free to admit men to draw near to Him:divine love is unhindered.

Thus propitiation was effected on earth, and resurrection had declared the justification of all who should believe on Him, before He ascended up to take His place for us before God. "He entered in once into the holy place, having found eternal redemption " (Heb. 9:12). In contrast with remission for a year, and annual entrances of the Jewish priests, only for the moment, He has entered in once for all, never needing to repeat a sacrifice which abides in its value before God continually.

It is as entering in thus that He is "saluted of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek;" and here several things have to be noted, which combine to make up the picture presented to us in the type.

But let us first take notice that the two words in Heb. 5:in our common version alike translated "called," are by no means the same. The second word (ver. 10) is in the revised "named," but would better be rendered "addressed" or "saluted." It does not convey the thought of calling to an office, and it was not after His work had been accomplished, that the Lord's priesthood began. Most certainly He was High-priest when He offered up Himself (Heb. 7:27), and the passage here says nothing to the contrary. But it is in resurrection that His priesthood assumes the character in which Melchizedek represents Him,-a royal priesthood, and with no shadow of death upon it.

A royal priesthood is certainly the Melchizedek order; it is doubly emphasized:in his name, "King of righteousness"; and then as "King of Salem," that is,"King of peace." This is what the apostle first of all dwells upon. It has been by some lost sight of, because the Lord's human Kingdom is not yet come; but we are in "the Kingdom of God's dear Son "(Col. 1:13), and the epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes His place as Son over the house of God (chap. 3:6). Thus He is surely a Royal Priest:with power in His hands exercised in priestly tenderness; righteousness and peace the characteristics of His rule.

Then He " abideth a priest continually"; and as Melchizedek is presented to us in the history, without predecessor or successor, without beginning of days or end of life, in this he is "made (typically) like the Son of God" (Heb. 7:3). Levi, as the apostle reminds us, gave tithes in Abraham to this greater priest; and the Levitical priesthood are thus prefigured as to their relation to the antitypical Melchizedek.

Strikingly, in the history also, Melchizedek offers no sacrifice, but "brings forth bread and wine" for the refreshment of the man of faith. This the apostle neither comments upon nor notices; but he goes on to picture Christ as the Minister of the true tabernacle, the heavenly sanctuary where, of course, no sacrifices are offered. The bread and wine cannot fail to speak to our hearts of the memorial of that once offered sacrifice, which has left us now no sacrifices save that of praise and thanksgiving. Thus every way Melchizedek represents Christ in His relation to us now. That there is an application to millennial days, and His relation to Israel, is surely true; yet the whole connection in the book of Genesis presses rather upon us the Christian one.* *"See Genesis in the light of the New Testament," or The Numerical Bible, Vol. I.* Indeed the men of Aaron's order, while they show us typically the work which opens the Sanctuary, have nothing to say of the Sanctuary open. Melchizedek may therefore fill a gap here, without in any wise displacing the Aaronic priesthood in whatever it can show us.

It is just here however that a mistake has been made in another direction which needs to be pointed out. It is that which would ascribe to the apostle a doctrine of the Lord not having been a Priest on earth, not even when offering up Himself upon the Cross; in direct contradiction of the whole typical system.

His words are very different from this:"For if He were on earth, He would not even be a priest, seeing that there are priests who offer gifts according to the law, who serve for representation and shadow of heavenly things." He does not say that the Lord was not a Priest on earth; but having set Him before us as Minister of the true (antitypical) Tabernacle, he says, if He were on earth there would be no room for Him in the earthly one:for there the sons of Aaron fill everything according to the law. Surely nothing could be much more simple than such a statement.

But the work which He did upon earth had nothing to do with the Aaronic service, and answered to the work outside the sanctuary. Now He has finished this, it is the heavenly Sanctuary into which He has entered, and to which He belongs. " By one offering He has perfected in perpetuity those who are sanctified." And in consequence, "such a High Priest becometh us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."

All sin put perfectly away from every saint of God, our Priest in heaven is for saints, not sinners, for weakness, not for sin. His sacrifice is for sinners; His sympathy and intercession are for saints, amid the opposition and seductions of an evil world, in which He has Melchizedek-like refreshment for the tired warrior, and memorials of unutterable value for him who is exposed to the offers of the king of Sodom:food of the mighty, which makes men that, and in the strength of which they may go, like Elijah to Horeb, many days.

But our Priest keeps open the Sanctuary also, that we may have access to God, and refuge in His presence from the world through which we pass. With a veil rent, and a great Priest over the house of God, we are encouraged to draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

The traveler who stops at a hotel close to a large I railway station finds little rest the first night. The constant noise in the station, rumbling of omnibus and wagon in the street disturb his rest. The second night he sleeps better, and soon, becoming accustomed to the noise, sleeps soundly until the porter knocks at his door. He awakes. His room is full of light. It is morning.

Let us leave the traveler in the hotel and look at another-a traveler to eternity. Turning the search light of the word of God on him we discover some very indistinct features of a child of God. When a child of wrath and disobedience, he was delivered from this present evil world and the wrath to come to wait for His Son from heaven. (Gal. 1:4; i Thess. 1:9.) With garments gathered up under that girdle of truth-the "blessed hope" of the coming of the Son of God-he started on the heavenly road and pressed on, through the night, looking for "the bright and morning star " that will usher in the eternal morning without a cloud. (Rev. 22:16, 17, 20.) But, alas! his eye gradually becoming dim to the glory of the coming One, and his ear dull to the words of his Guide, the Spirit of God, he touched "the unclean thing" (2 Cor. 6:17). He considered the thing touched "harmless in itself," but it defiled him, and interrupted his fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, (i John 1:3.) Again he touched, more defilement and a duller ear to the words of his heavenly Guide were the sad results. No longer a robust traveler, he dropped out of the ranks of those that are "strangers and pilgrims" who look for a city whose builder and maker is God, sat down to rest, and went to sleep in Sodom saying in his heart:"My Lord delayeth His coming" (Matt. 24:28). Like the traveler who became accustomed to the noise, his conscience gradually became insensible to defiling influences and associations, and under the power of these spiritual anesthetics, he laid his head on Delilah's knees, and went to sleep. (Judges 15:19.)

Reader, is this an imperfect portrayal of your condition? If it is, hear what the Spirit of God says to you:"Awake thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine on thee" (Eph. 5:14). Thank God, you are not dead in your sins, for you have been quickened together with Christ, but you are asleep among the dead in a world that "lies in the wicked one " (i John. 5:19). During the great plague in London, a load of plague smitten dead was emptied, one night, into a pit for burial. Before shoveling the earth into the pit a laborer turned a light on the dead, and saw an arm slowly lifted up by one in the pit. A feeble indication of life was there. Yes, a living man, unconscious of where he was until the light was turned on him, lay among the dead, and was pulled out from among them. Awake thou that sleepest, arise from the plague smitten heap of this world's dead, and Christ shall shine on thee. Sleep no longer. Awake now. The Lord Jesus may come before you put this paper out of your hand, and drag you out of Sodom-from the plague smitten heap of this world. What an eternal loser you will be if He comes and finds you asleep. Can you afford it? Think of the joy it would give His heart to-day to have your head again pillowing on His bosom of eternal love, love that led Him to give Himself for you. W. B.—– n.

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

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

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

But let us turn to divine testimony on this matter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unrevised Notes of an Address at Lachute, by C. C. (Matt. 5:20; Rev. 3:10).

First, we have treasure in heaven, next a crown, I link them together. First the treasure. Let us have distinct thought of what the treasure is. If I were to come to you with the question, What is the treasure, I should likely have different answers from different individuals. And again, if I ask as to the measure of the treasure possible to lay up in heaven, I think possibly we may not have thought much about it. I think most of us are satisfied with the thought that we shall have treasure there, and there is much sluggishness as to laying up.

And as to the other subject-a crown, most of us think we shall have a crown-a reward-but I find there is much indefiniteness as to the crown.

But first let us look at the treasure (Matt. 5:20). People will say this passage does not apply to us, as we are on Christian ground now, and these portions (Matt. 5:-7:) teach us the principles of Christ's Kingdom, as He came to establish it on earth, and as it yet will be when He comes again. But, beloved brethren, although the King has been rejected, and has gone into heaven again for a time, are we not subjects of this Kingdom, and in it ? Surely we are, and these Scriptures have their application to us, and we dare not set them aside; we shall suffer loss if we do. If the Word then exhorts us to the task of laying up treasures to find them in heaven, what is the treasure ? what is it we are to store up there ?

The treasure must be Christ. You say, have not all Christians got Christ ? Yes, that is true. But we
must distinguish what we have as simply believing in Christ, and what we are exhorted to here. We believe the gospel and we get Christ-life in Christ, forgiveness, a title to heaven-the Father's house; we are "made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." The weakest believer-with but a moment to live after believing-has Christ. Let us not weaken the sense of this in our souls. Our title to salvation with eternal glory is the precious blood of Christ. But then if God gives us Christ, as He does to every believer, it is true also that all there is in Christ is the believer's. He is our portion-all that He is, His wisdom, His perfections, beauties-all that He is, is for us, for we are "blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ." But, beloved, there is a sense in which we have to learn Christ, what He is to us, and for us. We have an illustration of this in the history of the children of Israel in connection with the land of Israel. It was theirs by promise, and they had a title to it, but while this was true, when they entered the land they had to conquer it and take possession; and wherever they put their foot it should be theirs.

There is a sense in which, then, we need to learn Christ. When it becomes a question of practical realization of what we know of Christ, all we really practically know of Him is what we have. When we get to heaven, we will find there, so to speak, just what we have learned of Christ,-what we have learned here. God is putting us through perplexities, troubles, trials, sorrows, that in these we may learn what the character of Christ is-His love and His tender care. This is our task-our lesson, as we pass through this dry and thirsty land, where no water is. As we turn our backs on this poor world and set our hearts upon possessing the glorious portion that belongs to us in Christ, we are laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come. Christ is our treasure then.
Now a word as to how we lay it up.

It is already indicated by what I have said. If learning Christ is our object-if we care more about learning what He is than anything else, it is simple enough,-that is laying up treasure in heaven. Beloved, let us challenge our hearts, where have they been to-day? where are they to-night? where will they be to-morrow? The measure in which I am devoting all the energies of my being to the enjoyment of Christ, in that measure I am laying up in store- laying up treasure in heaven. What is the measure of the treasure possible to us ? How much may we store up ? How much axe you going to have there ? Have you ever asked yourself that question ? I did once, after being long a Christian, and it had a sobering effect on me. Let us all ask ourselves the question here to-night. Do you think you are limited in your possibility ? Beloved, you will not have one bit more of the treasure when you get there, than you have learned down here. I trust our hearts will be touched and solemnized by this. We are in circumstances where we may learn much of Christ, and when we go home to enjoy the feast in the Father's house, we shall not be in the same circumstances then as here. Whatever you miss by heartlessness, indifference, or by whatever reason down here, you cannot make up for it or learn it there. Have you ever thought of it ? Think of it now, beloved ; in every circumstance, in every straight, in every trial, it is our privilege to learn more of Christ, of His faithfulness and love,-to meet it all again in the day of His glory, when we meet Him in the Father's house. And if we do not learn it here we shall not have it there. Let our hearts be exercised then. Let us see to it as we pass along, that we turn everything to account-every trial, every perplexity, every sorrow the occasion of increasing in the knowledge of Christ. Is it not a cheering thought we shall find again as treasure whatever we have gone through here with Christ and for Him.

Now let us look at the crown (Rev. 3:ii). " Behold I come quickly :hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." The figure here is a familiar one. In i Cor. 9:24, "Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize." This is just that all are in the race, but I find the thoughts of Christians are very indistinct as to the figure. For instance, they say only one receives the prize. How can this be ? Is not every Christian going to have a crown ? Yes, surely, every one. But the reason they have this difficulty is because they have neglected to note the word of the same apostle in 2 Tim. 2:5, " If a man strive for the mastery, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully,"-that is according to the rules of the race. Now then, I believe this means that people who profess to be Christians who do not submit to the rules of the race will not get a crown. But then we are not all going to have the same crown. There are different crowns-different rewards. Let us think of the race course for a moment. There are, say six persons running, all start at the word given. But as they go on they begin to separate, some going faster than the others. The first one gets nearly there, and practically the first prize is his ; the second is two-thirds of the way, and the rest each behind the other. But, look, the second one falters; he weakens and begins to loose ground, and before he is aware the third one is past him, and he loses his prize, and if he be roused from his lethargy, perhaps he may come in third. Beloved, are we in rank ? We need not stop to decide what our place is. The point is, are we "reaching forth unto those things which are before?" Then let us keep on. Don't let us lose interest, or be discouraged because of the way. Let but the least thing intervene-a straw, but perhaps, and we shall weaken and loiter, and if we do, some one else who may have been behind may pass us, and the crown that now belongs to us-shall pass to another. Hold fast your place in the ranks, beloved, don't let the affections waver, don't let them weaken, don't give up the persistent effort to push on.
God grant our hearts may be stirred to their very depths every day, and may we realize that great possibilities are before us. Let us "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Let us seek and reach out, in the energy of faith to grasp what God is offering to us. May He grant us more earnestness, more faithfulness, more energy to lay hold of what lies before us that we may not lose our crown.

I gladly avail myself of the opportunity which the recent Church Congress at Shrewsbury gives me to think out audibly my thoughts upon Evolution and Immortality. It is a subject, indeed, which has a grave importance for us, now that clergy and schools are getting alike infected with that which leads so palpably away from Scripture at the outset, and gives whatever is pleased to assume the garb of "science" a free hand to fashion all our most sacred convictions after its own pleasure.

I do not believe that Scripture was not intended to teach science. Most plainly, all the foundations of true science are in it, in its revelation of the relation of all things to God. Why is it, indeed, that "science," in its attempts to formulate its beliefs, manages so to run up against Scripture, but because Scripture is standing guard there to prevent man's thoughts from breaking bounds? And it does this
effectually where there is proper faith in it. What form of evolution, many as there are, could against nature bring Eve out of Adam? Certainly none. God has put there the miraculous in too definite a way for any to escape from it.

Now it was against the doctrine of special creation -which that of Eve is if it is anything-that Darwin distinctly set himself with full purpose of heart. "He tells us himself," says Prof. Mivart, "that in his 'Origin of Species' his first object was 'to show that species had not been separately created;' and he consoles himself for admitted error by the reflection that 'I have at least, as I hope, done good service in aiding to overthrow the dogma of separate creations.' "

Yet he had admitted, in that very book, "a few forms, or one," into which "the Creator had breathed life!" Yes, insincerely:to sweeten the pill that he was presenting to his readers! "I have long regretted " he says afterwards, "that I truckled to public opinion, and used the pentateuchal term 'creation,' by which I really meant ' appeared' by some wholly unknown process."

And this is the man of whom the chairman of the Church Congress says:" It maybe said of him, as of so many humble seekers after truth, in the language of the Lord through the mouth of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, ' I have guided thee, though thou hast not known Me!'" Isaiah says "girded," not "guided;" but, apart from this, it is a strange notion of the way God guides His scientific prophets. "Science and Christ,"says Mr. Darwin, a short time before his death, "have nothing to do with each other, except in as far as the habit of scientific investigation makes a man cautious about accepting any proof. As far as I am concerned, I do not believe that any revelation has ever been made. With regard to a future life, every one must draw his own conclusions from vague and contradictory probabilities."

Alas, if the Bishop of Hereford should be right, and "so many humble seekers after truth" are "guided" in this fashion! not merely guided, but constituted guides for those who are in the full light of Christianity. But this is nothing short of blasphemy. "Everyone that is of the truth," says another and far different speaker, " heareth My voice " (John 8:37).

Spite of the "caution about accepting any proof" which science had taught him, Mr. Darwin says as to the matter of his book:"I have picked up most by reading really numberless special treatises, and all agricultural and horticultural journals; but it is a work of long years. The difficulty is to know what to trust." These are his own italics; and he again recognizes the need of caution; but that avails much more to influence him as to revelation than as to his own theories. Dr. Stirling,* from whom I am borrowing here, after quoting the son's account of his father's inevitable tendency, adds:"In fact, Mr. Darwin himself makes a stronger acknowledgment for himself than his son does for him. *"Darwinianism:Workmen and Work."By J. H. Stirling, LL.D. (P. 193).* Even on the last page of the Journal, words occur which are an undeniable confession. They are these:'As the traveler stays but a short time in each place, his descriptions must generally consist of mere sketches -hence arises, as I have found to my cost, a constant tendency to fill up wide gaps of knowledge by inaccurate and superficial hypotheses.' He writes to Henslowe once:'As yet I have only indulged in hypotheses; but they are such powerful ones that, I suppose, if they were put in action for one day, the world would come to an end."… For very soberest conclusion, let us bear in mind this (2:108):'I am a firm believer that without speculation there is no good and original observation.'"

Such is the man, then, and such by his own confession the style of the book which, with the aid of some powerful backing, took the world by storm. The real success of his argument, and the way in which faith had to do with it-a faith which he had lost as to Scripture-may be estimated by what Dr. Stirling remarks in closing (p. 357).

"This is strange, too – in the whole 'Origin of Species' there is not a single word of origin! The very species which is to originate never originates, but, on the contrary, is always to the fore (p. 240). Nay, as no breeder ever yet made a new species or even a permanent race, so the Darwins themselves, both Charles and his son, Mr. Francis (pp. 268, 269), confess, 'we cannot prove that a single species has changed.'"

This is the result to which this "humble seeker after truth " attained. Having found it, face it after all he would not, but took refuge in a faith as to what he could not prove, and which ended for himself, alas, in the eclipse of hope and the loss of all that could make knowledge of any value. Even in the present life this; in that which is to come, who shall sum up the loss?

The arguments for evolution are, largely, such as have been used in many different branches of science, to prove what in the end was fully dis-proved by longer and more exact investigation. They are the fruit of a partial induction mistaken for a full one:as if one measured the growth of a child, say from five years old to ten, and found that it had grown in that time three inches in the year, and from that decided that at 50 this would be a man somewhere about 14 feet high. Only one thing would hinder such a calculation being right, but that would be quite enough:sometime between 18 and 20 this growth will cease, and the knowledge of this limit would alter the whole estimate.

No one, of course, would make such a mistake, because the limit here is familiar to us all ; but such limits unknown as to planetary variations has made men fear that all the world would go to wreck. Such calculations as to the formation of the earth have carried back the age of man upon it into a fabulous antiquity. And such observations of the abundant variations that are found continually taking place in organic beings prove for the evolutionist that all things are in flux. Somehow, notwithstanding this, the world is reasonably stable; and the admissions of the Messrs. Darwin that not a single species can be proved to have changed into another is a better argument for a limit in some way, than that from the variations for such a change as none have found as yet, however willing and anxious they might be in their folly to find it.
Christians are suffering in all this for the unbelief which expresses itself in such sayings as this, that Scripture was not intended to teach science. It was intended to teach whatever it does teach; and one truth that it does teach is better than all the conjectures of all the wisest men that ever lived, and all the volumes they have ever written. "If I have told you earthly things and ye believed not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? " How Satan must laugh when Christians give up the earthly things as unreliable, while assuring themselves of the profound faith they have as to the unseen heavenly things?

True it is, of course, that our interpretations of Scripture need to be distinguished from Scripture itself, and that here we have need again to remember our human fallibility. The surer we may be that what we have is what the Word has taught us, the simpler we may be in letting it all be tested. Scripture is not like a hot-house plant, to which outside exposure may perhaps be fatal. The more we examine what we hold for truth, the more the truth itself will root itself in our convictions, and deliver us from the fear which makes the hearts of so many uneasy at the present day.

We cannot, if we would, shut ourselves off from the myriad forms of unbelief which assail us from every side to-day. Let us trust the faithful guide which has been given us, and go to it upon every question. It is able to furnish thoroughly the man of God. If we are such we shall not even regret the having to search the Word about these many questions. We shall not only be answered; we shall be enriched and built up by the answers. For this is the character of God's word:the "holiness of truth " is in it, and the unfailing spring which satisfies the thirst of all that come.

What answer shall we get, then, if we seek to learn what we may of God's method in creation ? An evolution there is, and a true one, not what has usurped its name:an "unfolding" of a divine plan, in which there is, of course, progress and development, upon principles which are uniform throughout. Looking at organic being, with which alone we need now concern ourselves, we have three stages of progress clearly marked off from one another:the vegetable; the animal, which is marked off as a new "creation" ; man, just as distinctly from the mere animal, by a "creation" also.

Each of these contains what has preceded it, with an addition. The vegetable is but matter, organized and controlled by vital force. The animal has vegetative functions connected with its own locomotor ones, which imply now the presence and rule of a sold. Man, again, is an animal, crowned with that which is absolutely characteristic of the being created in the image of God, the spirit.

There is economy of design which at the same time gives unity to the whole; while there is advance on the part of that also in which this unity is shown. The mineral absorbed into the vegetable can scarcely be recognized any more as mineral; and it is worked up into still higher forms as the '' flesh " of animal and of man. The " life " of the vegetable is in the animal so characterized by the soul with which it is now united, that "soul " and "life" become, in one aspect of soul, but equivalent terms. While the animal soul becomes again in man possessed of higher faculties than it ever had in the animal, and thus the fit companion and help-meet of the spirit.

Not only so:we can go beyond even this as led of the blessed book which God has given us, and after the present life see a similar advance made still. For, as soon as he leaves the body, the saint, though still having " soul," is now spoken of (as never while in the body) as a " spirit " ; and when he takes up the body again, this is now no longer a "natural"-which is, literally, a "psychical " body (a body characterized by the soul, or psyche)-but a "spiritual " body, the body of the resurrection.

Here is development, then, all along the line:of that there can be no question. God evolves (or unfolds) in this way the wondrous possibilities which lie wrapped up in what He has first produced. Here is true evolution, not the false thing of the evolutionists ; but how is it accomplished ? Is the soul developed out of the life of the plant ? or the spirit developed out of the soul of the animal ? No:at each step God must come in, and does; soul and spirit are separate creations. And how does the mineral rise into the plant structure? or this into the body of the animal ? or the soul develop in man spiritual characters unknown in the animal? The answer of Scripture is, they do not raise themselves; they are raised:the development in each case is accomplished by the descent (if we may say so) of a higher principle to unite itself with the lower. The lower is raised by the humbling of the higher to it, and the shadow of Christ is here already unmistakably seen in Nature :the seal is set upon this method as divine.

We need not wonder :"all things were created by Him and for Him," and this is His stamp on what He would approve to us as current money in the realm of thought. Why should not the figure of the king appear upon what is His? So is all nature in fact a witness for Him, a glorious interweaving of spiritual parables, which, if we had more ability to read them, would indeed transfigure the visible with the brightness of the unseen.

I have not yet come to the question of immortality, and am afraid, moreover, that as to the connection of evolution with it I have little to say that has not been often said, and which is not apparent on very slight consideration of the matter. As Mr. Wilson truly said at the Congress, "the doctrine of personal immortality . . . seems to me rendered much more difficult by the theory of evolution, because human life is by that theory so closely correlated with animal life. At what point in the chain does consciousness, freedom, personality, conscience, soul, immortality, come in?" Here is the effect of not permitting Scripture to teach science:in Scripture these all attach themselves to that human "spirit," upon the .immortality of which not the least cloud rests from Genesis to Revelation.

Of course, those who, even with the light of Scripture, find but body and soul in man, lose so far the comfort which the true doctrine will unfailingly be found to have; and " annihilation " in its many forms thrives upon this confusion. Scripture, however, is clear and consistent everywhere; and it ought to be even more scientific to believe its testimony than Mr. Darwin's memorandum-book of observations, which he tells us cannot be "good and original" without being tinged with " speculation "!

Prof. Bonney gives us the speculation without the observation. " Life," he tells us, " must be the result of a synthesis. Two hypotheses are possible:either it was some unprecedented combination of two or more inanimate things, or it was the action of an unknown external force on inanimate matter-which is tacitly admitted to be the more probable. In either case we must fall back upon a synthetic process."

The "observation" upon which Prof. Bonney grounds his first hypothesis is, of course, chemical, as his example from the formation of water shows. Life in this case must be an exceedingly rare chemical compound, which has the not less than miraculous properties (for any such) of organization, growth, and reproduction; or of communicating these to the protoplasmic fragments, which strangely co-operate (with a wisdom which utterly baffles and confounds all human knowledge) to weave all the tissues of all organized beings from man downwards. The chemical theory, always more marvelous than any Scriptural miracle, linked itself with the apparently homogeneous character of this matter of life or "protoplasm," in which the microscope could detect no organization, but in which the chemists found (after it was dead) a most complex constitution. This mere jelly, as it looked, structure less, and practically pretty uniform in character, being so complex, might have in this way its extraordinary properties; and Prof. Huxley, as is well-known, triumphantly held it up as " the formal basis of all life-the clay of the potter, which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature, from the commonest brick or sun-dried clod."

A thing of this sort chemical combination was competent to produce. Carbonic acid, water, and ammonia, he declares, "when they are brought together under certain conditions, give rise to the still more complex body, protoplasm, and this protoplasm exhibits the phenomena of life."

"Spontaneous generation " necessarily went with this, and they thought that they had proved this by experiment. Living things were claimed to have been produced in vessels from which all life had been absolutely excluded. Apart from this, a sheet of slime which had been found at the bottom of the sea was supposed to be living matter. Prof. Huxley named it before he had captured it, very suitably in honor of the infidel Haeckel, Bathybius haeckelii ("the low life of Haeckel"?), and now the super-naturalists were bidden to tremble.

Happily for them, the bubble burst (we may note that the more brilliant a bubble is, the nearer it is to bursting):the "spontaneous generation" turned out not to be spontaneous, and the discovery had to find decent burial at the hands of the very men who most wished it success; "biogenesis," or the doctrine of "all life from life," was owned, as far as the fact was concerned, whatever the hypothesis, to be "victorious along the whole line," and so remains to-day; '' bathybius " was found to be chemical enough to suit, if it had only had the "life "-sulphate of lime or gypsum; and only protoplasm remained as a text on which to preach the chemical theory.

Alas, "protoplasm " has now failed also:its apparent innocence has been proved nothing but deception. Instead of being structure less, the microscope has shown it to be full of structure-a thing that no chemist in his wildest dreams could hope to manufacture any more. What they had now to manufacture was another hypothesis.

It is no wonder, therefore, that Prof. Bonney should prefer the second view of the origin of life that he presents to us, '' the action of an unknown external force"-creative, he calls it lower down-"on inanimate matter." But then, if life be the result of a new force evoked by divine power, and that be evolution, then that hardly differs from what we have always believed, and we have talked evolution all the time without knowing it. To call it a "synthesis" does not alter it in any wise, if you allow it to be a divine intervention of which it is the result. And if this intervention once admitted makes it now scientific to believe in others afterward, we may be very glad that science and faith can go so well together. Then, by a new creative intervention, the beast can become a living soul; and by another, man be made in the image of God. Only, if you call this evolution which allows of the introduction over and over again of new and unknown forces, we shall want to have defined for us afresh what the term means. And if you call it, as Prof. Bonney does here, "the action of laws," then one of these "laws " must be that God shall be free and sovereign in His own creation, and there all Christians will heartily join hands.

And, of course, the question of immortality will then be a difficulty no longer:it will be only a question of fact. To illustrate it by the stability of a chemical compound, such as water, is idle, unless life is a chemical compound, and then there is no new force in the case. And to object the instability of organic compounds would still make it a question of chemistry merely. Vitality uses and controls the chemical forces, and the instability of the compounds is just what makes them capable of being used for its purposes. Continual change is a necessity for life itself. When it departs, the material hastens to assume more permanent forms, though that may be a poetical way of putting it:the real fact is that, released from the control of the life-principle, chemical affinities again operate unrestrictedly in it.

But not one step has been taken towards showing life itself to be a synthesis or compound of any kind. What it is we do not know. But no one would say, even of his body, that it was a compound of matter and life. No more could one say that life was a compound of matter and creative force. All the talk about "synthesis" is a scientific way of saying nothing. And who knows how creative power work?

Organic life also comes to an end-does not become invisible and float about like the vapor of water to which he compares it. Even the soul of the beast comes to an end. Spirit abides, and the soul that is united with this. But it is Scripture tells us this.

" Science'' has not the least right to say that "a conscious personal existence after death either should be a property of all living things (in which case an embodiment of some kind seems essential) or of none, and that the latter seems more probable." It depends largely on what we call ''science." If this be merely physical science, then, of course, the witness of personality, conscience, etc., will be all ignored, and man, as man, dropped out. Nay, for aught I know, we shall be mere walking vegetables, and shall not dare to call our soul our own. The fact is, God never left man to grope in this way after Himself. The light has always shone from the beginning:men have turned away from it, and walked in their own shadow. Spite of all that, it takes all the ingenuity of the sharpened wits of civilization to find out that our hope of living after death depends upon the same possibility for "all living things"-from the gnat down to the potato! In that case, we may be sure that extinction "seems most probable." But why, then, have we been mocked and made wretched by being endowed with more than the soul of a potato ?

That science which proclaims all life to be a cheat, all science itself a brief, short-lived delusion, may in the name of reason itself be declared most unreasonable-if there be any truth, false science.

How unutterably glad may we be that we are not left to this. Nature, too, proclaims that, while we may with fires of our own kindling light up our path for a little way, yet all that can be called true light is from heaven. Alas, that even this light may shine in the darkness, and the darkness comprehend it not!

[We insert the above paper, from Words in Season, not only to put its contents before our readers, but to seek to awaken amongst us a deeper interest in the truths of nature. The word of God is full of references to the world and its wonders. We may rest assured that all speaks of a wisdom and a goodness, seen alone in its perfection in the Scriptures. We may be equally sure that if the truths of nature are neglected by Christians, Satan will all the more use them as the vehicle for such infidel theories as Evolution in its various forms. What is needed is the faith which, Bible in hand, will take up nature and find it eloquent of God – not merely the Creator-but the Redeemer-God. We need not come with theories, nor seek to formulate such. The word of God has already given us, not theory but changeless truth; and all we have to do is to "ask the earth," to "consider the heavens."

May Christians be awakened as to these things. Rationalism, whether applied to nature or to revelation, is a Christless hopeless thing. It had its origin in an anti-christian movement and its end is already in view-a Christless end.

May the Lord's people take up nature in connection with the word of God. May there be Christian observers in Geology, Chemistry, Astronomy, Physics and Biology who shall seek and find Christ everywhere. ED]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here we have four very important points:-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ques. 23.-What is the teaching of James 5:13-15, and is it scriptural now to anoint with oil ?

Ans.-Without doubt the Lord can and often does, heal His people in answer to prayer, either with or without the use of means. To deny this would be to limit His power. But we believe it is only too easy to get one-sided or distorted views of the whole question of bodily healing. To demand it as a right belonging to us as redeemed is, we believe, spiritual pride or gross ignorance. Paul called it a mercy (Phil. 2:27). To link these mortal bodies with Christ's risen glorious bodies, save as indwelt by the Holy Ghost, is practically to deny that the saint is subject to death, and involves grave doctrinal error. To "seek to physicians" rather than to the Lord, argues unbelief and self-will at the same time. And yet in the midst of all the erroneous views of the subject, there is unquestionably a "right way."

Bodily sickness is the governmental result of sin; it is frequently inflicted under the chastening hand of God as a result of sin, and its removal would indicate the forgiveness of the sin governmentally. This is evidently the thought in the passage before us. It follows that before there can be any thought of healing, we must know the reason of our affliction. If we were more exercised as to the cause of our affliction than how we can escape it, there would be at least one condition of recovery.

We would by no means claim that all sickness is the result of some special failure. Instead of being for correction, it may have been sent as a preventive (2 Cor. 12:), or as a reminder that we are in the body, and can suffer and be sanctified by it How many a sick bed is a pulpit from which most telling sermons have been preached.

When there is a discernment of the reason for the chastening and a bowing under God's hand, we can then, in submission to His will, humbly ask to be healed. It would be proper to send for-alas! not the elders of the assembly in a full sense, for the assembly is in ruins, and her elders are scattered abroad- but for godly persons of faith who. entering into the sin and its confession, might unite their prayers with the afflicted one for recovery.

In this connection, we can see that such acts of healing would be rather of a private nature. We could not expect that God would set the seal of His public approbation upon a Church in ruins. Pentecostal days, and the fresh energy of the Holy Ghost have gone.

As to anointing with oil, it seems to be an administrative act, and more in keeping with an unfailed condition than the present state. After all, it is the prayer of faith that saves the sick.

But there is another thing to be observed here, and it turns to us for searching and warning. Jesus judged righteous judgment. He did not try either persons or circumstances in reference to Himself. That is where we commonly fail in our judgments. We see objects, whether persons or things, so much in our light. How have these circumstances affected ourselves? how have these people treated us ? These are the inquiries of the heart :and in the answer they get, the judgment is too commonly formed. We are flattered into good thoughts of people, and slighted into hard ones. Jesus was not such an One. The Pharisee's complaint and good fare in Luke 14:did not affect His judgment on the whole scene in his house. The friendliness of a social hour could not relax the Tightness of His sense of things ; as Peter's recent confession, on another occasion, did not hinder the rebuke that Peter's worldliness deserved. Jesus was not flattered. Like the God of Israel in old times, His ark may be boasted in, and brought into the battle with a shout, but He is not to be flattered by this; Israel shall fall for their unrighteousness. What a lesson for us ! What reason have we to guard against the judgments of self love ! against the trying and weighing of things and persons in relation to ourselves ! This firm, unswerving mind of Jesus may be our encouragement, as well as our pattern in this ; and we may pray that neither "this world's flattering nor spite" move us from having our thoughts as before the Lord all the day. J. G. B.

Notes of an Address by C. G. at Lachute, April 2nd.

(2 Chron. 25:)

The story of every reign in this book has its distinctive lesson. Solomon's reign gives us the beginnings of departure from God; Rehoboam's the incompetency for the things of God of one whose character was formed by wrong influences. In Abijah's reign we have contending for the faith once delivered, and so right down these sketches of these successive reigns we find a distinctive lesson in each account.

In Amaziah's story we find at the very threshold the key to its lesson. "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart" (ver. 2). We are to read the history of his reign in the light of this. In it we find the results of not doing the things that are right in the sight of the Lord with a perfect heart. His father, Joash, in his later days trespassed against the Lord, and consequent upon his turning from the Lord we find he was outwardly attacked by the Syrians, but there was also inward trouble, some of his own servants at last conspiring against him and slaying him. Amaziah was associated with Joash during the last three years, but on the death of Joash by his servants we read of the kingdom being confirmed to him and that he slew the conspirators. There was evidently an attempt to set aside the throne, else it would not be said the kingdom was confirmed to him. The conspirators not only wanted to be rid of Joash, but of Amaziah also. But the throne is established in his hand, God coming in, in His sovereign mercy and grace, and securely settling him upon it.

Well, the first thing he is said to do after this is that he slew the conspirators, and the Spirit of God is careful to call attention to the fact he was obedient to the word of the law in Deut. 24:16. He is careful to obey it exactly, and does not put the sons to death. Looking back to Deuteronomy, largely at least, we get directions which are intended to restrain and repress. They are a curb on man's passions. Man is so prone to go too far, to be severe and harsh, to be cruel and oppressive, that God has given certain laws for the express purpose of restraining those propensities so peculiar to us. Think of it! How Amaziah's feelings must have been roused against these men; still these feelings are restrained. He does not put the sons to death. He is careful to obey the law to the letter. He keeps in check his natural resentment, as in Ephesians we are exhorted, "Be ye angry, and sin not:let not the sun go down upon your wrath." This is what we have illustrated in this. Was this not right? Yes, that is what is said here, "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." But looking more closely, we may believe after all it was only outward conformity, '' not with a perfect heart." Think of this! Let us apply it to ourselves, to our own actions as the people of God. May it not be said of a great deal in our lives that may appear very exemplary and may be right, that it is very much outward conformity to God's word and will? Well, beloved, if it be so, we are on slippery ground. If we are not obeying, conforming to the Word with a perfect heart, there are dangers into which we may slip before we are aware. If the will of God be not a joy and pleasure to us, if our hearts be not in the word of God, if we do not inwardly delight in it, we are standing in a dangerous place.

Now look at Amaziah (ver. 5). He numbers up his men able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield, and finds he has an army of three hundred thousand choice men. Here we are warned again of what is our danger if the will of God be not completely the object of our hearts. He is evidently intending war with the Edomites, calmly measuring his resources. After doing this he is not satisfied. Although able to raise three hundred thousand choice men he is not satisfied. Why? Because he has not faith. He cannot trust God. Had he looked back over the history of God's people, he would have been reminded of many a time when the people of Israel went forth to battle against an enemy far greater than they and the Lord gave them victory, and he would have known by faith in God that He was still the same. What does he do? He turns to the ten tribes, the revolted tribes from whom Judah was righteously separate, and hires an hundred thousand mighty men of valor-all to go down against the Edomites!

Beloved, may there not be much in us that passes as right, that is right, indeed, but still in doing it the energy of faith is wanting, and then, because it is not done with a perfect heart toward God we turn to other resources and bring them in to further the work of the Lord.

But Jehovah is very pitiful and of tender mercy, and sends His prophet, a man of God, saying:"O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, all the children of Ephraim. But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle:God shall make thee fall before the enemy:for God hath power to help, and to cast down " (vers. 7, 8). His course is forbidden of God. Now see how far he has been strengthened in departure from God in all this. He is loth to yield, yet he does submit. He does the thing that is right when he is reproved by the prophet, but was his submission with a perfect heart? Plainly not. It is the same thing over again. "What shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this" (ver. 9). Amaziah sends home the men of Ephraim, but he suffers under the government of God for his wrong step, as we all do, individually and collectively. These soldiers dismissed by Amaziah "fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil" (ver. 13). Now you can see how Amaziah is reaping the fruit of not obeying the Lord with a perfect heart. If he had done so at the first, he would not have been so tested with regard to it again. But in connection with the second testing we find there is a struggle. The first time there does not appear to have been one. He obeys promptly and readily. It is not so easy to obey now. He has lost ground, and all because in obedience his heart is not perfect. He has to reason and question and be assured by the prophet that God is able to give him much more than he has foolishly squandered upon the Israelites. At last, however, after all this struggle, he submits. He obeys, but alas! his heart is not perfect.

Now he goes forth to the war against Edom. I suppose it was a righteous war. It was the proper thing to keep the Edomites down. He is doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord. He gains the victory, but he is not able to curb his feelings and righteous indignation against them. He could restrain himself when visiting the death penalty upon the murderers of his father, but he is not able to do so now. After the victory has been gained he takes ten thousand of the captives and leads them to the top of the rock and casts them down, so that they are broken in pieces. A harsh, cruel, heartless act. He is now allowing his feelings, his indignation against the Edomites, to carry him into cruelty. He is not now the man he was at the outset. How significant all this. How it bids us search our hearts and watch against the beginning of departure from the Lord. How it bids us search and see that what we do is done with a perfect heart.
But we read more about him. "He brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense to them" (ver. 15). Alas! how far he has now traveled in the path of departure and declension. Step after step he has gone on and on,
until now he can displace the worship of the true God with that of idols. Beginning with obeying while the heart was not in it, he has gradually weakened, so that now he not only throws off restraint but perverts the worship of God. What a humiliating spectacle! But let us search our own hearts, for are we not in fact reading our own histories? For "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." We may go on for years as good, exemplary Christians, and yet end our course with God displaced in the throne of our hearts.

The Lord now mercifully sends His prophet to rebuke him. "Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thy hand?" To which the king replied, "Art thou made of the king's counsel? Forbear." The prophet does forbear, though not without warning of coming chastisement from the hand of God. "I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel." But look at Amaziah. See how passion rages. He resents the rebuke, and is ready to take the prophet's life. How, alas! we are capable of silencing the voice of God in those whom He raises up to rebuke us for our disobedience. Next Amaziah indulges in feelings of resentment towards the army of Israel. He is indignant at their desolation of his cities. He feels like wreaking vengeance upon them; so he challenges the king of Israel to meet him in battle. Elated over his triumph over the Edomites, he feels himself competent to measure strength with Israel. The king of Israel has no desire to fight him; endeavors indeed to persuade Amaziah to desist from his purpose. But, actuated by a desire to revenge a wrong, and inflated with pride and self-sufficiency, he is determined on war with Israel. The two armies meet at Bethshemesh, but Amaziah is defeated and taken prisoner. If we are not really in heart with God it is an easy thing to embark on a cause which He has not called us to. We can readily persuade ourselves that a mission of our own is His. The Israelites were divisionists and off the true ground of the people of God. Amaziah might have reasoned that it was a proper thing to go and bring them under; but God had not given him such a work. May we not also undertake to do what God has not put upon us? Indeed we are quite capable of it. But alas! when thus engaged in our self-imposed task we have met with disaster, we have become captives to the very things against which we have stood in our own strength. Through our pride and self-sufficiency we have come under the power of what we have sought to regulate or put down. But this is not all. Amaziah, a prisoner in Joash's hands, is led up to Jerusalem to see four hundred cubits of her wall broken down. When thus we are in the enemy's hand how impossible to maintain the principle of separation from evil. But again, the king of Israel despoils the king's palace and the house of the Lord of their treasures. In our captivity to the power of evil our souls are robbed, we are not allowed to enjoy our portion in Christ.

The people now make Uzziah king in the room of his father, though Amaziah lives yet for fifteen years. By the providence of God Joash, the king of Israel, dies, and Amaziah is thus delivered from his captivity. But he is a hindrance to Uzziah-a dead weight upon him. Uzziah cannot rebuild Eloth and restore it with all its wealth of commerce to Judah. If unrepentant, though God mercifully delivers us from what in our folly, pride and self-sufficiency we have brought upon ourselves, what weights and hindrances we may be to others.

The Lord give us to be sober and serious, and to challenge our hearts day by day in reference to every detail of our lives. May we ask ourselves, Are we doing the will of God with a perfect heart? If we can detect a lack of real, hearty interest in that will, a lack of real submission of heart to God, let us judge it, and seek by all means, in all our ways, reality in our souls. May God grant us His blessing and help.

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

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

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

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

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

From J. G. Deck’s "Joy in Departing."

The opening chapter of the first book of Samuel presents to my mind some most beautiful thoughts in reference to God's grace in the hearts of His children as well as the opposition of the enemy to hinder if possible that grace shining forth.

"Hannah" is said to mean grace, and that only adds the more to its beauty, as it would lead to the thought that in this case "grace" is personified.

We have it recorded that Elkanah had two wives ; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. The marked difference between the two outwardly was that Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. It is not said how many children Peninnah had, because if we look at her here as typifying the flesh, we know the evil principle in us is always ready to act, and there is no end to its fruitfulness for evil-while utterly barren in the things of God, as the apostle says, "What fruit had ye, then, in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ?" It is to be noted, not only here, but in other cases recorded in the Word, that it is when one is led to take the ground of being a worshiper that the flesh is brought out in all its hatefulness and shows its opposition to the worshiper. This is clearly to be seen where it is recorded of David in the sixth chapter of the second book of Samuel:"And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart; " and further on in the chapter it is recorded, "Then David returned to bless his house. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to-day, who uncovered himself in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself." And then follows David's most beautiful reply.

Here too we find the flesh showing itself. For it was as they were going to worship at Shiloh that "her adversary provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut her womb. . . Therefore she wept and did not eat." But all the efforts of the enemy were useless. Grace, I may say, like its handmaid Charity, "is not easily provoked."

Now let us look at the next attempt of the enemy, as it were, to swallow her up. In this case it would seem more trying, for while one may be able to judge that which comes from the flesh, it would seem that in this case at least it might be a more difficult thing to resist ; for here it is her own beloved husband, one who truly loves her, who throws himself in her pathway, saying, "Am I not better to thee than ten sons ? " Surely, we need not wonder if that husband occupied a large space in Hannah's heart, but after all, he little knew the heavenly aspirations and desires of that one with whom he was so closely connected. And has not the Scripture said," Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." But where could this dear child of God get a more full presentation of the world to her heart's affections than in this instance when he says, "Am I not
better to thee than ten sons ?" However, she goes on neither listening to the entreaties of the one, nor giving heed to the frowns of the other; for she had heard the words of that One who spake in later days (for like Mary in John's gospel, love can see in the distance), saying, "There is no man who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father or mother, or wife or children, but he shall receive a hundred fold now, and in the world to come life everlasting."
But still further, Peninnah had children (it doesn't say how many) whilst Hannah had no children. Just so ; and in the fifth chapter of Galatians the apostle says, " The works of the flesh are these," and then goes on to enumerate seventeen of them and ends by saying, "and such like," showing that there were others, doubtless too numerous to mention. Surely all this is practical, and we may well lay it to heart.

The work of grace is deepening in the heart of this dear child of God. And we read she was "in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thine handmaid, but wilt give Thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head."

This is really touching. She prays not only for a child, but for a man child, and, mark it well, not that it might be a home comfort and a mother's joy to her, as we might naturally think, but that she might give it to the Lord. Oh, think of that, ye handmaids of the Lord,-ye mothers in Israel! Where, did grace before or since, I may say (except in one case), have such a worthy representative ? The poor widow woman in later days threw her two mites into the treasury, and yet the Lord could say she had given more than they all. Yes, the Lord remembers and will remember just such acts as these throughout eternity. James says," Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." But I ask who can find any trace of lust in our Hannah ? No; " the hand that struck the chord found all in tune," as was said by a dear departed saint.

But what I would notice particularly is that up to this moment no word has she been heard to utter. There was the weeping and the fasting and broken-ness of heart-("why is thy heart grieved ? ") Did the psalmist have this in his mind when he said, '' A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise" ?

But now we have Eli the high-priest brought into view, one who, as Hebrews tells us, was supposed to " have compassion on the ignorant, and on them who are out of the way." He greets her while praying, by saying, "How long wilt thou be drunken, put away thy wine from thee." But who was the "ignorant" one here ? who was the one who was "out of the way " ? Not Hannah surely, she was " filled " not with wine wherein is excess, but with the Holy Spirit. She was not at that time seeking any of natures remedies ; no, her "joy was in God," and so filled with that wondrous grace from on high, she meekly and simply said, "No, my Lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto."

How sweet, how heavenly are these words ! How they remind us of that One of whom it was said, "Grace is poured into thy lips." By way of contrast let us compare this dear disciple with Paul the great apostle of the Gentiles, as he stands before the high-priest in his day who, when, Paul said, " I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day," commanded those that stood by to smite him on the mouth," was it not an ebullition of nature that led Paul to say "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall," etc.? for he immediately on being informed who it was, judged himself by the Word saying, "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." And who will say that Paul's provocation was greater than the one whose ways we are meditating upon ? And so we sometimes sing-

" God's grace will to the end
Clearer and brighter shine."

But what about Eli's sad mistake ? for it was sad indeed, inasmuch as we see no signs of real self-judgment in the matter. It was not much for him to say what perhaps he had said many times before, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition which thou hast asked of Him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight." I realize that one needs to be careful in one's interpretation of Scripture, and to learn to walk in His presence with unshod feet, lest one in anyway tarnish that glory. If we look at Samson as being in anyway a type of Christ, a very unworthy man we may say, still Scripture calls him a Nazarite from his birth. It would seem that God acts according to His own mind in choosing such representatives perhaps because He couldn't do any better.

Let us look at another case :that of Peter, where in the gospel the Lord had been speaking to His disciples in reference to His betrayal, Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee." The Lord's answer was," Get thee behind me:Satan," etc., looking, no doubt, at the inward motive or principle that was governing him. It was a sad mistake in Peter's case, was it not also in the case of Eli ? Was not the enemy of souls seeking to destroy the faith of Hannah through this unmerited rebuke of the high-priest 1

What I would seek to bring out here in this instance is that we have the flesh in Peninnah, the world in Elkanah, and Satan in Eli the high-priest. All opposed to grace as seen in Hannah, who is grace. Just one thing more I would notice in Hannah's history. Her prayer to God is not only for a child but for "a man child." We might well say perhaps why not be content with what God would be pleased to give her. But here comes in the intelligence of one who was walking with God. God wanted a man. Eli had failed completely, and God was going to blot out his house from the face of the earth. He needed some one to take his place. And so we get, in this, perfection in the worshiper. Here communion is seen, or, common thoughts between the two. What a joyful scene ! God filling this dear one's heart with His thoughts, and then her desires flowing back to Him. Everything is set aside so that even the high-priest is seen only as an obstructionist. "That God may be all and in all." And now we are led to see how grace triumphant reigns, "through righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

May the dear Lord give to his people more of Hannah's thoughts and ways. H. S.

Continued from page 304.

I now turn to the interpretation of 2 Thess. 1:, 2:There is in the latter chapter an (I think I may say) acknowledged mistranslation, of which the true and undoubted sense gives the key to the whole passage. I refer to ver. 2, " as that the day of Christ is at hand." It should be, were present. The word is used for, and translated in two different places, "present, "in contrast with things to come,-"things present and things to come." It is always its sense in Scripture. What the Thessalonians were troubled and upset in their minds by, then, was that they had been led by false teachers (pretending to the Spirit, and even alleging letters of Paul to this effect) to suppose that the day of Christ was actually come. The violence of persecution was very great, and as the day of the Lord is in effect spoken of as a day of terror and trial in the Old Testament, these false teachers had profited by this to persuade them it was there. The apostle with divine wisdom sets them morally right in the first chapter, as to their feelings and sentiments as to this, before entering, in the second, into positive instruction as to the fact of the Lord's coming. He shows them the folly (since Christ Himself was to appear for that day) of supposing that it was His own people and faithful ones He was going to make suffer and cast into distress and tribulation. No; it was His enemies and theirs who would be in affliction in that day, and they themselves in rest and peace. The very righteousness of God would assure this. It was a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that troubled them, and to His troubled ones rest, when Christ shall be revealed -for that is what brings in the day. It was only shown by their tribulations, that He counted them worthy of His kingdom that was to come with His appearing. This is the whole force of the apostle's reasoning :the Lord Himself was to bring in the day; it could not, when come, be a day of distress for His people, but evidently for His enemies and their persecutors.

In the second chapter he proceeds to unfold to them the real order of the events, and especially in connection with the place they had in them.

Here, again, we meet a question of criticism, but it affects very little the reasoning of the apostle. Some would change here the authorized English version, and read, "But we beseech you brethren, concerning the coming," etc., instead of," by the coming." The preposition itself is used in both ways, but its constant force with words of beseeching is "by " (sometimes "for," which has no place here). The force of the apostle's reasoning is this:that as they were to be gathered together to Christ, they could not be in the day which was to come by His appearing; they were to go out to meet Him in the air, and hence could not be in the judgments of that day, its trials or its terrors.

The apostle had taught them in his first epistle that they were to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Hence he could refer to it as a known truth. The saints were not to await the coming of the day of the Lord on the earth, but to go up to meet Him in the air, and be forever with Him. Did He appear ? they, we know, would appear with Him. But here he speaks of what they ought to have remembered, that they would go up before the day, and hence they could not possibly be in their actual state here on earth, if the day was come. The Church's connection with the return of the Lord was to go up to meet Him in the air, to be gathered unto Him. The "day "was entirely another thing; it was vengeance from His presence. Neither could the day therefore come before the objects of vengeance were there. An apostasy would come, and the man of sin would be revealed, whom the Lord would consume with the breath of His mouth, and destroy by the appearing (the manifestation or display) of His presence.

We have, therefore, two things :the coming of Christ, and the public epiphany of His presence. From other scriptures also we know these to be distinct, exactly in this way-Christ's coming, and the manifestation of it ; for when He appears, we shall appear with Him (Col. 3:4)-hence must be with Him, caught up before even He appears at all. With the one (the coming) the saints are directly connected, by being gathered together to Him; with the other, (the day) because of His appearing He will execute judgment against the ungodly. They will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. But He will come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe; that is, they will be in the display of this glory in that day. They will appear with Him in glory-be like Him. Now it is quite certain they will not appear with Him when they are caught up to meet Him in the air. Thus it is not merely particular expressions, though these are clear and forcible, but the bearing, and object, and course of reasoning of the whole chapter, which shows the distinction of the rapture of the saints before Christ appears, and the coming of the day when He is admired in them.

What is important to remark is the entire difference of relationship in which the saints are put with Christ-we belong to Him, go to meet Him, appear with Him, are glorified together. The practical result is, not merely to clear up a question of dates and of time, but to change the whole spirit and character of our waiting and Christ's coming. We wait for Him to come and take us to Himself,-the full realization of our heavenly calling. There are no events connected with our relationship with Christ. We have no need of judgment to participate in blessing under Him; we go out of the midst of all events to meet Him above. The Jews and the world are delivered by judgments. Hence they must await the course of events and the full ripening of evil on earth for judgment, for the day will not come before. Hence, we find in the Psalms the appeal for judgment and the times of it, the declaration of the overwhelming character of evil, and the cry to God to show Himself, and render a reward to the proud. The Church on earth has no need to seek this; she belongs to Christ, and will be caught up to heaven out of the evil.

I add a few words on another passage suggested to me as one by which difficulties have been created in some minds, really desirous of the truth. I mean the connection of chap. 4:and 5:of i Thessalonians. I confess it does not affect my mind in any way; but as it does that of others, it is well to notice it. The difficulty, if there be any, arises from a serious confusion in the minds of those who make it – the very confusion into which the Thessalonians were led, namely, taking tribulation for the day of Christ. For the day of Christ, Christ must appear. Let us only keep this clear in our minds, and all these difficulties vanish.

The Thessalonians looked so earnestly for Christ's coming, with no further knowledge of the manner or order of it, that they thought believers who had died (and perhaps even died for Christ), would not be there to meet Him. This mistake the apostle corrects. He tells them that they must not grieve as those without hope, that they would not be left out of the cortege of glory, for Christ would bring them with Him. He then explains to them the manner, and shows that it is by their resurrection which would take place even before the living ones are changed ; and when this is also wrought by divine power, all would go up to meet Him in the air, and so they would be forever with the Lord. This parenthetically explains the manner by express revelation. They will go up to meet Him; subsequently, as we have seen from Colossians, appear with Him when He appears. The parenthetical part merely gives the association of the saints with Christ Himself, which is our proper portion. But he had said, as a general truth, in answer to their fears, that God would bring them with Christ. This leads him naturally to the general subject. He had no need to speak of times and seasons:The Thessalonians knew perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, and when they (the world) say Peace and safety, sudden destruction would come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child. He adds, "But, brethren, ye are not in darkness that day should overtake you as a thief :ye are all children of the day." It is alleged that the apostle could not have said that the day would not overtake them as a thief, if they were not to feel liable to be in some sort overtaken by it. Now, if the teaching of the apostle be examined, even in this place there is no possible ground for this, for the day of the Lord Christ must appear. But he had just taught them that they were to be caught up to meet Him in the air and be brought with Him. That is, he had taught them what made it impossible to suggest that the day could overtake them in any way or manner whatever. They were of the day, so to speak, as he indeed says," Ye are the children of the day," "Let us who are of the day." This passage says nothing of not being in the tribulation – we have treated that point already ; but the objection confounds the tribulation and the day which really closes it. The tribulation is Satan's power (though God's judgment in woe); the "day "is Christ's, which makes it His day, and in which Satan is bound. The passage speaks not at all of the tribulation; but it does speak of the day of the Lord, and with instruction as to the portion of the saints, which shows that can have in no way to do with them. They "are of the day," and to come in its power. The day will overtake the world as a thief:but it will not overtake you, for you are of the day. J. N. D.

The epistle to the Philippians is one to which the believer delights to turn. It is an address from the heart to the heart. It is more practical than doctrinal, and in its few chapters gives a picture of unselfish devotion such as is well calculated to cheer the heart. Surely, when characteristically, "all seek their own not the things of Jesus Christ," it is one of those beautiful spots of green in the desert which sends the traveler on with fresh hope and comfort.

Its character becomes apparent in its very opening verse, both from the title which Paul gives to himself and his companion Timothy, and from that with which he greets the Assembly. The "slaves of Christ Jesus:" "slaves" is found alone only in this letter, and in the order of the names " Christ" here, as largely throughout, occurs first; while this title indicating "anointed for service " will be found by itself, seventeen times, a great number if the size of the letter be considered.

Paul and Timothy are the slaves of Christ Jesus. Not dragged, captives in chains, behind the chariot of some mighty conqueror and shut up to compulsory service, but captives of His love, bought by the precious redemption money which He paid at Calvary, and now rejoicing to take up their crosses and follow Him. It had been given to them "not only to believe On Him but also to suffer for His sake," and they had taken His gift gladly. Brethren, do we know what it is to be slaves of Christ Jesus?

"To "all the saints which are at Philippi, with bishops and deacons." A reference to the Greek shows that before these official titles the article is omitted. In the collected writings of Mr. Darby you will find a caption on the Greek article in which he teaches that wherever it is omitted characteristic rather than fact is emphasized. At Philippi the assembly is duly officered and ready for service. This is characteristic of it, overseers " to look on the things of others," and deacons for those lowly offices, which should yet be so blessed; (diakonos is "through the dust," dia and konis).

We have now the usual introductory message:" Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," which is very striking because of its constant repetition to all the assemblies. It is a common need that they all share. In the epistles to the corporate bodies this message is unvaried. Grace (unmerited favor) is towards all, no matter how good the state. When we have done all that we can we are still to say "We are unprofitable servants," and yet withal we are not to be troubled thereby; peace, not from self contemplation, not from remembering "fellowship in the gospel from the first," but from Him who preached peace, left peace, made peace, and is our peace. How suitably too, these two things are coupled together. Sometimes we say to ourselves, when wearied out by constant short-comings, "Lord I am sick and tired of it all, when will the time come when I shall be able to please Thee unfailingly?" and then we remember the rest of Paul's message, " and. peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ;" peace from Him who is above all storm and sorrow and also from the One who bore the brunt of it. "Roll thy burden on the Lord and He will sustain thee " is the nice rendering of an old version of a very familiar verse, which, too, is often read wrongly in our practical thought as if it were "and He will sustain it." No, no, indeed! that is a great mistake! He'll throw your miserable burden into His grave where it belongs and put His arms round you, sustain you, filling your heart with that peace of God which " passeth understanding." May our lives be more characterized by it.
The apostle's heart now goes out in thanksgiving to all the Trinity:" I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing that He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until day of Jesus Christ." There are several points in this statement to which we may do well to attend. First, as we have hinted above, he thanks God, Surely Father, Son and Holy Spirit have all had their blessed part in the happy condition at Philippi and the apostle gratefully remembers their union in this work. Is there no admonition in this for our hearts? How often in our prayers we use these names indifferently and unintelligently, and yet, the Father did not withhold His Son, and the Son freely offered Himself, while the Holy Spirit having come to dwell in us has never ceased to exalt Christ, and like Him of whom He tells us, gives little testimony to His own gracious work, condescending to dwell in those who so often grieve Him. " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God!" Have you ever considered why the apostle does not say "anger not," "offend not"? If, "no" then it will be good and comforting for you to do so now.

Secondly, we may consider the constancy of his praise and the bold faith that can believe that the work here begun will reach on until "day of Jesus Christ." The article is absent before day, thus apparently putting the thought of mere time in the background and emphasizing the fact, that Jesus Christ will soon be all in all to them. The path which they are treading is, like the "path of the just," one which shines more and more unto the perfect dry." They have their faces fixed on Christ and that dawning glory is brightening as they hasten towards its source. Good is the path they tread and good is the home at the end of the journey. Among such the apostle expects no Lot's wife, no loiterer on the road, to be turned into a pillar of salt, the picture of barrenness and waste, desolating the land and rendering unfruitful the seed cast upon it. No, he cannot believe this of these gospel lovers, the Philippians, and he states the reason :" Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because ye have me in your hearts, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in defense and confirmation of the gospel ye are all partakers with me of grace. "

Spite of their being tried warriors of God, however, the apostle does not forget that they still have need of help from the throne of grace and once more his mind goes up in prayer to God for them that they "may abound more and more in knowledge and in all wisdom, that they may approve things that are excellent, that they may be sincere and without reproach until the day of Christ."

This prayer should remind us that we must not rest on our arms satisfied with present state or past accomplishment. We must press on. To stand still is too often the beginning of retreat, and the apostle is here an example for us:"Forgetting the things which are behind . . . reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark." No staying, no stopping, better than Gideon "faint yet pursuing," every obstacle but a fresh incentive to progress, nothing satisfies but the goal. Victory defeat, suffering, sin, sorrow, he only sees Christ through them all and only rests when he can say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, and from henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me in that day."

Before passing on we may notice a little touch in the Greek which serves to bring out the words "that ye may be sincere etc." The word for "sincere" is ειλιχριvεις and means strictly, "judged in the rays" (of the sun). They are to walk so that their conduct may be tried in the light of "the day of Christ" and be proved good; that time which the laborer should ever have before him:-" that day " as the apostle calls it in another place, expecting us to know what is meant.
The reader should also notice that the name, " Jesus," inserted in the sixth verse is here appropriately omitted.

The subject is now changed and the writer speaks of his own personal experience. He counts on their interest in the work of the gospel everywhere and cheers them up with good news. Naturally speaking there was much to discourage and dishearten him. In prison, some preaching Christ of envy and strife, seeking to add affliction to his bonds, all in Asia turned from him, he gathers only encouragement from it all. With him the clouds have not only a silver lining but he has spread it all over, and the darkness of the storm serves but to offset the light. What a pity when the Christian makes the light to offset the darkness. "They looked unto Him and were lightened " says the Psalmist, and here as in Philippi's jail rises the song of praise. Surely he says to us:

"Ye fearful saints fresh courage take
The clouds ye so much dread,
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings o'er your head."

Let us not forget that it is to us as well as to the Philippians he speaks and that we are children of the day and that the sunshine of the day should be on our faces, preaching better than all our words. Here we must guard against a mistake. Men never take candlelight to be sunshine and we should not either. Animal spirits, cheerfulness of disposition are all very nice, but they are not joy in the Lord, not exultation in Christ Jesus. The apostle's source of happiness is something solid. You will find animal spirits rather effervescent in prison atmosphere, and natural cheerfulness turn to what seems to us more natural, to grumbling. Paul can say:"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Let us ponder these words. "For me to live is Christ." What does it mean? Many translators have been puzzled by it. Does it puzzle us ? Well, intellectually, perhaps not. They tell us that Archimedes was so intent upon an experiment that in the thick of the storming of a city he knew nothing about it till the assailants were over the walls. He was absorbed, transported out of the world of events around. For him to live was that experiment. But we may illustrate by a verse from Scripture. The apostle John in his first letter says:"I write unto yon, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning." This is that which has characterized their life. True, they had overcome the wicked One; true, they had passed happily through many temptations and trials, and had wide and various experiences, but what is the characteristic feature of their life, is that they know Him. It sums it all up. He is all things.

Oh that we might each be able to say:"For me to live is Christ," then the rest will be easy to add, "and to die is gain." To die will be but to fall a-sleep in His arms. Do you remember how it is said of Stephen, " He fell asleep." The Jews ran on him, gnashing their teeth, full of rage. They hurled their stones at him. A rude lullaby that, was it not ? and yet " he fell asleep." Did not God who sent His angel to care for the body of Moses, care for him ? Yes, indeed, and how his every action bespoke it. "The eternal God was his refuge and underneath were the everlasting arms," and he fell asleep! Beloved, what a triumph there is in everything for the one to whom to live is Christ and to die is gain.

How well Paul remembers it and oh! how calmly he now says:"And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all." Nero had put him into prison and nothing seemed more likely than that he, who was accustomed to gloat over the sufferings of his victims, would take this opportunity for killing the chief of the Christians; but Paul looks beyond stone walls, Roman legions and the devil's servant's will and hears the voice of his Master, and hearing, turns and quietly says:" I know that I shall remain." Such faith comes from constant daily intercourse with the Lord, from knowing His heart and the power which is ready to act for us. May we indeed turn the more longingly as we consider it, to Him who gives freely and upbraideth not, and say:"Lord, increase our faith." F. C. G.

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

CHAPTER VI. (Continued from page 119.)

The "Second Man."

We must look on, then, to resurrection to see the Second Man in full character as that, and to see fully what humanity has gained in Him. But this will be better considered when we contemplate Him as last Adam, the Head of the new race of men. For moral perfection, as already said, He could not wait for that, but was (as even the demons confessed Him) "the Holy One of God," perfectly according to His mind, all through. There was no possible mutability of nature in Him ; and we must not pervert the idea of His full moral freedom to the admission of such a thought. Perfectly free He was, of course, in glorious holiness :it was the devil's thought that He was free to sin,-free as implying in Him a sort of balance of possibilities, and as if this were even necessary to His perfect trial and the reality of a final victory over evil :for without struggle, they would say, there can be no victory.

But struggle with Himself there was not, and victory over Himself would have been already defeat:He would be no more the Christ of Scripture, "tempted in all things as we are, apart from sin" (Heb. 4:15). The "yet without sin " of our common version, and still remaining in the revised, has done terrible work in lowering Christ in the imaginations of men. There is no justification of the "yet " possible. The Greek has nothing of it. It came in through the mere supposition that "without sin" spoke of final result, instead of an exception to the kind of temptation. Sin was no possible temptation to Him :there was absolutely no power of seduction in it. That did not touch the question of His freedom, but characterized it. The more unassailable by sin we are, the freer we are, not the less free. We are not perfected by loss of liberty. To walk with God is to walk in the consciousness of the reality of things, undeceived and unperverted.

If I say of any one, "He cannot do a dishonest act," do I think of him on that account, as less a free man ? If there is no moral certainty about his actions, do I credit him, therefore, with a firmer will and more perfect self-control ? No one can say or think so.

Nor did He who came into the world as man's Deliverer divest Himself of His necessary perfection, that He might be on more equal terms with the adversary. Had it been a necessity to do so, it is hard to see how it could have been accomplished. For how could moral perfection consent to its own debasement ? or how could its enfeeblement be other than debasement ? For even a divine Being there are impossibilities, which proceed from perfection, and which therefore are perfection. The impossibility of sinning was a necessary glory of the Christ of God.

But men object to this on the other side that it involves an impossibility of sympathy with those encompassed with infirmity such as belongs to fallen creatures. No doubt it does with everything that implies sin, or that depravity of nature which cannot be separated from it. But sympathy with this is (as has often been pointed out) as far as possible from what a Christian needs or could find true comfort in. He finds in Christ a perfect atonement for it, and, if he knows deliverance, a power in divine grace which has broken for him the dominion of sin. Walking in the Spirit, he does not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Moreover, the evil in him is that which God in His wonderful wisdom uses to turn him from self-occupation to Christ, and to hide from him all pride and self-complacency. But the evil itself he does not sympathize with, but condemns, while in all else he finds truest sympathy. But this is not the place in which to enlarge upon all this :it ought to be enough to quote here the apostle's words that " such a high-priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" (Heb. 7:26). But the examination of this belongs also rightly to another place.

The "Second Man" is, necessarily and emphatically "of heaven," heavenly. True, His manhood has in it promise for the earth also, gives indeed for the inhabitants of earth the sweetest possible assurance; but this too gains, and not loses, by such heavenly character. This is inseparable, of course, from His being the Son of God in humanity; but it attaches to the Second Man as such, as the text from Corinthians clearly intimates:for, in contrast with the first man being "of the earth earthy," the " Second Man is of heaven."

If we look on to the full " image of the heavenly" (i Cor. 15:49), which we are yet to bear, the glorious body which is to be our own, though the resurrection of what has been sown in the dust, or the present mortal one changed to immortality, is yet spoken of as "our house which is of heaven" (2 Cor. 5:2). "Mortality" will then, says the apostle, be swallowed up of life" (ver. 4). There will be then the quickening of our mortal bodies, now "dead because of sin" (Rom. 8:10,11), which will make them, as yet they are not, to be partakers of "redemption " (ver. 23). Thus the new life-power it is which, pervading and molding them, will make them heavenly, the "image of the heavenly" being reached in them also.

But even now, and while yet we wait for this, by virtue of the work which has begun in us, we are already "heavenly" (i Cor. 15:48). For the quickening of the Spirit we already have ; the heavenly life is begun, though amid hindrances and in obscurity, in that which is the highest part of our humanity.

When we turn to consider the Lord as among us "in the days of His flesh," we find in Him also not as yet the full heavenly character. As to His body, though in no wise (as with us) under the power of death, and with none of the penalty of sin upon it, He is yet "in the likeness of sinful flesh "(Rom. 8:3),-according to the pattern of the humanity that has failed in Adam, though without failure or any consequences of it, save as in grace He might stoop to these.

Every way He is without blemish, but more :this body of flesh and blood which He has assumed-as the vessel of earth in which the bird of heaven may die for the cleansing of our leprosy (Lev. 14:5)-is itself, all true as it is, of course, a "veil"of the higher humanity which has come in with Him, and which is not innocent and earthy, as in the first man, but holy and heavenly. In Him is manifested to us "that Eternal Life, which was with the Father" (i Jno. 1:2), and is now, without fleck of shade or moment of intermission," the light of men" (Jno. 1:4)..

This Life is "in Him,"as it could not be in any other:"for as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself " (John 5:26). He is thus the Source and Spring of it for us as the "last Adam ;" and possessing it as Man, is characterized absolutely by that "divine nature " which it implies as divine life. This touches in no way the full reality of manhood in Him-spirit and soul and body:for little as we know of the mystery of "life," we do know that it sets aside none of these, but gives them their full value and reality.

As the "First-born among many brethren," this life manifests itself in Him as a life of faith, in constant dependence upon God, nay, living (as we would not have dared to think of Him, had He not Himself taught us so to apply the scripture) "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt, 4:4). To this indeed, as we know, was His constant appeal, treading in this respect in a path in which He calls us to follow Him as "Leader" in "and Completer of faith" in His own Person (Heb. 12:2, Gk.); while this perfection He did not plead as title to escape the trials and sorrows of a pilgrim-path, but on the contrary tasted the cup of affliction fully, even to death, yea, the death of the cross. But this was His grace and our need only:for Himself He was no debtor to death at all. No one took His life from Him, but He laid it down of Himself, having power both to lay it down and to take it again.

Upon this it does not need to insist here. The word of God speaks with absolute decision about it
all :did one enlarge, how much would have to be written ! We are here, however, but attempting an outline of truth, to fill in which materials are everywhere to be found, while the full reality is unspeakable. Heaven and earth meet here together, and all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in the Man Christ Jesus. How marvelous to be told in this very connection, that "in Him we are filled up" (Col. 2:9, 10) ! F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And upon His head were many crowns." (Rev. 19:13.)

(Continued from page 321, Vol. 14:)

CHAPTER III. The Word made Flesh.

We turn now from considering the deity of our blessed Lord to see how Scripture speaks of His incarnation. This, of all the Evangelists, the apostle John, the historian of His divine glory, most forcibly expresses:"The Word became flesh," he says, "and tabernacled among us." "Flesh" characterizes humanity by that which is its lowest part; and the depth of this condescension is the glory of the revelation which this expression-the "Word was made flesh"-so perfectly conveys. In His human personality Christ was Himself the gospel that He preached, as "Son of man " was the title He so loved to give Himself.

There was an uttermost depth, as we know, beyond His becoming man; but to which this was the necessary preliminary. But it was much more than this :for out of the abyss into which He descended at the cross He would again immediately ascend,- because of what He was, He could not be holden of it,-while the manhood He has assumed He retains for ever:He has assumed it into His own Person, and it is part of Himself. Upon the throne of God, with the memorials of that deepest possible descent upon Him, He will reign as the Lamb for all eternity.

What an amazing thought is this, that God should come down into the creature-place, not simply for a time, and to do a work in it which, however wondrous, would be but for a time, but of His own free choice to abide in it after this manner. God and the creature-His creature-thus permanently together:clasped in an embrace that never shall be sundered ! This in its profound significance cannot be a partial or provincial manifestation. It must as a revelation be written not merely in the common tongue of men, but address itself to all intelligences and all beings capable of responding to it. And so Scripture assures us amply that it does, and that "in the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2:6.)

Could the depths of divine love be shown out anywhere or any wise to creature-ken, without all creatures being affected by it ? That surely would be impossible. "Destruction and death" must say, "We have heard the fame of it with our ears." The hosts of heaven, learning it but as grace to others, even thus must recognize it as tenderest goodness to themselves, who so learn with deepening adoration their own glorious God. And the worship of the Lamb must indeed have raised the whole worship of heaven immeasurably above all that could have been before it.

We have an intimation of this, and of more than this, where the apostle tells us that "from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ* every family in heaven and earth is named" (Eph. 3:15). *Most editors leave out "of our Lord Jesus Christ" on the authority of some of the most ancient MSS.; but some have it, along with the Peshito Syriac version (of the second century) and the Vulgate, and it agrees perfectly with the connection here. We should read, "every family," as in the Revised, and not " the whole," as in the Common Version.*Every family finds its place in relationship with Him who is thus revealed as the Father of Christ. The revelation of God in Christ makes their own relationship to Him as it were a new thing.

Yet " He layeth not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham He layeth hold; " and in this connection it is that the apostle speaks of the incarnation as the necessary step towards the cross. "For it became Him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings . . . Inasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise took part in the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:10-16).

Here we see why His taking flesh is emphasized sometimes as if it were the whole thing. The flesh was that "vessel of earth" in which the "bird of heaven" was to die, and alone could die. (Lev. 14:1-7.) Flesh is the expression used for humanity in its frailty and mutability; and thus suited to express the depth of the divine condescension, which was on this account also the full display of the glory of God. Hence, "the Word was made flesh," and "a body hast Thou prepared Me; " which last words the apostle again connects (as perfectly in the line of Hebrews) with His priestly sacrifice :"sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me."

In the quotation from the second chapter it is "flesh and blood" of which the children are partakers, and in which He therefore takes part ; and still more in i Cor. 15:50, is the present mutable condition of humanity emphasized:"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; "-not from evil in it, for as such God created it, but because of that mutability unfitting it for that which is eternal. It is of the eternal form of the kingdom that he is speaking; and blood is for the supply of waste:it is identified with change,-with the wearing out of material,-with the temporal, therefore, instead of the eternal.

Hence the body that the Lord assumed, to fulfill that sacrificial law which in the volume of the book was written of Him, was not yet in the condition suited to the new creation, though He was Himself the "last Adam " and the Head of it. The body He took was "psychical," as "natural" should rather be read (i Cor. 15:44), and not yet "spiritual." These terms are indeed little understood, and we can at best understand but little of them; yet we may understand enough to avoid some mistakes which are often fallen into. A "spiritual" body does not mean a body formed of spirit, any more than a psychical body means a body formed of psyche (or soul). The two phrases are exactly parallel in Scripture, and used so as to show this:"There is a psychical body and there is a spiritual body:and so it is written, the first 'man,' Adam, 'was made a living soul'; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (i Cor. 15:44, 45).

Here the apostle's quotation shows us the psychical body as in suited relation to man as a living soul -a term by which the beast is designated as well as man. Yet man has-as the beast has not-spirit as well as soul; but while in the present body he is not designated by that which is the higher part. Out of the body, he is a "spirit;" in it a "soul." The psychic body-it is a pity we have not a better adjective for soul – seems to veil his spirit faculties; the soul (which is the sensuous, animal-like part, though far higher than the animal) dominating so as to characterize it.

The body is thus really, according to the actual phrase in the epistle to the Philippians (chap. 3:21) "the body of our humiliation;" and that apart from the effect of the fall upon it; though the effects of the fall are not there excluded. In it the spirit is enabled to contemplate outward things only by means of the senses; and in this way it is that slowly and laboriously it gathers knowledge for the possession of the spirit. And this kind of knowledge seems to be that of which the apostle speaks (i Cor. 13:8-11) as "through a glass darkly" and to "vanish away" in that perfect condition in which we shall see "face to face." The slow waking up and slower maturing of the faculties of man, as he grows in wisdom, has much, as it would seem, to do with this apparent inversion in rank of spirit and soul.

To this condition the body of "flesh and blood " is perfectly adapted as a " body of humiliation," for the purpose of "hiding pride from man," by making him realize day by day his dependence; while the provision for and ministry to his wants bears as constant witness to the care and tenderness of God towards His creature, so as to hold him fast to the Source of blessing.

All this is apart from the fall and its consequences:being what the "first man was made;" not what he afterwards became. The fall brought in all that could give even a moment's distress in such a condition. The passage in the second of Hebrews carefully distinguishes between the "children's" equal "partaking" in flesh and blood (now in this fallen state) and Christ's limited "taking part " in it. The Greek words, if not the English, show a difference in this respect, though they do not define its exact nature. This is not difficult to realize, however, from what is added afterwards, that "it behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High-priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." "In all things" declares the necessity of His taking proper and full manhood, that He might be a true Representative of those for whom He went in to God ; while for this purpose He must be absolutely free also from any personal impurity or defect. Perfect manhood must be His, without stain or fracture.

How this was secured, the Gospel of Luke bears witness for us. The power of the Holy Ghost accomplished what would otherwise have been impossible; and "that Holy Thing born of the Virgin was, even as to His humanity, the "Son of God " (Luke i- 35). This does not of itself declare what John declares:it is not equivalent to the Word being made flesh. Luke's is the Gospel of the Manhood, as John's is of the Deity of the Lord. The one presents to us the First-born, as the other the Only-begotten. And it is essential to His proper glory that both sides should have adequate statement. The power of the Holy Ghost was manifested in the "Man Christ Jesus" being "made in all things like unto His brethren," while absolutely free from all the sad inheritance of the fall. It was manifested where needed :on the human side, and not on the divine.

Thus, even as to His body, it was "a body prepared," yet "in all things made like unto " that of " His brethren," apart from the consequences of sin which, as there was no sin in Him, He could not have in His Person at all* We must carefully distinguish from this the effect of the circumstances in which He was, a paradisaic Adam in this respect, as I doubt not, but outside of paradise; no doubt, as to Adam a state difficult to conceive, and for unfallen Adam a thing impossible. Yet it may be possible in certain relations to understand and speak of it to some extent,- that is, as far as the Scripture statements carry us, and as we ourselves may be given to realize their meaning.

*(Long footnote connecting with "His Person at all" above.) These things as to the Lord we must keep in careful adjustment to one another:"a body prepared" and " made in all things like unto His brethren." The latter must not be strained so as to include any consequences of the fall:for in this we were not "His brethren"; and limitation is fully declared as we have seen) with regard to His participation in flesh and blood. On the other hand a "body prepared" must not be strained so as to make it other than fully human. It is instructive in this way to remember that this is a quotation from the Septuagint which substitutes this for the Hebrew:"ears hast Thou digged for Me." Unless we are to believe that the Hebrew text is inaccurate here, and that the correctness of the Greek is affirmed by the apostle, the latter is but a paraphrase of the former, which he accepts as giving the true meaning. But in this case the "body prepared" does not apply to any special character of the body itself, but to its being the instrument whereby as a Man, the Speaker should be enabled to hear-that is, to obey-the will of God. It is not to be supposed that the uninspired Septuagint has given us here a revelation of the nature of the Lord's humanity unknown to the inspired Hebrew.

Of course what has been said of the Lord in comparison with Adam has reference simply to his body; and the union of Godhead with Manhood in His Person, with the consequences of this, does not come before us here. We hope to speak of these in another place.*

Adam, as we see, in the body of flesh and blood, was exactly suited to the conditional relation in which he stood to all around him. Sin would bring death upon him, as in fact it did. Mortal, as yet he was not:there was no tendency to death in his nature, no subjection to it on his part, no possibility of disease, no clouding of any faculty in this way. All was in vigor, and with capacity to retain that vigor indefinitely at least. With the knowledge growing upon us, as it is to-day, of the wonderful provision even yet perceptible in the human body for the removal of injurious elements, and for the recovery from any effect of these, it is not difficult to conceive that no poison could have affected him at all. The beasts were subjected to him. If we think of the possibility of accident, I believe we should have as to this to fall back upon the certainty of divine guardianship. He was dependent; his body to be sustained by food; and the ministry of the tree of life ordained for him clearly as additional enforcement of so needed a lesson, whatever we may conceive of its real virtues.

Mutability and dependence are seen in all this, hedged round by divine care and love; by which alone suffering and death could, after all, be absolutely excluded. Thus, let the hedge be taken away, suffering and death may come. Liability to it was implied before:it needs but the circumstances to be changed, for one like this to hunger and thirst, and suffer. With the Lord Himself, in the body of flesh and blood which we know was His, all these imply neither mortality, (in the true sense,*) nor any position towards God, vicarious or otherwise, to account for them.* Mortal does not mean " capable of dying," (in which sense some have incautiously applied it to the Lord,) but "subject to death; destined to die" (Standard Dictionary).* If He in His grace be pleased to come into these conditions, this is all-sufficient. He may only feel things more exquisitely because of His perfection, and be all through in the unclouded sunshine of divine favor, as, until the significant darkness of the Cross, He ever was.

And this, being His grace, was part of that divine display which the "Word made flesh" affirms. That which looks only like the infirmity of manhood becomes in this way the glory of Godhead. "The Son of man is glorified " in this humiliation; "and God " also "is glorified in Him." F. W. G.

(To be Continued.)