'There is such a thing as becoming one-sided in I regard to truth of God; that is, one truth is taught and pressed to the almost utter exclusion of that which God has ordained should be held in connection with it. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Therefore, if we decline to accept truth which may make less of a doctrine than we would like to see made of it, we do so to our own hurt, and are not thoroughly furnished unto all good works. The soldier who disdains using his entire equipment, preferring one portion above another, will likely come to grief in some stage of the conflict. Even so with that Christian who takes but one side of the truth of God.

These facts are true in regard to the doctrine of "Faith Healing." That the Scriptures teach it is our privilege to go to God with all our difficulties and needs, spiritual and physical, is quite true; and many a child of God has had the answer to believing prayer in the form of renewed health or deliverance from diseases of various forms. Far be it from us to weaken in any the sense of dependence upon God for the healing of the body, for we believe that did Christians trust the Lord more and man less about such matters, it would be more honoring to God.

However true though it is that God does answer faith, we desire to present a few considerations in regard to this subject; and if we pass them over, we will become one-sided; and while seeking to retain a particular truth, we shall pour contempt upon other portions of His blessed word.

Sickness is often the result of sin. This will be plain from the reading of the following:"For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." Un-judged sin was bringing weakness, sickness, and even death, upon the Corinthian Christians. It is not directly within the scope of our subject, but note in passing that God had a reason for sending death to them:it was, as the thirty-second verse tells, that they "should not be condemned with the world."

Under certain circumstances, the plan for the sick one to follow is laid down in James 5:14, 15. Read the fifteenth verse, and note that this also takes notice of the fact that it may be sins which caused the sickness. It does not state positively that such was the case, but " if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."

We may safely conclude that sickness in some cases is brought on by the Lord because the subject of the chastening has been walking in unjudged sin.

But to say that all ill health and sickness is thus caused, is to go farther than Scripture takes us, and is unsafe for us. In fact, we are plainly given to understand that earnest, faithful work for the Lord Jesus Christ may be the cause of ill health which nearly terminates in death. In Philippians 2:the apostle Paul refers to Epaphroditus, and says of him in the twenty-seventh verse, '' For indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him." Then, in the twenty-ninth verse, "Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation:because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me."
In this connection it is well to turn our thoughts to the one whom the apostle calls his own son in the faith. Would that more of the Christian young men of our day were filled with the same faith and love as was Timothy ! of whom Paul says, in the same chapter in which he refers to Epaphroditus, '' For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state; for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel." (vers. 21-23.) Read the first few verses of 2 Tim. 1:, and you will surely say, " Timothy must have been a real man of God."

Yet, though Timothy was faithful to the Lord, to His people in general, and to the apostle Paul in particular, he was one who had often infirmities, and stomach difficulties. Well, such being the case, should he not exercise faith, and thus be cured of his trouble ? Will the apostle not write recommending him to do so ? Let us see what he did write, through the leading of the Holy Spirit:-"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." So Paul really recommended Timothy to take a little medicine, in the form of wine. True, it was a little he was to use, and as a medicine; and being in the habit of taking water, had to be told to take wine.

The apostle Paul had power to heal persons of diseases. Is it not strange that he should leave one of
his helpers at Miletum sick ? In 2 Tim. 4:20, he tells us he did so:-"Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick." Neither himself nor Paul exercised faith as to the restoration to health of Trophimus. Has the Lord nothing to teach us by this fact ? Can we not learn by it that it is not always the Lord's will that His children should receive faith for the healing of disease ? and that, had it been a wrong thing for Trophimus to be sick, Paul would not have left him there, but would have counseled "faith healing," or would have exercised his own God-given power ?

Once more:in Colossians 4:14, the apostle speaks of "Luke, the beloved physician." Now, here was one of the Lord's people who was a physician ; not only so, he was a beloved one to Paul. If sickness is always a sign of unjudged sin in the one who is sick, and it is sinful to take medicine for relief, would Paul refer to one whose profession was to administer medicine as the "beloved" physician, when he knew that his was a profession whose very nature led him to prescribe a course of treatment which would then be actually sinful ? Thus we see that the word of God does not lead us to suppose that one who is a physician is following a profession which is contrary to the will of God, seeing the word "beloved" is a term of special affection.

Now, while the Scriptures do teach that the One who, while upon the earth, said, "According to your faith be it unto you," is still able to give the faith to trust Him about bodily ailments, and, in response to faith which He has given, is able to heal the disease, yet it is well to maintain an even balance of truth; and remember that, in wisdom which no man can rightly question, God teaches us that there are two sides to the question of healing.

The object in writing the foregoing is not to weaken, in any degree, a humble dependence upon God for the healing of the body, but to bring out the other side of truth from the word of God, which seems to be passed over by many. If the reader is one of these, we trust the Scriptures quoted will do the Lord's work.

Should God enable any to trust Him for healing, give God the glory, and not think of it as though it were a thing of merit to man that God healed the sick. J. G. T.

The story of Peter's fall and recovery is a striking illustration at once of the innate weakness and wickedness of the human heart and of the Saviour's patient grace and tender mercy. He is indeed the "Good Shepherd," who always goes in search of the lost sheep, and never rests until He finds it and brings it back on His shoulders rejoicing.

In connection with the faithful warning of impending danger, Jesus had given to His over-confident disciple the comforting assurance, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." How much Peter owed to that prevailing prayer of His great High Priest and ours, who can tell ? But for it, like the wretched Judas, he might have sunk into despair, and rushed headlong to suicide. When he realized the results of his treachery, the miserable "son of perdition " " went out and hanged himself." Whereas Peter, who was a true penitent, overwhelmed with a sorrowful sense of his shameful denial of the dear Master, "went out and wept bitterly." There we have the contrast between remorse, or the "sorrow of the world, which worketh death," and "godly sorrow, which worketh repentance to salvation." The Lord Jesus prayed for Peter; and so, grievous as was his fall, his faith failed not utterly and finally. Where should the best, the strongest, of us be but for the all-prevailing, never-ceasing intercession of our great High Priest ?

After His resurrection, our Lord gave evidence of His unchanging love, even for the unfaithful and the unworthy, by sending a special message to his recreant apostle. Said the angel to the woman at the sepulcher, " Go tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before them into Galilee." "And Peter"! Wonderful words of grace ! A golden postscript, truly! Yes, "find him, the broken-hearted man, who so basely denied and deserted his Master; tell him that the Master lives, that He pities, that He loves him still." O, what must have been the effect of that surprising message on poor crushed Peter ! How it must have caused the tears to rain from his eyes-tears of joy mingled with sorrow, like sunbeams glinting through April showers ! He was not despised, he was not disowned, he was not forgotten, but freely forgiven! There are various kinds of forgiveness. There is the forgiveness that washes its hands of the culprit, and refuses to be further troubled on his behalf-the least estimable form of forgiveness ; and there is that which proves itself sincere by the effort which it afterwards makes to help the penitent. Such was Christ's forgiveness of Peter; and such must our forgiveness be, if we would be followers of Him.

There is no account of the first meeting between the Saviour and His penitent disciple. The hand of
Inspiration has wisely drawn the curtain of silence around that scene. We only know from the evangelist John, and from Paul in the fifteenth of 1st Corinthians, that Peter was the very first of His apostles to whom the Risen Lord appeared. But near the close of John's Gospel there is the narrative of a most memorable interview of Jesus with His once wayward but now restored follower. The place is by the quiet lake side. The time is in the gray dusk of the early morning. Peter, with several of his fellow-apostles, has been fishing all night. They are tired and hungry. With His characteristic considerateness, which never overlooked the wants of the body, their Master has provided an appetizing breakfast. After the welcome meal had been finished, "Jesus saith to Simon Peter, ' Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these ?' " Ah, once he had protested, '' Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will / never be offended"! Poor weak human nature !

" Man's wisdom is to seek
His strength from God alone,
And e'en an angel would be weak
Who trusted in his own."

That is a lesson which many a one since Peter's day has had painfully to learn. No longer boastful and self-confident, but humbled by sad experience, Peter says nothing about others to their disparagement and his own advantage. No, it is simply, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee." Three times the searching question is repeated, "Lovest thou Me?" It is an obvious reference to the threefold denial. The rebuke was gentle, but faithful, and Peter deeply felt it, as the Master meant he should. He is the Good Physician, and we may be certain that when dealing with a sin-sick soul, He always aims at a perfect cure. Therefore he uses a severity which is as needful as it is wise. He makes no mistakes, He never lost a case; if necessary, He will not spare the knife. Oh, do not wince or complain if you are under His skillful treatment. He hurts only that He may heal. And so Peter's wound was probed with saving result.

What now is the evidence which love thus examined, thus avowed, and thus accepted, is required to give of its sincerity ?

" Feed My Lambs." " Feed My Sheep." "Feed My Sheep." The evidence of love, then, is to be found not in sentiment, but in service. Jesus seems to say to Peter, '' Warm feelings, exalted words, loud professions, are not enough. If you do indeed love Me, as you say, show it practically by ministering to those for whom I gave my life." It was a truth which Peter needed to be taught. His was an ardent, impulsive, emotional nature. In a gush of excited feeling he had once declared his readiness "to die" for his beloved Master. He must learn that it is much more acceptable, and far more difficult, to live for Christ than to die for Him. There are some of us, too, who have to learn the same lesson. Protestations of willingness to die for a loved person or cause are cheap and common enough. A young man has been heard to say:" My mother! she is the best and dearest woman in the world:let any one dare speak a word against her:my mother, I would die for her"'! Would he? But the dear old lady does not want her boy to die for her. She only asks him to come home a little earlier at night; occasionally to go with her to meeting, and sit by her side; to show her some little attention. Such simple things display love for a mother more effectually than any amount of cheap heroics !

And so the Lord Jesus does not ask His disciples, except in rare instances, to die for Him. He asks them to live for Him. Yes, day by day, to live for Him in patient, uncomplaining, self-denying service of others-service which, if done to the lowliest in His dear name, He will accept as done to Himself. This is the proof of love. The unselfish deed of kindness, prompted by a loving heart, to a sinning, sorrowing, needy human creature is better than countless raptures of emotions which terminate in themselves. To be worth anything, these must be translated into action. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." The noblest hymn of praise is a Christ-like life !

" Lord, it is my chief complaint
That my love is weak and faint;
Yet I love Thee, and adore;
O for grace to love Thee more!"

W. F. W.

THE CHURCH :MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES. (Continued from page 20.)

Having now, through the mercy of God, examined the teaching of Scripture upon the fundamental principles which underlie the Church of God, it only remains for us to note some of the applications of these principles to various questions which arise in their carrying out.

CHURCH MEETINGS.

The keynote of the Church is unity,- gathering together to the Lord. The disciples "were all, with one accord, in one place," on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:i), just prior to the formation of the Church. The three thousand new converts that were added to them on that day continued daily, with one accord, in the temple. In the joy of that first love it seemed to be one long meeting, scarcely discontinued at all. And yet, even at that time (exceptional as to many things – the immense number of visitors at Jerusalem, the great temple still open to them, the need of further leading, etc.) there were certain characteristics which serve as a guide in settling the nature of Church meetings. "They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers." (Acts 2:42.) We have here indicated, besides fellowship, which would apply to all meetings and the whole life, three features which marked the Church life of these saints:Teaching, Breaking of Bread, and Prayer. We do not mean that at once separate meetings were devoted to each of these,- rather that all their gatherings were so marked. But as the Church emerged from what must of necessity have been but temporary, as the link with Judaism was severed, we find regular meetings for a special purpose. "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread." (Acts 20:7.) Here at a specified time (the Lord's day), at a specified place, together, for a specified purpose (to break bread), the disciples met. That this was their regular weekly custom is manifest from the form of expression. They did not come together to meet the Apostle, but to break bread. That this custom was universal is seen from i Cor. 11:20:"When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." (Because of their abuses. See verses 21-34.) That what he wrote for the Corinthians was for the entire Church is seen from chapter 11:16; chapter 14:33.

We have already dwelt somewhat upon the nature of this holy feast in the paper on Worship. It is only necessary to note the prominent place it occupies. Not even an apostle's presence could set it aside. No frequency could mar its freshness, when partaken of in the proper spirit. It exhibited before the saints that great foundation-fact upon which their own life and the structure of the Church rested. Christ's body and blood, His death, His love unto death, the solemn and touching circumstances of that death, the blessed and eternal fruits of that death, the adorable Person who thus loved His Church,-were and are presented before the eye of faith, to awaken the affections, arouse the conscience, renew the strength, and call forth the worship of His people. At the same time, in the one loaf was presented, ever before the saints, the one body of the Church of Christ, (i Cor. 10:16, 17.)

The Lord's Supper, then, is the chief meeting of the Church. It is the only one distinctly specified, and it occurred weekly. It naturally follows that it gives character to the whole meeting. Teaching there may be, prayer, and exhortation; but the breaking of bread should ever be the prominent feature, and all else subordinated to and influenced by that. But if the Lord Himself is before us, and our state is right, praise and worship will predominate. Each meeting will be a foretaste of that endless praise of heaven, when, gathered about Him, the whole company of the redeemed will burst forth in one eternal anthem of praise. "Till He come" may we anticipate that blessed time every Lord's day.

We must add a word as to the awful desecration of the Lord's Supper. To say nothing of the multitudes who partake of it avowedly as a mere form, how many are there who come in a careless unjudged way to the Lord's Supper. It was so in a gross way at Corinth, where gluttony, pride, and drunkenness were indulged in. It is none the less so now, where multitudes in full fellowship with the world and its ways, with no knowledge of a full salvation, nor desire for that knowledge, with sins unconfessed and unforsaken, sit down at the table of the Lord. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." How can God's children sit down with those who they know are walking in an ungodly way ? Do they not, by this very looseness, show an indifference to God's holiness which must sorely grieve the holy Spirit of God ? It is no question of salvation, but of honoring God,-a question which should be as important to us as that of our salvation. But we leave this to the exercised conscience of the reader.

But the Church requires instruction, and has its needs. It is therefore most fitting that there should be special meetings for these purposes, that the meeting for the breaking of bread may be left free for its own peculiar purpose. Love attracts us to the Lord, and therefore to one another. Meetings for prayer, and holy, happy conference, will be as frequent as circumstances and the duties of daily life will permit. We need hardly say that daily work is not to be neglected for the sake of multiplied meetings, nor the duties each one owes to his own family. This would be the disorderly walking which the apostle rebuked. (2 Thess. 3:6-12.) Still when every duty has been met, there remains for all the opportunity of attending meetings, and the exhortation "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is." (Heb. 10:25.)

A regular meeting for prayer and exhortation during the week is not only suggested by the constantly recurring needs of the Lord's people, but by Scripture as well. How many and varied are the needs of the Church, and how blessed it is to come together for this purpose,- the saints pouring out their hearts to God, interceding for one another, remembering the sick and afflicted, and pleading for blessing on the Lord's work! Ah, beloved brethren, let us never neglect the prayer-meeting:we grow cold when we fail to avail ourselves of its privileges.* * For an excellent practical paper upon this subject the reader is referred to "Prayer and the Prayer-Meeting," by C. H. M.*

One of the characteristic features of the day is shallowness,- ignorance of and distaste for the word of God. Private and prayerful study of the Scripture is the great remedy for this, and it is also a most helpful exercise for the Lord's people to come together during the week for this purpose. The reading meeting not being provided for in Scripture (though most scriptural in its spirit) is necessarily an informal gathering. It is in this meeting that the gift of the teacher is most enjoyed. Without definitely presiding, the one instructed in the Word imparts to his brethren, answering questions and unfolding Scripture. It will be found most helpful to take up and go regularly through different books of the Bible, the New Testament, and particularly the Epistles, as presenting the full light of God's truth. This meeting should be guarded from useless speculations and mere vapid commonplaces. When there are none of experience and knowledge of the Word, it will often be found best for the Lord's people to come together and read some profitable work, with their Bibles in their hands, reading the references, and turning to passages suggested. Such a practice will be found most helpful, and open the way to much profitable conference. We would not have it understood that one must be thoroughly taught in the Word to conduct a reading meeting, still a measure of familiarity with Scripture and some ability for communicating it are essential. We need hardly add that God meets and blesses His hungry people when they are looking to Him, no matter how little gift there may be among them.

In addition to this, the saints may come together to hear whatever a servant of the Lord may have to impart to them in the way of addresses on Scripture; but such meetings being entirely on the responsibility of the individual teacher do not properly come under our subject. The same may be said of the evangelist's meeting for preaching the gospel. But of that later.

Before leaving the subject of Church meetings we must look at one most important feature; and to do so we will recall the great characteristic fact of Christianity- the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church. We have already seen, in the paper on Ministry, that Scripture does not recognize official position in the Church. If this is true as to ministry, much more is it so in worship. To have one man preside over a company of Christians and assume all the functions of worship and ministry is not only a practical denial of their priesthood, but a usurpation of the place of the Holy Ghost. This may be done ignorantly, and with the best of motives; but it is none the less an ignoring of the sovereign power of the Spirit to guide and control every man severally as He will. The fourteenth chapter of First Corinthians is the simple directory for worship, as the twelfth chapter gives the constitution of the Church. "How is it, then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (i Cor. 14:26.)While the apostle here may be pruning off the exuberance of licence, the great principle of liberty for the Spirit of God to use whom He will is established. The only check is "Let all things be done unto edifying.""For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." (5:33.) The women were to keep silence in the churches. But of this we will say a few words later.

We have then a most simple and effectual guide in our worship. We are in the Lord's presence, and the Holy Ghost is there to guide. There is no need to have a man to preside. That would only interfere with the liberty of the Spirit. It may be asked, Will not disorder come in ? And our reply must be that the Spirit of God is more able than man to control disorder. God never intended that we should get on without faith or dependence upon Him. Where there is subjection to the Lord, and a godly consideration of one another, there will be the sweetest liberty and real divine power. Let the attempt be made in the fear of God, and the blessed results will be manifest.

(To be continued.)

The soul is the dwelling-place of the truth of God. The ear and the mind are but the gate and the avenue ; the soul is its home, or dwelling-place. The beauty and the joy of the truth may have unduly occupied the outpost, filled the avenues, and crowded the gates; but it is only in the soul that its reality can be known. It is by meditation that the truth takes its journey from the gate, along the avenue, to its proper dwelling-place.

PHILADELPHIA:WHAT IS IT?

My purpose is, as the Lord enables me, to follow the track of what I have no doubt to be a gracious movement of God in recent times, and with which as such all His people are necessarily concerned; to seek to show the principles which characterize it, and their meaning and value as taught in Scripture; to speak also of the difficulties and opposition through which it has had to find its way; and in this my aim will be to exercise hearts and consciences (if unexercised) with relation to it, and still more to help those already variously exercised to a settlement of questions which at the present time are pressing heavily on many.

I do not propose, however, any history of the movement of which I speak. For this I have no special competence; nor, if I had, would it serve so well the purpose that actuates me. It would raise question as to facts, and prejudice minds in opposite ways, by the introduction of names and persons, familiar and in reputation, perhaps the reverse. Our tendency is too much to make men commend the truth, rather than the truth commend the men who follow it. I shall look therefore at principles simply, with their necessary results (as far as these can be traced), only referring to history so far as may be necessary to explain their importance for us, and omitting wholly the names of those who have stood for them, or stood against them.

This may be deemed unsatisfactory by some, and of course leaves the application of principles to be made by every one for himself. But with divine light as to principles, and a soul truly before God, the application will after all be comparatively easy. It will test us, of course, whether we be there; and that seems to me to be in His mind for us, in a special way, just now. Let us not seek escape from it; but that we may stand the test, and find the blessing which He surely designs us in it.

For He does design blessing. This is the end from which He never swerves. When special times of sifting come, the sense of weakness everywhere apparent, and the love we have to one another would make us gladly seek escape, for ourselves and for others also. But, thank God, it is as vain as it is unwise and unbelieving. Satan is the sifter of God's wheat, and it is a serious thing indeed to have to do with him; but sifting is the ordained method of purification. Take Simon Peter as the great example of it in the gospels:he is in special danger, foreknown by the Lord as specially to fail, and yet cannot be spared the sifting. "I have prayed for thee," says the great Intercessor; not that thou mayest not be sifted, not even that thou mayest not fail, but "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and, when thou art converted," (or restored, as the meaning is,) "strengthen thy brethren." Here was good to come, (even for one who might seem to have failed utterly under it,) from the sifting of Satan.

What comfort for us in this, whether we think of ourselves or of others ! And if the Lord had for us, in His abundant goodness, any work for Himself ready to be put into our hands, what wonder if, first of all, He were pleased to let us also-perhaps finding our way into it, even as Peter did, through our own self-confidence and imprudence,-find, though in sorrow and suffering, the value of Satan's sieve ? We have, I believe, ground for the conviction that this is the meaning of what is now taking place.
But I go on at once to what is the matter that I have in hand, and raise the question which is at the head of this paper.

I do not propose now to work out the proof of what is familiar and accepted truth for most, perhaps, who will read these pages, that the Lord's addresses to the seven churches in Revelation contemplate, in fact, successive states of the Church at large, answering, in the same order, to the condition of these respective churches, or assemblies ; and that unitedly they cover the whole period, from the apostle's day till the Lord takes us to be with Himself above. The great proof of this must be in fact the correspondence that can be traced between what is thus assumed to be the prophecy and its fulfillment; and this it is not difficult to trace as far as regards at least the first five churches.* *Those who have difficulty I may refer to " Present Things," published by Loizeaux Brothers, and where it can be obtained also, bound up in a larger volume, " The Revelation of Jesus Christ."* Let us briefly attempt this.

1. Ephesus, to which, in its first fresh fervor, the doctrine of the Church was declared by the apostle, is shown heading here a history of decline. Outwardly things still look well. The secret of departure is only realized by Him whose heart, seeking ours, cannot but be keenly conscious of it, if first love is no longer there. Here is the beginning of the end, a root upon which evil fruit of all kinds will be found, if there be not recovery.

2. Smyrna next shows us the double assault of the enemy upon the Church in this weakened condition. Persecution on the part of the world, as under the Roman emperors ; internally, the introduction of a bastard Judaism, such as in its beginnings had to be met by the apostle, notably in Galatia, and which, in contrast with the heavenly Church, develops as the enemy's seed, "the synagogue of Satan,"-the mixing together of true and false in a legal and ritualistic system claiming earthly position and promises, and already slandering-this I take to be their "blasphemy"-the faithful remnant.

3. Pergamos shows us then the pilgrim character of the Church lost:they are " dwelling where Satan's throne is." And while Nicolaitans ("subjectors of the laity") preach now their "doctrine," Balaam-teachers seduce the people of God into evil alliances with the world, and mere idolatry.

4. Thyatira carries this on to full development in Romanism, as we see to-day. That which Balaam-teachers did before as individuals, a woman (type, as we know, of the professing Church) does now, speaking as a prophetess, with the claim of divine authority, and yet branded with the awful name of Jezebel, the idolatrous persecutor of true prophets in Ahab's days. Here development in this line ends :a remnant is beginning to be marked out again ("the rest in Thyatira"), and prepares us for a different condition of things in the next address.

5. In Sardis accordingly, we have no indication of Jezebel or her corruption. There are things that have been received and heard, but they languish and are ready to die. The general state is that of death, though with a "name to live," and a "few names that have not defiled their garments" in this place of the dead. It is easy to see that we have here the national churches of the Reformation, with their purer doctrine given of God, though hard to be maintained in the midst of what-as the world claiming to be the church-is necessarily "dead," with "a name to live." There is here, and all through, to this point, no possible difficulty of identification for a simple and honest heart, of what is presented to us in these churches.

But this brings us, as the next stage, to Philadelphia; and what is Philadelphia ? This ought to be a question capable of answer surely, and of satisfactory answer too. There can hardly be a doubt, if the previous applications have been correct, that Philadelphia must be something following Reformation times, outside of the state churches which have already found their delineation, and something which the three hundred years that are past have been ample to develop. But there are things connected with the identification in this case which should rightly make us pause and be very sure of our ground in attempting any explanation.

Philadelphia has, as a whole, the Lord's approval in a way no other of these churches has; except indeed Smyrna, with which in another respect also Philadelphia is linked. For here the "synagogue of Satan" once more appears as there:there seems some recrudescence of the Jewish principles typified by this ; or at least something brings these to the front in the Lord's address.

But it is intelligible why people should shrink from appropriating to themselves the commendation that is found here; while yet that very commendation must cause every Christian heart to crave the character which our blessed Master can thus commend. Thus it always must have appealed to Christians ; and since no circumstances of our time can ever render it impossible for us to fulfill the conditions necessary to His approval, there surely must have been Philadelphians in every generation of His people since these words were written. And here how blessed to see that what the Lord approves in Philadelphia is given in such absolutely plain speech. Keeping His word, not denying His Name, keeping the word of His patience:how simple all this seems; how simple it is, to a heart that is truly simple ! And yet, if we apply it closely, not meaning to let ourselves off easily, these words will be found, I doubt not, capable of searching us out to the very bottom.

But though thus there have been Philadelphians in all times, a Philadelphian movement is another matter; and this is what we should look for, from the place of this address among the other addresses. We shall have to face this, if we would be thoroughly honest with ourselves, and would not deprive ourselves therefore of the blessing of such a commendation. For while it is very well to take heed that we flatter not ourselves with being what we are not, there is another thing that is to be considered, and that is, if there be such a movement, our own relation to it. And this may well cause us anxious inquiry, may it not ? and it would be a strange disappointment indeed, were we to have to accept that such an inquiry as this could not expect to attain its end.

If the Lord have given me in His addresses to the churches to find a clue to His relation to the successive phases, complete or partial, of the Church on earth, then I must surely ask myself, where am I with regard to this ? And if I plainly do not belong to that line of development which ends in Thyatira or Papal Rome; if also I do not belong to the state churches of the Reformation, or those similarly constituted, though they may not be established; am I to find no place in that which the Lord addresses ? If I am, where must I find it, but in Philadelphia or in Laodicea ?

Now if the Spirit of God be at work in the midst of such a state of things as Sardis implies, not merely to sustain a remnant, but in testimony against evil as a whole, in what direction will it necessarily be found working ? Will it not be in separation between the living and the dead ? that is, in leading Christians to seek out their company; or in giving expression to the "love of brethren"? which is only to say in English, in Philadelphia ?

Is it not plain that this has in fact characterized, in various degrees, many different movements that have arisen since Reformation times, in which more or less was affirmed the separation of Christians from the world, and the communion of saints as a visible reality ? Every effective protest against the misery of an unconverted church membership has partaken of this character. And the maintenance of the diversity between the Church and the world has necessarily led on to the assertion of the related truth of the Church's practical unity. Philadelphia, "brotherly love," is a word which, going to the heart of the matter, covers surely all this seeking after the making visible of the Church so long conceived as necessarily invisible.

Putting all together, we may take this as clearly what Philadelphia means. It stands for a broad and well-defined movement in the history of the professing church, and which has assumed many different characters. These differences may indeed be pleaded against its practical nature as defining any distinct path for the people of God to-day. But this is only a superficial view of the matter. There are other things to be considered, which will essentially modify this first conception, and make us realize the word of God, here as elsewhere, to be "quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword," and requiring from us a real and complete integrity in our obedience to it, in order to such blessing as the Lord sets before us. Let us turn to consider now the first warning which He gives us in connection with this matter.

2.THE OVERCOMER IN PHILADELPHIA.

The separation of the Church from the world, and its restoration to visible unity upon the earth! if that be in the heart of the Philadelphia!!, as in his heart it must be for him to be this, how the Lord's words appeal to us, " Thou hast a little power." Power equal to such work as this is plainly not his; though He will graciously acknowledge what there is. The ideal before him is an impracticable one; though, thank God, this is to be widely distinguished from an impractical one. Infidels have rightly declared that the Christian standard is an impracticable one; but every Christian knows that to "walk as Christ walked" is very far from an unpractical ideal.

If you are acquainted at all with the feeble efforts of Christians in the direction of which we have been speaking,-of their inconsistency with one another, and with their real object, we shall surely realize, that, in the path in which Christ leads us, we have need of the deepest humility, if we would escape the deepest humiliation. It is not my object now to enumerate these; but the warning which the Lord gives to the Philadelphian is surely one that speaks volumes here, for it is upon his heeding it that all depends for him. " Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." It is in this respect that overcoming is to be accomplished for the Philadelphian, as it is plainly the only evil that is in view.

But with this his "little power" unites, to make the warning more impressive. The unattainableness of the ideal, the little progress that we make toward it, the weakness manifest in others as in ourselves, all combine to dishearten and weary us. That seems to be often the failure of principles which is only the failure to act upon the principles. But this too is saddening enough. Let it be that the principles themselves have only failed by not being carried out, if they are too unearthly-too heavenly – for that which all the history of the Church has proved her to be, would it not be wiser to materialize them somewhat ? If a lower path be more practicable, is it not after all the better ? It is not realized that to give up a single point as to the Lord's will is to give up obedience as a principle. How many points we give up is then but a question of detail.

As a matter of fact, it will not be difficult to find the wrecks of failed Philadelphia strewing the centuries since Luther. Every genuine revival, as being the work of the same Spirit, has tended in the same direction. It has brought Christians together; it has separated them from the world; it has proved afresh the power of Christ's word; it has revived the sweetness of His Name. The sense of evils in the professing Church, intolerable to the aroused consciences and hearts of His people, has forced many, in obedience to the Word, to "depart from iniquity." Alas, is it not the constant reproach of such movements that hardly has a generation passed before the spirit of them is departed, they have sunk to nearly the common level of things around; they have no more been able to retain the blessing than a child the sunshine it has gathered in its hand ? If wedded to some principle which the natural conscience owns, or some assertion of right which men value as their possession, such movements may still grow, and faster than before, while the old men weep at the remembrance of the days they have seen, and realize their temple to be in ruins.

So simply all this takes place, that it is easy to see it must take place, unless the power of God prevent the natural evolution. The first generation had to break through natural surroundings at the call of God; they had learned of God, with exercised hearts, and followed Him through suffering and with self-denial. And their children come into the heritage their fathers had acquired for them, necessarily without the exercise their fathers had. Nature attracts them to the path, not warns them from it. They accept easily, and can easily let go. They know not the joy of sacrifice. They have not the vigor gained by painful acquirement. It is easy to predict what will naturally follow; not necessarily from anything wrong in what they hold as truth, but from the incapable hands with which they hold it.

But the argument from such failure seems to be used so disastrously with souls to-day, that it is worth a deeper consideration. Does "success," as men count success, argue anything as to the goodness before God of that which succeeds ? Or conversely, does failure and break-up, to any extent you please to name, prove that which has been made shipwreck of was evil, or that there was evil at least inherent in it ? Carry it out thoroughly and honestly, such a supposition, and see where it will land you. If you know the Apostolic Church, as seen in Scripture, and the blessed heritage of truth with which it was endowed at the beginning:tell me where shall I find this Church, when I come to the beginning of uninspired history ? and where shall I find this truth possessed by her even in many of its fundamentals ?

The answer is too plain and terrible, Scripture itself preparing us indeed for it. It was needful, even while this was being written, that Jude should exhort to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." And Paul speaks of the "mystery of iniquity already at work"; and he and Peter of the special evils of the last days. And John could find the signs of the "last time" in there being already "many antichrists" (i John 2:18).

Outside of Scripture, it is enough to say, in the language of another, that the historical church "never was, as a system, the institution of God, or what God had established; but at all times, from its first appearance in ecclesiastical history, the departure as a system from what God established, and nothing else." And as to doctrines, "it is quite certain that neither a full redemption, nor (though the words be used once or twice) a complete possessed justification by faith, as Paul teaches it, a perfecting for ever by His one offering, a known personal acceptance in Christ, is ever found in any ecclesiastical writings, after the canonical Scriptures, for long centuries."* *J. N. Darby." Christianity, not Christendom," pp. 7, 22.*

But what, then, about this apostolic church which, in some of its most important doctrines, seems to have vanished out of the world in such a manner, for so long a time ? Were its principles at fault or what, that it failed so quickly ? What principles of Scripture shall we find that will secure us from failure, though they could not secure those who had them at the beginning ? Is it not plain that Scripture exhorts us, if we be Philadelphians, to "hold fast"? and does not this recognize the danger of not holding fast ?

No one need wonder, then, if the wrecks of Philadelphia are strewn along the road; while Rome retains, century after century, her boasted unity and power over souls. It is accounted for by the simple fact which Scripture recognizes, that error roots itself in the world more easily than truth. And so the Lord asks by Jeremiah (2:ii) :"Hath a nation changed their gods, which yet are no gods ? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." Rather, then, may we argue the reverse way, that if, in an adverse world, and with Satan's power rampant, a people could find a way of steady increase and prosperity, this exceptional vigor would have to be accounted for, and not the fact of reverses and discouragements.

Yet after all, it should be clearly understood to what the Lord's warning words exhort:"Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." What is that which they are called to "hold fast"? I beg my reader's earnest attention to the answer which the message itself gives :this is not a certain deposit of doctrine clearly. I do not mean to deny such a deposit-very far from that; nor, if there be such, that it is to be held fast. Necessarily it is; and yet, I say again, this is not what the Lord speaks of here ; whereas in the message to Sardis, it is this unmistakably.

The comparison between the two is in the highest degree important. To Sardis it is said, "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent." There a measured amount, a clearly defined deposit, of truth is indicated:and this is simple and most instructive, if we recall what Sardis means. A wonderful blessing was given in those Reformation days. Many a truth of immense significance and value for the soul had they "received and heard." And they knew the value of it all; but in their eagerness to secure it for the generations to come, what did they do ? They put it into creeds and confessions; and I say not, they were wrong in this. Nay, they had clearly a right to say for themselves and declare to others what they believed they had received from God. Those "confessions"- truly such they were in those days of martyrdom- read by the light of the fires kindled by their adversaries for the signers, are blessed witnesses to-day of the truth for which, when felt in power, men could give their bodies to the flame, and quail not.

But the wrong was here :they took those creeds and imposed them-with all the emphasis that penalties enforced by a State-church could give-upon the generations following. Their own measure of knowledge was to be that of their children and their children's children. If there were error in the creed, that error must be transmitted with it. And all this was given into the hands, not even of spiritual men, but of the world-church they had reared up, to care for and maintain!
Necessarily the Spirit was grieved and quenched. He was leading them on-you can see it in Luther's letter to the Bohemian brethren-far beyond where they actually stopped. He was ready to lead them into "all truth" (Jno. 16:13). They put up their Ebenezers not to show simply that thus far the Lord had helped them, but as the Ultima Thule of knowledge. What wonder if they really, to those under the sway of these systems, became such! Henceforth it was to "what they had received and heard" in the sixteenth century that they looked back. The word now was no longer, as with the Reformers, when they were reformers, "On with the Holy Spirit of truth, our Teacher," but "Back to the Reformation."

The words of the Lord to Sardis are therefore precise in the marvelous accuracy which His words necessarily must have. "You have taken," they say, "the measure of truth you have, as if it were all truth:well, you have limited yourselves how much; but at least be true to what you have got:'be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die'." In view of infidel criticism everywhere undermining to-day the foundations of Scripture itself, how are the Reformation churches responding to this ?

But Philadelphia is called to "hold fast," too. Yes, but what ? what she has, of course; and that is a little power, and Christ's word kept, and His Name not denied. Notice that there is no longer a measured quantity-"what thou hast received " ; nor is it His "commandments" or His "words," but His "word." The distinction is so clearly drawn in the gospel of John (14:21-24) that, although it may be familiar to most who read this, I shall briefly state it.

Love is not to be measured by profession or by emotion, but by obedience. " He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them," says the Lord, "he it is that loveth Me." The response to this is :"and he that loveth Me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him."

But there is a deeper love than that manifested in keeping commandments. It is that which takes account of all His word, whether positive command or not. And here the response is greater correspondingly. "If a man love Me, he will keep my word" -so it should read, not "words"; "and my Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode with him." Here it is plain that there is a fullness and permanency of communion not to be found in the previous case.

Philadelphia has kept-is keeping, as long as she remains Philadelphia-not His commandments, but His word:this as a whole. Not, of course, that she knows it all:that were impossible. But, just for that reason, she has not a certain amount of truth which she has received, and to which she is faithful. She is like Mary at His feet, to listen and be subject to whatever He has to communicate. His word as a whole is before her. Not limiting the Spirit, she will be led on; for He leads on. Her ear is open. She has the blessedness of the man "that heareth Me," says the eternal Wisdom, "watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors."

Of course, this is no peculiarity of any special time; it is God's way at all times to lead on the soul that is just ready for His leading. And at all times of special revival this has been seen especially. But of late, many will recognize that Scripture has been opened to us more as a whole than at any former time since the apostles; and that this has been in connection with such a movement as had the features, if I have interpreted them aright, of what in the Apocalypse is called Philadelphia. Certain great truths being recovered to the Church have helped to open up in a new way the Old Testament as well as the New. The dispensations have been distinguished; the gospel cleared from Galatian error; the place in Christ learned in connection with our participation in His death and resurrection; the real nature of eternal life, and the present seal and baptism of the Spirit in contrast with all former or other operations and gifts; the coming of the Lord as distinct from His appearing:do we not owe it to the Lord to acknowledge without reserve what His grace has done ? and must we not connect it with the fullness of Christ's word here, in contrast with the "what thou hast received and heard " of Sardis ?

We must recognize it in order to admit the question, which to me, I confess, grows more solemn daily:Is this attitude still maintained, and is it to be maintained ? are we to go on with the Lord still
learning, still to learn ? or to make even these blessed truths a measure with which we shall content ourselves ? A large measure is still a " measure"; and once getting back to merely "what we have received " is after all to accept the bucket (or say, the cistern) in place of the flowing well. At the feet of Jesus, who will presume to say we have the measure of His blessed Word ?

(To be continued.)

BEING LESSONS FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW.

CHAPTER VI. (Continued from page 172.)

The third section of the "Sermon on the Mount" – the principles of the kingdom, which are given for the government of those waiting for it – occupies the first eighteen verses of the sixth chapter. It has upon it the seal of a third section, as plainly bringing us into the sanctuary, – into the presence of our Father, and giving us a lesson of sanctification, – of the holiness that suits His presence. It thus corresponds with the third book of Moses, Israel's lawgiver, while yet a greater than Moses is here.

The first verse is the text of the whole, which is then illustrated, amplified, and enforced, in three different applications. The text is:"Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them :otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven." The word is allowed to be "righteousness " here, as the Revised Version gives it, and not "alms," as in the common one. In the following verses "alms" is right.

This "righteousness" is then illustrated in three different applications, manward, Godward, and self-ward, as alms-giving, prayer, and fasting. Each of these is an illustration, not a definition, as is clear. Alms-giving does not define our duty toward men; nor prayer that toward God; nor fasting, what we owe ourselves. In each regard our righteousness must go far beyond the illustration. And yet the illustration is in each case chosen, as we cannot doubt, in divine wisdom, and has a peculiar fitness to bring out the character of this righteousness, as disciples are called to practice it, before their Father in heaven. This we shall surely see, as we examine them.

I. Alms-giving is chosen to express what is righteousness toward men. What is the reason of this ? Such questions it is right and good to ask, if only we seek the answer reverently, and without forgetting that divine wisdom is not exhausted by the apprehension we may obtain of it. In this first case, as surely in the others also, we may think of more than one answer.

As the Lord is reproving a righteousness done be-fore men, He naturally takes up that which would be most showy-most apt to be reckoned on to produce the desired effect. We are told by Him of those who sound a trumpet before them when they give alms, and that in the synagogues, as well as in the streets. The language is probably symbolical of the blazoning abroad, in whatever way, their acts of " charity;" while for this also they would naturally have the most plausible reasons, invented to cover the fact that they sought glory of men ; but this was the fact. And alms-giving has also been one of the standard methods adopted by those who have sought this. It can be practiced with so little personal sacrifice, while it meets so evidently one of the sorest of palpable needs that can be met; it has so the form of benevolence, that it seems like cynicism to question whether the spirit be there; it is in itself so right, and puts one so plainly in the company, at least, of those who do right:all this makes it of priceless value to those who love the praise of men. And those who do so can very readily attain their object; nothing, perhaps, is more readily or certainly secured. But then, alas for them, "they have their reward:" it is all that they will possess, forever.
On the other side, alms-giving as an example of righteousness is a significant witness that to show mercy is not something to be classed as supererogation, but that the ministry of love is after all only a debt-a due. To be righteous really carries no merit in it, although God in His grace may please to speak of recompense.'' When ye shall have done all things that are commanded you," says the Lord elsewhere, "say, We are unprofitable servants:we have done that which was our duty to do." (Luke 17:10.) Only in a world of sinners such as we are, could the thought of righteousness-the mere fulfillment of duty-associate itself with any idea of merit. And with the comparative righteousness which is all that is ours at best,-a righteousness that still leaves us sinners,-how impossible should be the thought! But, to love, with all that should flow from this, is mere commanded duty; yea, to love one's neighbor as oneself is the injunction of the law. The Christian standard rises higher still in its law of self-sacrifice and all its marvelous enforcement of this in the example of Him who has given us life through His death. Henceforth, for those who have known this, there is no possible margin of devotedness outside of that duty which His love has endeared.

Alms-giving shrinks in this way into a small thing indeed; while this diminution of it does not make it less imperative. It becomes only a finger pointing along a road which leads out into the infinity beyond. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be made rich." (2 Cor. 8:9.)

And yet we cannot afford to forget the Lord's words here, though to a people who could not know, as we know, such grace as this. Significant it is, that, when He would, to these Jewish disciples, speak of righteousness manward, His illustration of it emphasizes mercy. All this is only magnified for us by our Christianity, in every particular. We are, above all, the witnesses of grace. Debtors to it absolutely, we are debtors to show it to others. Freely having received, we must freely give. How otherwise are we to reflect Him to men around ?

And we need still the reminder :" But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret:and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Alas, how Christians have forgotten such words in their displayed charities, justifying the dis-play as letting their light shine ! The contrast is manifest with what is here :too manifest to need enlargement.

2. The second illustration of righteousness is God-ward ; and here the Lord illustrates it by prayer:"When ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites are:for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, to be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber; and when thou hast shut to thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

It is a striking thing that righteousness should be illustrated by that which is the expression of creature need and dependence. But all the sin in the world came in through man's forgetfulness of this. Nay, Satan became what he is in the same manner – "lifted up with pride" (i Tim. 3:6). Prayer is the expression of what is the very opposite of this, Think, then, of the utter and awful contradiction in terms, of praying to God, to be seen of men! "As the hypocrites do," says the Lord; and yet, is not this an hypocrisy which creeps oftentimes into public prayers, where those who pray are, after all, not to be so characterized ? Are not those who lead the prayers of others especially liable to act in some measure in this way ? the consciousness of being before others leading them into petitions which are not dictated by felt need so much as by a sense of propriety of some kind ? How much shorter, how much simpler, how different in various ways, might many of our prayers be, if we were alone before God instead of in the prayer-meeting !

This leads us on toward the next warning :" But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do :for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them :for your Father knoweth what ye have need of before ye ask Him." This, if there be no need to explain or apply, still needs serious attention on the part of Christians.

Our Lord follows this with the divine model of prayer, which for fullness combined with perfect directness and simplicity so manifestly fulfills the conditions indicated. Nor only this :the order and proportion of the petitions are, with all else, perfect, and claim our earnest attention. They betoken a condition of heart which, wherever it is found, must insure answer,-the state of one over whom God's will is supreme,-for whom He is first and last, beginning and end. To realize such a condition would of necessity make us realize the meaning of those words of the Lord's, " Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done to you." Clearness of apprehension would go with it,-confidence of success:"The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much" (James 5:16).

A perfect model of prayer this is and must be :whether designed for a form, and especially whether intended for Christians, is another matter. The differences in Luke (11:2-4), now recognized in the Revised Version, would, of course, be one of the plainest arguments against this. Apart from this, the gift of the Spirit to Christians, for those who realize what is the distinct characteristic of the present dispensation, (John 16:7 ; Rom. 8:26, 27,) and expressly named as the Intercessor within us according to God, may still more hinder such from interpreting it as a form to be used by the saints of the present time. That it is not in the Lord's Name is evident upon the face of it, and confirmed (if confirmation were needed) by His words to His disciples afterwards :" Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name " (John 16:24); and this is a difference not to be remedied by supplying an omission where there is none, and making that really imperfect which is perfect. And this very perfection, for the disciples of that time in their transition state, would seem to suggest once more its not being intended as the suited expression of a Christian in the Christian state. One is more concerned, however, to point out the actual perfection of the prayer, than to dwell upon such distinctions in this place,- even though they have to do with differences vital to Christianity; but here is not the place for their examination. Let us consider now, briefly, the petitions contained in it, and what they imply. F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

In the poor sinner of Luke 7:all the hidden fountains are opened at the bidding of the grace of Christ. She knew that He had accepted her, sinner as she was, and this commanded her heart. It left her without an eye for the Pharisee s feast or an ear for his scorning, for Jesus had drawn her apart from everything; and to come near Him, as near as love and gratitude and worship could bring her, was all her concern.

BEING LESSONS FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW.

CHAPTER V. (Continued from page 99.)

From the seventeenth verse to the end of the chapter, we have a new and very distinct section of the "sermon on the mount," in which the Lord takes the place of One greater than Moses, concerning, expounding, and bringing out the spirituality of the law, while He at the same time supplements and perfects it, not hesitating to put His own words in a place of higher authority than those spoken "to them of old time." For " the law made nothing perfect " (Heb. 7:19), and what Moses had to concede on account of the hardness of men's hearts chap. 19:8) could now, in the light which had come in with Christ into the world, no longer be permitted.

There are fittingly seven subsections here, ending with the enjoining (in the seventh) of this very perfection, as required of children of the perfect " Father in heaven," who were to manifest as that their Father's character. The higher the place accorded, the higher becomes the standard necessarily. But there are many questions which the whole subject raises here, and which we must take up seriously and consider patiently, in the order of their suggestion.

First of all, the authority of the law is maintained (verses 17-20), and in the fullest way. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets :I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Now in the first place we have to consider of what the Lord is speaking here. " The law and the prophets " was the recognized phrase for the Old Testament as a whole, the scriptures of a dispensation already past, but which had not passed themselves with the dispensation. Thus in the gospel of Luke (16:16) He says again:"The law and the prophets were until John :since that time the kingdom of God is preached." Thus it could be said that they were passed, and they were not passed. They were passed as the sole and governing truth:that was now come (or at least at hand) for which they had been preparing the way; and necessarily this must be now the higher truth, but which must in its turn bear witness to and establish what had gone before it. No truth can pass away. The more complete that is, to which we have arrived, the more surely must it embrace and set in their place all lower and partial truths which have anticipated and led on to it.

Thus then Christ came not to destroy the law or the prophets. He came to "fulfill," or complete them – as the word means. What would the Old Testament be without the New ? Very much like a finger, pointing into vacuity !

But it is plain that the Lord is not speaking here simply of the ten commandments, though these have their place, and a foremost place, in His thoughts, as is manifest by what follows. But "the law," in its use in Scripture, is by no means confined to this, and the addition of "the prophets" shows that it must be taken in its widest acceptance.

This "fulfillment" could not be therefore simply by His obedience to the law, though He was fully obedient, but implies the bringing in of something additional ; as plainly even the mere fulfillment of the prophets must be by the addition of something to the prophecy.

But He goes on to speak now specifically of the law; and He affirms with His emphatic "verily" that "not one jot or one tittle"-not the smallest letter, nor the projection of a letter*-" shall pass from the law until all be fulfilled." *Which in several Hebrew letters is the only distinction between them, as between the "r" and the "d,", the "h" and the "ch," etc.*This last word, let us note, is really a different word from the previous one which is similarly translated, and means "be come to pass"; and this coming to pass could not refer to the fulfilling of commandments. The ten commandments could not be spoken of as something which had to come to pass. But this last expression would have naturally to do with the law in its larger significance, which must in this way even include the prophets also; and thus the phrase "until heaven and earth pass" would be the real equivalent of "all things being fulfilled." For beyond this the Old Testament gives us only the promise of a new heavens and a new earth (Isa. 65:, 66:), about which it says nothing.

Every jot and tittle of the law remains then, never to pass away through the ages of time. It is all confirmed as divine, and therefore stable; but which, of course, does not mean that types and shadows were not to give way to the substance when it should come, or that the "new covenant" would not replace the old:for this would be a contradiction of the Old Testament itself, which affirms this. No :the law abides in all its details; and therefore in all the limits it imposes on itself, and for all the purposes for which it was given; and for no other. This is simple enough, one would think, to understand; and yet it is not understood by those, for instance, who would from words like these impose the yoke of the law upon the necks of Christians. For this it is not enough to tell us that the law abides. It is none the less necessary, as the apostle says, that " a man use it lawfully." And he adds to this, in illustration, that " the law is not made for the righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient." (i Tim. 1:8, 9.)

But the Lord's next words, for many, show without any doubt the perpetual and universal obligation of the law. For here He speaks plainly about doing or not doing, teaching or not teaching, one of the least even of its commandments, and of the recompense or retribution following for this. But while this is certain, it is no less clear that it is to Jews-to men under the law-that He is addressing Himself. Christianity is not come, nor the kingdom of heaven; nor is the former even announced as yet. The Lord is simply making a special application of the principle He has declared, to the case of those before Him:whether this is to be in fact wider, is not to be inferred from this particular case.

When we come in fact to Christianity, we find, especially in the epistles to the Romans and Galatians, the relation of the law to the saints of the present dispensation carefully argued out. And here two things are emphasized for us. First, that the "righteousness of the law" is "fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom. 8:4.) There is not, there cannot be, any giving up of what is right, of what is according to the nature of God Himself. The Christian standard cannot be lower, but is in fact higher than the legal one, in the same proportion as the Christian position is higher than the Jewish, and as the power communicated in Christianity transcends any that was known in Judaism. The Christian position is in Christ before God. The Christian standard therefore is to walk as Christ walked. The Christian power is that of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. As the greater includes the less therefore, so the righteousness of the law is included in the Christian righteousness.

But secondly, this does not mean that we are under the law. We are dead to it, that we might be married to Christ, says the apostle (Rom. 7:4); not the law is dead,* but we are; and that, that we may bring forth fruit to God. *The mistake of the text of verse 6 in our common Version is corrected in the marginal reading, as it is also in the text of the Revised.*

It would take us far from our present subject to discuss all this; but the simple statement of it ought to guard us from the confusion into which so many have fallen, that the perpetuity of the law, as our Lord states it here, implies that the Christian is in any way under it. This, not the possible meaning of a few texts, but the whole doctrine of the apostle, denies and sets aside ; and conversely, the whole truth of Christian position would be denied by it. The Lord is speaking here to Jews,-to those confessedly under the law, and in view of the coming kingdom, which through their rejection of the King has not come even yet for them, and which, when it does come, will bring about a different condition of things for Christianity, as indeed the sermon on the mount itself assures us. This will be plain as we pass on.

And now the Lord proceeds to develop the righteousness that He requires, in contrast with that of the scribes and Pharisees, those zealots for the external. The second table of the law is here pressed, rather than the first, evidently because on this side man is most accessible,-his conscience is most easily roused. Men can invent all sorts of coverings to hide from themselves their state Godward; but if this be tested by their conduct towards men, who are His natural offspring, made in His image, it is not so possible to conceal from oneself the truth. Corruption and violence were of old the characteristics of a world which had reached the limit of divine longsuffering. (Gen. 6:11-13.) The Lord takes therefore the sixth and seventh commandments of the law to illustrate the righteousness which He proclaims, expanding and spiritualizing that which was said to those of old time, so as to make it a new moral revelation to those that hear Him. Moses' commandments become thus, as it were, His own, who is shown thus as greater than Moses himself, – the Prophet of the new dispensation.

"Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:but I say unto you, that whosoever shall be angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."* *The local courts in Israel were able to give "judgment" ; the "council" of seventy, or Sanhedrim, investigated the graver matters, as blasphemy and heresy, which ''Raca" perhaps implied. 'Fool" goes further still, as in Psalm 14:1:"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."*

Here it is simply " Thou shalt not kill," that stands as the sixth commandment. The addition of the penalty to it was nothing more, however, than what the law itself justified, and God himself had long before declared should be:"whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." The executive law in Israel could go no further than this. It could not deal with the state of heart, but with the outward act only. But the law as expressed in the tables of stone applied not merely to the positive deed; and the appending the executive in this way to the moral law inferred that the two were equal in what they covered, as they were not. Thus the state of the heart was left out of view, in the estimate of accountability toward God, and the whole practical bearing of the law was nullified for the many.

But now the kingdom of heaven was drawing nigh, in which another estimate of things would be made and acted on. Anger in the heart where causeless, and the railing charges which men so lightly bring against each other, would be all crimes against an authority which had at its command not mere physical penalties limited by the temporal life ; but the awful fire of Gehenna,-hell itself. It is not meant that under this divine government no mercy would be shown:that is not the point, nor what the words express. But such things would be within the range of jurisdiction, and man would be made to realize that there is a God who judgeth the hearts, and by whom actions are exactly weighed.

But this cuts deep; and it is meant to do so. We shall find directly how the Lord applies it all to rouse
the conscience of His hearers, and make them realize the impossibility of mere human righteousness in the sight of God. Thus in fact Israel was going on blindly with the adversary to meet the Judge, and they needed to come to terms with him or abide the issue. And indeed their righteousness must exceed all the vaunted righteousness of their trusted leaders, or they would in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

Jesus! Thou sum of all my joy,
For Thee I yield each earthly toy;
In Thee I have all good;
I give not up what's worth a thought,
I gain what has been dearly bought,-
The price Thy precious blood.

The joys of earth live but a day,
The meteor's flash, and haste away,
And leave a gloom behind;
Thy joy, blest One, is evermore,
It lives when earthly joys are o'er;
It is a heavenly kind.

I gladly, then, leave all for Thee,
Thy love, O Christ, hath set me free,
It's won a grief-worn heart;
Oh may I in Thy footsteps haste,
Till I have crossed this dreary waste,
And come to Thee apart.

Oh joy of joys to dwell with Thee!
From every snare and sorrow free!
And see Thee face to face!
Oh, may this hope my spirit cheer,
The moments I'm continued here,
A witness of Thy grace.

R. H.

Fearing God, we learn His secret-
Dwelling in the secret place,
There we lodge with Him, the lofty-
Shadow'd by Almighty grace.

As the hen her chickens covers-
With her feathers soft and warm,
Spreads her wings for them to nestle,
Free from fear and free from harm-

So God covers with His feathers
Those who trust beneath His wing;
And His truth, a shield and buckler,
Makes their hearts with gladness sing.

Give me, then, to learn God's secret,
Dwelling in the secret place-
There to lodge with Him, the lofty-
Praising His almighty grace!

A. J. K.

Ques. 16.-Could the Lord Jesus be said to have been in the power of the devil during the three days and nights of His burial, or ever at any time ? Would not such a doctrine destroy the truth itself and deny His words to the converted thief, "To-day shall thou be with me in Paradise ? " In this connection, what is the meaning of Psalm 22:21, " Save me from the lion's mouth" ?

Ans.-We do not think it scriptural to say that our blessed Lord was ever in the power of the devil. We was, notably at His temptation and at the cross, subjected to the assaults of Satan; but this is very far from saying He was in his power. When He was delivered into the hands of wicked men to be crucified and slain, all the malice and hatred of hell were concentrated against Him. But all was in vain. The very death in which evil seemed to triumph was the victory over the devil; "that through death He might destroy (annul, Gk.) him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). A vanquished foe can have no more power. The strong man is bound. " Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:15). The preceding verse shows that the cross was the subject. By that He made a spoil of principalities and powers, as by that He took away the law of commandments contained in ordinances. But if the cross was the victory over Satan, how could the grave be said to be in his power ?

Again, after the cry, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," at the close of the three hours of darkness, our Lord "yielded up the ghost," or, as more correctly rendered, " dismissed His Spirit" (Matt. 27:46, 50). As a result of His forsaking, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. How absolutely impossible to think of the way into the holiest being opened, and of the body of Him who opened it being afterwards under the power of the devil! Then, as has been noticed in the question, He says to the thief, "To-day shall thou be with me in Paradise." How impossible to think of His being with the Father during those three days, and His body in the power of Satan! Or to hear Him commend His spirit into the Father's hands, while His body was to be in the devil's power! (Luke 23:46). Or, after He had declared the accomplishment of redemption in the words, "It is finished" (John 19:30), to pass, as to His body, under the dominion of the devil!

True He laid down His life, and His spotless body lay for three days in the grave. But it was not because there remained aught to be done, but to prove the reality of what had been accomplished. But while He lay in the grave, He saw no corruption. " It was not possible that He should be holden of death" (Acts 2:24). His body lay there, in His grace-as all that He did was in grace-to show how completely and entirely He had accomplished the work the Father gave Him to do. The devil had nothing to do with that holy body.

At the cross our Lord did not have to do with Satan nor with man, though both were there, but with God! about sin. The accompanying jeers and evil treatment and satanic hatred are as nothing compared with the bearing of wrath. He suffered without the gate-the hiding of God's face.

True He cried "Save me from the lion's mouth"-the malice and power of Satan, and man too – but the cry is not for the danger so much as for the absence of God. He, our adorable Lord, could at any moment have delivered Himself; the point of the cry all through the first part of Psalm 22:was that what God had always done for the righteous, He now fails to do for His spotless Son. The blessed reason we know. But the lion's mouth was before, not after death, and even before death the anguish seems to pass, the worst is over, and calmly into His Father's hands He commends His Spirit.

We believe, then, it would be most foreign to the Scripture to speak of our Lord's body after redemption was accomplished, being in the devil's power.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof:but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." (1 John 2:15-17.)

There are in New Testament scripture two principle words translated "world" (kosmos), the word used here and throughout John's writings; and aion, found chiefly in Matthew and Paul's epistles. The root meanings of the two words are entirely different :kosmos means order, beauty; hence we have the word"cosmetic," that which beautifies; aion means age, or dispensation-aeion, existing always, the course of existence.* *In Heb. 1:2; 11:3, we have aion, where we might expect kosmos.. The meaning would seem to be the existing universe; not merely the earth, but the heavens as well. The word eternal is a derivative from the one we are considering, and means "age-lasting." From this, deniers of eternal punishment have sought to teach that the word meant limited, and not unlimited, time. A glance at a few scriptures will show the impossibility of such a rendering. The same word rendered "eternal" damnation (Mark 3:29), "eternal" judgment (Heb. 6:2), "everlasting" fire (Matt, 18:8), "everlasting" punishment (Matt. 25:46), is applied to "eternal" life (John 3:15, 16), "eternal" weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17, 18), a house "eternal" in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1), "eternal" salvation (Heb. 5:9), "eternal" redemption (Heb. 9:12), "eternal" inheritance (Heb. 9:15). The king "eternal" (1 Tim. 1:17) is the "king of the ages." So that if we deny the eternity of judgment and punishment, we must likewise deny the eternity of life, salvation, and redemption; of glory and our inheritance; yea, of the very being of God!* It is applied chiefly to mark time and condition, while kosmos gives us the material world, primarily. " Be not conformed to this age" (Rom. 12:2),-to the course of things in which we live. It is the "age " of this world (Eph. 2:2), where we have the two words significantly joined together; and Satan is alike the prince of this world, kosmos (John 14:30; 16:11) and the god of this age, aion (2 Cor. 4:4). The earth as it came forth from the hands of God was indeed a kosmos, a thing of beauty, upon which he could look in blessing, and pronounce it "very good." Like the material part of man, the flesh, it was a fitted place for his habitation, as that was a suited vehicle for his spirit. But like the flesh fallen, when sin had entered in, which acquired a new and almost technical meaning-the evil nature,-so it, too, has in very many places a moral meaning, as seen in the passage we are considering. The world as it came from God's hands, is one thing; that into which sin has entered, has become, alas, quite another.

And yet the world about us is still, though with scars which witness of sin, a thing of beauty. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all:the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea." . . . (Ps. 104:24, 25). It was by a rehearsal of some of His works of creation (Job 38:41:) that God brought Job into the dust before Him; again and again have we the same witness in the Psalms; and when the Son came from the Father's bosom to declare the Father's Name, He culled many a flower of divine truth from the field of nature. Seeds, lilies, sparrows, were in His hands fitting illustrations of a Father's power, wisdom, and care.
It is not an encouraging sign-quite the reverse- to see Christians turn from the study of nature. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." It all speaks of God, not merely giving proofs of His existence, His eternal power and godhead (Rom. 1:20), but furnishing also, in countless ways, an exhibition of His character as well. He whose "tender mercies [seen in the varied and bounteous provision for the needs of the least of His creatures] are over all His works," is a God tender and merciful. He who has painted with tints of loveliness earth and sea and sky, must be Himself infinitely beautiful-"the King in His beauty." The very variety and lavish superabundance of all things in nature but suggest, as in a shadow, the infinite fullness there is in God.

The doctrines of grace, as revealed in Scripture, are shadowed in nature, had we but eyes and hearts to see. Changing seasons, storms and sunshine, all speak of God, and are meant to show us His character, when we have the light of revelation to guide us.

We repeat, then, that a neglect of nature is not an encouraging sign in the child of God; it means, but too often, a neglect of God. We need not wonder, if Christians have neglected the works of God in nature, that Satan should take them up and use them in a way the opposite of what was intended. What wonder that atheism, theories of evolution, agnosticism, should find their root in the natural sciences, when Christians have left Satan to be the guide in the search after truth ? All this may show the darkness of mere human wisdom, but it shows also the coldness of heart of the child of God. Under the guidance of the Spirit of God, and in subjection to the word of God, let the Christian astronomer sweep the heavens with his telescope,-he will learn of the infinite God; let the Christian biologist, under the same guidance, search with his microscope into the most hidden recesses of nature, and he will find the same God. He will be seen in the analyses of chemistry, in the laws of physics. He fills all things, and His truth is everywhere one; it is a reflection of Him who has revealed Himself in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let Christians wrest the facts of nature from Satan and use them for Christ. Among the thousands who are yearly becoming familiar with the features of nature, are there not some who will show us not merely the "footprints of the Creator," but some of His features too ?

We make no apology for what may seem a digression from our subject, for it is not, but has brought us into the very heart of it. Worldliness is the "world with God left out. That is what our scripture teaches :it is what is not of the Father that is of the world. Lust, or desire, describes it-lust of flesh, lust of eyes, and pride, which is but gratified desire-gratified for the moment.

Covetousness, or desiring what we have not, is idolatry (Col. 3:5). God is displaced. And conversely, where He has His place, there can be no covetousness, no lust. We are satisfied with His fullness. "He has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). Where the Father is left out, the empty soul craves; and though it had the whole world, it would be empty still, for God alone can fill the heart.

This, then, is the world. It is a Godless world. Worldliness may show itself in various ways. There may be the grosser, more sensual lust of the flesh; the more esthetic lust of the eyes; or the mere boasting in riches and possessions, the "pride of living"- the same word rendered "this world's good" in chapter 3:17. But in whatever way it take possession of the heart, it is still the same-the Father is absent.

It was in this way that Eve was taken by the beguilements of Satan:"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her ; and he did eat" (Gen. 3:6). Good for food, answers to the lust of the flesh, the mere animal desires; pleasant to the eyes, gratifies the lust of the eye; and wisdom has been ever the principal food upon which pride has fed. Eve's sin consisted in putting these gratifications in the place of God-in direct disobedience to Him. Cain's apostasy seems more awful when we see him turn his back upon God and quietly settle down to enjoy the city which he had built, than when he cried out, '' My punishment is greater than I can bear." Lot took his first step in the course which ended so shamefully in the mountain cave, when he lifted up his eyes upon the well-watered plain of Sodom, "like the garden of the Lord," but with the Lord left out. Let us never, then, think lightly of that which is the root of all sin-departure from God. The apostle describes the hopeless condition of the Gentile world as "without God in the world" (Eph. 2:). And when with tears he would warn against those whose end was destruction, and whose glory was in their shame, he described them as those who " mind earthly things."

The very essence, then, of worldliness is the exclusion of God, it matters not so much from what He is excluded, as the fact of His exclusion. Mere monasticism, no matter how severe, does not shut out worldliness, but shuts it in, rather. You may put a man behind stone walls, and never allow him to see God's fair world; you may deprive him of the luxuries of life, almost of its necessities, and yet have him as thoroughly worldly as ever. If the Father is excluded, there is worldliness. It is not enough to inclose a portion of ground with walls to make it a garden. Unless it be cultivated with good, it will produce more weeds than ever.

We have thus far been looking at the nature of worldliness. Of its desolating effects, we need not say much. "Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). So distinctly does Scripture draw the line! How awful must that be, then, which is, like the carnal mind, "enmity against God!" That the child of God can take up with it, makes it all the more solemn. When the world has a place in the heart, coldness results. The first step to worldly Laodiceanism was Ephesian loss of first love. Is your heart cold, my brother ? Do you, like Israel, grow weary of the sweet manna ? Then look to it! for, like Israel, the leeks and garlic and melons of Egypt have drawn you from your Lord. "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another;" when worldliness creeps in, we loose communion with God, and very easily divisions creep in to separate God's people ; gospel work ceases, or becomes a mere drudgery of routine; all spiritual activity ceases; the door is left wide open for some open sin, unless the mercy of God prevent. It may be business, it may be pleasure, it may be things right and harmless in themselves; but if they displace God, their work is done. Oh, what desolation worldliness has wrought! What bright, active, devoted Christians it has overcome!

We have spoken of the menace of worldliness. It is no evil far off from us. We are surrounded by it; it presses upon us from every side. It is active, energetic, under the guiding hand of its master, waiting only for an entrance. It is subtle, alluring. It has its attractions for the young Christian; nor is it powerless with the more mature. As the sand encroaches upon the oasis, as the sea presses upon the dykes, so worldliness presses upon us. Let us be on our guard. Well did our Lord know our danger when He prayed, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil."

The Church is threatened with three evils:false doctrine, divisions, and worldliness; and we may say with safety that worldliness is at the root of most of the power of the other two.

Having seen something of the nature and the effects of worldliness, and that it is an evil which threatens us now, we come to look simply at what is at once a preventive and a cure. It is the Father's presence. That which marked the world was His absence; and when He is present, there is faith, and, so, victory over the world.

But how suggestive, how alluring, is this word Father! It reminds us of the Son, through whom we are sons, and through whom we have access to the Father. It tells us of relationship, of nearness, of affections. It does not speak of, though it suggests, a place; but it reminds us of a Person. Mere place could not produce holiness, but sin cannot lift its head in the Father's presence.

How sweet and how simple, then, is the cure for worldliness ! Have we allowed it a place in our hearts ? and, as a result, has coldness and much else come in ? Let us return to the Father. Let no excuse prevent it. There is nothing that can be a necessity to keep the child from the enjoyment of the Father. No matter how deep the immersion, nor of how long standing, the Father's claims are strongest, and His grace, His restoring grace, all-sufficient.

We are living in times of awful worldliness. As in the day of Cain, man is using the inventions and the luxuries of the age to hide God from his sight, In that Church which should be a testimony for Him who was not of this world, is the home of worldliness. It is something perfectly awful to see how professed godliness is linked with the world. May God awaken His dear people! Oh, the shame, the reproach, the dishonor, that is brought upon His holy name! What is wanted is not sanctimonious asceticism, that is but a sham; nor legalism, which brings bond-age; but a bright devotion to One who loves us, who has our hearts, and in whose presence it is our delight to dwell."That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

BEING LESSONS FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW.

CHAPTER V. (Continued from page 125.)

Their whole method was a false one. They valued apparently God's altar, loading it, Cain-like, with gifts defiled by the hands that offered them. The Lord warns them therefore to be reconciled with their justly offended brethren before presuming to bring such offerings; and while the application here is, of course, to Israelites, the principle as manifestly applies to us to-day. A sinner coming to God is not at all in question:for he can only come as what he is, and has the explicit assurance that he will be received. Even the Pharisees said truly of the Lord, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." He Himself said, " Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." Abel too, bringing his sacrifice to God, "obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying"-not of his works, nor of his character, but-"of his gifts." (Heb. 11:4.) How impossible, if it were otherwise, to have any assurance at all! for as to how much could we never set ourselves right with brethren! Blessed be God, it was for our sins that Jesus died, and our sins are the best of titles to the Saviour of sinners.

But while God would never turn away a sinner thus seeking Him, or delay even for a moment the reception of such an one, this is not to hinder any possible restitution to those we may have injured, but the very contrary. For now we come under the rule before us, and as saints, we are to "lift up holy hands" to God (i Tim. 2:8). A sinner cannot possibly yet lift up holy hands; but for a saint this is absolutely necessary for communion. And how many suffer sadly in their souls because of an unjudged condition in these respects! For such the Lord's words here have the gravest importance.

Those to whom they were addressed, however, were Jews, in no wise taking the place of sinners, nor yet truly saints, but legalists, going on with the law in which they boasted, and not realizing that Moses, in whom they trusted, was necessarily their greatest adversary (Jno. 5:45). Judgment must be the end, if they did not in the meanwhile reconcile themselves to him, by the offering of which already the law had spoken, but which the glorious Speaker Himself was to provide. This He does not, however, go on to in this place. He is convicting them of a need without the consciousness of which, all revelation of God's way of grace would be impossible to be understood. The judgment reached, they would by no means come out from it until they had paid the uttermost farthing.

Hopeless then would be their confidence in the law. But the Lord has not yet done with it for the purpose of conviction, and of clearing it from the mistakes and perversions of the scribes. He goes on therefore from the sixth to the seventh commandment, to show once more that out of the heart the positive transgression came, and that what was in the heart to do was in effect done as to the guilt of it. Opportunity had lacked, and that was all.

And he urges that if the right eye or hand caused men to stumble, it were better to cut them off and go on maimed through life, than to preserve these and go whole into hell. Better sacrifice what might seem most necessary, than give oneself up to the tyranny of sin.

Clearly no asceticism or self-mutilation is intended by such an injunction; but men excuse, by the plea of necessity, what they find to be the constant provocative of sin. God's law admits no such excuse, whatever the pretext.

In connection with this commandment, the Lord takes up also the law of marriage, to refuse the laxity which even Moses had permitted, and still more the license of the rabbins. Moses had on account of the hardness of their hearts only been able to modify somewhat the existing custom of divorce. The "writing" which he had "commanded" was in the interests of social order, not of license, which the prevalent school of Hillel favored in the most shameless way. The Lord peremptorily, and on his own authority, restricts the allowance of it to that one ground which plainly destroys the very idea of marriage; and declares the putting away of one's wife for any other cause to be making her to commit adultery by another union. Also he who marries such a divorced one commits adultery.

The Lord's words, while addressed to Israelites, cannot surely be less binding upon Christians of the present day. It is plain that Christianity cannot be supposed to require a lower morality than He enforces here, not as a national or ecclesiastical regulation, but just as morality. What was "adultery" according to Him must be ever adultery; and no law of man can alter this in the slightest degree. Let the Lord's people look to it, in a day when men are doing their own will with continually more audacity.

He proceeds now to another matter, in which again that which was at least tolerated under the law is forbidden in the new morality which He is enforcing. "Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths," plainly speaks of vowing -of promise under oath. There had been great abuse of it, as Israel's history makes evident, men not hesitating to vow recklessly to God the dictates of their pride and passion and self-will, to find themselves then entangled by what seemed their duty. Careless profanity had come in at the heels of this, and God's name been profaned by light appeals to it on every occasion, modified according to conscience or the lack of it by every kind of circumlocution and indirect expression of what they dared, not openly give utterance.

Our Lord sweeps into His prohibition all these evasions of the third commandment, putting them into the same category with that which was once permitted. "But I say unto you, Swear not at all:neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your word be yea, yea; nay, nay:for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."

Man's utter weakness, so fully and simply demonstrated, is made (at least in part) the basis of the prohibition here. God might swear; for He could accomplish; and knew, too, all the consequences of what He was pledging Himself to. Beautifully we find thus this grace in Him when seeking to assure the soul of His creature, so ready to doubt the perfect faithfulness even of His God:"Wherefore God, willing to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things,"-His word and His oath:His word really as certain as His oath, but not to man,-"wherein it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." (Heb. 6:13-18.)
We then, on our parts, are to be far from what is so suited to His strength, and so ill-suited to His feeble creatures. The legal covenant had, however, in its essential features the character of an oath; and the last chapter of Leviticus looks at them typically a's failing under it, in contrast with the One who did not fail. The law, therefore, until man was fully proved by it, could not forbid the vow. It is an anachronism, and worse, that it should be imported into Christianity, and that we should hear of covenant-vows, the baptismal vow, etc., so contrary to the simplicity of Christ's institutions for us, and to the grace which alone we know to be our strength. See the "Numerical Bible," Vol. I. The vow is wholly passed away, but to make room for Christ's strength to rest upon us, our very infirmities to be gloried in on this account (2 Cor. 12:9, 10). God's oath is sworn to us, that His abundant grace shall bring us through. F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because " He knew all men." Man cannot outwardly be affected or improved so as to be trusted by God. As another has said, "Man's affections may be stirred, man's intelligence informed, man's conscience convicted; but still God cannot trust him." So Jesus shows one of such for the benefit of all. "Ye must be born again."

CHAPTER XII. (Continued from page 7.)

Our last chapter concluded with the words, "For childhood and youth are vanity":that is, childhood proves the emptiness of all "beneath the sun," as well as old age. The heart of the child has the same needs – the same capacity in kind – as that of the aged. It needs God. Unless it knows Him, and His love is there, it is empty; and, in its fleeting character, childhood proves its vanity. But this makes us quite sure that if childhood can feel the need, then God has, in His wide grace, met the need; nor is that early life to be debarred from the provision that He has made for it. There are then the same possibilities of filling the heart and life of the young child with that divine love that fills every void, and turns the cry of "Vanity" into the Song of Praise:"Yea, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise."

But our writer is by no means able thus to touch any chord in the young heart that shall vibrate with the music of praise. Such as he has, however, he gives us:"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them."

This counsel must not be separated from the context. It is based absolutely and altogether on what has now been discerned:for not only is our writer a man of the acutest intelligence, but he evidently possesses the highest qualities of moral courage. He shirks no question, closes his eyes to no fact, and least of all to that awful fact of man's compulsory departure from this scene which is called "death." But following on, he has found that even this cannot possibly be all; there must be a judgment that shall follow this present life. It is in view of this he counsels "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth," whilst the effect of time is to mature, and not destroy, the powers He has given thee:for not forever will life's enjoyment last; old age comes surely, and He who made thee, holds thy spirit in His hand, so that whilst the body may return to dust, the spirit must return to Him who gave it.

We will only pause for a moment again to admire the glorious elevation of this counsel. How good were it if the remembrance of a Creator-God, to whom all are accountable, could tone, without quenching, the fire and energy of youthful years, and lead in the clean paths of righteousness. But, alas, how inadequate to meet the actual state of things. Solomon himself shall serve to illustrate the utter inadequacy of his own counsel. What comfort or hope could he extract from it ? His were now already the years in which he must say "I have no pleasure in them." A more modern poet might have voiced his cry,-

"My age is in the yellow leaf,
The bad, the fruit of 'life,' is gone:
The worm, the canker, and the grief,
Remain alone ! "

His youth was no more:its bright days were forever past, never to be restored. What remains, then, for Solomon, and the myriads like him ? What shall efface the memory of those wasted years, or what shall give a quiet peace, in view of the fast-coming harvest of that wild sowing? Can Reason-can any human Wisdom – find any satisfactory answer to these weighty questions ? None!

Verses 2 to 7 beautifully and poetically depict the fall of the city of man's body under the slow but sure siege of the forces of Time. Gradually, but without one moment's pause, the trenches approach the walls. Outwork after outwork falls into the enemy's hands, until he is victor over all, and the citadel itself is taken.

Verse 2.- First, clouds come over the spirit:the joyousness of life is dulled,-the exuberance of youth is quenched. Sorrow follows quickly on the heel of sorrow, – "clouds return after rain." Those waves that youth's light bark rode gallantly and with exhilaration, now flood the laboring vessel and shut out the light – the joy – of life.

Verse 3. – Then the hands (the keepers of the house) tremble with weakness, and the once strong men (the knees) now feeble, bend under the weight of the body they have so long borne. The few teeth (grinders) that may remain fail to do their required service. Time's finger touches, too, those watchers from the turret-windows (the eyes):shade after shade falls over them till, like slain sentinels that drop at their posts, they look out again never-more.

Verse 4. – Closer still the enemy presses, till the close-beleaguered fortress is shut out from all communication with the outer world; "the doors are shut in the streets"; the ears are dulled to all sounds. Even the grinding of the mill,* which in an eastern house rarely ceases, reaches him but as a low murmur, though it be really as loud as the shrill piping of a bird, and all the sweet melodies of song are no longer to be enjoyed.

*This differs from the usual interpretation, which makes this verse a metaphor of the mouth and teeth. This has been rejected above, not only on account of the direct evidence of its faultiness, and the fanciful interpretation given to the "sound of grinding," but for the twofold reason that it would make the teeth to be alluded to twice, whilst all reference to the equally important sense of "hearing" would be omitted altogether. I have therefore followed Dr. Lewis's metrical version:-

"And closing are the doors that lead abroad,
When the hum of the mill is sounding low,
Though it rise to the sparrow's note.
And voices loudest in the song, do all to faintness sink."

Although, I might here add, I cannot follow this writer in his view that Ecclesiastes is describing only the old age of the sensualist. Rather is it man as man,-at his highest,- but with only what he can find "under the sun" to enlighten him.*

Verse 5. – Time's sappers, too, are busily at work, although unseen, till the effect of their mining becomes evident in the alarm that is felt at the slightest need of exertion. The white head, too, tells its tale, and adds its testimony to the general decay. The least weight is as a heavy burden; nor can the failing appetite be again awakened. The man is going to his age-long home;* for now those four seats of life are invaded and broken up-spinal-cord, brain, heart, and blood, – till at length body and spirit part company, each going whence it came,- that to its kindred dust, this to the God who gave it.

*The word rendered above '' age-long,'' in our authorized version "long,"-man goeth to his long home-is one of those suggestive words with which the Hebrew Scriptures abound, and which are well worth pondering with interest. To transfer and not translate it into English we might call it "olamic," speaking of a cycle:having a limit, and yet a shadowy, undefined limit. The word therefore in itself beautifully and significantly expresses both the confidence, the faith of the speaker as well as his ignorance. Man's existence after death is distinctly predicated. The mere grave is not that olamic home; for the spirit would, in that case, be quite lost sight of; nor, indeed, is the spirit alone there,- the man goes there. It appears to correspond very closely to the Greek word Hades,
"the Unseen." Man has hone to that sphere beyond human ken, but when the purposes of God are fulfilled, his abode there shall have and end:it is for an "age," but only an "age." All this seems to be wrapped up, as it were, in that one phrase–Beth-olam, the age-long home. How blessed for us the light that has since been shed on all this. That in One case (and indeed already more than that One) that "age" has already come to an end, and the first fruits of that harvest with which our earth is sown has even now been gathered. We await merely the completion of that harvest:"Christ the first fruits:afterwards they that are Christ’s, at His coming."*

Thus to the high wisdom of Solomon man is no mere beast, after all. He may not penetrate the Beyond to describe that "age-long home," but never of the beast would he say "the spirit to God who gave it." But his very wisdom again leads us to the most transcendent need of more. To tell us this, is to lead us up a mountain-height, to a bridgeless abyss which we have to cross, without having a plank or even a thread to help us. To God the spirit goes,- to God who gave it,-to Whom, then, it is responsible. But in what condition ? Is it conscious still, or does it lose consciousness as in a deep sleep ? Where does it now abide ? How can it endure the searching Light- the infinite holiness and purity – of the God to whom it goes ? How shall it give account for the wasted years? How answer for the myriad sins of life ? How reap what has been sown ? Silence here- no answer here – is awful indeed,-is maddening; and if reason does still hold her seat, then "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," is alone consistent with the fearful silence to such questions, and the scene is fitly ended by a groan.

Deep even unto the shadow of death is the gloom. Every syllable of this last sad wail is as a funeral knell to all our hopes, tolling mournfully; and, like a passing bell, attending them, too, to their "age-long home"!

Oh, well for us if we have heard a clearer Voice than that of poor feeble human Reason break in upon the silence, and, with a blessed, perfect, lovely combination of Wisdom and Love, of Authority and Tenderness, of Truth and Grace, give soul-satisfying answers to all our questionings.

Then may we rejoice, if grace permit, with joy unspeakable; and, even in the gloom of this sad scene, lift heart and voice in a shout of victory. We, too, know what it is for the body thus to perish. We, too, though redeemed, still await the redemption of the body, which in the Christian is still subject to the same ravages of time,- sickness, disease, pain, suffering, decay. But a gracious Revelation has taught us a secret that Ecclesiastes never guessed at; and we may sing, even with the fall of Nature's walls about us, "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Yea, every apparent victory of the enemy is now only to be answered with a "new song" of joyful praise.

It is true that, "under the sun," the clouds return after the rain; and, because it is true, we turn to that firmament of faith where our Lord Jesus is both Sun and Star, and where the light ever "shineth more and more unto perfect day."

Let the keepers tremble, and the strong men bow themselves. We may now lean upon another and
an everlasting Arm, and know another Strength which is even perfected in this very weakness.

The grinders may cease because they are few; but their loss cannot prevent our feeding ever more and more heartily and to the fill on God's Bread of Life.

Let those that look out of the windows be darkened:the inward eye becomes the more accustomed to another – purer, clearer – light; and we see "that which is invisible," and seeing, we hopefully sing –

"City of the pearl-bright portal,
City of the jasper wall,
City of the golden pavement,
Seat of endless festival,-
City of Jehovah, Salem,
City of eternity,
To thy bridal-hall of gladness,
From this prison would I flee,-
Heir of glory,
That shall be for thee and me!"

Let doors be shut in the streets, and let all the daughters of music be brought low, so that the Babel of this world's discord be excluded, and so that the Lord Himself be on the inside of the closed door, we may the more undistractedly enjoy the supper of our life with Him, and He (the blessed, gracious One!) with us. Then naught can prevent His Voice being heard, whilst the more sweet and clear (though still ever faint, perhaps) may the echo to that Voice arise in melody within the heart, where God Himself is the gracious Listener!

Let fears be in the way, we know a Love than can dispel all fear and give a new and holy boldness even in full view of all the solemn verities of eternity; for it is grounded on the perfect accepted work of a divine Redeemer-the faithfulness of a divine Word.

The very hoary head becomes not merely the wit-ness of decay, and of a life fast passing; but the "almond-tree" has another, brighter meaning now:it is a figure of that "crown of life" which in the new-creation scene awaits the redeemed.

If appetite fail here, the more the inward longing, and the satisfaction that ever goes hand in hand with it, may abound; and the inward man thus be strengthened and enlarged so as to have greater capacity for the enjoyment of those pleasures that are "at God's right hand for evermore."

Till at length the earthly house of this tabernacle may be dissolved. Dust may still return to dust, and there await, what all Creation awaits – the glorious resurrection, its redemption. Whilst the spirit – ah, what of the spirit ? To God who gave it ? Ah, far better:to God who loved and redeemed it, – to Him who has so cleansed it by His own blood, that the very Light of God can detect no stain of sin upon it, even though it be the chief of sinners. So amid the rains of this earthly tabernacle may the triumphant song ascend above the snapping of cords, the breaking of golden bowls and pitchers, the very crash of nature's citadel:"Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

This meets-meets fully, meets satisfactorily – the need. Now none will deny that this need is deep,- real. Hence it can be no mere sentiment, no airy speculation, no poetical imagination, no cunningly devised fable that can meet that need. The remedy must be as real as the disease, or it avails nothing. No phantom key may loosen so hard-closed a lock as this:it must be real, and be made for it. For suppose we find a lock of such delicate and complicated construction that no key that can be made will adapt itself to all its windings. Many skilled men have tried their hands and failed,-till at length the wisest of all attempts it, and even he in despair cries "vanity." Then another key is put into our hands by One who claims to have made the very lock we have found. We apply it, and its intricacies meet every corresponding intricacy; its flanges fill every chamber, and we open it with perfect facility. What is the reasonable, necessary conclusion? We say-and rightly, unavoidably say-"He who made the lock must have made the key. His claim is just:they have been made by one maker."

So by the perfect rest it brings to the awakened conscience-by the quiet calm it brings to the troubled mind-by the warm love that it reveals to the craving heart-by the pure light that it sheds in satisfactory answer to all the deep questions of the spirit-by the unceasing unfoldings of depths of perfect transcendent wisdom-by its admirable unity in variety-by the holy, righteous settlement of sin, worthy of a holy, righteous God-by the peace it gives, even in view of wasted years and the wild sowing of the past-by the joy it maintains even in view of the trials and sorrows of the present-by the hope with which it inspires the future;-by all these we know that our key (the precious Word that God has put into our hands) is a reality indeed, and as far above the powers of Reason as the heavens are above the earth, therefore necessarily-incontestably-DIVINE! F. C. J.

(To be continued.)

'' The sanctuary is our safe retreat at all times:it is the place where the world takes its true shape for us, where the entanglement with it is loosed, the darkness and mists disappear, sin is rebuked and banished, the holiness of truth is found. The peace of that serene Presence incloses us as with the glory of an eternal summer, unvexed by even the threatening of a storm. Here the head is lifted up over all enemies therefore, and the sacrifice of praise becomes the necessary relief of a full and grateful heart. "– Numerical Bible, Notes on Psalm 27.

When Jehovah appeared to Moses in the wilderness, at Mount Horeb, in the burning bush (Ex. 3:1-12), He said to Him, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground."

Likewise, when the delivered nation, after humiliating failures because of unbelief, had been brought into the land, and were about to enter upon its conquest, we have again the same words to Joshua (Josh. 6:15):"And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." Thus at the beginning and at the close, we might say, of the redemption history, we have this significant action on the part of the leader, as representing all the people.

We have in the bush at once the representation of the people, their affliction, and of the Lord with them in it-"In all their affliction He was afflicted" (Isa. 63:9). The bush was a thorn bush, and in that way speaking of those who, as to themselves, instead of fruit had borne but thorns. The fire was the affliction and chastening put upon them by their enemies, and permitted by the Lord for their faithlessness. In the midst of it all the Lord was with His chosen ones, measuring out the suffering, and at the right time manifesting Himself for their deliverance.

It was at this time the Lord appeared to Moses, to send him on the errand of love and mercy to set His people free. "I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt."

But if it was in grace that the Lord had come down to meet His needy people, He was to teach Moses at the very outset that not one whit was the holiness and majesty of His presence to be ignored. Grace which brought Him near was not inconsistent with the holiness which would keep man in his true place. "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet."

We do well to remember this at all times. In the preaching of the gospel it is most important. We present the love of God in all its fullness; the grace and tender mercy awaiting the re turning sinner; the alluring and bountiful table spread for the hungry;-but let us never forget that the sinner is that, a rebel against the divine majesty, a trifler on the borders of eternity. Will not this put a check upon natural levity, and the flippant manner sometimes seen in presenting the gospel ? Will not the preacher the rather feel himself in the presence of One who says, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet " ? We believe that gospel preaching of this character will result in far deeper work than is now common. Let not grace, mercy, and love, be ignored; nor the joy that fills the soul and flows out be checked;-these cannot be in excess if along with them is carried and presented the sense of the righteousness, holiness, and majesty of God.

The same holds good in all the fundamental truths of the word of God. They are not truths for the head merely, furnishing the mind; nor yet even for the heart as well, drawing out the affections ; but they are to put the soul in the presence of God, a presence where no flesh can glory, where nature is in its true place-the shoes are put off.

Beloved brethren, we have been intrusted with many precious truths, recovered in their clearness through the special mercy of God in these last days. Let us see to it that the knowledge do not puff up, but that it be coupled with an ever deepening sense of our own nothingness and of the amazing pity and mercy of God. The full conception of Grace will ever lead us to say, Who am I ? Perhaps it may not be amiss to say this particularly to beloved younger brethren-that they let reverence and lowliness go hand in hand with knowledge. Then they are safe, and the enemy cannot so easily lead them into error.

That a like scene is repeated at the close of the Wilderness and the beginning of their warfare in the Land, serves to emphasize that of which we are speaking. The judgments in Egypt were past; the mighty deliverance through the divided sea was an accomplished fact; the awful display of divine majesty and glory from Sinai was now a recollection ; and the varied acts of mercy and judgment in the Wilderness were all behind them. They were now in the Land promised to them, and were to face new enemies, to enter upon fresh experiences. At the very outset, on the border-land, as it were, between the two experiences, they were reminded that it was with the same God they had to do. "The Captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot."

Canaan, as we know, represents for us the blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Of the fullness of these blessings and their varied character we have but begun to taste. Without doubt that land, " the glory of all lands," with its "hills and valleys," its '' brooks of water, and fountains and depths that
spring out of valleys and hills," is even more minutely than we had supposed a foreshadowing of those spiritual blessings even now made good to us by the Holy Spirit. The cities and villages which clustered thickly upon the hills and in the valleys all over that land; the tribal boundaries and location-all have doubtless a voice and a meaning for us, if our ears are open.

These are our portion; but like Israel of old, we find powerful enemies standing in the way of our entering upon the enjoyment of what has been given to us. There must be conflict if we are to enjoy what is ours. But the prerequisite to all success here is to be in subjection to the Captain of the Lord's host. Here is the world which Satan and the wicked spirits in heavenly places will use to keep us out of the enjoyment of our blessings. How can we meet and overcome them? Only by following our Captain. But His presence is a holy presence. We must be there with unshod feet-in holy reverence.

Particularly do we need this in what is called high truth. There is danger here lest speculation take the place of Scripture, and a mental trafficking in divine things supplant that meek and lowly spirit which ever becomes us. It is the lack of this that has led to many sad shipwrecks, and deep sorrows, to the people of God. Unholy speculations as to the per-son of our adorable Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His work, and its effects, have only too often resulted from a failure to loose the shoe from the foot when entering upon such holy themes.

We might also remark that a failure in this is but too often manifest when questions arise which affect the fellowship of the Lord's people. Here, if anywhere, it becomes us to be on our faces before God. Grave questions press for answer; a line of conduct is to be followed; scriptural principles to be maintained. Let us be in the presence of God in handling such themes. Let us be alone with Him often, constantly in the spirit of prayer, and we shall find the way made clear and a sweet and blessed sense of that holy presence with us all our days.

REST.-There are three rests spoken of in Scripture. First, the rest which, as sinners, we find in the accomplished work of Christ. Then there is the present rest which, as saints, we find in being entirely subject to the will of God; this is opposed to restlessness. There is also the rest that remains for the people of God at the end of the race.

How beautifully do these chapters (Luke 1:and 2:) rise upon our view! A long and dreary season from the days of the return from Babylon had now passed; but here the morning breaks, the heavens are opened, and the wastes of Israel are revisited. And all was in the twinkling of an eye. Who had counted on this a day before ? The priest was at the accustomed altar; the virgin of Nazareth at home amid the ordinary circumstances of human life; and the shepherds, as they were wont, watching their flocks,-when the glory of the Lord shines, and one fresh from the presence of God appears. And Gabriel can stand without reserve in the holy place with the priest, and without reluctance in the poor dwelling of the virgin. Such are the ease and grace of these heavenly visits -happy pledges of days still brighter, still to come! But Gabriel, the messenger, though he stand at the altar, will not, like the angel of Jehovah of old, ascend in the flame of the altar ; nor, like Jesus-Jehovah afterward, though he stand in the temple, speak of himself as greater than the temple. For he fills his place as a servant, and takes no higher. This is blessed. J. G. B.

There is a beautiful fitness in the place occupied by these salutations, forming, as they do, a suited close, not merely to this last section of the epistle, the practical walk, (chaps. 12:-16:,) but to the entire book. They are the simple unstudied outflow of the apostle's heart to those dear to him, but express at the same time the practical results of that grace known and experienced which has been revealed in the body of the epistle. It has been rather the fashion to decry doctrine as something cold and hard, and to clamor for love, nothing but love. This is as senseless as it would be to exalt the fruit above the tree that bears it. We must have love, but we cannot have it at the expense of truth, which gives it intelligence, consistency, and power. This we may learn from the position of our chapter. Further, it can be seen that all these expressions of grace are in entire accord with what are usually termed the harder, more Calvinistic doctrines of Scripture. Man's lost condition; his utter helplessness; the absolute worthlessness of works for justification; faith the one essential; the sentence of death upon self the necessary prerequisite for a holy walk; tribulation the portion of the believer here; the sovereignty of God in electing grace;-these and kindred themes the despiser of doctrine would say were enough to dry up all the springs of natural affection in man's heart. But if they do dry up natural affection-a thing not for a moment admitted-they do but furnish a fitting channel for the outflow of those divine affections which find their expression in the salutations before us.

We have here not a mere list of names of saints to whom greeting is sent, but many a delicate touch of appreciation and commendation, as the loved name calls up faithful service in the past.

Rome was the great center whither all the business of the empire gravitated. This easily explains the
wide circle of acquaintances the apostle had there. Aquila and Priscilla, and doubtless many other Jewish Christians, had been forced to leave Rome by the edict of the emperor Claudius (Acts 18:2).When this severity relaxed, they naturally returned. Others, like Phoebe, had probably gone to Rome from the various assemblies. Doubtless some of these saints were converted to Christ while away from Rome-possibly some at Jerusalem, some at Antioch. Some were there who had been in Christ before the wonderful conversion of Paul. Some were, without doubt, his own children in the faith.

Nor can we believe that the very names of these saints are without special significance, having found so much of profit in that way in the Old Testament. We have, too, warrant to expect the same in the New. Our Lord gave names to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. The name of Stephen (a crown) is significantly appropriate to one who gained the first martyr's crown; and the name of Paul (little) suits well the one who counted those things which had been gain to him as loss for Christ. His previous name recalls Israel's first king, the man after the flesh, dead and shoulders above the rest of the people. Timothy, one who honors God; John, Jehovah is gracious; and other names will be readily recalled as peculiarly appropriate to those who bore them. Without attempting an exhaustive examination of the significance of the names in the chapter before us, we will take up a few of the plainer ones, and see what lessons we can gather from them.

The lowliness of service, which yet does not escape the Lord's eye, is suggested in the first name here being that of a woman-Phoebe. She has served at Cenchrea, and carries with her to Rome the commendation of the apostle. Her name is the feminine of Phoebus-the light-bearer;-and does not faithful, though it be lowly, service make the Lord's people light-bearers ?

In Prisca and Aquila (ancient and eagle ?) we have that union of wife and husband in the Lord's service as beautiful as it is, alas, rare. They risked their lives in serving the apostle. Fittingly in this well-ordered household, there is an assembly. For God's assembly could not appropriately be lodged in a disorderly household. Possibly the meaning of their names may suggest the happy mingling of conservatism and zeal.

Epaenetus (to be praised) is a beautiful name for one who was the first-fruits of Asia (R. V.) to Christ. Well is it for us when our course is worthy of commendation. And His eye which is as a flame of fire is kind as well as quick to mark that in us which is deserving of His praise.

Mary (bitter), in sweet contrast with her name, has been a devoted servant to the saints. But He always turns bitter to sweet. Andronicus (conqueror) and Junias (younger) are marked as having been fellow-prisoners as well as kinsmen of the apostle, that is, Jews. In this warfare it is no disgrace for the victor to be a prisoner. The world sees him in chains, God sees him a conqueror. So in every strait, when weakness and necessity seem to have their way with us, we can still be "more than conquerors through Him that loved us."

Amplias (increasing) is a good name. "Not as though I had already attained." When we are satisfied, we are going backward. Let us press forward.

Urbane (urbanus, of the city) can well remind us to what city we belong. "Our citizenship is in heaven." It is the heavenly-minded saint who is indeed a helper.

Stachys (an ear of corn) suggests the fruitfulness of the divine life. It is not a grain of corn merely, that which has life, but an ear, that which has seed for sowing. Ought we not to be ears of corn, with the good seed to spare, ready to sow beside all waters ?

"Apelles (separated) approved in Christ." How these words fall together. To the world, his name suggests, one who will not walk with it; with a reputation perhaps of being a recluse. He walks apart, as one whose heart and associations are elsewhere. But he is "approved" by the Master. Ah, beloved, can we take the meaning of this name as suited to our walk? Are we separated unto God, and thus approved ?

The friends, or family, of Aristobulus (the best advice, or adviser)-those who have taken the best advice. Who but the Lord gives that ? and we may be sure those who take His counsel will have His salutation. Are you in doubt as to your path, perplexed, well-nigh hopeless ? Go to the best Adviser, and you will surely be guided aright.

Other names, no doubt all of them, in this list are most suggestive :Phlegon (burning, zealous), Hermes (interpreter), Philologus (lover of the word), Nereus (a candle), are all so clear in their meaning that no word is needed to apply them. Taken altogether, we might say we have in these names the various characteristics in the child of God which meet His approval, and to whom He sends a loving greeting.
But there was another class at Rome, not mentioned by name, of whom the apostle speaks here, not to send them a loving greeting, but to warn the saints:-they were to be avoided. They might use "good words and fair speeches," but they were not building the saints up on their most holy faith, nor knitting them together in love, but were dividing them, and causing them to stumble-practically diverting them from the doctrine-as in this whole epistle -which they had learned. These get cold neglect, in most marked contrast with the warm and loving greetings in the first part of the chapter. Be it ours, beloved brethren, to walk so humbly before our God that the blessed Spirit may ever minister His greetings to us, and not show by His grieved silence that we are among those unnamed ones who are to be marked and avoided.

Christianity is the life of Christ communicated to the believer-dwelling in him-and flowing out from him, in the ten thousand little details which go to make up our daily practical life. It has nothing ascetic, monastic, or sanctimonious about it. It is genial, cordial, lightsome, pure, elevated, holy, heavenly, divine. Such is the Christianity of the New Testament. It is Christ dwelling in the believer, and reproduced, by the power of the Holy Ghost, in his daily practical career. C. H. M.

It should be the common delight of all His saints to trace Him in all His doings. For where are we to have our eternal joys but in Him and with Him ? What, beloved, can be suited to His delight, if Jesus and His ways be not ? What is there in any object to awaken joy, that we do not find in Him ? What are those affections and sympathies, which either command or soothe our hearts, that are not known in Him ? Is love needed to make us happy ? If so, was ever love like His ? If beauty can engage the soul, is it not to perfection in Jesus ? If the treasures of the mind delight us in another, if richness and variousness fill and refresh us, have we not all this in its fullness in the communicated mind of Christ ? Indeed, beloved, we should challenge our hearts to find their joys in Him. For we are to know Him so forever. And learning the perfections and beauties of His blessed word, is one of the many helps which we have whereby to advance in our souls this joy in the Lord. J. G. B.

"Enoch walked with God." (Gen. 5:24.)

To walk with God, O fellowship divine !
Man's highest state on earth-lord, be it mine!
With Thee, may I a close communion hold;
To Thee, the deep recesses of my heart unfold:
Yes, tell Thee all-each weary care and grief
Into Thy bosom pour-till there I find relief.
O let me walk with Thee, thou Mighty One !
Lean on Thine arm, and trust Thy love alone;
With Thee hold converse sweet where'er I go;
Thy smile of love my highest bliss below!
With Thee transact life's business-doing all
With single aim for Thee-as Thou dost call:
My every comfort at Thy hand receive,
My every talent to thy glory give;
Thy counsel seek in every trying hour,
In all my weakness trust Thy mighty power.
Oh may this high companionship be mine.
And all my life by its reflection shine,
My great-my wise-my never-failing friend,
Whose love no change can know, no turn, no end!
My savior god ! who gavest Thy life for me,
Let nothing come between my heart and Thee!
From Thee no thought, no secret, would I keep,
But on Thy breast my tears of anguish weep.
My every wound to Thee I take to heal,
For Thou art touched with every pang I- feel.
O, Friend of friends! the faithfuls true and tried,
In Thee, and Thee alone, I now confide;
Earth's "broken cisterns"-ah! they all have proved
Unsatisfying-vain-however loved;
The false will fail-the fondest, they must go!
Oh thus it is with all we love below.
From things of earth then let my heart be free,
And find its happiness, my lord, in Thee;
Thy holy spirit for my Guide and Guest,
Whatever my lot, I must be safe and blest;
Washed in Thy blood, from all my guilt made clean,
In Thee, my Righteousness, alone I'm seen:
Thy home my home-Thy god and father mine!
Dead to the world-my life is hid with Thine:
Its highest honors fade before my view-
Its pleasures, I can trample on them too.
With Thee by faith I walk in crowds-alone,
Making to Thee my wants and wishes known:
Drawing from Thee my daily strength in prayer,
Finding Thine arm sustains me everywhere;
While, through the clouds of sin and woe, the light
Of coming Glory shines more sweetly bright;
And this my daily boast-my aim-my end-
That my Redeemer is my God-my friend!

C. H. I.

"The business of those united, is Christ's glory. If Christians ever unite on a condition of that not being essential, their union is not Christian union at all. I have no reason for union but Christ, the living Savior. I do not want any union but that which makes Him the center and the all, and the hope of it. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren; but to make that a plea for indifference to Christ's personal glory, in order to be one with him who, calling himself a brother, denies and undermines it, is, in my mind, wickedness."

(Continued from page 182.)

Next, we will look at His temptation,-being-owned and baptized by John, owned and anointed with the Holy Spirit by God the Father. Now a new scene opens up to our view:He is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. What a contrast to His thirty years of retirement! We learn from Gen. 3:of the trial of the first man, Adam. Now, in grace, our Lord, the second man, will subject Himself to the same test. Adam failed, disobeyed, sinned. Christ, by the test, demonstrated what He was-as ever, perfect and holy, -perfect in dependence, perfect in obedience. Yet the circumstances are a perfect contrast:Adam tried under the most favorable circumstances ; Christ, under the most unfavorable; Adam, in a garden; Christ, in a wilderness; Adam, with the animals tame and harmless; Christ, with the wild beasts; Adam, with a partner; Christ, alone. But as He during this time passed through various temptations, the test only makes manifest that He was as the pure gold; hence the secret of His triumph here was, as ever, He was "that holy thing; " His humanity was of a new character compared with that of Adam, and hence the enemy was completely foiled, and so leaves him for a season. How could He, ever divine, ever perfect, ever holy, have swerved from the path of holiness ? Such a thing was impossible; and one would belittle the majesty and glory of His sacred person even to suggest it possible for Him to fail, to disobey, to sin; -as was said ere that life closed, '' The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me." (Jno. 14:30.) He ever was that in Himself, perfect and holy; and although tried as the first man, yet, it must be remembered, it was in grace He subjected Himself to such a test, to make manifest the infinite worth of His person. Hence, by those tests, so much more severe than Adam's, inasmuch as the circumstances were so much more unfavorable, we learn the true character of His humanity, the true nature of His person-"that holy thing; " and the language of old would be inadequate to express the feelings of any taught of God, " Thou art worth ten thousand of us." (2 Sam. 18:3.) In grace, He came from heaven; in grace, submits in all things to the law, moral and ceremonial;-even the ordinance of circumcision was not passed by, and the little turtle-doves, or pigeons, were not withheld. In grace, He goes down to Nazareth, and is subject to His parents; in grace, permits John to baptize Him, as the rest who came for baptism. Yet personally He needed none of these things-yea, circumcision, sacrifices, and even baptism, all found their true fulfillment in Him. In grace, He subjects Himself to this deep trial, a temptation for forty days by Satan; yet during this brief period, as also in the previous thirty years, He was always that savor of delight to Jehovah ; and the severer the test, the hotter the fire, it only brought out the more the sweet fragrance of His pure and perfect life. As we trace His path step by step, we can but triumph in His triumphs; we worship and adore.

We follow Him as He returns from the wilderness, and glance at a few leading features of that blessed path of His, during His public ministry, from the wilderness to its end. "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee; and there went out a fame of Him through all the regions round about, and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all." (Luke 4:14.)

Now we get in truth the true "meat-offering" of Lev. 2:, not only made with oil (conceived by the Holy Ghost), but also anointed with oil,-" How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil:for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38); and hence His whole life from this time was one marked, whether His words or works, to be in the power of the Spirit of God. He taught in grace; it was in grace He healed also:every step in His blessed path was for the glory of God and the good of men; and while, as to His humanity, there was much in real contrast to Adam, whether in His unfallen or fallen state, yet we can find much also in which, bless God, there was a parallel. Hence we need to try things which differ, but with a suited reverence and godly fear, lest we should tarnish His person and glory in the eyes of any. If we view Adam ere he fell, Gen. 1:and 2:show us his humanity was so constructed by the Lord in creation as to require food (chap. 1:29; chap. 2:16); and work would be part of that delightful service he would render to the Lord his Creator (chap. 2:15)- not the toil and sufferings as announced after the fall, in chap. 3:17-19;-and the result of such a service, such work, would be to enjoy the gracious provisions of goodness and love, food and drink; and quite natural to learn of sleep also in chap. 2:, ere sin entered to mar all. From chap, 2:, then, it is clear there was work; meat and drink and sleep also:hence to all ought this not to be clear, these are not the result of the fall ? Yet now many things accompany these- pain, sorrow, disease, and even death; and they themselves are intensified in many ways through sin. Yet we believe it is of all importance to understand that daily work, food, and sleep, are not the results of sin, but were there, and so required by human nature, before ever man became sinful and depraved. Now since the fall these continue with us; but sin having entered, much more follow, pain, sorrow, disease, and even death, "the wages of sin." Now we learn that the Lord, when He entered a body prepared for Him, was truly a man, of flesh and blood as we, yet apart from sin being there; and need we be surprised to learn, when He was here, of Him at times being hungry, thirsty, wearied, and even asleep? Surely not. And with a holy reverence and godly care for the glory of His person, could we say these were the results of the Lord Jesus having an inferior humanity to that given to Adam in the beginning ? Surely not; and to say so would be to degrade the person of the blessed Saviour, from which every true believer would recoil. This we maintain was part of His perfect humanity, and hence He having accommodated Himself to such, He is able to give sympathy and succor to His beloved people now (Heb. 2:17, 18).

And during this part of His perfect life on earth, when, ministering among men, He beheld the condition into which sin had plunged the whole human race-the sorrow, disease, sickness, and even death- He, ever perfect, could feel for such, sympathize with the creatures of His hands; but were those feelings, those groans, those tears of His, because His humanity was upon a par with man ? Surely not. Neither was it because His humanity was as Adam's simply. Nay, it was of a different character, we have seen- "that holy thing":divine power was there; and because of such, no taint of sin could ever enter to tarnish His blessed, spotless person. Not only was there power there, but love and sympathy, true and divine; and hence we read in Matt. 8:that one part of Isa. 53:was fulfilled-" Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." On the cross he bare sins; but here in Matt. 8:, it was what He bare and carried during His life ministry; His love, compassion, and sympathy, were so real, so perfect, that, as He beheld the infirm, the diseased, He felt so keenly for them that He suffered in sympathy as much as if it was His own (Himself ever free from such, no sickness, no disease, could enter His perfect humanity, inasmuch as there was no sin there). How such truths as these, revealed in the word of God, exalt the Lord of life and glory! He could feel for the sick, yet Himself never so; pity those a prey to the many forms of disease, Himself never subject to such; take by the hand her who was stricken with fever, and lift her up, the fever not only leaving her but He never affected by it (Mark 1:30-32); touch the leper, yet Himself never defiled by such (Mark 1:41).
No; there was nothing in His pure, spotless humanity that could respond to sin, to Satan; no sickness, no disease, nothing of the pain and sorrow that belongs to the human race, the effects of sin in their nature, and hence nothing to leave Him open to death, "the wages of sin." Nothing in Him to make this a necessity, and to say or hint at such would be to take antichristian ground and degrade the person of the Lord Jesus.

In grace, we have said, He came down from heaven; in grace He entered a human body (mystery of mysteries)-He, the eternal One; in grace we have beheld Him in His life of lowly service among men. Now, the question is strangely asked, Why did He die? if death was not a necessity of His human nature? In grace, we readily answer. It was "the wages of sin," the penalty due to us. He was free to leave as He came (Ex. 21:2-6; Matt. 26:53, 54;) -free to go back to the Father; but then it was to carry out those divine plans between Himself and the Father before the world was, to accomplish the Father's will, and to deliver us from the awful penalty of sin and death and judgment. Hence death for Him was not a necessity of His human nature, but for us substitutory. What love, what grace, are thus expressed in the cross of Calvary! and how we need, as we contemplate such an act, to cry out, "Teach me"! for here we are ever learners, and such a scene as Calvary will keep us pupils and also worshipers through that day of eternity. Yet to be taught we need to keep close to the very words of holy Scripture.

True it is, that man is held guilty in crucifying the Lord Jesus, and His death is charged against the people to whom He came in richest love (the Jews). This is the cross from one point of view. Yet John 10:2:15, 17, 18, which gives the other side, needs to be carefully weighed ; given by the pen of one especially inspired to set forth His greatness, His majesty, the personal and divine glories of God's only begotten Son. "No man taketh my life from me," His own words. And although true man, perfect man, yet "God manifest in the flesh." How many are the crowns that will deck His brow ! The sea obeys Him; the fish of the deep serve His call; the wild beasts are harmless in His presence (Mark 1:); the dead rise at His word; sickness, disease, leprosy, and all, flee when He, the "mighty God, the everlasting Father"-[Father of Eternity, Heb.] so wills to deliver and bless the creatures of His love and care. Now, what shall we say of His death?-a work so marvelous, an act so great, when there upon the cross they break the legs of one thief, then the other; but, lo, when they came to Him, "they found Him dead already." (John 19:33.) Why was this ? The true fulfillment of what the same penman records in chap. 10::"I lay it down of myself." The cup of suffering and judgment was drunk by Him, the "Lamb of God," the substitute, in grace provided for men, and now having borne the judgment, having finished the work "He gave up His life," no man taking it from Him, and thus the full penalty is borne. Of whom else could such be said ? there is but one answer which will be to His eternal praise:None. No, not one. Never was there before, and never shall there be again, a death of the same character as His,-a work truly divine.

In the manner of His conception, we have seen Mary stands alone; in the character of His humanity, He appears alone; in the perfection of His holy life, He also appears alone; and now, His death is a perfect contrast to all others, a willing surrender of Himself on our behalf, and to bear the full penalty and remove every barrier. We see His Godhead glory burst out amid all the darkness of such an hour:" He gave up His life." As we look back and think of such a life of perfection and beauty, and gaze upon the scene of Calvary, we can but exclaim, Oh, what grace! what love!

We have noticed in this sketch only a little here and there from those parts so full and rich with precious food, the four Gospels; and even in them, while there is such a fullness, yet they themselves bear witness to the fact of how little they have given us compared to the great fullness God has given us in His beloved Son (Jno. 20:30; 21:24, 25 ; Col. 1:19). But if what has been imperfectly noticed will enable any to understand and to give a better answer to the Lord's own question we started out with, we will rejoice, "What think ye of Christ ? " He was truly David's Son; but this falls short of the full answer-He was also David's Lord; or, as given by the same writer from the lips of an ascended and glorified Saviour, "I Jesus … I am the root and the offspring of David ; " and we will add further, for the joy of all (amid the darkness of this our day, or amid the darkness of this night, which is far spent) who love the Lord Jesus Christ, " I am the bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16). A. E. B.

The forty-second chapter of Jeremiah has, it seems to me, a sober lesson for the present time, to which the Lord's people may well take heed.

The patience of God had come to an end toward Israel. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had laid siege against Jerusalem, taken and destroyed it, slain the nobles of Judah, and carried the chief part of the people in captivity to Babylon.

But "the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon." Jeremiah had remained also in the land with this feeble remnant, and they were already being cheered and encouraged by the words of Gedaliah:'' Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you. . . . Gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken."

Further encouragement follows:"When all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, . . . even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came in the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much."

But new sorrows soon returned. A conspiracy issuing from the king of the Ammonites had been formed against this reviving remnant. A traitor had carried it out; and now, in the despair of discouragement, "they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt."

But they hesitate here. They know well that Egypt is not the place where God leads His people. But the place where He puts them is a place of judgment if they walk not with Him-a place of strife and battle with the enemy without or within; and they are weary of difficulty.

This is a solemn moment for them:two ways are open to them; one is to fall on their faces, confess to God the sins which caused their break-up, the carrying away of their nobles to Babylon, and their present distress, and abide there in obedience and confidence under the blessed God whose encouraging words might well banish all their fears and stir up their hearts:" If ye will abide in this land, then will [ build you, and not pull you down; and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you." Oh how this tells of a Father's heart, after the chastening which His hand had to inflict!

The other way is to yield to their natural feelings, and go where they think they will find a path in which they will see war no more.

Solemn, solemn, indeed is the hour! Will they abide where God can identify Himself with them in the fullest way, despite their weakness and circumstances of shame; or will they follow their inclination, and hear God's voice but to prophesy their ruin ?

Alas! the test but brings out their true condition. While professing apparently the honest desire to
know what the mind of the Lord is, and the readiness to obey it whatever it may be, they have already set their faces toward Egypt. Their minds have been made up without God. Their state is so low that they cannot exercise faith. They send Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord; but in reality it is to get His approval of the path which suits their state. They cannot openly give up the path of obedience, but their wills are opposed to it. They soon find an excuse, therefore, which satisfies them:"Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely; the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there; but Baruch the son of Neri-ah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon."

Accordingly they return to Egypt, to prove the message sent to them,-" It shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you, there in Egypt. …. I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon. . . . and when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity. "

Beloved brethren, does this bit of Israel's history need comment ? Is our spiritual discernment not able to recognize God's voice to us in it at this special time ? The chastening of our God has been sore upon us. He is holy and just in it; we deserved it. It leaves us a poor, feeble remnant, exposed to the pity and ridicule of some, to the assaults and accusations of others. Shall we turn to worldly principles and ways to escape difficulty ? or shall we confess our sins and abide with God in the place of chastening, but also of grace and truth ? Shall we submit in brokenness of heart and be yet blessed and for blessing ? or shall we turn to Egypt and be utterly consumed ? Shall we hold that fast which we have ? or shall we let it go ? Have we faith to abide where faith alone can abide ? Brethren, this requires reality and lowliness. Here we cannot preach one thing and do another, and yet abide. We cannot enjoy the sweets of grace and refuse the responsibilities of it. When our adorable Lord left His glory above to come down here in grace after us, every step was real, and its cost real. '' So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

Had this remnant of Israel had the character of true disciples, they would not have thought of Egypt to save their lives; for a true disciple hates '' his own life also," and is free therefore from the thought of saving this or that; he has nothing to do but obey his Master.

Grace saves that it may make disciples. If it be received and held with a single eye, it makes disciple-ship the glory of this life, though it be in suffering and loss. If not, it produces a light, frivolous spirit -the spirit now so prevalent with holy things, which lightly esteems, or even despises, what is not directly for man's enjoyment. Christ will do as Saviour, but as Lord and Master, revealer of God's will and glory, to be in all things solemnly heard and obeyed, He is not wanted.

Beloved, the days are evil. Man fills the vision, not Christ. Therefore "truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey."

The Lord show us mercy, and keep us abiding with Himself, waiting patiently on Him, in no haste to forget our Meribahs, yet full of confidence and hope in Him! This He will not deceive. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is ! P. J. L.

Everything that surrounded Adam, the first man, might well have pleaded for God against the enemy. The sweetness of the whole scene, the beauty of that garden of delights, with its rivers which parted hither and thither, the fruits of the perfume, with the willing service of the thousand tributary creatures, all had a voice for God against the accuser.

But Jesus was in a wilderness which yielded nothing, but left Him an hungered; and the wild beasts were with Him, and all might have been pleaded by the accuser against God.

All was against Jesus as all had been for Adam, but He stood as Adam had fallen. The man of the dust failed, with all to favor him. The man of God stood, with all against Him. And what a victory was this! What complacency in man this must have restored to the mind of God. To achieve this victory Jesus had been led up of the Spirit into the place of battle, for His commission was to destroy the works of the devil (i John 3:8). He now stood as the champion of God's glory and man's blessing in this revolted world, to try His strength with the enemy of both, to make proof of His ministry; and to the highest pitch of praise, He is more than conqueror.

But He was conqueror for us, and therefore at once comes forth with the spoils of that day to lay them at our feet. He had been alone in the conflict, but He would not be alone in the victory. He that soweth and He that reapeth must rejoice together. It was an ancient statute of David, that he that tarried by the stuff should share with him that went down to battle. But a better even than David – one, not only of Royal but of Divine grace – is here; and accordingly Jesus the Son of God comes forth from the wilderness to publish peace, to heal disease, to meet all the need of those who were the captives of this enemy, and to let them know that He had conquered for them.

Gen. 32:22-32 ; 33:18-20; 35:1-15.

I realize, beloved brethren, I might have taken something less familiar than what I have read, but we must be led of God; and when I come to speak I feel as if the whole Bible were shut up to me, but this one portion.

The lesson of Jacob's history must be a very remarkable one, when we see how God has emphasized it. Out of fifty chapters in Genesis, Jacob's life stretches over twenty-five. Though not always in the front, yet he is noticed within these chapters. God calls Himself the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,- three names with which He is pleased to identify Himself. This is His memorial, and it is as such He speaks to Moses afterward. He has identified Himself with them, just as in the New Testament He has identified Himself with one blessed name; and He is now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now there is no other name but that. In Abraham we have, in a way, given us the Father. In Isaac we have the Son. We need one more to complete the series, and in that one more (Jacob) we have the Spirit.

Jacob is his natural name – the Supplanter, but really the heel-catcher, – the one always grasping, grasping,- always ready with his hand. Spiritually he is Israel,- a prince with God. Before he comes to be this, however, there is a long discipline,- the work of the Holy Ghost in him,- and then he comes out as silver tried in the furnace – bright for God. The worse the material, the more intractable, the better it shows the workman; and this is just what we have here. It is from a Jacob, by God's grace, an Israel is formed. This is the Holy Ghost's work low.

I want to look at these passages which are marked by two altars:the one – El-elohe Israel, God the God of Israel; and El Bethel, God the God of His own House. These two things speak of turning-points in Jacob's history. The apostle tells us that before the children were born God made His choice (Rom. 9:), laying, "the elder shall serve the younger." All that ve are, and all that we ever shall be, comes out of what God has wrought, out of what is His choice; hat is, out of His heart, and not our own. We need not wonder at this, for out of the heart of man come – what? Evil thoughts, etc.,-evil, and only evil. Out of the heart of God what comes ? Rather, may we not say, what does not come that is blessed ?

In God's will it is the energy of love always,-love hat masters, love that makes us His, and that makes is followers of Him. He is the God of judgment too, as we fully see in Jacob's case; but, beloved, judgment is his strange work.

But Jacob is born in divine favor. What has he to do but just to be in the hand of Him who would hold him ? What, but just to be quiet in the hand of God? But at the end of his life he has to say "few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." A long life, we should say ; and yet, after all, the years that count, so to speak (there are many years of ours, as well as his, that may not count, are there not ?) are few and evil. This Jacob's hand,-how many things I will lay hold of, always filling itself and never full, and so God has to let the days and months and years pass on, until at last he has to give up, and meet God face to face, and then get relief.

Let us see about this catching hand of Jacob. God had said "The elder shall serve the younger." Yet in nature Esau compares favorably with Jacob:indeed, his noble bearing stands in contrast with the supplanter,- the heel-catcher. But all comes out when Esau comes in from the chase, hungry and weary. Recklessly he would barter away his birthright, for he did not value it, which Jacob takes advantage of, and buys it for a mess of pottage. Esau is stamped as a profane man:Jacob, after all, is not a profane person. He covets a right thing. His heart is set upon what is good and what is of God; but he is mean and grasping, instead of waiting upon God.

Again, God speaks of multiplying his seed like the dust of the earth. Now the dust has to be ground up beneath your feet, and that is the way he is to be multiplied,- all this suggesting the low and groveling spirit that characterized him naturally.

Another thing:Isaac gets old, and wants to bless his sons before he dies. Without right estimate of the divine judgment, naturally he likes Esau. He is not enough with God to see what He is about, and thus he would bless Esau. That is all changed; and Jacob,-how simply he might have rested in God just now, and as surely have got the blessing. What a strange thing a man should think he can wrest from God the blessing He has to give,-is ready to give! But alas, we must pay our toll,- our tribute to Satan. Men do it, Christians do it, we do it. Don't you think we do ? Not openly, perhaps, so as to realize what we are doing; but it is done. We want His blessing, but how often, like Jacob (for we are Jacobs), we take underhand means to get it. Look at all that weary way of his. Let us take God's word for it:let us trust Him, and let Him work things Himself. He will soon carry you-just as soon as He is able-into the blessing he has for you, into the contemplation of Himself,- only lie in His hand.

But Jacob's hand is again upon his brother's heel, and the result is, he is cast out of his father's family for many years. He is cast out into a world where others do with him just what he has been doing with his brother. What you sow you shall reap, says God; but in that way you learn exactly what it is you have been sowing :you learn the evil of your own way.

Oh, beloved, that we might submit to God, and learn His way of blessing, without the long journey so often trod.

Bethel he comes to. It is the house of God. His father's house lost,- a beggarly wanderer,- God opens another home. He doesn't exactly let him in, but He lets him look in; and when His government has done its work He will let him in. When he is homeless and houseless, his head upon a stone for a pillow, then he finds what he himself calls "the house of God and the gate of heaven." And then come those tender assurances, finishing with the words, "And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." The Lord refers to this when speaking to Nathaniel in John 1:Men have their ladders, but they are all too short. Christ is the ladder that reaches to heaven itself. Jacob doesn't see all this, but he sees God at the top, who makes him those exceeding great and precious promises:"And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, . . . and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 28:)

Do you ask, What has Jacob done to deserve that ? Nothing whatever. He deserved much else that follows, but he certainly hadn't deserved this. How good God is, and how good to see God saying he must not be discouraged or cast down, or let his knees knock together. But how do we account for this?

In Psalm 73:the psalmist was envious of the foolish when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. He sees how many of the good things of this world men have. It was too much for him. All the day long he was plagued, and chastened every morning; but at length he went into the sanctuary, and then understood he their end. He finds out then that all these good things that men get do not bring them nearer God, but that God insists we must be ground down to the dust, and then he blesses, and there.

I don't go round the street to take up every child to chasten him, but I chasten my own. This is what God does. But, beloved, God doesn't want to do this with His children. He wants them so near Himself He will not need to do it.

So in Padan, Jacob must toil double. He reaps away at what he had sown, and all those years would seem as if they had no effect upon him at all. Had they none ?

Now when he again gets back to the border of the land, to Mahanaim, he seems to have not learned any lesson. The word Mahanaim speaks of "two hosts," – the Lord's host and his own. He sees God, but he sees Jacob also has something pretty big; but this, beloved, is never a sign of being with God. On the contrary, to be so will manifest him as a man broken to pieces. A broken and contrite heart He will not despise. Though high and lofty, and inhabiting eternity, He will dwell with such. We would rise up and be something, as Christians be something, and God must beat us down, beat us down, beat us down, until we lie down and let Him have His way; and until He lifts us up in His way and His due season. But now he is to meet his brother, and he begins to plan and plot as the Jacob of old.

At the place '' Penuel" God meets him as a stranger, – as one hostile to Him. Jacob has all this heavy load of meeting Esau, whom he had so wronged, as an enemy. He has this additional load laid upon his shoulders,- He meets God, and He is against him, and wrestles with him. Don't mistake, beloved, if circumstances are against you. It is God. Take it from His hand. Jacob's will has not been God's will, and there must be conflict; and even when right things were in question, he could not wait to get them in God's way. Do you know, the more you believe in yourself the less you believe in God, and the measure in which you fail to trust God is the measure in which you trust in yourself. You see people who have no ability to meet anything. They wrestle with God, and wrestle and gain nothing, just as Jacob wrestled and got nothing, for indeed he got nothing by the wrestling.

But how much can a man wrestle when his thigh is out of joint ? Jacob will wrestle! Very well:God will show His strength. He must break him down, and He breaks him down. The angel says-strangely says-"Now let me go." And Jacob, in another voice – no more a wrestling man, but with a dislocated thigh – says "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." What is he doing? Clinging – not wrestling now, but clinging! Our weakness clings to God, and from that weakness God cannot drag Himself away. Oh, how blessed this ! We look at ourselves, and we force God to come in; and, at all cost, break us down. Then, and not till the wrestler is changed to a clinger,- then he prevails.

Put your arms, in ever so much weakness, around Him, and do you think He will turn away? Will the Almighty God tear Himself away from the weakness of His creature ? Oh, no! Oh, no! Let us, beloved brethren, appropriate all this, and enjoy the blessedness of such an one. The angel now says, "What is thy name?" And he replies, "Jacob. " (Supplanter.) Do you say now, " I am a poor worm, wriggling and trying to make my way along the earth." Then God says, "Now"-not till now-"thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Oh, beloved, cling – don't wrestle. Wrestle, and He is strong against you; but cling, and He is not strong at all against you, but strong for you.

Jacob now says "Tell me, I pray thee, Thy name. " But He will not. Do you want to know ? Well, Jacob didn't find out. He learned one lesson:he learned himself, in some way; but he goes on into the land when he gets through with Esau, and has escaped the wrath he so much dreaded, and at Shalem, a city of Shechem, he builds there an altar, and calls it El-Elohe-Israel, "God the God of Israel." But if we only learn God as one who shelters and cares and keeps,-that is not enough. Do you rest satisfied with knowing that God belongs to you, or have you gone on to this – that you belong to God ? How easily the child of God sets aside the word of God, and resting satisfied with getting to heaven! Getting salvation, they are indifferent as to how far they obey His word. That is making use of God,- your interests are in question. But has God no interests? Jacob has no thought beyond this – that God is something" very good for Jacob, as he says just here, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved,- although he had only met God in the dark night, and didn't see His face at all,- asked His name and didn't get it. So, after all, Jacob remains Jacob; and after God had said "Thy name shall no more be Jacob," He has afterward to call him Jacob again. The higher critics-those very wise men-do not see that these things agree, but I tell you they do agree, and it is well if we find it out. Again, Jacob has "power with men, and shall prevail," but in the next chapter he does not prevail. Instead, he and his family are in clanger of being exterminated. At least, he expects or fears this. We shall not go over that sorrowful history, but the lesson for us is plain. We may have power in a certain sense, and not have it. An engine filled with steam might do great damage if it had not rails to run upon; and God's will is the track upon which we are to run, in the power of the Spirit of God.

And now (chap. 35:), "God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and make there an altar unto God." He had made it in the wrong place. Bethel is the house of God, and he is going there. See the effect:"put away the strange gods," etc. Now he is going to see God,- see Him in the light, and not in the darkness. God is to be the only God now,- only His will must be owned. Jacob will be Jacob so long as he doesn't own that. Oh, when the sense of that grace of God has come into his soul, how it beats him down, and what a past he had!

But he goes up to Bethel. He comes to Luz (separation). The break with his past is now complete for himself and all his, and he builds his altar. He calls it El-Bethel, – God the God of His own house. What a change! Long ago that house had opened its door; and Jacob remembered that; and now it is "God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram," and blessed him. But what about the long intervening time ? Ah, all that long time had been wasted and lost. Now God reminds him his name is Jacob sure enough, but it is to be no more practically that:"Israel shall be thy name."

Now, beloved, I want to urge that God has a house of His own, and He wants not that He should be conformed to our house, but that we should be conformed to His. Do we need power ? Then it must be power to do His will, – to serve Him. Which is best, God or we ? His will or ours ? God's will or Jacob's ? Oh, if we claim a right to our own way we may get it, but we shall prove it a bitter misery. If we know God, we shall cry night and day to Him "Don't give me ray will, give me Thine." If you have met God face to face, He will be all glorious to you, and you'll be in the dust forever:you'll be like Job, when he met God face to face, and he says "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." That was the repentance of a saint, but one learning to see himself in the light of God. This is the very secret of holiness. He abhorred himself and his ways, and now he says, like Jacob:"God is to be the God of His own house, the house that opened its doors for me when I was a poor homeless wrecked sinner, and at last brought me in there to enjoy all its blessedness."

The power of that name of Israel will never be known by you till your whole soul bows in reverence before His face. Have you really looked God in the face, and don't care how much you obey Him or do His will? There is but one place for us,- down, down in the dust, in the presence of God,-the God of His own house,-in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you want to know what power is, remember that, if you want to glorify Christ, you'll never lack power, – the power of the Holy Ghost; but if you want to glorify yourself, like the engine off the track and full of steam, you can't have power but to do evil,-evil to yourself and others.

May our faith be strengthened to do justice to God's love ! That love claims our full and happy confidence. To render it only a diffident and suspicious trust is to treat it unworthily. May all such spirit of fear and bondage be gone ! May the true Sarah in our hearts cry out, and cry out till it prevail, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son." For when the Lord does His work He does it in a way worthy of Himself. We are not to go forth with fear and suspicion, as though we could hardly trust the Arm that was saving us, but in such a way as will declare plainly that the work is the work of Him "whose love is as great as His power, and knows neither measure nor end."

(Continued from page. 298.)

5. "THOU HAST NOT DENIED MY NAME."

It is a revelation of Christ's Word, and the freshened sense of relationship to Christ,-the new realization of what He is to His people,-that practically produce Philadelphia. Every genuine revival, as I have already said, necessarily has something of the spirit of this,-tends, at least, towards it. Of course, when I speak of revival, I do not mean simply the conversion of souls, even in numbers :the revival I am speaking of is of saints, not sinners, although naturally the effect of this will be seen in a new power in the gospel for the conversion of sinners. But when interest in the word of God is revived, and the love of Christ is felt in new power in the soul, increased communion with Him will issue in the "communion of saints" being more valued and more sought after, and the spirit of obedience will cause the "yoke" with those who are not Christ's to be an intolerable bondage.

If such a revival were felt in the whole Church of God, how surely would every chain of this kind be broken by the energy of the Spirit of God, and the whole Church be brought together! But such a thing has never taken place, and the consequence of local and partial revivals has been therefore in fact more or less to separate Christians from Christians,-those who can go on with the world and with the worldly from those who cannot do so. Hence every such movement has to bear the reproach, on the part both of the world and of many Christians quite as much as the world, of causing divisions, which it is true it does and must do, and which the Lord's words declare He came to do-"not to send peace, but a sword," and to make a man's foes to be "those of his own household."

In a state of things like this, compromise and expediency soon begin to do their fatal work. That which the Spirit of God alone can accomplish is taken in hand by the wisdom of man, Scripture itself being perverted to its use-for they cannot do without Scripture. Truth must be partly clipped, partly suppressed, or else not insisted on; charity will be invoked, and liberal tolerance, with promise of wider and speedy results,-the seed in this case needing no "long patience" on the part of the husbandman. From such attempts have arisen the religious confederacies of the day, assuming soon the large proportions which seem so triumphantly to justify them, but in all which the "dogma," the unyielding truth of God, tends to be thrown out or ignored, that men may keep company with one another.

For the truth, somehow,-the uncompromising truth-does seem to rouse men, and set them at variance. The jarring sects of Protestantism, have they not arisen from those "private interpretations" of an open Bible, which wiser Romanism has condemned in favor of what is strangely affirmed to be "catholic," even while it is plain that put it to the free, unconstrained votes of the "Christian world," catholic it could never be. Rome's word, however, is not compromise, but "authority." Protestantism too loves not the word compromise, but rather "tolerance":you must be liberal in divine things, you have no rights; for the word of God, too, claims authority, and of the highest kind, as is evident, if it be that. Scripture is not, in that sense, tolerant:as how could he be who could write, "If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord" ? (i Cor. 14:37.)

Scripture therefore-spite of Sunday-schools and what not-tends with its sharp-edged teaching to be in a certain disrepute to-day. As men did with Him of whom it speaks, in His day, so now:they bow it out. With studied respect of manner, they seldom allow it to dictate to them where its voice is unsupported by some other authority, or where obedience will cost them much. Few there are, it is to be" feared, who are absolutely ready to receive and welcome all the truth of God ; for, there is really no other reason, and can be none, why all Christians are not of one mind to-day, than this, that they do not in heart desire at all costs to follow the truth. '' He that willeth to do God's will,"says the Lord Himself, "shall know of the doctrine" (John 7:17). How could it be otherwise, if God be what He is ? But then what does the confusion abroad in Christendom at the present time, tell of the condition of soul prevalent among the true people of God themselves !

For the most part, it is not strife about doctrines that is so characteristic, as indolence and indifference about them. Some, very active in eager evangelism, have given them up pretty much, as only hindering their work. If they pause to realize the meaning of this, they will have to own that God has made a mistake, or they have;-God's word is not in harmony with His work;-He from whose love | man the gospel has come, cannot have foreseen effect of His truth! And how many, on the other hand, have just received what has come down to them from their fathers without exercise of soul about it! without following the apostle's well-known rule, to '' prove all things, hold fast that which is good" !

As a consequence, many things carelessly received make Scripture, in all that is inconsistent with these really unintelligible; and this lies really as an accusation, though they would not openly formulate it, against Scripture itself. It cannot fail to be so. The searching it, produces but perplexity. They hold to it in general-give it up as to minor details :would be astonished, could they seriously examine it, how much of what they believe God has given to them has thus exhaled altogether;-how much is but as a dead thing-dead without any lamentation over it- not the living word of God at all.

And this affects even the most central truths,- truths about the Person of Christ, truths about His work. How many conflicting views about atonement prevail in the so-called orthodox denominations! What is the remedy? why, leave out the "views" then, say many:do not define. But suppose Scripture does? This will mean in that case, "don't go too deep into Scripture."And that is what is at the bottom; we should know surely whose voice it is that suggests this. It is one and the same voice that says to one person, " Be humble:don't imagine that your opinion is better than anybody else's"; and to an-other, "Be charitable:good men differ about these things"; and to another, "Don't contend " for this:you will make enemies, you will lose your friends "; and to another, "You are not learned:don't occupy yourself with what requires a theologian to decide about"; and to another, "The Church has settled this"; and-getting more and more the dragon's voice-"Oh, but surely there are mistakes in the Bible :you do not mean to contend for verbal inspiration ?" So the form of the argument varies; but the voice is that of the "liar from the beginning," him who "abode not in the truth"; and his aim is ever to discredit the truth. " Don't go too far." " Don't be too sure." "Don't be dogmatic." "Don't be uncharitable." The devil knows men well, and what is the chord in each that will be most responsive to his touch. He is a good chemist too, and can mix his poisons so that there shall be scarcely taste or smell of the principal ingredient:all the same it will do its work.

And amazing it is, the easy-going torpidity of Christians, that will allow their best blessings to be stolen under their eyes, and never discern it. In other matters they will be quite other men. "The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light"; but now, with a large number of Christians you shall find (and not insignificantly) in worldly matters all the wisdom of the world, and in the things that should be their own things as Christians, the most childish capacity. I may seem to be wandering from what is before me, in dwelling upon these things; but in fact I am fully keeping it in mind all through, and that it is "he that hath ears to hear" that will listen to it. And the Lord insists upon this in all His addresses to these Asiatic churches.

What is the meaning of this word to Philadelphia, "Thou hast not denied My Name" ? You have not, at any rate, denied it, my reader ? I trust not, indeed:but perhaps you think of this as mere gross apostasy, or as the lapse under pressure of such days of persecution as have been, when a little incense thrown upon an altar to some heathen god would save one's life by abjuring Christianity. Few are tempted that way now, and you have no need to look closely at it:is that so ? Yes, it may do, if we want to let ourselves off easily. But if Philadelphia in its deeper application just applies to such professedly Christian times as these, then it will seem surely strange that the not having done what few among us have any strong temptation at all to do, should be, in the Lord's eyes, a special commendation of Philadelphia! As to this also, we need not in that case lay much emphasis upon the warning, "hold fast that which thou hast"; and overcoming will not be in this application difficult; – or in another view of it we may say, perhaps, will scarcely be possible, when there is for the mass no difficulty to "overcome."

Have we possibly, then, misinterpreted it ?For one would say, rather, that there would be on the contrary some special and exceptional suitability in the commendation and warning both, which would infer some special liability, just on the part of Philadelphians, to this specific sin,-some special trial in this respect to which they would be exposed! Can that be true ?Does it seem unlikely ?In the gross form in which we may be disposed to take it, But is the gross form then the true interpretation can it be so, when it leads to such a result as almost evacuate meaning from it, as applied to Philadelphia ?

What is it, to deny His Name? What is "His Name " ? All names are significant in Scripture ; but the names of God and Christ, how specially, how transcendently significant! If God acts "for His Name's sake," that means, to declare what He is. If we are "gathered to Christ's Name"-which is the true form of the words (Matt, 18:20), "to," not "in,"-it is because what we realize Him to be draws us (each and all together) unto Him. " His Name '' is thus the revealed truth of what He is. He is away from earth ; and we have not Himself, visibly, to come to. But the truth of what He is, draws us together, and as so drawn, we confess what He is to us, and so coming have the promise of His (spiritual) presence. This is how we are united together, as a wheel is; by the circumference surely; but if that were all-if it were the main thing-the wheel would have no strength :its strength depends above all, upon the center; so our union is (in a way that transcends all that the figure can express) by the Center, which Christ is to all of us :and this, in proportion as it is true, defines and secures also the circumferential union-that to one another.

Carry this back to our subject:think of what Philadelphia stands for and expresses. If the gathering of Christians is in question in it, and it is to a true Christ (to the truth of what Christ is) they would be gathered, then what more central for the Philadelphian than not to deny this truth of what Christ is ? -this all-essential, all-sufficing Name !

Now another question-and let no one who values Christ treat it lightly:if there be a devil, the enemy of God and man, the constant and subtle opposer of all good, and with such knowledge as such a being may have, of what it is that he is opposing, how would he seek to corrupt and destroy such a movement as that of Philadelphia ? The answer is not in the least doubtful:he would attack it at that central point upon which all depended:he would attack the truth of Christ, His Person and work. As surely as that is true, so sure is it that a main test for the Philadelphian would be the confession or denial of the name of CHRIST, the Center of gathering.

Look at this all through, and see if I have strained the argument in any wise. See if any link in it is missing, or if any is insufficient. If it be not, let us take one most evident step further. These addresses are prophetical:this particular address therefore is a prophecy. There is implied here then, in connection with this movement to recover (on principle) the Church of God, that there would be an attack of Satan upon the Lord Jesus Christ as the Center of gathering. Has it been so ? Brethren who have knowledge of the history of the last fifty years in relation to this movement, I cite you all to bear witness as to this before God:have there been questions affecting the Person of Christ and the gathering to His Name ? I charge you, as you would listen to His word, to answer the question:has not history fulfilled this prophecy ? And how then does the prophecy affect our position, whatever it may be, with regard to our Lord's own commandment here:"Thou hast not denied My Name " ?

But again, let us remember that the great enemy of us all is one well versed in the ways of this terrible warfare. He has skill acquired in six thousand years' multiform experience. " He is a liar, and the father of it." The covert and the wile are his. Nothing is more common than to see him in the garb of sanctity; and he is familiar with the habit and the speech of love. He can appear as an angel of light, and his ministers be as the ministers of righteousness. He can be Satan, and denounce Satan; only putting Satan for God and God for Satan. Well may we look to our armor; well may we cleave to the word of God; well may we be "praying with all prayer"; well will it be, if in truth it can be said of us, that "we are not ignorant of his devices." All the world is on his side. The flesh, even in a Christian, pleads for him. Nor can we meet him with his own weapons, nor foil him by the adoption of his own tactics. In the encounter with him we have always to keep in mind what Proverbs says of the '' strange woman":"lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, her ways are changeable, that thou shouldst not know them."

Let us fix this firm in our minds, that the Lord here, in commending Philadelphia for not denying His Name, assures us of what is the great danger in such controversies as have arisen. The great danger is lest the Philadelphia!! in his aim to have together the people of God should forget in some way the gathering Center, should link himself with the denial of the Name of Christ. We shall look at "links," if the Lord will, by and by; but let us already anticipate the apostle's warning words that one who "receives" or even "greets" the man who "brings not this doctrine" (of Christ) is "partaker of his evil deeds" (2 Jno. 10, ii); therefore that one who knowingly "greets " the denier of Christ's Name is "partaker" of that denial. The history-which here I do not give*-of the first attack of the enemy makes undeniably clear where it began. *It may be found in a " Statement for Examination," published by Loizeaux Brothers.* And as to those affected by it, it is just as clear where alone any suspicion even of such denial, or of greeting of the deniers, has attached. One body there was (of those divided at that time) which even those separated from, did not and could not charge with such denial, or with any compromising adherence to those denying. The same could never be said of the other side:there, if anywhere, (and the attack of the enemy is certain,) the danger-signals of the prophecy alone display themselves.

Satan here was certainly permitted to be the sifter of God's wheat, and he does well in that way what he takes in hand to do. Plenty of failure, no doubt, could be urged on both sides. Piety too could be urged on both. In a sieve things naturally get well mixed. So much the more important is it to stand clear upon the ground given by the prophecy, and see that while on the one side men were pleading for the Center, the other side was all the time thinking of the circumference. Both surely need to be maintained, and it is quite possible, of course, to err on all sides; yet he who holds fast to Christ will find that Christ is attractive power for His people; it is Christ whom the Spirit of God glorifies; it is here that government of heart and mind is found. It is only from the center that the circumference can be truly drawn. Philadelphia is neither praised nor blamed for her conduct in relation to the people of God, as we have seen:it is " My Word, My Name, My patience," that are spoken of:and to get His point of view is all-important.

If Christ be honored, the Spirit of God is free, truth finds its place in relation to Him, and there is progress:souls can be led on. All that will, can judge in the case in question. The Spirit of God cannot be mistaken in this, or turned aside into other channels than those connected with the Rock from which the water flows. And here is a distinct and precious evidence of Christ's approval. Apart from this, the stream grows sluggish and dries up. Souls may be blessed and ministered to, for God is gracious ; but the supply is elsewhere.

No one can, I think, deny these principles. If they are true, they will not mislead in honest application. Nor do I write a word for those who have no heart to make it.

6. THE QUESTION OF ASSOCIATION.

I turn aside for the present from the question of the doctrine of Christ, not as if there were no more to be said about it. There are counter charges and later developments which cannot be ignored; and I do not mean to ignore them. But already it will be seen that another matter has to be looked at in the light of Scripture, in order rightly to settle how far-reaching may be the guilt of the denial of Christ's Name. We have had in fact to refer just now to the question of association; but its importance demands a much closer examination, both to see how Scripture treats it, and that we may realize its moral significance also:this, of course, as Scripture puts it too. It is a question which is in such intimate relation to the whole character of things to-day as deeply to concern us all; and Scripture is distinctly against principles which are so inwrought into the whole texture of society to-day as to make it difficult to gain the attention of Christians for what is adverse to them Yet "the world passeth away; . . . and he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."

The association of man with man is a divine necessity. The institution of the family recognized it from the beginning. The difference of capacity in men brings them necessarily together, the lack in one being met by another's efficiency. Union means ministry of each to each; the need of it being a most helpful discipline, the supply of it an appeal to affection and gratitude. The Church of God is an organization in which this principle is fully owned; a union founded upon both difference and unity :a body which is built up by that which "every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part."

Sin which has come in is everywhere, however, that which transforms all good into evil:the greater the good, alas, the worse the evil. The union which obtains so largely to-day is mere confederacy; we may often call it indeed conspiracy. In it the individuality which God's union always provides for and maintains is interfered with, conscience is oppressed, evil is tolerated for supposed final good, morality is superseded by machinery. God's word as to it by Isaiah is :" Say. ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. But sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." (Isa. 8:12, 13.)

Whether it be fear or whether it be greed that inspires the motive, the true fear of God is surely the one remedy for it all. This fear is the effectual purgation of all union from the evil which, if it be admitted, soon dominates and controls it; or else it sets God's free man loose from this control. Walking with Him, we cannot hold out the hand to him who refuses His will as sovereign. The end must be His end, and the way to it His way. To seek to join with evil is only profanity.

Necessarily therefore our associations are of the greatest possible importance. They witness to the path on which (whatever our profession) we are ourselves walking. We can only " follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Scripture is full therefore of warnings and instructions upon this.

In the Church of God, where our relationship to one another is of His establishment, not of our own will, it is inevitable that the reconciliation of holiness in our ways with the eternal bond that unites us with one another should cause serious perplexity. The world in which the Church is, is its entire opposite, and the evil in it is ever appealing to the kindred evil in the saints themselves. Its hostility is not so much to be dreaded as its friendship :its peace is nothing else but covert war. Between its "prince" and our own not even truce is possible.

Already in the apostle's time the epistle which gives us the order of the Church of God shows us this threefold influence at work upon it. The wisdom of the world, the lust of the flesh, the power of Satan, were already invading the sacred inclosure; and the apostle has afresh to stake off its boundary-lines and to repel the intruder. The foundation doctrine of the resurrection was being denied, and bringing their whole profession of Christianity into question. If such things could come in so soon in Corinth, as it were in the very presence of an apostle, how can we expect better times and to be permitted to escape necessary warfare ? It is in his second epistle that he insists so earnestly that the yoke with unbelievers forfeits the enjoyment of the relationship to the Father as he would have us know it. We must come out from among them and be separate, and not touch the unclean thing, and then we have the assurance, "I will receive you, and be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." The peril of evil association could scarcely be more emphatically affirmed.

But it has been said that this has only to do with unbelievers, and does not define our attitude toward the children of God. We shall have to look therefore at texts which speak of these. But before doing so, I would pause to deal with an argument which connects itself with such an objection.

It is urged that we must have direct Scripture, and not. inference, to guide us in all these matters.

Now Scripture gives us principles, and not a perfect code of divine law; and it necessitates inference at every step. Inference is inseparable from a rational life; and God Himself condescends to "reason" with His creatures. "Come, and let us reason together, saith the Lord." The argument against reason in the things of God has been carried to lengths which are as unscriptural as they are irrational. Where does Scripture decry any God-given faculty that man has ? Nowhere. In speaking against what God has given, we speak, necessarily, against the Giver. Revelation everywhere honor; God as the Creator by honoring His creation.

Sin has come in and perverted every faculty; but the work of God here is to purify and not destroy. When the soul begins to realize its relation to God reason becomes most reasonable in accepting its creature-limit; and rationality pervades the life anc character of the new man in CHRIST. One might a; well say that if we have light, eyes become no mat ter, as decry reason in the things of God. It is only in the light that eyes are of use.

But moreover, God tests us by this very exercise of reason,-holds us responsible to have our eye:open, and to use them honestly. This "exercise' the apostle speaks of as being what lie found necessary, in order to have "a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man" (Acts 24:16). Exercise shows the man morally and spiritually awake and by it he is kept in health and vigor. God there fore insists upon the necessity of this, and acts with a view to its being maintained. Scripture is so writ ten "that the man of God may be perfect";-not all the world, and not the drowsy and sleep-loving among Christians.

Now let us apply these things to the apostle's words to the Corinthians, and we shall see that this refusal of such texts as having to do with fellowship among Christians is at bottom unspiritual and im-moral. Does the principle involved in the question "what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light with darkness ? " apply only to a yoke with unbelievers Suppose we are all believers, may we accept a yoke with a believer, which implies that such communion is possible ?

God is the same in His holiness, and in the requirements of His holiness, for one as for another, for saint and sinner alike:only that the sin of the saint is worse than that of the sinner, in proportion to the difference of light, and the grace which he has received. Thus then the unequal yoke may apply fully to a yoke between Christians, if one of these be allowing in himself the " unrighteousness " which cannot be gone on with in the unbeliever.

Because men will not "infer," that in no wise hinders the just judgment of God as to the matter. The consequences of our acts will as surely follow as if we swallowed poison in the belief that it was wholesome food. How many have in fact found the disastrous effects of alliances, whether social, commercial, or religious, which they have permitted themselves to contract under the pacifying illusion that they were lawful because on both sides Christian ! How many, so deluded, have waked up to find that after all, the question in the prophet was a much deeper one than they had thought:"Can two walk together, except they be agreed ?"

In what various ways these principles affect our life is easily apparent. Wives go with their husbands in that which they believe wrong before God, because the scripture, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord," is sup-posed to release them from all moral responsibility. " Children, obey your parents in all things," is similarly quoted to reverse the moral nature of things, and set the earthly tie above the divine one. We are told too, that we have no Scripture warrant for judging assemblies, when, if it be true, the sins of these are not to be accounted and treated as sin elsewhere is. All these are the fruits of an immoral principle, as should be plain. And how can those who advocate and practice such things escape the woe of the prophet upon "them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter " ? (Isa. 5:20.) The eternal principles of God's government are against them; and the immutable holiness of the divine nature.

To return, however, to the Scripture-teaching as to association.

The second epistle to Timothy gives us the last word of the apostle Paul, when the Church was already far gone in declension. There is no more talk of the Church as the "house of God," as in the first epistle. Though it was, no doubt, still that, he compares it rather, on the one side, to a "great house," with its vessels even for dishonorable uses; on the other, as it would seem, and in perfect moral congruity, to a house in ruins, of which still, however, the foundation stands. Notice the inscription on the foundation-stone:"Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His." Precious assurance! but what does it indicate ? What but that the Church was lapsing really into " invisibility," save to the Eye of Him who can never fail to remember every one who in whatever feebleness has committed himself to Him for his salvation. But on the other side, what is the inscription ? Just when all the difficulties of the path are being fully apparent,-just when evil might seem to have prevailed, and some laxity to be almost unavoidable,-the clue-line for the path through all the tangle is found in this direction, simple as can be, straight as the undefiled ray of light, stable as the glorious throne of God:"And, let him that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."

Yes, thank God! here is the clue-line:here alone is absolute safety assured us. Let a man keep fast hold of this,-let him commit himself to it unhesitatingly, no matter what the question he is called to decide, individual, social, religious,-no matter what the issue may be,-no matter what may threaten him,-he may find his path through a desert-solitude, up over the most rugged mountain, down in the valley of death-shade, yet " the path of the just shall be as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Yes, because the light of heaven is upon it.

Notice how the sacred Name that we have been thinking of is here:if one but name "the Name of the Lord "-so the editors read it,-the Name of Him to whom, in the face of man, he is to be subject- then he must depart from iniquity (unrighteousness). But what is unrighteousness ? What is righteousness ? Ah, you can only measure this aright as you think of the place in which the blood of CHRIST has put you,-of the grace that has been shown you, and which you are to show,-of the blessed path in which you are called to follow Him:here assuredly, simple as is the principle, you will find its working out to be enough to give you plenty of exercise from day to day.

But let us go on with the apostle:

'' But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

This shows us the disorder, and the rule in a time of disorder, both with regard to separation from the evil, and with regard to association with what is good. "Those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" are clearly the same as those who "naming the name of the Lord, depart from unrighteousness"; and thus the man who purges himself from vessels to dishonor, finds his own class. But a question here arises, which I think has not been sufficiently considered :are the vessels to honor and the vessels to dishonor the only two classes here ? If it be only those who purge themselves from the latter who belong to the former, then it is certain that all unpurged must be classed as vessels to dishonor, or there must be a third class, simply left aside, as not meet for the Master's use :a solemn condition in either aspect!

If it be asked, Are we to apply this to fellowship in the assembly ? there is manifestly no exception. The following of "faith, love, peace," with those purged from evil associations, implies that the un-purged cannot be in the assembly. If these are unfit for the Master's use, they cannot have their place there where each and all are plainly to be used by Him. The members of the body are by the fact of being such in responsibility to edify one another. If they are unfit for this, what disqualifies them for the one thing, disqualifies them for the other. If they cannot call on the Lord out of a pure heart, in what way can they call upon him ? The assembly, if of one mind with the Lord, has to affirm His judgment. The principle is again exemplified here :"What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ?" The form of statement of it, put thus as a question, implies the clearness and positiveness of the answer. Every one's conscience, if it be right itself, is expected to respond.

Fellowship must be really such. It is the voice of the "Holy and the True" that is heard here. Let evil be sanctioned by one or many, fellowship with CHRIST must cease. We cannot walk with God, and go on with sin.

Thus Corinth with the incestuous person in the, midst, was leavened by their guilty allowance of it:they had to purge the leaven out by self-judgment and separation from the evil, that they might be a " new lump." They were not, in their then condition, a new lump. The leaven then was in the lump, not in the individual merely. In CHRIST they were unleavened; and they must represent in their practical condition what grace had made them positionally to be.

This is a well-worn topic ; and yet it needs still to be insisted on:for people still venture to say that, despite the allowance of evil in their midst, Corinth was yet unleavened. And if it were not, some add, it would be too late to purge out the leaven. The last assertion carries the figure far indeed, and denies the power of divine grace for every condition that can be found among the people of God. Yet it is true that there seems to have been something exceptional in the state of things at Corinth, which can be pleaded for no other assembly since. It may have been the fact that as to them they did not as yet clearly know what to do,-that as yet such a case had not been provided for. But they might have mourned over it before God, that "he that had done this deed might be taken away from " them. He gives them the command now as to it, that none might be able to say they had not this any more.

They were to put away from among themselves that wicked person. Some object to saying "from the Lord's table." In fact, it goes further, to say, "from among yourselves." To put away from the table simply, might for the careless be perfectly consistent with treating the person so dealt with as, after all, one of themselves in other respects. The apostle shows how much further it "is to go, by adding, "with such an one, no, not to eat." There was to be a refusal of all association, such as even at an ordinary meal.

A leavened lump means something that in every part of it is capable of communicating leaven. That is, in fact, the idea in "old leaven:" it means a piece of the old lump which could be introduced into the new for that purpose. It shows us that every one who sanctions the retention of evil is really a "partaker" of the evil. He practically denies the holiness of God, and cannot therefore himself be holy. It is not any physical contact, of course, that has wrought in this case. It is a corrupt and corrupting principle, that would associate the name of CHRIST with His dishonor, and in that sense deny His Name. Thus the Philadelphia!! is reminded that He is "the Holy and the True." But holiness is lost in communion with evil.

Purging out the evil means separation from it. Here it is the assembly acting. In Timothy, he that will be a vessel unto honor must purge himself from the vessels to dishonor :that is, he must at all costs separate himself. If the assembly stand in the way of this, then,-to keep a good conscience, he must separate from the assembly. In this, then, there is the judgment of an assembly, which some deny to be scriptural. And in this case, if we take part with him who has rightly separated himself, we, too, must separate ourselves ; and thus judge the assembly. And if we do not take part with him, we are not with God.

We are forced, then, to judge; and to judge every individual in this leavened lump :to go with those who deny the holiness of God, is to be ourselves unholy; to deny the Name of CHRIST as the Holy and the True, is to cease to be Philadelphian.

7. "A CIRCLE OF FELLOWSHIP," OR INDEPENDENCY?

Another question must now be considered, which unites itself to that which we have been just considering. We shall find that "independency " is one of the most successful means of evasion of scriptural discipline that could perhaps be imagined,-one of the most successful snares by which the children of God can be seduced into resistance to the will of God, while to themselves they seem to be standing only for the principles of the Word, against "confederacy," for purity, and unsectarian maintenance of the Body of CHRIST. We must therefore look seriously and with sufficient care into the matter ; first, at what independency really is, and then at the fruits which make manifest the tree.

In its simplest and boldest form independency appears as the denial of any scriptural authority for any "circle of fellowship " outside of the individual gathering, wherever it may be ; and this denial is made in the interests, as they imagine, of unsectarian recognition of the one Church only, which is the body of CHRIST. The formation and maintenance of any such circle is, they maintain, sectarian, and the adoption by such circle of a common discipline is sectarianism full-blown. It constitutes the whole a '' party," which may take the name of CHRIST, as some at Corinth did, and only be perhaps on that account to be the more avoided, as making that precious Name an instrument of division.

This charge is not, it may be, that of denying the Name of CHRIST, but it approaches it so nearly as to make it of the most serious consequence. Those who hold to a circle of fellowship and yet refuse the adoption of a sectarian name, with what is implied in this, can neither afford to give up their claim of gathering simply to the Name of CHRIST, nor accept the truth of what is charged against them. Let us examine then what is meant by these assertions, neither shaken from our convictions by their boldness, nor refusing to bring all these to the test of Scripture, as often as may be needful. That which is true will only gain in its hold on us by every fresh examination, and the only danger is in this being lightly and not thoroughly carried out. We should be thankful for any suggestions that awaken fresh inquiry.

Now what is a "circle of fellowship"?That all such is not forbidden must be believed by the objector himself, if he have but '' two or three " gathered with himself in any local assembly. For this, I suppose, is not the whole "assembly of God" there, but something indefinitely less than this. Yet, here there must be a within and without, a being, in some sense, of us or not of us,-a something which is saved from being a party, not by having no walls or door, but by its having no arbitrary, no merely human, terms of admission. If it have no terms, then it is a mere rabble of lawless men, and as such to be refused by every Christian.

If you say, "No, it is Scripture to which we are subject," that brings in at once the implication that it is Scripture as you see it, not as your fellow-Christians see it; and you take your place as before the Lord, to be judged of Him in regard to this. Your being a separate somewhat, a "circle of fellowship," does not constitute you a party:you own Christians everywhere, as members of the body of Christ, and receive them wherever a scriptural hindrance to their reception does not exist, and you speak of being gathered simply to Christ's Name, without an idea that you are making the Name of Christ a badge, or sign, or instrument, of division.

Well, then, in this place, at least, there exists a gathering of Christians that I can recognize,-I suppose, ought to recognize,-apart from the whole body of Christians in the place. I say, "ought," because I have duties in regard to the assembling of ourselves together; and here alone I find those with whom I can assemble, no unscriptural condition being imposed on me. Were there another assembly in the same place and of the same character, then I should have to ask why they were not together:for the sin of schism is a grave one in Scripture, and I should have of necessity to refuse this.

If, then, in this place, I repeat, there is a gathering that I can own, and must,-suppose, now, I went elsewhere and lived-found perhaps there also one that I had equally to own as gathered to Christ's Name alone, would it be right for me in the new place to refuse to own as a separate company, those in that from which I came, whom, when I was there, I had to own, and whom, if I were now there, I should have to own. Is it possible that my going from New York to Boston should make that wrong for me at Boston which at New York would be quite right, and if I went back there, would be right again? If so, that is independency in earnest; or else it is the most curious shifting of right and wrong that one can conceive of; morality shifting every few miles of the road, whichever way I travel. And yet, if not, we are connected in principle, to a "circle of fellowship "!

The recognition of each other by such gatherings throughout the world is, therefore, right; and everything opposed to it is false and wrong. Nay, it is impossible to maintain practically, if principles are of any value to us. For, were I taking the journey spoken of, must I not inquire for those who are of one mind with us in Boston ? and would those in Boston expect anything else of me ? To refuse a circle of fellowship may be held as a theory:the facts will always be discordant with the theory. The theory itself cannot be truthfully accepted by any one who has given it any sober reflection ; except it mean independency of the grossest and narrowest kind; that is, associating where one will, and recognizing obligations nowhere but where I will. And this would be indeed the most perfect sectarianism that could well exist.

But we are to recognize the whole body of Christ! Surely, but not their unscriptural associations. In the interests of the body of Christ I refuse denominations; but in the same interests I am bound to accept the circle of unsectarian fellowship. The gracious words which, providing for a day of failure and confusion, sanction the two or three gathered to the Lord's blessed Name, sanction such gatherings in every place, and therefore a circle of such gatherings. It would be as sectarian to refuse identification with these as to take our place with the various denominations. Nay, it would be more so. Nor would it save us from this, to say we were acting for the good of the whole Church of God, when from Scripture itself the disproof is so easy.

Now, another step.

To accept these is to accept their discipline. For the Lord's sanction of the gathering is the express sanction of their discipline. Of course, I do not mean by that they can add to Scripture, or invent a character of discipline that is not found there ; nor yet that He could sanction what might be a mistaken judgment. He is the Holy and the True, the Lord and Master of His people always:and that is quite enough to say as to all this. But authority for discipline these "two or three" have; and woe to him who resists its rightful exercise :"If he hear not the Church, let him be to thee as a heathen man and a publican " is said of just such feeble gatherings as these.

It is plain that precisely the same thing is to be said for the discipline as for the gathering itself:if it is to be respected at A where it is exercised, it is just as much to be respected at B or at C. If it be the decision of a local matter, then the Lord has plainly put it into the hands of those who are in circumstances to judge of it aright, though protest and appeal are surely to be listened to, and they are bound to satisfy consciences where honestly exercised about it.

As to a question of truth, as such it affects all consciences ; it can be put before all:no local gathering has authority in any such matter; it would be making a creed to be subscribed. The truth as to CHRIST is a deeper and more vital matter, for we are gathered to His Name. Where truth of this kind is subverted the gathering exists no more, except as an instrument in the enemy's hand, and is to be refused, with all who take part with it.

If on the other hand, the question be of facts, then those who have them are bound (if these affect more than the local gathering) to make them known to their brethren; and here a circular letter may rightly have its place, not to establish a rule or principle of action, but as a witness:which of course is open to question, as all facts are, if there be contrary evidence, or that given be insufficient. No circular has authority in itself:it is purely a question of facts and of the credibility of the testimony.

With these limitations, which are the results of the frailty and fallibility which are common to us all, we have necessarily to own a circle of fellowship and the discipline connected with it, if we would be free from the charge of real independency.

And real independency is not of God, but always and everywhere acts against Him. It is to make the members of the same body say to each other, "we have no need of you," and to deny the unity of the Spirit which should pervade the body. The more we lament and refuse the sectarianism which exists, the more are we compelled, and shall rejoice to own the body of CHRIST wherever possible. And this circle of fellowship, while it is not the "body," furnishes us with the means of owning this in a truthful and holy way, so far as the state of ruin in which the Church exists permits it to be done. With love to all CHRIST's own,-with an open door for the reception of all according to the conditions of truth and holiness,- such a circle is not sectarian, but a protest against it, while the meeting that refuses connection with it is sectarian in fullest reality.

And this is what is meant by the ''ground" of the one body. It is as different as possible from any claim to be the one body, and does not in the least imply any sectarian conditions of intelligence in order to communion. The maintenance of a common discipline is in no wise sectarian, but part (and an essential part) of that communion itself:absolutely necessary if the holiness of God be the same thing wherever it is found, and not a thing for the "two or three " anywhere to trifle with as they list.

Independency, in setting aside the practical unity of the Church of God, sets aside a main guard of holiness itself. It makes this no object of common care; it does not seek common exercise about it. It releases from the sense of responsibility as to the house of God:it is my own house I am to keep clean after my own fashion. And this real laxity as to the people of God at large (but which is so consoling to an unexercised conscience, that it is the great charm undoubtedly to multitudes to-day) naturally has the effect of lowering one's estimate of holiness altogether, and so prevents my own house being kept really clean.

Where, however, a circle of fellowship is in fact maintained, along with and spite of the protest against it, or where there is not the maintenance of a common discipline-where perhaps as the natural fruit of independency also, the unholy principle is contended for that an assembly cannot be judged for that which would compel the judgment of an individual, there, as is natural to expect, any local discipline almost can be evaded by a little dexterity. If the gathering at B will not receive you from A, it will from C, and C will receive you from A. No one is safe anywhere from the violation of a discipline which he himself recognizes as a scriptural one. Any particular person, if he be not too prominent, becomes lost to the eye amid the maze of bewildering differences. He who has conscience, and would fain be clear, has soon to resign himself to a general hope that what looks so like confusion will in the end conserve the interests of holiness; or in despair, to wash his hands of what he cannot avoid.

Yet it is an ensnaring system; for in this way pessimism and optimism both can find apology for it, and go on with it. One gets free of an amazing amount of trouble; and while not seeming to have given up all ecclesiastical ties, as many have, yet be practically as free as they for the gospel and from the wearying responsibility of being one's brother's keeper. Why should we be ? when we only get our trouble for our pains, find a narrow path instead of the broad, open one, which is so pleasant to all of us, and for this have only to shut our eyes at the proper time, and ignore what it seems we cannot help.

And in fact the countless small breaches of independency make less show than the terrible rents which we are exposed to otherwise. Why not let this sad-faced Merarite go, with his pins and cords of the tabernacle always getting into entanglement, and be content with Kohath and with Gershom?

Still, if the tabernacle of the lord is to be set up in the wilderness, how shall we do without the pins and cords ?

In result it will be found that it is the truth of God which suffers, and tends to pass away and be lost. What wonder when we begin with choosing what we will have of it, and what we will discard ? Fellowship becomes a thing of most uncertain quality :and what wonder, if obedience to the Word have anything to do with fellowship ? , Worship is largely displaced in behalf of service :for we have lost the necessary pins and cords. We may go on with the help of what truth we can still borrow and find room for; but the truth tends somehow continually to slip away from us ; and in the jangle of many utterances, it is ever getting to be of less account.

One's voice may be little heard in a day like this ; but I would do what I can to press upon the people of the Lord first of all their Master's claim. I press that this independency, little as one may imagine it, little as many may care to entertain it even as a question, means ultimately shipwreck to the truth of Christ, because it means independency of Him. One may find in it plenty of associates, for it makes little demands upon one and gives the kind of liberty which is so coveted to-day. The authority of Christ is not in it. It may support itself by the help of other names-names in repute as Christians too- and be in honor. It cannot have the commendation which Philadelphia, spite of its "little power," finds from her gracious Lord:-
"THOU HAST KEPT MY WORD, AND NOT DENIED MY NAME." F. W. G.

(To be continued)