EXPOSITION OF REVELATION IV.-XXII.

PART VII. (Chap. 19:5-22:) THE CONSUMMATION.

Marriage of the Lamb.(Chap. 19:5-10.)

The harlot is now judged. The judgment of the I whole earth is at hand. Before it comes, we are permitted a brief vision of heavenly things, and to see the heirs of the kingdom now ready to be established in their place with Him who is about to be revealed. A voice, sounds from the throne:"Give praise to our God, all ye His servants,-ye that fear Him, small and great." It is not, of course, a simple exhortation to what in heaven can need no prompting, but a preparation of hearts for that which shall furnish fresh material for it. The response of the multitude shows what it is:"Halleluiah! for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth." The power that was always His He is now going to put forth. Judgment is to return to righteousness. Man's day is at an end, with all the confusion that his will has wrought. The day of the Lord is come, to abase that which is high and exalt that which is low, and restore the foundations of truth and righteousness.

The false church that would have antedated the day of power, and reigned without her Lord, has been already dealt with ; and now the way is clear to display the true Bride." The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready." But the Church has been some time since caught up to meet the Lord :how is it that only now she is " ready " ?In the application of the blood of Christ, and the reception of the best robe, fit for the Father's house assuredly, if any could be, she was then quite ready. Likeness to her Lord was completed when the glorified bodies of the saints were assumed, and they were caught up in the air. The eyes from which nothing could be hid have already looked upon her, and pronounced her faultless:"Thou art all fair, My love:there is no spot in thee." What, then, can be wanting to hinder the marriage? A matter of divine government, not of divine acceptance; and this is the book of divine government. Earth's story has to be rehearsed, the account given, the verdict rendered, as to all " deeds done in the body." Every question that could be raised must find its settlement:the light must penetrate through and through, and leave no part dark. We must enter eternity with lessons all learnt, and God fully glorified about the whole course of our history.

What follows explains fully this matter of readiness :" And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." We see by the language that it is grace that is manifest in this award. We learn by a verse in the last chapter how grace has manifested itself:" Blessed are they that have washed their robes (R. V.), that they might have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city." But what could wash deeds already done? Plainly no reformation, no " water-washing by the Word." (Eph. 5:26.) The deed done cannot be undone ; and no well-doing for the future can blot out the record of it. What, then, can wash such garments ? Revelation itself, though speaking of another company, has already given us the knowledge of this:"They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Chap. 7:14.) Thus the value of that precious blood is found with us to the end of time, and in how many ways of various blessing,! It is not, then, the best robe for the Father's house:that robe never needs washing. It is for the kingdom, for the world, in the governmental ways of God with men, that this fine linen is granted to the saints. Yet they take their place in it at the marriage supper of the Lamb; for Christ's love it is that satisfies itself with the recognition and reward of all that has been done for love of Him. This is what finds reward; and thus the hireling principle is set aside.

"And he saith unto me, 'Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" Blessed indeed are they that are bidden now ! Alas ! they may despise the invitation. But how blessed are they who, when that day comes, are found among the bidden ones ! I leave for the present the question of who exactly make up the company of those that form the Bride; but the Bride assuredly sits at the marriage supper, and the plural here is what one could alone expect in such an exclamation as this. There seems, therefore, no ground in such an expression for distinguishing separate companies as the Bride and the "friends of the Bridegroom." The latter expression is used by the Baptist in a very different application, as assuredly he had no thought of any bride save Israel.

"And he saith unto me, 'These are the true words of God.'" Of such blessedness, it would seem, even the heart of the apostle needed confirmation. Then, as if overcome by the rapture of the vision, "I fell down at his feet," says John, "to worship him. And he saith unto me, 'See thou do it not:I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus :worship God :for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'"

All prophecy owns thus and honors Jesus as its subject. All that own Him, the highest only the most earnestly, refuse other honor than that of being servants together of His will and grace. How our hearts need to be enlarged to take in His supreme glory ! and how ready are we in some way, if not in this, to share the glory which is His alone with some creature merely! Rome's coarse forms of worship to saints and angels is only a grosser form of what we are often doing, and for which rebuke will in some way come; for God is jealous of any impairment of His rights, and we of necessity put ourselves in opposition to the whole course of nature as we derogate from these. " Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

Judgment of the Living at the Appearing of Christ.

(Chap. 19:11-21.)

The prophecy pauses not further now to dilate upon the blessing. There is needed work to be done before we can enter upon this; and the work is the "strange work" of judgment. The vision that follows is as simple as can be to understand, if there are no thoughts of our own previously in the mind to obscure and make it difficult. And this is the way in which constantly Scripture is obscured.

Revelation, as the closing book of the inspired Word, supposes indeed acquaintance with what has preceded it, and the links with other prophecy are here especially abundant. The kingdom of Christ is the final theme of the Old Testament, upon which all prophetic lines converge; and the judgment which introduces it is over and over again set before us. The appearing of the Lord, and His personal presence to execute this, are also so insisted on, that nothing but the infatuation of other hopes could prevail to hide it from men's eyes. In the New Testament, the same things face us continually. As we are not considering it for the first time here, it will be sufficient to examine what is in the passage before us, with whatever connection it may have with other scriptures, needful to bring out fully the meaning of it.

Heaven is seen opened, the prophet's stand-point being therefore now on earth, and a white horse appears, the familiar figure of war and victory. It is upon the Rider that our eyes are fixed. He is called " Faithful and True " _known manifestly to be that-and in righteousness He judges and wars:His warring is but itself a judgment. For this, His eyes penetrate as a flame of fire; nothing escapes them. Many diadems-the sign of absolute authority-are on His head. And worthily, for His name in its full reality-name expressing (as always in Scripture) nature-is an incommunicable one, beyond the knowledge of finite creatures. But His vesture is dipped in blood, for already many enemies have fallen before Him. And His name is called-has been and is, as the language implies,-"The Word of God." The gospel of John shows us that in creation already He was acting as that; and now in judgment He is no less so.

Is this revealed name any thing else than His incommunicable one ? It would seem not. The thought would appear to be in direct refutation of the skeptical denial of the knowledge of the Infinite One as possible to man. We cannot know infinity, but we can know the One who is infinite,-yea, know Him to be infinite:know His name, and not know His name. The Infinite One, moreover, Christ is declared here to be,-no inferior God, but the Highest.

In the power of this, He now comes forth ; the armies that are in heaven following their white-horsed Leader, themselves also upon white horses, sharers with Him in the conflict and the victory, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. It is this fine linen which we have just seen as granted to the Bride, and which needed the blood of the Lamb to make it white. It is therefore undoubtedly the same company here as there, only here seen in a new aspect, even as the Lord Himself is seen in a new one. It is communion with Himself that is implied in this change of character. What He is occupied with, they are occupied with; what is His mind is their mind:so, blessed be God, it will be entirely then. None then will be ignorant of His will; none indifferent or half-hearted as to it. Alas ! now to how much of it are even the many willingly strangers ! and it is this willing ignorance that is so invincible :for all else there is a perfect remedy in the Word of God; but what for a back turned upon that Word ?

The Lord comes then, and all the saints with Him. How impossible to think of a providential coming merely here ! "When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear,"says the apostle, "then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4.) " Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world ?" he asks elsewhere. Judgment is now impending:"out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He may smite the nations." So Isaiah:"He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked." (Chap, 11:4.) It needs but a word from Him to cause their destruction ; while it is judgment no less according to His Word :it is that long and oft threatened, slow to come, but at last coming in the full measure of the denunciation. Patience is not repentance.

" And He shall rule them with an iron rod "-" shepherd " them, to use a scarcely English expression. This is, of course, the fulfillment of the prophecy of the second psalm, and decides against the still retained "break them " of the Revised Version. It is the shepherd's rod^this rod of iron, used in behalf of the flock:as He says in Isaiah again, " The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come; and I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold :therefore Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me, and My fury, it upheld Me." (Chap. 63:4,5.) This is distinctly in answer to the question, therefore art Thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?" and to which He answers, " I have trodden the wine-press alone." Here also "He treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

Would it be believed that commentators have referred this to the cross, and the Lord's own sufferings there ? And yet it is so; though the iron rod, with which the treading of the wine-press is associated in this place, is something that is promised to the overcomer in Thyatira (chap. 2:27)-" To him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, even as I received of My Father." We have but with an honest mind to put a few texts together after this manner, and all difficulty disappears.

"And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written-' King of kings and Lord of lords."

Now, in terrible contrast to the invitation lately given to the marriage supper of the Lamb, an angel standing in the sun bids the birds of the heaven to the "great supper of God," to feast upon earth's proudest and all their following. Immediately after which the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies are seen gathered together to make war against Him who sits upon the horse, and against His army. We are no doubt to interpret this according to the Lord's words to Saul of Tarsus,-" Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ?" But we have seen the idol thrust into Jehovah's, temple, and know well that Israel's persecutors rage openly against Israel's God. They are taken thus banded in rebellion, and judgment sweeps them down ; the beast and the false prophet that wrought miracles before him (the antichristian second beast of the thirteenth chapter) being exempted from the common death, only to be cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, where at the end of the thousand years of the saints' reign with Christ we find them still.

The vision is so clear in meaning, that it really has no need of an interpreter; and we should remember this as to a vision, that it is not necessarily even symbolic, though symbols may have their place in it, as here with the white horses of that before us, while the horses whose flesh the birds eat are not at all so. The "beast and the kings of the earth" furnish us with the same juxtaposition of figure and fact, the figure not at all hindering the general literality of fact. In these prophecies of coming judgment, the mercy of God would not permit too thick a vail over the solemn truth. This is the end to which the world is hastening now, and God is proportionally taking off the vail from the eyes upon which it has been lying, that there may be a more urgent note of warning given as it draws nigh. "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear !" F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

The Philistines were not a scourge, a chastisement sent from without; they dwelt in Israel's own territory, in the land of promise. Undoubtedly, before this, other nations, whom the faithlessness of the people had left in the midst of Canaan, had been a snare to them, leading them to intermarriage with idolaters, and to the worship of false gods ; and Jehovah had given them up into the hands of their enemies. But now those who had been suffered to remain in the conquered land assumed dominion over Israel. Here, then, that which can give victory and peace to the heirs of promise is the strength imparted of separation from all that belongs to the natural man, and entire consecration to God, as far as it is realized. . This Nazariteship is spiritual power, or rather that which characterizes it when the enemy is within the land. For Samson judged Israel during the dominion of the Philistines. (Judges 15:20.) Afterward Samuel, Saul, and, above all, David entirely changed the state of things.

" When the Canaanite-when the power of the enemy reigns in the land, Nazariteship alone can give power to one who is faithful. It is a secret unknown to the man of the world. Christ exemplified it in its perfection. Evil reigned amongst the people. The walk of Christ was a walk apart-separate from evil. He was one of the people, but, like Levi (Deut. 33:9), He was not of them. He was a Nazarite. But we must distinguish with respect to this. Morally, Christ was as separate from sinners while on earth as He is now; but outwardly He was in their midst; and, as the witness and expression of grace, He was spiritually in their midst also. Since His resurrection He is completely separate from sinners. The world sees Him not, and will see Him no more save in judgment. It is in this last position, and as having put on this character of entire separation from the world, that the assembly, that Christians, are in connection with Him. Such a High-Priest became us. The assembly retains its strength, Christians retain their strength, so far only as they abide in this state of complete separation which the world does not understand, and in which it cannot participate. Human joy and sociability have no part in it; divine joy and the power of the Holy Ghost are there.

The life of our adorable Saviour was a life of gravity, always grave and generally straitened (not in Himself, for His heart was a springing well of love, but because of the evil that pressed Him on every side):I speak of His life and of His own heart. With regard to others, His death opened the flood-gates, in order that the full tide of love might flow over poor sinners. Nevertheless, whatever may have been the Lord's habitual separateness He could say, with reference to His disciples, "These things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves."It was the best of wishes:divine joy instead of human joy. The day will come when these two joys shall be united, when He will again drink wine, though in a new way, with His people in the kingdom of His Father; and all will be His people. But at present this cannot be ; evil reigns in the world. It reigned in Israel, where there ought to have been righteousness. It reigns in Christendom, where holiness and grace should be manifested in all their beauty. The separation unto God of which we have been speaking, is under these circumstances the only means of enjoying the strength of God. It is the essential position of the assembly. If it has failed in it, it has ceased to manifest the essential character of its Head, in connection with itself, " separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; " it is but a false witness, a proof among the Philistines that Dagon is stronger than God:if is a blind prisoner.

Nevertheless it is remarkable that whenever the world draws away by its allurements that which God has separated from it to Himself, this brings down the judgment of God upon the world and leads to its ruin. Look at Sarah in the house of Pharaoh, and, in this instance, Samson, blind and a prisoner in the hands of the Philistines; and again also, Sarah in the house of Abimelech, although God, on account of the integrity of his heart, did but chasten the latter.

The Nazarite, then, represents Christ such as He was here below in fact and by necessity, and also such as He now is completely and in full right, seated on the right hand of God in heaven-hidden in God, where our life is hid in Him. The Nazarite represents the assembly or an individual Christian, so far as the one and the other are separated from the world and devoted to God, and keep the secret of this separation. This is the assembly's position, the only one which God recognizes. The assembly, being united to Christ, who is separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens, cannot be His in any other manner. It may be unfaithful to it, but this is the standing given it with Christ. It can be recognized in no other. Samson represents to us also the tendency of the assembly and of Christians to fall away from this position -a tendency which does not always produce the same amount of evil fruit, but which causes the inward and practical neglect of Nazariteship, and soon leads to entire loss of strength, so that the assembly gives itself up to the world. God may still use it, may glorify Himself through the havoc it makes in the enemy's land (which ought to be its own); He may even preserve it from the sin to which the slippery path it treads would lead it; but
the state of mind which brought it there tends to yet lower downfalls.

God makes use of Samson's marriage with a Philistine woman to punish that people. Still, in the freshness of his strength, his heart with Jehovah, and moved by the Holy Ghost, Samson acts in the might of this strength in the midst of the enemies he has raised up against him ; and, in point of fact, he never marries this Philistine woman.

I have said that God used this circumstance. It is thus He may use this spiritual strength of the assembly so long as in heart it cleaves to Him, although its walk may not be faithful or such as He can approve. For it is evident that Samson's marriage with a daughter of Timnath was a positive sin, a flagrant infringement of Jehovah's ordinances, which is in nowise justified by the blessing which the Lord bestowed upon him when wronged by the Philistines. It was not in his marriage he found blessing, but quite the contrary.

Accordingly, Samson has not Israel with him in the conflicts occasioned by his marriage :the Spirit of God does not act upon the people as He did in the case of Gideon, of Jephthah, or Barak. Moreover, where Nazariteship is in question, opposition must be expected from the people of God. A Nazarite is raised up in their midst because they are no longer themselves thus separated unto God. And this being the case, they are without strength, and will allow the world to rule over them, provided that outward peace is left them; and they would not have any one act in faith, because this disquiets the world, and incites it against them. "Knowest thou not," said Israel, "that the Philistines are rulers over us!" Even while acknowledging Samson as one of themselves, the Israelites desire to give up to the Philistines in order to maintain peace.

But in the part of Samson's life now before us there are some details which require more attention. His marriage was a sin ; but the separation of God's people had no longer that measure of practical application which the mind of God had assigned it. The fact itself was inexcusable, because it had its origin in the will of Samson, and he had not sought counsel from God ; but, owing to the influence of circumstances, he was not conscious at that time of the evil he was committing, and God allowed him to seek peace and friendship with the Canaanite world (that is to say, the world within the inclosure of God's people), instead of making war against them ; so that, as to the Philistines, Samson had right on his side in the contentions which followed. Before his marriage, Samson had slain the lion, and found honey in its carcase. He had strength from God while walking in his integrity.

This is the " riddle'' the secret of God's people. The lion has no strength against one who belongs to Christ; Christ has destroyed the strength of him that had the power of death. By the might of the Spirit of Christ our warfare is victory, and honey flows therefrom. But this is carried on in the secret of communion with the Lord. David maintained this place better in the simplicity of duty; Samson did not keep himself from these connections with the world to which the conditions of the people easily led. This is always a Christians danger.

But, whatever may be their ignorance, if the children of God make any alliance with the world, and thus pursue a line of conduct opposed to their true character, they will assuredly find disappointment. They do not keep themselves apart for God ; they do not keep their secret with God, a secret which is only known in communion with Himself. Their wisdom is lost; the world becomes worse than before, and the world despises them, and goes on its own way regardless of their indignation at its behavior toward them.

What had Samson to do there? His own will is in exercise, and takes its share in the use of that strength which God had given him (like Moses when he slew the Egyptian).We also carry a little of the world with us when, being children of God, we have mingled with it. But God makes use of this to separate us forcibly and thoroughly from it, making union impossible by setting us in direct conflict with the world, even in those very things which had formed our connection with it. " We had better have remained apart."But it is necessary that God should thus deal with us, when this union with the world becomes an habitual and a tolerated thing in the church.(In this union, when it takes place between the world and true Christians, or those at least who profess the truth, the world always rules ; when, on the contrary, it is with the hierarchy that the world is connected, it is then a superstitious hierarchy that rules, for it is necessary in order to restrain the will of man by religious bonds adapted to the flesh).

The most outrageous circumstances pass unnoticed. Think of a Nazarite married to a Philistine ! God must break off such a union as this by causing enmities and hostilities to arise, since there is no intelligence of that moral nearness to God which separates from the world and gives that quietness of spirit which, finding its strength in God, can overcome and drive away the enemy, when God leads into conflict by the plain revelation of His will.

But if we are linked with the world, it will always have dominion over us :we have no right to resist the claims of relationship which we ourselves have formed. We may draw nigh to the world, because the flesh is in us. The world cannot really draw nigh to the children of God, because it has only its own fallen and sinful nature. The approximation is all on our side, and always in evil, whatever the appearance may be. To bear testimony in the midst of the world is another thing. We cannot, therefore, plead the secret of the Lord, the intimate relationship of God's people to Himself, and the feelings they produce ; for the secret and the strength of the Lord are exclusively the right and the strength of His redeemed people. How could this be told to his Philistine wife? What influence would the exclusive privileges of God's people have over one who is not of their number? How can we speak of these privileges when we disown them by the very relationship in which we stand ?

We disown them by imparting this secret, for we then cease to be separated and consecrated to God, and to confide in Him as we can do in no other. This experience should have preserved Samson for the future from a similar step. But in many respects experience is useless in the things of God, "because we need faith at the moment; for it is God Himself whom we need."

Nevertheless,. Samson here still retains his strength. The sovereign will of God is fulfilled in this matter in spite of very serious faults, which resulted from the general state of things in which Samson participated. Once in the battle-field, he exhibits the strength of Jehovah, who was with him; and, in answer to his cry, Jehovah supplies him with water for his thirst. (Judges 15:)

It is here that this general history of Samson ends. We have seen that the people of God, his brethren, were against him-the general rule in such a case. " It is the history of the power of the Spirit of Christ exercised in Nazariteship, in separation from the world unto God; but in the midst of a condition entirely opposed to this separation, and in which he who is upheld by the power of this Spirit, finding himself again in his habitual sphere, is always in danger of being unfaithful; and so much the more so (unless he lives very near to God in the repose of obedience) from his consciousness of strength."

Christ exhibited the perfection of a heavenly walk under similar circumstances. We see that no one understood the source of His power or His authority. He must have given up all hope of satisfying men with respect to the principles by which He was guided. They must have been like Him to comprehend Him, and then they would not have needed to be convinced. To walk before God, and leave His justification with God, was all that could be done. He silenced His enemies by the well-known principles of God and of all good conscience; but He could not reveal the secret between Him and the Father -the element of His life and the spring of all His actions. If the truth came out, when Satan pushed things so far that nothing else could be said, His enemies treated Him as a blasphemer, and He openly denounced them as the children of Satan. We find this particularly in John's gospel; but at that time, Jesus held no longer the same relationship to the people,-indeed, from the beginning of this gospel, they are treated as rejected, and the person of the Son of God is brought forward.

From the commencement" of His ministry, He maintains the place of an obedient servant, not entering on public service until called of God, after having taken the lowest place in John's baptism. This was the point at issue when He was tempted in the wilderness. The tempter endeavored to make Him come out of His place as the obedient man, because He was the Son of God. But the strong man was bound there; to remain in obedience is the only way to bind the adversary. Christ ever walked in this perfect separation of the inner man, in communion with His Father, and entire dependence upon Him in obedience, without a single moment of self-will. Therefore was He the most gracious and accessible of men :we observe in His ways a tenderness and a kindness never seen in man; yet we always feel that He was a stranger, not that He came to be a stranger in His relationship with men, bat that which lay deepest in His own heart that which constituted His very nature, and consequently guided His work by virtue of His communion with the Father, was entirely foreign to all that influences man.

This spirit of self-denial, entire renunciation of His own will, obedience, and dependence upon His Father, is seen throughout the life of Jesus. After John's baptism, He was praying when He received the Holy Ghost. Before calling the apostles, He spent the whole of the night in prayer. After the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves, He went up into a mountain apart to pray. If the request is made to sit on His right hand and on His left in His kingdom, it is not His to give, but to them for whom it is prepared of His Father. In His agony of Gethsemane, His expectation and dread of death is all laid before His Father; and the cup which His Father has given Him, shall He not drink it? The effect is, that all is calm before men. He is the Nazarite, separate from men by His entire communion with His Father, and by the obedience of a Son who had no other will than to fulfill the good pleasure of His Father. It was His meat to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work.

But it was when man would not receive Him, and there was no longer any relationship whatever between man and God, that Jesus fully assumed His Nazarite character,-separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. It is Christ in heaven who is the true Nazarite, and who, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, has sent Him forth upon His disciples, in order
that, by the power of the Holy Ghost, they might maintain the same position on the earth through communion with Him and with His Father; walking in the separate-ness of this communion, and capable, therefore, of using this power with a divine intelligence that enlightens and sustains the obedience for which they are set apart unto the glory of Christ, and for His service."If ye abide in Me," said He to His disciples, "and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be clone unto you."

They were not of the world, even as He was not of the world. The assembly which was formed of His disciples should walk as separated from the world, and set apart unto Himself in a heavenly life.

" Christ is, then, the antitype of Samson's history, as to the principle it contains. But its detail proves that this principle of strength has been intrusted to those who were, alas! but too capable of failing in communion and obedience, and thus of losing its enjoyment.

Samson sins again through his intercourse with "the daughter of a strange god;" he connects himself again with women of the Philistines, amongst whom his father's house and the tribe of Dan were placed. But he retains his strength until the influence of these connections becomes so great that he reveals the secret of his strength in God. His heart, far from God, places that confidence in a Philistine which should have existed only between his soul and God. (Chap, 16:)

To possess and keep a secret proves intimacy with a friend; but the secret of God, the possession of His confidence, is the highest of all privileges; to betray it to a stranger, be he who he may, is to despise the precious position in which His grace has placed us; it is to lose it. What have the enemies of God to do with the secrets of God ? It was thus that Samson gave himself up to his enemies; all attempts were powerless against him so long as he maintained his Nazariteship. This separation once lost, although Samson was apparently as strong, and his exterior as goodly as before, yet Jehovah was no longer with him :" I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that Jehovah was departed from him."
We can scarcely imagine a greater folly than that of confiding his secret to Delilah, after having so many times been seized by the Philistines at the moment she awoke him. And thus it is with the assembly; when it yields itself to the world, it loses all its wisdom, even that which is common to man. Poor Samson ! his strength may be restored, but he has lost his sight forever.

But who has ever hardened himself against the Lord and prospered ?

If the unfaithfulness of the assembly has given the world power over it, the world has, on the other hand, assailed the rights of God by corrupting the assembly, and therefore brings down judgment upon itself at the moment of its greatest triumph,-a judgment which, if it puts an end to the existence as well as to the misery of the Nazarite, destroys at the same time, in one common ruin, the whole glory of the world. J. N. D.

The blood of the paschal lamb was to be shed to furnish a shelter from death for the people of God "in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation." (Phil. 2:15.)But the shed blood collected in a basin could do no good while there. It must be applied elsewhere. The blood shed was for the people. But to be of any avail they must sprinkle it with hyssop on the lintel and door-posts of their houses. (5:22.) So the simple shedding of Christ's blood avails naught for those who only hear of it and pass it by as nothing to them. Its application also is necessary, for each to be sheltered by it.

But what is the precise significance of the sprinkling with hyssop? Let us compare other Scriptures:"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." (Ps. 51:7.) " And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel :and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water and sprinkle it upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave :and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and upon the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even."(Num. 19:17-19.) "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God." " When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people. . . . Moreover, he sprinkled likewise with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood ; and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. 9:13, 14, 19, 21, 22.)

Hence, we gather the significance of blood-sprinkling with hyssop to be cleansing from sin. From i Cor. 5:7, we know that the passover lamb of Egypt typified Jesus as "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. (Jno. 1:29.)

Israel's start for the land God had reserved for His people had to be made from the spot where the terrible judgment of death passed over them as cleansed from all sin. And Jno. 1:7, says, " The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."

The hyssop was that with "which the blood was applied as cleansing them. The blood in the basin did no purifying while there. " Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood."

So we see that the hyssop bush points forward to faith, laying hold of Christ's blood for our sins. That is, if we have faith, or believe, that He has shed His precious blood for our sins, as He has, then we have applied the blood, and are sheltered by it. Oh, how blessed !

And now we see the mistake of those who think that because His blood was shed for all, therefore all will be saved. The Lamb in Egypt might have been slain might -might have shed just as much blood without its doing the people any good, if the blood had been left in the basin. Only when struck on to the door-posts aud lintel with the bunch of hyssop, did it prevent death entering. So we are saved only through faith. E. C. W.

2 Cor. 4:17,18.

We wept-'t was Nature wept,-but Faith
Can pierce beyond the gloom of death,
And in yon world so fair and bright
Behold thee in refulgent light!
We miss thee here, yet Faith would rather
Know thou art with thy heavenly Father.
Nature sees the body dead-
Faith beholds the spirit fled ;
Nature stops at Jordan's tide-
Faith beholds the other side ;
That but hears farewell and sighs,
This thy welcome in the skies;
Nature mourns a cruel blow-
Faith assures it is not so ;
Nature never sees thee more-
Faith but sees thee gone before :
Nature tells a dismal story-
Faith has visions full of glory ;
Nature views the change with sadness-
Faith contemplates it with gladness ;
Nature murmurs-
Faith gives meekness, "
Strength is perfected in weakness."
Nature writhes, and hates the rod;
Faith looks up, and blesses God.
Sense looks downward-Faith above;
That sees harshness-this sees love.
Oh, let Faith victorious be-
Let it reign triumphantly !
But thou art gone ! not lost, but flown ;
Shall I, then, ask thee back, my own?
Back-and leave thy spirit's brightness?
Back-and leave thy robes of whiteness ?
Back-and leave the Lamb who feeds thee ?
Back-from founts to which He leads thee?
Back-and leave thy heavenly Father?
Back-to earth and sin ?-Nay, rather
Would I live in solitude !
I would not ask thee if I could,
But patient wait the high decree
That calls my spirit home to thee !
[The above lines were found inside the cover of an old Bible, which had evidently been well used, and on the fly-leaf of which were the following words:"This Bible once belonged to my beloved sister, Mary Fannie, who fell asleep in Jesus Jan. 27th, 1865. And when this frail tent of earth loosens, and shrinks, and falls, may I pass from it as Peter from his prison, wakened by an angel, to find myself standing, in a trance of joy, on the street of the new Jerusalem! "]

I said, " I will be a reaper, and toil with all my might,
For the laborers are few, though the harvest is so white."
So I took my sharpened sickle and sought the ripened grain;
I took in my hand my sickle-God took it out again.

I saw that in fields beyond me the corn was in the blade,
But the weeds were thickly choking. I took my hoe and spade,
And said,"I'll dig for the Master, and how the corn will
grow! "
But the Master came behind me and quickly answered, "No! "

I said, " I will be a sower, and scatter tiny seed:
Sowing is as sweet as reaping, and quite as much a need."
So I took the yellow kernels to drop as I should go-
The Master gathered them again as fast as I could sow.

Then I said, "I know, dear Master, how little is my skill;
It is wise I should not garner and well I should not till;
I will walk behind another, and hold the homely plow."
" I have those to tread the furrow," He answered, " Go not thou."

So I took my burnished sickle and hung it again to rust,
And my hoe and spade and basket, to gather mold and dust;
I left the earthly furrow for another's feet to tread,
And said, " To the hungry reapers I'll carry drink and bread;

For surely no sweeter service I need to ask or seek That to strengthen with refreshment the weary and the weak." I filled my cup at the fountain, I cut my loaf in twain, Looked in the face of the Master and knew it was in vain.

"Oh, Master! " I murmured, weeping, "I may not work for
Thee !
Thou desirest not my service!" He whispered, "Thou shalt see."
Then my arms He gently folded, my feet securely bound,
And laid me down all helpless upon the parched ground.

Then my eyes I closed in silence and hushed my eager breath,
For I thought He had brought me into the dust of death;
But, as I lay in the darkness, anew to me He spoke,
And out of a fervered slumber I dreamily awoke.

And awoke to find beside me a reaper wounded sore,
With never a hand to soothe him or stay the flowing gore;
I drew from my cup of water and laved his burning brow
I staunched the tide of crimson and smiled for service now.

"Child," said the loving Master, " sigh not for the open field,
For here in the lonely shadows rich service canst thou yield "
And all day long till the evening work unto me He brought,
Looked tenderly on my fetters and blessed me as I wrought.

I whispered the word of courage, I sang of hope and cheer,
I told of the Lord's forgiveness, I dried the contrite tear
And many a heavy burden I might not even share
I lifted unto the Master on outstretched arms of prayer

And I think when night has fallen and the harvest all is stored,
There'll be little sheaves in garner, known only to the Lord,
Of the gleanings that He gathered unto a captive's feet;
I think the captive's harvest-joy may be of all most sweet.

(Selected.)

The spirit of Christianity includes all that is beautiful or good in the life and conduct. The polish of the world's manners is but an imitation of that true courtesy which should characterize the Christian. It is to be feared that too little is thought of that care in our in our conduct toward one another. The love and joy of the spirit will lead us to have a care for the feelings of others. This can be applied in a multitude of ways. It will show itself in that regard for others, a respectful listening to what they may say, a carefulness not to wound or offend. One may say he has a blunt way, and means no harm. It is not well thus to excuse one's self. A weak brother or sister may be stumbled by that blunt way; one not in communion might be driven off by it. We need to remember this in the heat of controversy. Sharp things are said, which only wound, and do not please God. Let us be courteous. Let us be careful how we contradict one another. How easy it is to accuse of untruthfulness in heat, when we cannot believe that to be the case when we quietly think over the matter ! Then, too, we should show proper regard in speaking to one another, especially to those who might feel such a neglect. Does not the apostle tell the saints to greet one another ? But it is needless to enumerate. In all our intercourse, we are in constant need of that gracious thoughtfulness perfectly consistent with quiet dignity, which helps and cheers all with whom we meet.

All this is not legality, nor outward form :" friendly minded" is the word for "courtesy." Right thoughts, right feelings, a true love, will produce a courtesy impossible to be imitated by the worldling, however polished he may be,-a courtesy common alike to all, even the naturally unrefined, because it has its roots in the renewed heart. In this, as in all else, let us remember that our God would have us givers, not receivers. We are not to wait until others act courteously toward us. Let us show courtesy, looking for nothing in return, and how soon will we find ourselves being treated in the same manner!

" In all things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."

From the mount of victory-
Oh, take care!
Steep is the descent, and rough-
Oh, beware!
Many a child of God hath tripped,-
Through unwatchfulness hath slipped,
And of blessing hath been stripped
Unaware.

When the conquest hath been won,
And the roar
Of the battle-fierce and strong-
Is no more,
Think not on the victory,
But of Him who fought for thee,-
Bearing, on the accursed tree,
Sorrow sore.

Thou art but a broken vase
In the hand
Of the Mightiest Conqueror
In the land.
Thou hast but to wait and see,
With thine armor girt on thee,
How the blessed Lord for thee
Takes His stand.

Take no credit to thyself,
Foolish one,
If in battle or in race
Thou hast won.
Give the glory to His name
Who, thy lost soul to reclaim,
Suffered scorn and death and shame,-
God's own Son.

H. McD.

Naphtali was the son of Bilhah, Rachel's bondmaid, through whom she sought to be fruitful. His name was given to show the spirit of rivalry there was between Rachel and Lean, and the struggle not to be excelled by her more fortunate sister. "With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister and prevailed ; and she called his name Naphtali." Emulation, struggle, bondmaid-of these we are reminded in Naphtali. Naturally, we do not wish to be excelled by others, and in spiritual attainments pride has its place as well as elsewhere. "Which should be greatest" was the subject of contention among our Lord's disciples-it did not cease with them. In this emulation there is the struggle, so different from "the peaceable fruits of righteousness." Effort speaks of human strength, of human resources. The law is that which is called upon for aid when natures strength is used. Nature never calls upon grace. So it is to her bondmaid that Rachel turns rather than to God, and through her Naphtali is born. In him, then, we have the natural man, born of the bondmaid, the law; and how significant is his name ! A wrestler. Nature can only struggle, the law produces not peace, but wrestling. With all her boasting, Rachel's child was the son of a bondmaid. And all man's boastings of the fruits of his efforts and struggles is only a confession that he is under bondage. Such was Naphtali by birth-by nature, a wrestler, -a stranger to peace-a child of bondage-at least such he was typically considered.

"Naphtali is a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words." (Gen. 49:21.) Instead of bondage and struggle, Jacob sees in Naphtali liberty and peace. Great as the contrast was with the literal Naphtali, how much greater is it in the case of the believer. He is no longer looked at according to his birth, a child of bondage ; but "according to his blessing." (Gen. xlix 28.) The blessing of grace has altered all for us. But these blessings are " in Christ " (Eph. 1:3), and He is the true Naphtali. Bound to the cross for our sins, He meets their full penalty and with the words, "it is finished" upon His lips, yields up His spirit. He is laid in the grave, redemption fully accomplished, unless indeed He is held in the bands of death. But it was not possible that He could be holden of them. The stone is rolled away, the hind, pursued by the unrelenting hatred of man and Satan, wounded unto death, is loosed, the "hind of the morning" (Ps. 22:, title), and comes forth, forever free from the power of death. And what goodly words does He give! " Mary "-personal recognition of His redeemed (" My beloved is mine, and I am His"); " My brethren "-association of His own with Him in resurrection, the fruit of the corn of wheat; " Peace be unto you"-the assurance of a relationship established on the ground of His death, which can never be set aside. Such are some of the goodly words given by our risen Lord,-Naphtali, the hind let loose ; and all the full and varied revelations of the Holy Ghost are but more of these "goodly words." So we see Christ risen, and hear Him ; but in Him we see ourselves, "risen with Christ." If He has been let loose, so have we. "Thou hast loosed my bands," is now our language. Sin no more condemns, the law cannot bind. Sin no more controls, and Satan and the world are like the amazed and helpless soldiers at the open tomb. These things have no power to hold us, we are forever free-" the snare is broken and we are escaped." What "goodly words" of praise and thanksgiving should now be given forth by us ! The heart set free-can the lips be silent? Surely not. Stones might well speak our shame did we remain silent. Testimony too follows. Goodly words of gospel to poor sinners; wholesome words of truth to a self-satisfied world.

The liberty wherewith Christ makes us free is thus in fullest contrast to the bondage of nature and the useless wrestlings and struggles of man under law. But there is not merely liberty-there is rest. " O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord ; possess thou the west and the south." (Deut. 33:23.) The wrestler is now at last satisfied. " Satisfied with favor "- God's favor, which is better than life ; that favor shown in His " unspeakable gift." Can we enumerate all that goes with this favor? Can we ever exhaust all the fullness of. that blessing of the Lord which indeed " maketh rich and He addeth no sorrow with it"? We can only, like David, sit before the Lord, and praise Him. There is not a need but has been met, not a craving of the renewed soul but has been provided for-more than provided for. " It. is enough." Naphtali can hold no more, his wrestlings are over. Have we journeyed from Naphtali in nature to Naphtali in grace ? Are we in the enjoyment of all that has been made ours? If so, there is still room for progress:"Possess thou the west and the south"-the salt sea, and desert south being but new fields for yielding more and more of "marrow and fatness."

Let us cease from all creature efforts, let us see our full liberty in a risen Lord, and let us be satisfied with the full favor in which we stand, and thus make daily progress.

There are some very profitable and comforting I thoughts in the eleventh chapter of Ecclesiastes. Take the first verse, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days." To the natural man casting bread upon the restless expanse of water seems very foolish indeed, and at times we may say that is the end of it all; but the man of faith knows that it shall be found "after many days." And how often in these days one may think, "it seems to be of no use speaking to those around us." Even so it does " seem," but, "thou shalt find it after many days." If we see no results we are apt to be discouraged, but our Father knows all about us ; He knows the effect it would have upon us if we saw all the results. Knowing a little of our poor hearts we can realize how often it might puff us up to see results. But He will honor His own Word, and whatsoever speaks of His dear Son, and as for us, "the day shall declare it." Then, indeed, we shall see results and receive the reward. What joy it will be then to receive His commendation ! Sow on in hope, my brethren, and let it be done from a true heart, true to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ May all our service be done out of love for Himself!

" He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." Let us look not at the things which are seen. If we look for encouragement in circumstances, we will also find discouragement there, but we need to find our encouragement in the living God. Then, though all around seem in ruins, and a hardness seems to have come over man's hearts, we will not be cast down, but will sow the precious seed, the living Word of the living God. We know that His Word will accomplish that whereunto He sends it. Often do we realize how powerless our words are, and
that only the word of our God can find an entrance. Most blessed it is too to realize this, for then we will press His Word home, and the entrance of that shall give light. Let there be more of this amongst us-using "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

"In the morning sow thy seed, and in evening withhold not thine hand :for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." May we "be instant in season, out of season." At times we may feel more hopeful in speaking to some, than when speaking to others ; but " thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that." In the parable of the sower we see that the seed falls in some places on good" and in some on stony ground, but note, the sower did his work, and sowed on all alike. So let us take the lesson home to ourselves and sow in faithfulness to God, leaving results to Him. We know that our labor is not in vain "in the Lord." True service can only flow from love to our Lord Jesus.

If our hearts are filled with His love there will be little need to trouble about lack of service ; the one will be the result of the other. There are hungry souls around Us, hungering for the bread of life. Nothing can satisfy them but that for which they long. Shall we not pray earnestly for deeper love for the person of our Lord Jesus Christ ? Much truth and knowledge we have, but knowledge in itself puffeth up. What we need more at this time than all else, is deep true love for our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely He will give this, and after He has given it will bring us in contact with needy souls, and give us the message. The time is short, "the night is far spent and the clay is at hand." In the little while remaining before He comes may we be very humble.

Our hearts can go out to Himself without reserve ; not so with the things of the world :we must watch, be on guard. But no need of this toward our Lord Jesus. With fullest confidence and love we can let our hearts go out to Him in praise and adoration. What love indeed is His ! It passeth knowledge ; yet in a measure we do know it. With longing, yearning hearts we cry, Lord, give Thy people more love for Thyself, that we may find our all in Thee. Amen. J. G. T.

Oakland, Cal.

"And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul." (Ps. 106:15.) "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." (Ps. 37:4.)

Pray without ceasing," says the apostle ; " Ask, and it shall be given unto you," says our Lord ; and the impulse of the new-born soul is to pray. One of the tests of a new life is, " Behold he prayeth."Our God delights to hear prayer and to answer it. Surely in His heart there is no thought but for our blessing; but for that very reason His dealings with us vary according to the state of soul, and our real necessities. He certainly would not give us any thing to harm us ; and when we ask for what would injure us, He knows how refuse. But there may be a condition of soul where refusal does not touch the conscience; where the will instead of being subdued, is only made the more stubborn by refusal. Then it is that divine wisdom may grant the request, in order that the one who will not learn to trust God in His way, may find the folly of his own. It was thus with Israel in the case alluded to in the passage be-fore us. God has undertaken to deliver them, and to bring them into the "good land and large."He had provided suited food for them in their journey, in the manna, which, as it lay all about the camp each morning, silently bore witness to the love and care of One who never slumbered nor slept. But they never realized the privilege of being so cared for, and so take their case in their own hand. They ask for quails and quails they must have. Their longings for the food which perishes was so great that it eclipsed every thing else. Such a people could not be benefitted by a refusal They would not learn except by tasting the bitter fruit of their own lusts.

At first, they might have been tempted to boast in the answer to prayer. Is not answered prayer always a proof of divine favor and special good-will? But there was no gratitude, no sense of humility, no asking, "Who am I?" They had carried their point, and now proceeded to gratify to the full the desires which had demanded this gratification. They became the more alienated from God by His very mercies. This was the leanness which came into their souls-the natural result of self-will uncontrolled. It never checks itself, never is satisfied with any possession of good, but craves and craves, and the granting of each new craving but results in still further alienation and leanness; unless, indeed, through mercy, the eyes are opened to see where we are. So Kibroth-hattaavas speaks to us most seriously, warning us against "asking amiss," lest that leanness come on us, which, unless delivered from, is but the precursor of dealings in severity.

Lot looked over to Sodom's plains with the same longings that Israel had for the quails, and the mountain cave where his light went out in obscure darkness, is his grave of lust. He wished for himself and got what he wanted, but the leanness in his soul resulting from gaining his point, stands out to-day in all its clearness for our warning. And how many Lots since that day can bear witness to this truth, " He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" ! Could Lot have dreamed as he looked with such longing over these pleasant plains that they lead directly to that lonely mountain cave, we can well believe he would have drawn back in horror. And yet they were but the way and the end of a self-will which craves indulgence and will take no refusal. Beloved, is the personal application difficult ? Let us beware of this subtle working in our hearts, lest blight and sorrow come upon us to teach us.

But let us hasten from these sad things to look a little at the sweet assurance of the other verse :" Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thine heart." At a glance we see the difference. In the former case self was the center and all revolved about it, everything must contribute to self-gratification, and, as we said, when one is bound to have his own way, God allows it. Here, how different! we are in another atmosphere. God is the center, about whom all revolves. His interests are the important ones, His good pleasure, His glory. Self is subordinated and out of sight-God fills the horizon.

But there is more. "Delight thyself in the Lord. He rejoices over us, wonderful that it can be, and wishes us not merely to be absorbed, occupied with Him, but to delight in Him. He wishes no compulsory attachment- He draws free hearts, and attaches them to Himself by the sweet constraint of love. It is the glory of redemption that it does this, wins the heart, as well as enlightens and arouses the conscience. Mere sense of duty will sooner or later say, "Thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends." The elder brother admits, with all his correctness in service, there was no joy in it, and he seems to fail to see how there can be joy in the father's house. How different the language of One who always delighted in His Father. " In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore,"-language to be taken up and repeated by lips of faith in all places and at all times. " God my exceeding joy," says David; "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ," says Paul. When joy goes declension soon follows. But what an object for our delight! Well may we ask,-

" Where shall our wondering souls begin ? "

We need never be at a loss for fresh delights. His Person, His works, His attributes, counsels, His Son, and the vast plan of redemption, the depths of His love- surely here we have themes to charm and delight the soul.

Delighting in Him, our desires are secondary and ever subject to His will. But if we almost forget them, He does not. " He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." No fear that riches or prosperity will lead astray. Abraham places God first, delights in Him, only to prove that the blessing of the Lord was his-" He maketh rich, and ' He addeth no sorrow with it."

Even as to spiritual blessings, this truth applies. If we are asking for gifts, or even for holiness for ourselves, we will find that whatever apparent attainments we make, instead of ripening and mellowing us, do the reverse. The holiness is in name only, contributing to self-complacency, not God-likeness. On the other hand, let God be delighted in and the desire of the heart to be like Him is granted; we grow like Him, by being occupied with Him, and holiness results.

Dear brethren, have we desires ? Longings it may be for temporal things, or for blessings on others; for greater power in the assemblies of His people ; for simpler and clearer testimony before the world ? Let us learn to delight in Him more, for His own sake, and He will give us the desires of our heart.

" For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you ward." (2 Cor. 1:12.).

" For we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ." (2 Cor. 2:17.)

In the judgment of the world, what is commonly known as sincerity is supposed to cover a multitude of sins. How frequently we hear it asserted that it makes little difference what a man believes provided he is sincere in that belief. The Jew, the Mohammedan, the Romanist, the very infidel himself, is in this way admitted into the ranks of that religious respectability where the test for all is sincerity. Thus the world. But God does not reason in this way. Saul of Tarsus was a most sincere man, but the intensity of his convictions only identified him the more closely with those who were "the enemies of the cross of Christ." A man may sincerely believe he is on the right road, but if he is mistaken, his sincerity will not prevent his going astray. If this is true in the things of every-day life, it is equally so in the far more important matters of eternity and our spiritual concerns generally. The word translated "sincerity" in the verses quoted at the head of this paper suggests a deeper and truer meaning than mere personal honesty, subjective certainty. It means "sunlight-judgment"–a judgment arrived at, not in the dark of our hearts, but in the light of God's own presence. It is not mere honesty, though it includes that. A light has been shed on the matter, and the truth about it revealed, and according to that light, that truth, a judgment has been reached, a decision made, according to which the person acts. We are now on higher ground than that of what is ordinarily called " sincerity,"-a ground to which none, however honest in a subjective sense they may be, can be admitted except those who are also in the sunlight. " God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." This is the sunlight-judgment which gives true sincerity.

Let us look a moment at the quality of this light. It is from God. " God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." In this light, there can be no calling evil good or good evil,-all is estimated aright. But it is not a cold light; it is "in the face of Jesus Christ"-of Him who manifested the love and grace of God as well as His holiness. Hence it is a light which does not merely convict, but which touches the heart of the one manifested, and makes him realize that while a holiness which hates sin has shown him his true condition, a love which passeth knowledge yearns over him. The sin is hated, the evil way is abhorred, but the sinner is loved, and feels the constraining power, of that love drawing him into paths of truth. It is most important to note this. He who knows God apart from Christ does not know Him at all. The saint who gets light from God must get it as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, or he will not get it aright, and will fail to be guided aright. The qualities, then, of this sunlight-judgment are truth and grace,-truth tempered by grace, grace in accordance with truth.

The first verse applies this sincerity to the walk of the apostle-"We have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you ward."What characterized his daily life was that it could be judged in the light of God's presence. He did not go blindly ahead following his own inclinations, as many do, meaning well, as people say, but not pausing to ask whether he was seeking God's will or his own. Still less did he follow the wisdom of , the world. Worldly maxims, worldly examples, are too often followed by the child of God, the result being worldly conformity. Not so Paul. The sunlight-judgment of God was his test, the light in which his path was chosen. Can we say the same as to ourselves, beloved brethren ? Where do we get light for our path? Is the eye single, the heart simple ?Surely sincerity with us should be the same as with Paul. But this is heart-searching work. It means that I do what I see to be right,-that I do not give mere assent to it-patronize the truth, as it were, but that I can look God in the face and say, " Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts."

Let us pause here, and ask ourselves seriously one question-a solemn one. It is this :Do we not well to hesitate to appeal to God as to our motives, our desires, etc.? He who knows his own heart best knows most of its deceitfulness, and he whose motives are simplest for God's glory will be slowest to appeal to Him. There is something which makes one shrink from hastily or thoughtlessly or too frequently appealing to God for sincerity of motives or truthfulness of statements. Let us let the holy sunlight of God's presence shine into our hearts, and much of self-interest and base motives will be discovered, so that the most devoted will be conscious of feeling with the apostle when he said, " I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby justified." He will realize that lurking beyond his discernment are possibilities for evil which he cannot trust. He will therefore be humble, self will be kept in the background, and Christ will be exalted.

But if this is heart-searching work, it is needful work, yielding most blessed results. Apply this sunlight-judgment to our thoughts, our desires, or to our private and family life. Will things be detected by it which our friends or brethren fail to see ? The result may be humbling, but how blessed the fruits !-greater carefulness, increased sense of weakness and dependence, more prayer, and less boasting and high thoughts, Apply it to our worship, our prayers and praises; we need not fear that the holy fear will mar or hinder the true spirit of worship. Nor, of course, are we to be legal. The true sunlight prevents all legality,-takes us out of the presence of man and puts us into the presence of the God of all grace.

Why should not we be able to use this verse like the apostle did ? We have the same grace, the same exhaust-less strength to draw upon. We too might thus walk in and out among the saints and be "ensamples to the flock." The Lord grant it increasingly for us all. The time is short; evil is on the increase; the fear of God seems to be more and more a thing but little realized. May our God arouse us to this humble, quiet, holy testimony as we go about,-this godly sincerity in our ways.

But this sincerity characterized the teachings of the apostle as well as his walk :" We are not as many which corrupt the Word of God,"-that is, adulterate it, as an inn keeper would his wines. We live in a time of adulteration-of mixture of the false with the true; the leaven has been introduced into the three measures of meal. We have lived to see men calling themselves servants of Christ stand up and deny His sacrificial atonement, the infallible inspiration of God's Word, the certainty and eternity of the doom of the wicked ; indeed, scarcely a truth is left by them, so thoroughly have they adulterated God's Word. This is not confined to a few; many, those who are looked up to as lights and guides, are engaged in this awful work, and it is our duty to cry out, however feebly, against it. For we have a great responsibility here. The time seems to be fast coming when what are called evangelical denominations (unless God grant faithfulness to purge out the wicked teachers,) can no longer be considered that, and when jealousy for God's honor will require a care in receiving to the Lord's table those who, by remaining identified with them, sanction their adulteration of God's Word ; indeed, there are, no doubt, cases now where the work of exclusion should begin. If we wink at the adulterator, we become partaker of his deeds, we ourselves are corrupters of the Word of God.

How differently this faithful servant of God acted ! Whether dealing with saint or sinner, whether a savor of life unto life or of death unto death, he will preserve the integrity of that Word with which he had been intrusted. No subtle opiate is introduced to soothe the careless sinner into slumber, or take the edge off some wholesome rebuke for the saint. He is in God's presence, and in that sunlight all that he speaks will be tested. He had to speak words which broke the heart of those who heard

him, and his own as well; but nothing would induce him to introduce error, or tone down the truth. For there are two ways of adulterating a thing. We may put poison in it-positive error, or we may simply dilute it and make it powerless in that way. True sincerity prevents either. Truth will not let us bring in error, nor will grace allow us to soften down the demands of truth. It renders such adulteration needless, because "My grace is sufficient for thee." The light in the eighth of John is just as strong as that which shone from Sinai in the lightning and divine display. The poor sinful woman is not brought into any twilight, but she is brought into the presence of grace. We need much to learn what grace is.

Let us, then, learn more what it is to speak, to teach, in true sincerity; not only refusing error, but seeing that we let God's truth have its full strength. How much this means ! In our preaching, our teaching, our administration of warning or correction in discipline,-all is to be done according to this same sunlight-judgment. May we not well say, " Who is sufficient for these things ? " and answer the question too-" All our sufficiency is of God " ? May we have more true sincerity in our walk and in our words. We would be weighty men and women.

AN EXPOSITION OF REVELATION IV.-XXII.

PART VI. (Chap, 17:-19:10.)-Continued. BABYLON AND HER OVERTHROW.

The angel now explains the mystery, and begins with I the beast. "The beast that was and is not" is clearly from the point of view of the vision,* as has been said. *This is contrary, however, to the view taken of it when considering the thirteenth chapter. But the difficulty of the "beast that is not" and the " one is," spoken of the heads of the beast, seems in this way to find a better solution. The paragraph as to this in the former place may therefore be considered canceled.* The rule of the woman necessarily destroys beast-character, while it lasts. But the beast will awake from its long sleep:it is "about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition." This coming up out of the abyss, however, as has been elsewhere said, does not seem to be merely the revival of the empire:the key of the abyss in the hands of the fallen star under the fifth trumpet, and the angel of the abyss being the person who by the two languages of his name is the "destroyer" of both Jew and Gentile, would lead us to believe that there was in it the working of satanic power. This is strengthened by the connection of this ascent with the "going into perdition " of that which comes up.

The previous revival under the seventh head would thus be passed over; and the prophecy hastens on to what is most important, the beast pictured here being identified in fact, in the prophecy itself, with its own eighth head. (5:2:) That it has only seven, as seen in the vision, is not against this if the seventh and eighth heads are the same person.

The unhappy "dwellers upon the earth" wonder at this revival, whose names have not from the foundation of the world been written in the book of the Lamb slain. Divine grace is that alone which makes any to differ; and of this we are reminded here. The power that works in the revival of the beast is plainly beyond that of man; and how many in the present day seem to take for granted that what is more than human power must be divine. This is the essence of the "strong delusion" which God sends upon those who have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved. Powers and signs and lying wonders confirm the imperial last head in his pretension; and that they are "lying" means, not that they are mere juggling and imposition, but that they are made to foster lies. They shall wonder, "seeing how that the beast was and is not and shall be present [again]."

And "here is the mind that hath wisdom,"-the divine secret for an understanding heart. First, as to the woman:"The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth."Surely there need not be much doubt about the application of this; although some would apply it to a new Babylon yet to be built on the Euphrates, others would make the interpreting word "mountains" to be still a figure of something else. They might easily build Babylon again, that is merely looking at things from a human stand-point; but how could it be said of this new city that "in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all the slain upon the earth"? That Rome was the seven-hilled city is familiar to every school-boy; and its being a " geographical" mark need not make it unsuited to be one, as Lange believes. It makes it plain, as God would have it surely for His saints whose blood it would shed, and who would need the comfort of knowing that He was against this "Mother and Mistress of churches," with all her effrontery and the crowd that followed her.

God has even, if one might say so, gone out of the way to give a needed plain mark of identification. For it is not easy as a symbol to understand how the heads of the beast should be the seat of the woman. But this does not make it harder for identification, while it seems to illustrate the more the tender thought of God for His people, of which the tokens can never be too many, and in a place like this, of what special value !

But the heads are also seven kings,-consecutive, not contemporaneous rulers; for five had already fallen, one was, and another was yet to come, only to exist for a short time, the beast himself being the final one. Five forms of government have been given by the historians as preceding the imperial in Rome, this last being evidently the existing one in the apostle's day. "One is" we must take as applying to the apostle's day ; for at the time of the vision the beast itself "is not," as we have ' seen. The only other time present would be the time in which the apostle lived himself.

The imperial head came to an end necessarily when the empire as a whole broke up under the attacks of the barbarians; and to make, as Barnes and others do, the exarch of Ravenna the seventh head of the world-empire is either to overlook the plain terms of the prophecy, or else to pervert the simple facts of history. The exarchate lasted about two hundred years, which Barnes considers (comparatively) but a "short time ; " and the papacy he considers the eighth head. This falls with the exarchate; for the papacy would then be but the seventh, and nothing would correspond.

The seventh head began, according to Elliott, when Diocletian, already emperor, assumed the diadem,-the symbol of despotic sovereignty after the eastern fashion; and he quotes Gibbon's words, that, " like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered the founder of a new empire." But if this were the seventh head, there was a gap between it and the papacy; and this must have been the time when the beast "was not." This is better in some respects than Barnes, and may be really an anticipative fulfillment, such as we find in the "historical" interpretation generally. But it fails when we come to apply it consistently all through, as where Elliott has to make the burning of the woman with fire by the ten horns to be merely the devastation of the city and the Campagna prior to their giving power to the beast, whereas it is really effected by the beast and the horns together, and is the complete end of the ecclesiastical system which the woman represents. It would be manifestly incongruous to suppose the papacy to hate and consume the Roman church.

The scheme of prophecy involved in all this, if taken whole, would destroy entirely the interpretation of Revelation which has been given in these papers, and is negatived by all the considerations that substantiate this. I do not propose, therefore, to go more fully into it. When the papacy ruled the empire, it had ceased to be in a proper sense, the empire, and then it was that according to the chapter before us, the beast "was not."The true bestial character could not co-exist with even the profession of Christianity.

The beast is necessarily, therefore, secular, not ecclesiastical. When the secular empire fell, the beast was not; though in that contradictory condition the woman might ride it. Since that fall there has been no revival, and therefore as yet no seventh head. The seventh head is constituted that, as I believe, by the union of ten portions of the divided territory to give him power; and the preponderance of Russia in Europe might easily bring about a coalition of this kind. The new imperial head lasts but a short time, is smitten with the sword, possibly degraded to the condition of a " little horn," is revived by the dreadful power of Satan acting through the anti-christian second beast of the thirteenth chapter, assumes the blasphemous character in which we have already seen him, and thus goes into perdition at the appearing of the Lord.

This is the beast, as Revelation contemplates him generally, identified with the eighth head, but who is of the seventh, in fact, the seventh, which had the wound by the sword, yet lived. Thus seen, all the passages seem to harmonize,-a harmony which is the main argument for the truth of such an interpretation of them.

" And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and give their power and authority unto the beast." Alas! they are united against God and against His Christ:" These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings ; and they that are with Him, called, and chosen, and faithful."

Here we have anticipated the conflict of the nineteenth chapter. These that are with Christ are His redeemed people, as is plain. Angels might be " chosen and faithful," but only men are "called;" and when He comes forth as a warrior out of heaven, they, as " the armies that were in heaven, follow Him." The rod of iron which He has Himself is given to His people, and the closing scene in the conflict with evil sees them in active and earnest sympathy with Him.

The waters where the harlot sat are next interpreted as peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." With another meaning and intent than where it is spoken of Israel, "her seed is in many waters." Her influence is wide-reaching and powerful; but it is brought to an end:"and the ten horns which thou sawest and the beast;"- so, and not "upon the beast." all authorities give it now- "these shall hate the harlot, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire." That surely is not a temporary infliction, but a full end ; and beast and horns unite in it. She has trampled upon men, and, according to the law of divine retribution, it is done to her. This has been partially seen many times in the history of Rome, and the end of the last century was a dreadful warning of what is soon to come more terribly still upon her. The very profession of Christianity which she in time past used for purposes of gain and power over men will no doubt, by the same retributive law, become at last the mill-stone round her neck forever. And no eye will pity her. For it is God who has "put into their hearts to do His will, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished."

How good to know amid all that day of terror that God is supreme above all, in all, the devices of His enemies ! Still " He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of it He restraineth." And this is the time which will most fully demonstrate this. It is the day of the Lord upon all the pride of man to bring it low. It is the day when every refuge of lies shall be swept away, and all the vanity of his thoughts shall be exposed. " The idols He shall utterly abolish." Yea, those who have been their slaves shall fling them to the moles and to the bats. " And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Then the way is prepared for blessing, wide in proportion to the judgment which has introduced it. F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

"And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, 'Command the children of Israel and say unto them, My offering and My bread for My sacrifice made by fire for a sweet savor unto Me shall ye observe to offer unto Me in their due season.'" (Num. 28:1-2.

A deeply interesting and most precious portion of scripture is before us here, one which reveals to us in a remarkable way the gracious and tender character of God's manner of dealing with His children.

The inmost desires of His own heart are also told out ; indeed, it is His portion that is specially considered here:"A savor of My rest," He is pleased to call it (see margin). " My food " (the word here rendered " bread," is the Hebrew "lechem" commonly translated food) . . . "shall ye observe to offer unto Me." This is wonderful, truly ; that He of whom it is written, " The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," should ask His creatures to offer Him food !

What does it mean ?

The food here spoken of is unquestionably the Lord Jesus in the many and varied aspects of the " One Offering," the burnt-offering being by far the most prominent, as a perusal of this and the following chapter will show.

In the burnt offering, we have just what the language of our text indicates, God's food, His portion in the offering of Christ, what the Son was in all His intrinsic worth and loveliness to the Father, obedient unto death.

The believer's ability to offer this offering is necessarily measured by his apprehension of Christ in such capacity. He who is content to know Christ only so far as himself and his interests are concerned, never enters into and appreciates this wondrous offering. He has, if we may so speak, but half a Christ. But he who will "follow on to know the Lord," and, with the apostle, "count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus," such an one often delights the heart of God with the sweet savor of the burnt-offering.

But the question naturally arises, 'Why should "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ " desire us to point out to Him the matchless beauty and infinite and varied perfections of His beloved Son whom He has known from all eternity?' Just this:God is so delighted with Christ that He wants some to share His joy, some who are able to converse, so to speak, with Him about the deepest and sweetest and richest things concerning His Son ; some to whom He can reveal "All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" that are hid in Him.

Our "new man " is made after the image of Him that created him, and we know how we crave fellowship in the things nearest our hearts, and often do we see the same desire manifested in the Lord Jesus as He walked among men-the manifestation of God.

In Mark 9:30, we find Him endeavoring, as He walks by the way, to have fellowship with His disciples concerning His sufferings, soon to be accomplished. Doubtless the shadow of the cross at times lay dark upon His soul, and the sympathy of earthly friends would have made His path much brighter. But what do we find ? " They understood not that saying and were afraid to ask Him. And He came to Capernaum, and being in the house He asked them, "What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?" But they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be greatest. And so the Son of God must bear his grief alone! " His " friends " were too much occupied with themselves and their interests to weep with Him who wept. But He does not reprove them ; in patient grace He concerns Himself with their dispute and solves their question. He had many things to say unto them, but they could not bear them yet.

How often was He thus wounded in the house of his friends, and easily can we understand how refreshing to His hungry heart was Mary's willingness to sit at His feet and hear His word.

"Whom," exclaims the prophet, "shall He teach knowledge, and whom shall He make to understand the hearing? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts." Again and again our God expresses His desire that we should "know" (e.g., see Eph. 3:10-19; Col. 1:9, 27; Heb. 5:2:14), but He cannot reveal to us " the deep things of God" while we are yet babes, simply because we could not understand them. And as if to tempt us to "Grow in grace and in the knowledge our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," He asks us to "offer "to Him. Himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Thus He gives to him who offers the more blessed place. Who could conceive of a more gracious way of winning our heart's affection and leading us into closer intimacy with Himself ? A way well worthy of our God who in His mercy makes it as easy as possible for man to receive His grace, often stooping to take the place of servant rather than of benefactor. (See Matt. 20:25-28.)

Though Christ is God's free gift to all His children, yet there is a sense in which He must be won by them. (Phil, 3:8-" that I may win Christ."). Just as the whole land of Canaan had been given to the children of Israel. (Num. 27:13.) Yet it remained true that only what the sole of their foot trod upon was theirs. (Josh. 1:3.) Their title to the land was clear, for Jehovah had given the deed, but the Canaanites still dwelt in the land, and only as they were driven out could Israel enter upon the practical possession their inheritance. In our land too the Canaanite dwells. Satan and his hosts inhabit the heavenly places, and warfare must be waged with them if we would " win Christ." (Eph. 6:ii, 12.)

Well they know the Son of God, as the gospels frequently bear witness, (e.g., Mark 1:23-27; 3:ii; 5:7; Luke 4:33, 34 ) Perhaps before their fall they had enjoyed intimate fellowship with Him, but now, in their enmity and hatred of Him and His, they would fain blind our eyes to His surpassing loveliness, well knowing that had we but open eyes to see Him as He is, " all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them" could not turn us from pursuing after Him.

Let us "arise, that we may go up against them, for we have seen the land ; and, behold, it is very good. And are ye still? Be not slothful to go and to enter to possess the land." The victory is surely ours, for "if God be for us, who can be against us."

Not until Israel possessed and dwelt in the land could they bring an offering of the fruit of the land- unto Jehovah. (Deut. 26:1-27.) Nor can we offer to our God His food until we have in some measure " learned Christ."
The last clause of the Scripture we are considering is of great importance, "In their due season."

This necessitates fellowship with God to enable one to discern what manner of food He desires and when He desires it. Let us illustrate again from the life of Jesus. In the fourth of John we find Him at the well of Samaria "wearied with His journey," and thirsty. " Give Me to drink," He says to the despised Samaritan woman. And she gave Him a more satisfying draught than she knew as she heard and believed His words, and let Him reveal Himself to her. To Him it was " a savor of My rest ; " and He tells His astonished disciples, " I have meat to eat that ye know not of." " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." (God rested when He finished the work of creation, and Jesus rested when He accomplished this work.)

Again, in Luke 12:36, He is in the Pharisee's house. And behold a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and did anoint them with the ointment." The Pharisee had made Him a feast, but he had entirely mistaken the kind of food acceptable to Him, but the woman had offered Him a " portion of meat in due season."

When Jesus endured the agony of the garden of Gethsemane, " There appeared unto Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him." Perhaps had the disciples kept the watch with Him, instead of sleeping, they might have been privileged to be His ministers, but they neither discerned His need nor the "due season."

Jesus is in the glory now, but He is " the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." He still longs to have us enter into His thoughts, His mind, His ways. Perhaps to-day, when it really seems to us that we are "too busy," He wants us to come apart and rest, while He expounds unto us " things concerning Himself." G. M. R.

Because the king of Egypt said,"The river is mine, I have made it," judgment was pronounced."It shall be the basest of kingdoms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations." (Ezek. 29:9-15.)And so it has come to pass.

Because the heart of the prince of Tyre was " lifted up" and he said, " I am a god," he was brought down to the pit. " I will scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets . . . for I have spoken it saith the Lord God." (Ezek. xxviii, 26:)

"The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and a shadowing shroud, and of high stature. . . . Therefore, thus saith the Lord God; because thou hast lifted up thyself in height . . . and his heart is lifted up in his height … I have driven him out for his wickedness … to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height." (Ezek. 31:)

As the king of Babylon walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, he spoke and said, "Is not this great Babylon which I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty." In "the same hour" God spoke to him, "the kingdom is departed from, thee," and he was driven out from men and eat grass like an ox. At the end of the days, he "lifted up his eyes to heaven," and his understanding returned to him, and he blessed the Most High. A beast looks downward. When the king looked upward, to heaven, he was restored ; he came to himself, like the prodigal son. He was no longer an idolater, but a worshiper; he praised and honored Him that liveth forever. " Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride He is able to abase." (Dan. 4:37.)

Thus we see the fall of these empires came through pride, and that pride will bring judgment upon all nations and establishments at last. When the Lord comes we find in Is. 2:, "Enter into the rock (hid themselves in the rocks, Rev. 6:15,) and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Notice the terms that are heaped together in this and following verses:"lofty looks"- "haughtiness" – "proud and lofty"-"lifted up"– "cedars of Lebanon"-"oaks of Bashan "-"high mountains"-"high tower"-"hills that are lifted up." This is God's announcement of man's condition at the second coming of Christ to reign over the earth.

To some who were choosing the best places at an entertainment the Lord uses almost the words of the king of Babylon, "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased." (Luke 14:)

Are we aware that in seeking honor from one another in a small company, or at any time, we are on the road that led to Nebuchadnezzar's humiliating abasement ?

Humility is the only road to honor. The Lord is our example.

How impressive the connection between secret thoughts of the heart and far-reaching results :" Is not this great Babylon that I have built" has its end in this,-"Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited ; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation :neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there :neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and (ostriches) shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there, and jackals shall cry to one another in their places, and wild dogs in the pleasant castles." " I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." (Is. 13:)

Survey the ruin of Tyre-a place bare like the top of a rock (Ezek. 26:4), and link it with Tyre's pride and exulting over Jerusalem's distress; and contemplate Egypt's condition-the basest of kingdom's, and connect this with the thought "The river is mine, I have made it." The proud thought indulged was the seed and root of centuries of humiliation. "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."

He who " humbled Himself" has been "received up into glory," His word is, "follow thou Me." E.S.L.

While Season like a Levite waits
Where priest and people meet,
Faith by a new and living way
Hath reached the Mercy-Seat.

While Season hath but barely said
That earth can not give rest,
Faith, like a weary dove, hath fled
Unto the Saviour's breast.

The incident recorded in Matt. 14:13-21 and its parallel passage, Mark 6:32-44, affords us a fine illustration of the truth that " we are laborers together with God."

Much people had followed Jesus into the desert place where He had taken His disciples to " rest awhile." And, as ever, He was ready to serve them,-"He healed their sick" and " began to teach them many things."

"And when the day was far spent," the disciples, no doubt thinking Jesus had surely done enough for the people, come and ask Him to "send them away," that they might go into the villages and buy themselves food. The saw the need of the people, knew they were faint and hungry, but it did not seem to enter their minds that Jesus could meet that need as well as any other. But Jesus was "moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd;" and, true to His character as a Shepherd, He would not let them depart until their every need had been met, and they could say with David, " The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." More than that, He would waken His disciples to the fact that they, by His grace, were able to be " workers together with Him" in feeding the multitude ; so He says, " Give ye them to eat." They straightway doubt their ability to do as He bids with their limited supply, and ask, " Shall we go and buy two hundred penny-worth of bread, and give them to eat? " Jesus, answering, asks them, ''How many loaves have ye? go and see."

Dear children of God, the multitude who are "coming and going" in our path to-'day are as hungry and faint as those who followed Jesus then ; for the time has come when there is " a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." And the question comes home to each of us, "How many loaves have ye? go and see."

The believer who knows only the gospel by which he is saved,-' how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures," has at least one loaf, and he need not fear that it is not enough to supply the demand; it is sufficient for the need of a famishing world-He " tasted death for every man," and He has made us " ambassadors for Christ," " and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them."

Have we not, then, all of us who have believed, a life-giving loaf to give a perishing world ?Our own faith in the message we deliver is ample qualification for such ministry, as the apostle writes to the Corinthians, "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak"He who has made us ambassadors, and given us the message, will hold us responsible for its delivery. May we, then, heed the word, " Give ye them to eat," remembering the while that we are not " sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament."

But apart from the world who need to hear the gospel of the grace of God, there is a hungry throng of God's own people who need to be fed, and we will do well to " go and see " if we have not some loaves wherewith to feed them. We do not speak only of those who give their whole time to the "work of the ministry," or those to whom we look as teachers and pastors, but of every child of God; for the body is to be "fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal (or, to mutually profit)." And again it is written, "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." So no saint is without something to minister to the rest of the family. Each of us is a steward of more or less of God's precious Word ; as it is written, " Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." Whatever of truth the Holy Spirit has led us into, to that extent we are stewards; "moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful."

It is so natural for us to be like the disciples,-slow to use what we have, because we think it is only a little- just a crumb, compared with the need we see. But let us not judge too hastily ; if it be a portion of God's Word, however small it may seem in our eyes, it is inexhaustible. Its "seed is in itself," and it will multiply. We need never fear to honor the smallest portion of God's Word by speaking it to another ; for Himself says, "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and causeth it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth."

And this last clause reminds us of the next injunction of Jesus in our narrative. The disciples having searched, and told Him the number of their loaves, He said, "Bring them hither to Me" Apart from Him, they could do nothing. It was in His hands that the loaves multiplied, and straight from Him, through the disciples only as a channel, that the hungry ones were fed.

And so it should be with all our ministry-whatever food we receive from the Scriptures, it is our happy privilege to take it to Him, and commune with Him about it; and we may rest assured that, after such communion, He will sooner or later send us forth with our loaf increased a hundredfold. And He having thus blessed and broken our loaf, our labor shall not be in vain as we carry the message to hungry and thirsty ones; for from Him, the Head, " all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."

Another happy result of their bringing the loaves to Jesus we must not fail to note.

" And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven and blessed." It filled His heart with joy and thanksgiving to know that His disciples had a supply, however limited, to disperse abroad; and do we not rightly judge that He is as glad to-day when His children "know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary " ? And when we speak " often one to another," like those of old who "feared the Lord," have we not good reason to hope that He still "hearkens," and notes it in His "book of remembrance"? The disciples were not the least profited on that occasion through the loaves and fishes which they bestowed upon others, for they furnished a means whereby Jesus could reveal Himself to them as One who could indeed " furnish a table in the wilderness "-One whose resources were infinite, and thus He often reveals Himself afresh to us through some word we are ministering to another. Thus He rewarded the two at Emmaus as they proffered their loaf to Him, supposing Him to be a stranger,-"He was known of them in breaking of bread."
Jesus had taken His disciples into the desert place to "rest awhile." To human eyes they had found only a long day's labor, stretching away out into the evening ; but they had taken His yoke upon them, "and learned of Him, and had they not surely found rest unto their souls ? G. M. R.

Eli enjoyed the greatest privilege in Israel-the place of greatest nearness to God, and occupation with His service. As high-priest, all the hallowed associations of the sanctuary, its sacrifices and other worship, were matters of daily even hourly familiarity with him. Nor does it seem that this was lost upon him :a real attachment to the things of God, and in a sense a zeal for His glory are marked in him, together with a submission to His will under government. Nor was the privilege for Eli alone; his family shared with him in the nearness, the hallowed occupation with the things of the sanctuary. Had there been a state of heart in Hophni and Phinehas answering to the place of outward nearness which they occupied, they would have been men of marked and intelligent piety. But, alas! outward privileges do not change the heart, natural descent does not mean regeneration. Israel as a nation are proofs of this:descended from Abraham, the man of faith, they have shown by the hardness of their hearts that they are not children of Abraham. It is just as true for the sons of godly parents as for those utterly ignorant of God, that " Ye must be born again." Without this, outward blessing only proves a curse. Occupied with holy things, these men instead of being elevated, degrade those things. They made the Lord's offering to be abhorred. Those whose worship they should have guided, they degraded, and all this with the knowledge of their father Eli.

Look on the other hand at Hannah. A woman, and so representative of the feeble ; barren and despised, how could she, in the eyes of Israelites, to whom a barren womb was as a curse, glorify God ? All seems to be against her according to nature; but this only drives her to one unfailing refuge. Even at the tabernacle and in its worship she could find comfort in prayer and tears, rather than in praise, and Eli the priest of God, who should "have compassion on the ignorant," fails to understand her. Alas ! his eyes, so long closed to his sons' waywardness, fail to discern the difference between one of a sorrowful spirit and those who had been debauched by the priests. He is severe where nothing but sympathy is called for. He can admonish an outsider, where none is
needed, while in his own house all manner of evil is allowed. There is nothing sadder in Eli than this evidence of loss of discernment and of power. His own weakness at home has made him incompetent to deal with matters in connection with God's house. He is not alone in this. The apostle in giving the requirements for one to be a ruler in God's house writes, " One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God)." (i Tim. 3:4, 5.) Doubtless, many cases of mistaken discipline, needless severity, and want of wisdom in general, may be directly traced to the fact that Elis are trying to do in God's house what they have failed to do in their own, and, like the one of whom we are speaking, only manifest their lack of wisdom and of power. Surely this is a most pungent truth for parents to consider. How unspeakably solemn is Eli's position, a wearer of high-priestly robes, with two ungodly sons. How incongruous ! But it may be said, Eli rebuked his sons. Yes, and allowed them to go on in their sins. His very rebuke only hardened them, for it showed that with full knowledge of their course he allowed them to continue in the priests' office. How different was this from Phinehas in the time of Baal Peor! No rebuke is sufficient to arrest the flood-tide of evil, and he stands forth with his spear, not to speak, but to act,-to act for God at whatever cost, and blessing follows. Surely, parents should admonish and instruct their children, but words alone, unaccompanied by power, are of no avail. How did these sons of Eli grow to manhood with such habits ? Was it carelessness on the part of their father, a spirit of indulging his children, another name for self-indulgence? Parents are told to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and these two words mean all that is needful spiritual food and spiritual correction, administered in power. If parents seek in dependence upon God to carry out this instruction with reference to their children, surely God will give His blessing. Eli is forced to hear the doom pronounced upon his house, because of his own unfaithfulness. " His own sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not." It does not say, "he admonished them not," but "he restrained them not." He did not come in with that authority given to him from God, _given to every parent to restrain, yes, by force if necessary, his children. Eli had much in him to commend, doubtless ; but he seems to be one of those easygoing people who will not sacrifice ease to duty, who do not hearken to the wholesome words in Proverbs, "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." The Revised Version renders the latter clause, " And set not thine heart on his destruction." This surely is done by those who for the sake of sparing the tears caused by wholesome chastening will allow self-will in the child, which will surely bring it to destruction. With the example of Eli before them, let no parent excuse himself for carelessness in the training of his children. He will reap what he has sown, and the after sorrows will far, far outweigh all the present pain of being firm and faithful with those whom God has placed under his care. For proper correction and discipline at the right time and in the right spirit does not take up the larger part of the parent's intercourse with his children, nor color the whole life. Correction is the exception, not the rule :a uniform firmness, tempered with love, is far better than oft-repeated chastisement.

But let us return to Hannah. Her child is one given in direct answer to prayer, and before its birth it is dedicated to God. He is to be a Nazarite-one separate unto God from much even that passes for good. Let us notice the one point which makes the great difference between Hannah and Eli. Hannah is communion with God about her child. She asks him from God, she dedicates him to God. The sanctuary is to be his home. But it might be said, Children ought to be happy, not tied down or made religious. Wait until they get older before putting a yoke upon them. Hannah's way with Samuel is the answer. She might say to any who objected to her giving up her son to God, "In His presence is fullness of joy, at His right hand are pleasures for evermore." Can there be greater joy for children, as for all, than to know God ? It is Satan who would keep parents from thus fully dedicating their children to God, and from acting upon it. Like Pharaoh, he would allow the parents to go on pilgrimage, provided the children are left behind in Egypt. It is just here that great mistakes are made. Under the pretext of allowing for youth, and childish pleasures, associations, habits, and practices are allowed which are of the world. What is the result? The children grow up in the world. The bodily food that is good enough for the parent suffices for the child :so the spiritual food is good alike for both. Milk for babes indeed, but milk does not mean poison. It means elementary instruction in the same truths upon which the parent feeds. The question might he asked, Are harmless sports, etc., to be forbidden ? Surely not; yet there is a way of enjoying these, and at the same time taking them from a Father's hand, that will make the child a worshiper. How important, then, to begin where Hannah did. The child belongs to God :it shall be brought up for Him :it shall be a Nazarite. God answered her faith. Her son was all that she expected him to be-all that she asked for him. It is needful to notice this precious fact:God does hear believing prayer for children, He does honor the faith that honors Him. But this includes the practical carrying out of the dedication. Hannah carries Samuel up to the Lord's house. It was not enough that in her affliction she vowed to do so; she accomplished her vow. Many parents are constant, and in a sense believing, in their prayers for their children; yet when action is needed-practical separation unto God, they fail. Some may say, Children are not converted, have not the tastes of the new man, and therefore it would make them legal to require them to act upon principles a Christian alone can understand. To this it is enough to reply, first, Who can say how early in life a child may be regenerated and the new man require proper food ? Secondly, the Word is the appointed means to this end, and should therefore be freely, persistently, and faithfully used. Thirdly, the children of believers have a responsibility for walk apart from the question of their new birth. All this is intimated in two points in the child-history of Samuel :he was weaned, and yearly his mother brought him a little coat, when she came up to the Lord's house to offer sacrifice. The weaning would seem to teach that breaking of the will without which little or nothing can be done for the child. Its desires are curbed, its wishes are checked effectually, begetting a subdued spirit before unknown. How needful it is that children should be taught to surrender their wills ! Obedience, absolute, immediate, and cheerful, is the first lesson to teach them. Once effectually learned, it stays with the child through life:partially learned, it crops up again and again in acts and ways of willfulness. But who can truly command obedience but the one who is obedient ? Only those themselves as weaned children in God's presence can expect the subject spirit in their own children. How can children honor those who do not command it by their lives? This obedience need not be unintelligent. Of course, a reason cannot be given for every command, and children must be taught to obey unquestioningly. But conscience should also be instructed, so that as the children grow, they may learn to obey, not with eye-service merely, but from principle.

(To be continued.)

A correction.-In the answer to Q. 5, February number, let"Greek"and"Hebrew" change places, and for "Cleopas"read"Cleophas." Both"Alpheus"and "Cleophas" are probably Greek forms of the same Aramaic word, but " Alpheus " is nearer the original.

Q. 9.-"In the tenth chapter of John, what is 'the fold,' and who is ' the porter' ?"-R. H.

Ans.-A fold is the inclosure, or house, where the sheep are kept. Judaism was that fold when Christ, the true Shepherd, came. Others-false teachers, self-seekers-had come; but the sheep did not hear them; they never entered by the door-the way of God's appointment and His approval. Such were the scribes, Pharisees, and doctors of the law. The porter did not recognize them, neither did the sheep. The porter is the one in charge of the door, and would seem to be God Himself-" He that keepeth Israel." At our Lord's baptism, He said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" thus opening wide the door for Him, who entered in, and whose voice the sheep heard, and followed Him. " He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out,"-out of Judaism, into Christianity, where there is no more fold, but where the '' other sheep " (5:16) hear His voice (the Gentiles brought to Him), and there is one flock (not " fold "-see S. F.) and one Shepherd. Some have spoken of John the Baptist as the porter:such he was in some sense, because he gave utterance to God's thoughts about His Son; but it would seem that he was but the under-porter, to do the bidding of the Higher One.

Q. 10.-"Some inquiries on the Spirit.-It is said that Pentecost is the only baptism of the Spirit,-that then the Church being formed, that no after-reception of it is the same. Does not Acts 10:44, 45; 10:15, 16 show otherwise the expressions 'fell' 'poured out,' 'baptized with,' being used as to it ?

"Is it right to use the distinction 'came upon' and 'dwelt in' as distinguishing Old and New-Testament times ? Is it not rather (1) the fact of His abiding presence instead of transient visits, (2) and that He formed the one body instead of coming upon and filling individuals. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb. So the prophets-' the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,' etc."-B. G. G.

Ans.-Does not Pentecost mark the beginning of the dispensation, when the Holy Ghost was sent down from heaven ? and may not the similar expressions in Acts 10:and 11:referred to above be because Gentiles were involved for the first time. There is but one descent of the Spirit; but surely every Christian is individually baptized by the Spirit into the one body, and sealed when he believes. The work of the Holy Spirit in Old-Testament times seems to have been rather official than personal,- fitting men, even unconverted men, as Saul, for some special service or testimony. (1 Sam. 10:) Still we have too the personal work, as in David's case (Ps. 51:)-"Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me," where also the transient nature of His presence is intimated. The characteristic thought about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (epistles) seems to be that He is sent down after the Lord entered glory,-He is the witness of a glorified Christ, uniting us to Him as Head of His Church, and so to one another as members of His body.

Will A. T. kindly send the paper referred to in his question, before an answer is attempted ?

Once I prayed-
[I knew not what I said,]
"Show me myself, O Lord."
Alas ! I did not dread
The hideous sight,
[Which now I shudder to behold,]
Because I knew not self aright.

And I was led,
In answer to my prayer,
As step by step, to see
My wretched heart laid bare.
Then I prayed,
"Stay, Lord, I cannot bear the sight! "
And pityingly His hand was stayed.

Now I pray-
[I know the prayer is right,]
" Show me Thyself, O Lord.
Be to my soul the bright
And Morning Star,
To shine upon the grave of self,
And lead my heart from earth afar."

Oh, to behold
None other, Lord, than Thee.
E'en in Thine own, to seek
For that which looks like Thee.
Transfixed by Thy glorious beauty, Lord,
We'll learn to sing Thy praise, and thus
Forget to weep and sigh.

H. McD.

"There are no two people alike" is an expression we often hear ; which in one sense is quite true. In another sense we are all alike, for " as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." (Prov. 27:19.)Our hearts are all alike. We naturally love self amazingly. We may put it down emphatically, " The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth enviously." (Jas. 4:5.)"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing." (Rom. 7:18.)

If we could only keep in memory the truth as to what "the flesh" in us is, Christian fellowship might be maintained where it otherwise is so often marred; for we would, as a matter of course, turn from it completely to Christ Jesus, in whose face we would thankfully behold every believer. But, alas! we too often " look one another in the face " (2 Kings 14:8), and as a consequence, become occupied with the blemishes there.

If we would but remember when we do so, that we are but receiving the answer to our own face, "as in water," would we not be ashamed? Paul says, "I knew a man in Christ. … Of such an one will I glory:yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities." (2 Cor. 12:2, 5.) As a "man in Christ," the thought would ever be present, "by the grace of God I am what I am." (i Cor. 15:10.) Consequently, "by the grace of God" we each are what we are ; though as "in Christ" there is absolute perfection, yet in ourselves there are ''infirmities." In other words, there is that in each one of us which ought to cause shame and self-abhorrence rather than self-satisfaction or self-righteousness. Can we look at our past, and say, "I am pleased with it"? Would we dare to look at our present, and say, "I am satisfied"? And yet do we not forget this when we mark the "infirmities" of others? Of course, this is short of "wickedness." I am but speaking now of that in our nature which makes the diversity between us, and calls for forbearance. We hear Christians talking of the bad traits of character in others, and then closing with the remark, "I could not do such a thing;" or, " I cannot see how such an one can do so-and-so; now I do so-and-so." Is not this the unwise thing of which the apostle speaks ? " For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Cor. 10:12.)

Can there be real Christian fellowship where such thoughts and words are indulged ?

But, beloved, the "virtues" of Christ are to be seen in all who are His, and " by the grace of God" they are what they are. Then let us cease this busied effort of digging up evil, as it is the work of the "ungodly." (Prov. 16:27.) It is an unholy practice, which we can easily fall into if not "sanctified by the truth"-preserved. (Jno. 17:17-19.)

We are to recognize the fact that there are human weaknesses in all, and ought we not rather to pray for the needed grace to overcome these infirmities, and so " provoke unto love and to good works?

It is a painful fact that Christians often cannot live together? Why is this? Is it not because they are not grounded and established in the truth we are considering? I am sure it is. Is it not frequently also a painful fact that Christians are not in fellowship together very long before these "little foxes which spoil the vines" appear and endanger the "little flock"?

And is there no remedy ? Yes, the remedy is twofold. I believe, before any real abiding soul-progress can be made, true "repentance toward God" as to our natural condition is absolutely essential. In other words, to abhor self as Job did (Job 42:5, 6). This can only be by getting a good view of ourselves as in God's holy presence,-by believing the truth as to our condition already referred to. Second, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ sufficient to draw upon the grace needful for daily piety.

Our infirmities remind us of our natural condition, and consequently humble us, and thus serve the purpose of exalting Christ in us, as we must lean on Him or fail miserably.

Let us, beloved, turn away from occupation with the blemishes in others; and when tempted to be so engaged, let the remembrance of our own nature bring the blush of shame to our face, and the grace of Christ prostrate us before Him-the absolutely spotless One, in whom alone we "stand " or can alone hope to be "holden up."

"Let brotherly love continue." (Heb. 13:1:)

[NOTE.-It is to be remembered that the writer is referring, not to the wickedness of the flesh In the believer, but its weakness. All true fellowship is based upon righteousness-"in the light"-and righteousness cannot turn away from sin in a brother. The sin must be dealt with, in all gentleness and love, and wisdom, but it cannot be ignored.

What is most to be deplored is the lack of power to deal with evil. It is perhaps easy to speak of this, easier than to manifest that power. Where one is walking with God, he can and will rebuke sin and in so doing not offend, save the incorrigible, but commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. It should be owned with sorrow that fellowship is a thing easily marred, and the writer notes the spirit of criticism as the cause. But we must remember too that neglect of evil only allows it to increase, and meddling with evil without power also spreads it. The only remedy is to be cast upon God, to be much alone with Him and thus have His mind. We shall then be able to act in faithfulness and to verify that sure word which says, "faithful are the wounds of a friend." Let it be seen that there is no selfishness, no party spirit, at the bottom of the rebuke or the discipline, but a true desire for God's honor, and His blessing will go with us. How many have had occasion to bless God for the faithful dealing of a fellow-Christian, or even of a whole assembly. But let us remember, we are to walk with God if we are to act for Him.-ed.]

"Be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers," (2 Cor. 6:13, 14.)

These two exhortations, or rather two parts of one exhortation, occur together as quoted above. Indeed, the second is but explanatory of the first, and taking the two together, we have, as always in the perfect Book, an evenly balanced presentation of truth.

We live in a day of great broadness, so called. Men professing to hold to the divinity of our blessed Lord can be associated in benevolent work with those who deny it. Within the bounds of the same denominational communion can be found those who teach that death means annihilation to the wicked, those holding to their final restoration to blessing, and those who profess to believe that eternal punishment is indeed what Scripture calls it -" everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." These persons remain together, tolerate one another's views, and seem to think it an exhibition of brotherly love, and largeness of heart. There are to-day men who deny the infallible inspiration of God's Word, holding chairs in institutions devoted to instructing young men for the ministry, while the large part of the same denomination hold that the Bible is God's Word. Yet
apparently no violence is done to conscience, and but few voices are raised in opposition to this blending of light and darkness.

Opposed to all such laxity, falsely called " largeness," but in reality treason to God, His Son, His Spirit, His Word, is the simple statement of Scripture. " Be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Largeness is needed, broad views which take in the whole scope of divine truth; but it must be the broadness of God, not man, nor Satan ; and what blasphemer will link God's holy name with the infidelity creeping into and fast destroying the churches of to-day?

Heaven, God's home, is described for us negatively in the main. There is no temple in it, no need for the sun or moon; " There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." No more sea, no more curse, no more sighing, tears, or death. That blessed home, our home too, is described by what it excludes, (not, of course, that it is a negative state, but that the presence of the things excluded would only bring misery,) and thus room is given for the full enjoyment of those blessings ours even now in anticipation, as made known by the Spirit. Would any one think for a moment that heaven is a narrow, constrained place? Nay, it is indeed a "wealthy place." The exclusion of evil, evil persons, evil principles, gives room for the full enjoyment of the liberty of the glory of the children of God. And what is the child of God now if not a heavenly person ? Then let the exclusiveness of heaven be true of him here. But it is objected that the rigid application of exclusiveness will separate from God's own children. To this it is enough to answer that if they adopt doctrines and practices contrary to the truth of God, they separate themselves; and if we would not go with them in that separation, we must hold fast what we have. It is needless, however, to dwell longer upon this aspect of the truth, admitted by most, at least, who have a true desire to honor Him who suffered all reproach and dishonor for us. Let us apply the same principle to the daily walk and intercourse of the Christian. If we are to have true largeness of heart, we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Lot settled down in Sodom, and lost all power to help that people, or to enjoy communion. He had taken what might be called a liberal step; but, so far from enlargement, nothing but straitness resulted, and wretched failure. Abraham holds himself aloof, and his heart is so enlarged that he can not only enter into God's thoughts about himself, but into that pity and long-suffering which for the time found expression in his interceding prayer for the doomed city. It was so with Israel as a nation; separate, they had power, blessing, enlargement; mixed with the nations about them, they grew smaller and smaller, until God's eye alone could trace them. In this very chapter, the apostle speaks of his own enlargement, and does so in connection with statements which seem to be paradoxical:"As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed ; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." To the natural mind, these opposites are not only incapable of being harmonized, but constraint, unrest, and narrowness would result. Faith, however, sees in the outward straitness the hindrance of that which would only bring into bondage-the flesh. As to his condition, the apostle could glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him. Let us learn this lesson too. And as to our associations-whether social, commercial, or ecclesiastical,-if we carry out the principles we have been considering, we will find true enlargement. We will be in a place where God can show what a Father He is, and share with us His thoughts, which are never narrow. In a day like this, when the tendency is toward union at the expense of truth, let us be on our guard. Let us not fear true unity, which is of God, but learn His heart and ways in separation from that which is not of Him.

No thought is here intended that would cast suspicion upon any, or disparage that love which would unite all God's own. But let us have Him, not His people, before us, and true enlargement will follow.

"And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

" And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

"No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day."

"Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise Him up at the last day." (Jno. 6:39, 40, 44, 54.)

We have in these verses four distinct truths, differing from each other, often indeed considered by man to be utterly irreconcilable, yet all converging to one common end-resurrection at the last day. That goal of high blessing, because of God's glory, is the meeting-point where at last, if not before, all that seems contradictory in the great scheme of redemption will be forever harmonized. Then, to principalities and powers, to the world will God manifest the perfection of His wisdom, power, and grace. But we know that now these precious truths should be made manifest by the Church
(Eph. 3:9, 10), not only to those in the heavenly places, but to all men as well. And if these things are to be manifested by the Church, they must also be understood by the Church. Let us, then, seek to gather some of the wondrous truths taught in these four verses.

First, we have the truth of God's sovereign, absolute election. Here the whole mass of His chosen people are viewed as one-"all which He has given Me." The integrity of this mass is preserved ; nothing is lost from it. It is to be raised up, in glory, and presented before God in the completeness in which it was given to the Son. How entirely is man set aside here ! Before the foundation of the world-ere even sin had brought in ruin-we have this wondrous transaction ; a gift to the Son, intrusted to Him, in the assurance that at whatever cost, whatever risk, no portion of that gift, not the most insignificant, should be lost. Sin, and death by sin, are contemplated as in the future, but spite of sin, through death, beyond the fitful rage of Satan's power, and man's rebellion, that gift is preserved, "raised up at the last day," when He to whom this gift was made will say, " Behold, I and the children which God hath given Me." Compared with the certainty of this accomplishment how puny are Satan's mightiest efforts weakest when they seemed strongest, overthrown at the moment when they seemed to have overthrown God's Son ! how powerless is sin to set aside this purpose-"the eternal purpose which He purposed in Himself"!-sin, black, horrible as it is, working death, bringing in hopeless ruin as far as man is concerned, making an awful gulf impossible for man to cross and regain lost access to God in Eden, erecting barriers mountain high,-how all this is swept aside by the irresistible purpose of God, as the twigs hanging to the grass on the river's bank are borne away by the mighty flood of waters ! Far be the thought to despise Satan's power; he is a roaring lion, mighty and terrible to helpless man ; or to have low views of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. But are these to be compared to God ? Is Satan stronger than He ? can sin thwart His purpose ? Through whom is this will accomplished ? Through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Upon Him hangs the fulfillment of this purpose-"I will raise it up at the last day." How certain is the accomplishment of all this. Even now, in anticipation of it, we can triumph. The great doctrine of Election is feared by most-opposed by many well-meaning Christians. But is not God sovereign ? Has He left to chance the momentous issues of eternity ? All Scriptures answer, No. Is not the dread of, the opposition to, this doctrine to be found in the fact that it takes every thing so completely out of man's hands, and puts it in God's? Man is set aside-he is not even, in the verse we are considering, looked at as an individual :" I shall raise it up again at the last day." Not that individuals are not contemplated in election. "He hath chosen us in Him"-but all thought of human cooperation in election is set aside. But there can be no ground for fear of this most precious and wondrous truth. If it brings out man's helplessness, it only the more clearly manifests God's love and goodness, giving new grounds for praise and adoration. Let it be remembered, however, that election is in Christ. Nowhere is it hinted that God chose men to be lost. The horrible doctrine of reprobation has no place in Scripture, and is utterly opposed to the comforting and God glorifying truth of election. . Nor again let it be thought that this is a truth for the unsaved. It could only confuse and stumble them.

Our next verse give us the manward side. The same will, the same end, but not the sovereign gift of the Father to the Son, but the free and simple acceptance of Christ by all who will. Notice the universality of the truth:every one, not the elect; not certain classes, but every one. Still, it is individual, each for himself. Notice, too, the simplicity :" that seeth the Son and believeth on Him." No works, no moral fitness required, no feelings called for. The eye is turned away from self,-no good to be gotten from that defiled source,-to the Son of God incarnate, who came down from heaven to give life to the world. It is faith which sees Christ,-the faith of a sinner taking as a sinner the gifts held out by the Saviour,-eternal life. "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life." The last day he can now look forward to with confidence as the time when it shall be fully seen what that little act of faith meant, when he looked away to Jesus and lived. But what does he see, as he looks on to the last day ? That God's electing love has brought him there. Here there is no collision between these precious truths. He came as a sinner, lost, guilty, helpless ; he saw Christ, he believed on Him, he received life, and now, wondrous to tell, he sees that he was chosen before the foundation of the world.

Our third verse links these two truths together:" No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day." Faith is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8); so is repentance (Acts 5:31). Had we been left to ourselves we would never have come to Christ. " The carnal mind is enmity against God." Not all the manifestations of love, nor all the terrors of wrath could have drawn one sinner, were he left to his own will. The fullest gospel, the clearest expositions of truth, are alike powerless unless accompanied by the mighty workings of the Holy Spirit of God. And yet we must be careful to note that this is not something mechanical. Man's reason, conscience, and will are left free, but actuated by divine grace and power, he is drawn, persuaded to believe and be saved. Boasting is excluded. We can no more boast of our faith than of our works-all is of grace.

" 'Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly forced us in,
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin."

Blessed be the God of all grace !
This drawing, too, culminates at the same blessed end, -"I will raise him up at the last day." From the first moment when convinced of sin, and the anxious cry, "What must I do to be saved!" on till the trembling soul rested on Christ, was the work of God's Spirit. Having been drawn to Christ, the believer is still drawn after Him till He will find himself in glory, drawn there by the same power which first awakened him. Beloved reader, is there not in all this something which appeals to our heartfelt gratitude, our adoring love ?

But this paper would be incomplete without a consideration of the last verse quoted at the beginning:" Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." In the first verse we have a display of God's sovereign electing grace, "before the foundation of the world." In the second, we have the Person of the Son of God presented as the object of faith, and eternal life result of believing. Next, is shown the drawing of the Father through the Spirit, making it plain that faith is the gift of God. Now, we have in the last place, the work of Christ as the ground upon which God's sovereign love in election and calling can act toward guilty sinners. " Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood." His flesh and His blood were offered as food for the sinner when He laid down His life on the cross. This is the answer to their unbelieving question, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" In incarnation He was alone, with life in Himself, but the work not yet accomplished by which that life could be imparted to others, save in anticipation. But when He said, "It is finished," when His blood was shed, He was indeed food for the dying sinner. His flesh and blood then speak to us of His death on the cross, which removed every obstacle, satisfied every claim of justice, and forever swept away every barrier to eternal love flowing forth in all its fullness. The eating and drinking are strong expressions for the faith which appropriates that sacrifice. But what a view does the cross of our blessed Lord give us of the amazing love of God ! At what a cost have we obtained eternal life !-through the death of the Lord of life. Vile, guilty, undone, with nothing to commend us to God, we see Him giving His only begotten Son for us. " The last day " was for us a day of terror, of judgment, of eternal woe ; now, on the ground of that death, we hear our Lord, saying, "I will raise him up at the last day." It is a day of joy, of glory, of full manifestation as the sons of God..

Thus are these four great truths linked together by the person of the Lord, and the glory in resurrection fruit of God's electing love and on the ground of Christ's accomplished work, received by faith alone. How beautifully harmonious is God's Word !

"The commandment is holy, just, and good;" we I may expect to find, therefore, even in those ordinances which relate to ceremonial matters, a spirit of righteousness,-indeed it could not be otherwise, proceeding from one whose whole being is characterized by strict justice. When we look at the various ordinances which relate to every-day life, we are struck with this even-handed justice manifested. Judges were to be impartial,-not respecting the rich, nor leaning to the side of the poor because he was poor. The rights of private property were strictly guarded. The person of the slave was protected ; the wages of the hireling guaranteed. True, it was the law, and could make nothing perfect, dealing, as it did, with man in his natural state ; indeed, many things were allowed which a full standard of holiness applied to the new man would not permit. Moses, "for the hardness of your hearts," permitted, under certain restrictions, divorce and a plurality of wives. Still, even here, the natural lawlessness and selfishness of man were curbed by the spirit of justice and fairness in the ordinance which regulated his conduct in these matters. Living, as we do, under grace, we do not have to turn to the law either for salvation or as a rule of life. But that does not close the law to us as containing principles of holiness for all time,-principles that we do well to examine and in the power of grace to act upon.

In Rom. 8:, we are told there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and that by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus we are set free from the law of sin and death,-a law whose chains were only the more tightly riveted when we endeavored to loose them by keeping the commandments (Rom. 7:). We are thus set free-a blessed deliverance!-but for what purpose? "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the 'Spirit." That is, the righteous requirements of the law-what was contemplated in it-the principle of it, might be carried out in us who are no longer in any particular under its rule, and who are therefore free to show what grace can do. This is most important. We are not under law; are we therefore lawless? " God forbid !" says Rom. 6:What greater proof of the utter and hopeless corruption of our natural hearts could we have than that grace which has pardoned should be used as an excuse to go on in the very bondage from which it has freed us? But, thank God ! as born of Him, we do delight in His will, and long to be conformed to the image of His blessed Son. We abhor that sin which has left its defiling trail upon our whole nature, and we long for the time when we shall be freed from its hateful presence. Therefore, so far from desiring to live on in lawlessness because he is under grace, the saved soul yearns for practical holiness, and God has most fully provided for that yearning by the same grace which saved us. Still there remains, as we well know, " sin in our mortal body," which we are not to obey, "members which are upon the earth," which are to be mortified. And it is by the Word used and applied by the Spirit, that we are to do this. We see, therefore, the connection between, the law, as in God's Word, and our walk. Would that we were more under the power of that Word !

"Thou shall not have in thy bag divers weights-a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thy house divers measures-a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have:that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." (Deut. 25:13-16.) "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have :I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe all My statutes, and all My judgments, and do them :I am the Lord." (Lev. 19:35-37)

In the first of these passages we have the results of obedience given as the motive-"that thy days maybe lengthened in the land ; " in the second, we have redemption, and the nature of God, as the reason for obedience. Grace and government alike constrain us to please God. Before passing to the spiritual application of these laws, may we not pause and look at them in their letter? Is there not great reproach brought upon the name of Christ by some of those who bear it, through their unfair dealings-in buying and selling, and the ordinary transactions in every-day life? It may be in very little things that this dishonesty is seen ; but every unfair advantage Christians may take, no matter how small, is deeply grieving to the Holy Spirit. There is no need to specify:each one's conscience will tell him whether or not he is in every particular walking honestly as in the day. When Abraham wanted a tomb for the burial of Sarah, he would buy it for as much money as it was worth, – " current money with the merchant." So David bought the threshing-floor of Oman for the full price. Having One who has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," we need have no fear, need take no unfair advantage of any one.

But this subject has many spiritual applications, which should strongly appeal to our conscience. The standard is the shekel of the sanctuary, and the One who acts according to that standard is God Himself. The atonement " money (Ex. 30:13-15) was according to this standard :not what they might deem sufficient, but what God declared was the ransom for their souls. And for each there was the same price ; the rich paid no more, the poor no less. We have been bought with a price – " the precious blood of Christ." Not part of the debt we owed has been paid, but all – to the very last farthing. The wrath which fell upon the spotless Substitute was just as real, just as full, as that which would have sunk us forever into the lake of fire had we come under its awful power. There were no "divers weights "here – no lightening of the punishment because of the dignity of the Substitute. Blessed be God ! Christ bore our sins, – not part of them, but all. This gives true peace of conscience, because it meets God's justice. For each one, too, the price is the same. All need the precious blood of Christ, – the moral man needs it as much as the vilest sinner. One weight- the blood of Christ, one measure – the glory of God; and we, who had been weighed and found wanting – had been measured and fallen short, are now, through infinite grace, "complete in Him," "perfected forever."

But if the shekel of the sanctuary has been used in atonement, so that through Christ we stand before God according to its full weight, none the less is our personal consecration measured by that same shekel. Lev. 27:3 shows that the dedication of devoted persons was measured according to this standard, – not what they might think sufficient, but the fall weight of God's estimation.

Num. 7:13, etc., weighs all the gifts of the princes by the same holy standard. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:) wanted to have their gifts to God measured by a smaller standard, so that it would seem to be all they had. When we would have a less holy standard applied to all our consecration, all our giving up for God, we are unconsciously using some other standard.

When we have two standards of living-one public, the other private, we are using" divers weights and measures, which are an abomination to the Lord." (Prov. 20:10.) Of course, there is the hypocrite, who has entirely lying weights in his bag, his private life completely the denial of his public profession. But even where there is truth, is there not often a great difference between our heart-life, our thoughts, and our outward walk ? Thoughts which are permitted to live unrebuked in our hearts, we would be shocked to give utterance to. That is having two weights-one for thoughts, another for words. Every honest person can enlarge much on this subject.

When Peter was at Antioch, before certain folk came down from Jerusalem, he went in and ate with certain Gentile Christians; after those from Jerusalem came, he withdrew himself. (Gal. 2:12-14.)Here he had divers weights for divers people. And he is not the only one who has acted thus. How is it with us? Before earnest Christians can we speak freely of the things of Christ, only to find ourselves speaking just as freely of the things of the world before the unsaved ! Let us be careful. It is in the sanctuary alone that we will learn that unchanging standard to be used before all alike, with, of course, the "meekness of wisdom." We only suggest what can be followed out in many directions.

Further, we are not to have in our bag two weights, one for our brother, heavy and exact, and another less weighty for ourselves. " Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone," said our Lord to those who had a weight, heavy indeed, for the wretched woman found in sin, but none for themselves. He only applies to them the same weight, and how differently they act. Instead of clamoring for her death, they are glad to escape from the testing of those balances which found them, as well as her, wanting. The hardest judge is one who fails to judge himself. Oh, the fault-finding, back-biting, unkind estimates of our brethren ! all because we use divers weights and measures. Our brother fails, and we strictly call him to account, we, it may be do the same, thing and never think of it. Brethren, let us stop this, this spirit of fault-finding, of criticism. Let us first always judge ourselves, cast out the beam out of our own eye and then shall we see clearly to cast out the mote out of our brother's eye. When we have been dealt with in grace, are we to treat our brother differently? But you say, he must confess his fault:and so perhaps he will when you pour coals of fire on his head, and when he sees that you are moved, not by self-interest, but are yourself walking humbly with your God. Beloved, do we not well to take heed to these things? If when Israel made the ephah small (what they sold) and the shekel great (the price paid for it) God withdrew blessing, does He not act in the same way toward us? Rather do we not ourselves hinder those blessings He would give us ?

FRAGMENTS I. It was by faith (Heb. 11:) that David slew Goliath;- and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith-in the least things as in the greatest. We are not called upon to slay Goliath, but we need the power that slew him to overcome self, sin, and Satan every day. The one who slew him was little in his own eyes,-but more than that, he was little in the eyes of others too. (i Sam. 17:28.) So God was with him and delivered him.

2. "When thou wast little in thine own sight," Samuel said to Saul, (i Sam. 15:17.) These words have a sadly solemn sound. That time was past,-pride had ensued, and destruction was about to follow. From littleness, he was lifted up to a throne:from pride, he descended swiftly to death and judgment. Still the judgment did not come at once. God is slow to anger, and so the kingdom of Saul, with its burden of pretentious religiousness (without power)-pride, envy, and persecution (type of Jerusalem under the Pharisees and of the world,) continued long ; but there was no repentance, and the judgment was the more awful at last.

3. God deals in a similar way with His own-not for destruction, but for edification. We [trespass on His long-suffering in self-complacency; and when the chastening blow comes, time is required for the stupefied senses to understand what it means, and to discern how far we had drifted. The one who says, "I cannot see why I should suffer this" confesses, not only that he has been drifting, but also that he has not yet recovered himself- is not restored. When the Lord smote Uzzah, David was stunned, and went home displeased, and God waited patiently for the breaking-down time. How great is His mercy ! Self-satisfaction may lead us on for a time when things are not right with God, (and God is patient,) but the end must come.

4. David was blest of God, but that only brought him into trouble with men. His kin rebuked him (Eliab, his eldest brother); Saul envied him, and the enemies of Israel watched to destroy him ; Satan raised storms to overwhelm him. So "all they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," and "because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." But if it is so serious a thing to belong to God in Satan's world, then we must have on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand, and we must lay fast hold of the love of God that we may see, above circumstances and men and Satan, the hand of God. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. We must hasten to submit to Him. We need to hold the truth in the heart, and to love it, to escape the power of Satan.

5. What a warning-lesson we have in this, that David, who had slain Goliath, was nearly slain himself long after by a less famous giant, and had to be rescued from peril and shame by his men! Years of court-life had gradually sapped his early vigor and simplicity, and when the "evil day" came, he was not able "to stand." The Lord that delivered him out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear was not with him ; and this had to be learned by failure. The power and the wisdom and the goodness was not in David.

6. In the fortieth psalm, the language of the One who won the mightiest victory, is that of utter dependence and meekness. " I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." This was the spirit of Jesus,-"I waited patiently on Jehovah, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry." No claim -perfect lowliness. And so the psalm ends as an example to us-"But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer." It ends in this way because His own are still in this world, in suffering. We have been called to the fellowship of God's Son. May we feel that we are poor and needy. Let it be sufficient that "the Lord thinketh upon us." If the Lord of glory was poor and needy, let all pride be put to shame.

7. This psalm and the next one (40:and 41:) end the first book-the Genesis of the Psalms. It is the true Joseph who speaks-the One who knew the power that delivered from the pit, but passed on and died-in weakness, in the midst of His brethren. He has left us the song of victory, but a path of sorrow and weakness and prayer, with inward joy and peace, awaiting the deliverance to come. So in the end of the gospels-the Genesis of the New Testament, the true Joseph departs from the midst of His brethren, in weakness, publicly (by the cross), while in the power of resurrection and sweet promise and assurance to them in secret, corresponding to Joseph's assuring words to his brethren that Egypt knew nothing of.

May we seek no lifting up and luxury here, but cultivate willingness to suffer-count it all joy. How unwilling often to endure in little things, because the love of Christ has not filled us and given us victory ! We forget what this world is, and who we are, and what the cross means, and the great recompense of the reward (Heb. 10:35). "Blessed the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." (Jas. 1:12.) E. S. L.

2.–MAN AS HE WAS AND AS HE IS.

"Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." (Eccles. 7:29.)

Let us now, in the light of God's infallible Word, see what the answer, in part at least, to the question, " What is man ?" is. It is well, at the beginning of our study, to get right views of Scripture teaching as to man, for these will go with us all through. Wrong views of man will distort our views of all other truth, for truth is a whole ; it hangs together-or, rather, fits together-like a wonderful piece of machinery. If one part is out of order, the whole is affected. So with Scripture doctrine,-a faulty or wrong view of man's condition will give a correspondingly incorrect one of Christ's work. Wrong thoughts as to man's nature, his constitution- materialistic thoughts, for instance,-affect in the gravest manner-rather, deny altogether-the solemn truths as to future existence. Satan here, as everywhere else, is seeking to introduce the "little leaven that leavens the whole lump." He is aiming at the person and work of the Son of God, at the destruction of men.

Man was God's crown on creation:all that preceded was to prepare the earth for his habitation. When the time | came for his creation, there is, as it were, a pause-a consultation :" Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness" (Gen. 1:26), thus distinguishing him from every other creature. But this pause, this break, only prepares for the more marked difference between man and all other creatures. The earth brings them forth, but "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." (Gen. 2:7.) Other creatures were living souls, but man only had his life breathed into him from God. This prepares us to expect the difference which is brought out in the other scriptures. But, first, it would be well to see how man's constitution is described in Scripture:"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (i Thess. 5:23.) Here we see he is a threefold being, composed of spirit, soul, and body. God is a Spirit:the angels are ministering spirits. Man, then, is, as to his spirit, akin to God and the angels, who are called the sons of God (Job 38:7). God is the God of the spirits of all flesh (Num. 16:22); He is the Father of spirits (Heb. 12:9). It is as having-rather, as being-a spirit that man is called the offspring of God; as in Paul's speech at Athens (Acts 17:28, 29), where the contrast with the body is insisted on. So, in our Lord's genealogy in Luke, Adam is the son of God. But what does this teach? The spirit is doubtless immortal,-"Neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels." This immortality is entirely apart from any question of eternal life. Whatever his future, man will exist forever- must do so, because he was created in the image of God, is the offspring of God, is like the angels. The spirit is also the seat of the judgment-the mind; it is the man himself really :"What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" (i Cor. 2:2:)

But man has a soul as well as spirit. This includes his affections and feelings, and may be controlled by the spirit or, as in the beasts, by the body; for, in his body, man resembles the beasts,-" Man that is in honor and understandeth not (whose spirit does not control) is like the beasts that perish." (Ps. 49:20.) It is his body which makes man an inhabitant of the earth, and which fits him to be such, which also distinguishes him from the angels, _"Thou madest him a little lower than the angels." (Ps. 8:5.)
Having seen in some measure his constitution, we come back to man as he was. He was created in the image, after the likeness, of God,-that is, he resembled Him. We have seen this resemblance in constitution; but there was, in a measure, a moral likeness as well- such a resemblance as the creature can bear to the Creator. This was negative rather than positive. God is righteous:man was innocent. His righteousness is a positive, inherent characteristic. Man's moral character was rather negative; it consisted rather in the absence of evil than in the presence of good. Not that there was no excellence in him :surely, he was, as a creature, perfect; but it was creature-goodness, creature-perfection. His mind, his spirit, was mature,-capable of discernment and judgment, as we see from his giving names (doubtless names which described them,) to all the beasts. He was also capable of understanding and enjoying communion with God, as we see from the very charge given to him. His soul, his affections, had full scope for exercise both toward his help-meet-"bone of his bone"-and toward Him whose perfect goodness spoke everywhere; while, as to his body, he was a stranger to sickness, suffering, and death. It was a vehicle in which he could give exercise to the faculties of his mind and soul as an immortal being, yet an inhabitant of the earth. In dignity, he was lord over all; he had dominion over all. Such, in some degree, was man. Of the simplicity, happiness, moral elevation of that state we know but little. All was good, and God's benediction rested over all.

We come now to the second part of our subject. Man as he is. In passing to this we cross a narrow but deep and dark gulf. So deep that none can ever cross back ; that gulf is the fall. We have seen that man's innocence was negative – perhaps untried would be a better word,-that his goodness was that of the creature; hence unstable. He was like the angels, many of whom have fallen and thus shown what creature excellency is. Man was innocent, but untried:as yet there was a possibility of sinning. He was kept, as far as one with freedom of will could be kept, from all tendencies to evil. He was placed in Eden, the garden of the Lord, surrounded by all that spoke of wisdom, goodness, and care. He had occupation for his hands. He was in immediate communication with God on whose power and strength he could have drawn had he so desired. Every thing was on his side, in his favor, in the test that followed. Only one command was given, and the temptation was presented by the serpent (Satan allowed to take the form of a creature beneath man, and not of an angel of light), and that temptation of such a character that it might have been repelled at once-a temptation to doubt the good-and love of the One who had surrounded them with every blessing. The woman, man's helpmeet, listens to the tempter, and is beguiled-type of the danger of allowing the affections and feelings to lead-while the man with open eyes follows her, thus deliberately severing the link which bound him to God. His eyes are opened, conscience speaks, and man knows his true condition. He knows also his relationship to God, for he hides from Him at once. He receives the sentence now. Sin has come, and death by sin. Man was alienated from God, the breach was as complete as it was impossible to recover his former condition. The driving out from Eden was the natural result, and man has been there ever since, outside that happy place-the cherubim of justice ever between him and the tree of life. Such was the fall, and man is now just what the fall left him.

Let us now look at this condition. A positive factor has been added-sin. This is no mere absence of good, but a positive state-a state of lawlessness (i Jno. 3:4, where the correct translation would be, "sin is lawlessness"), where under the guise of being his own master, man is the servant, the slave of sin. His constitution has not changed, he is still spirit, soul, and body, but his nature has changed. What was once good, in subjection to God, is now alienated from Him; and this is seen in the whole man.
His spirit, his mind, is now the "mind of the flesh" (that which links him with the beasts, giving its name to the whole fallen nature), and as such it is "enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither in-indeed can be." (Rom. 8:7.) The desires of the flesh and the mind are in direct and irreconcilable opposition to the will of God. (Eph. 2:3.) Man has not lost his reason, his faculties are clear, his judgment in exercise. We have but to notice the mental activity about us :activity devoted, not to God, but to self-interest, by men of science, by so-called philosophers, and even theologians, men with unquestioned powers of intellect devoting their faculties to Satan,-we have but to notice this to see that man has not lost his reason by the fall,- that it is by wisdom that the world knew not God. (i Cor. 1:21.) True it is that his reasoning faculties have become warped, and doubtless cramped and dwarfed by the fall, still they are there.

The same is seen in the soul, the affections are there, but they are "vile affections" (Rom. 1:); even true love centering on the creature, and leading man ofttimes to hate the One who is the source of all love. This is one of the saddest proofs of the fall, that the gentler qualities, amiability and the like, when tested, are found to be not inconsistent with deadliest hatred and determined rejection of Christ. The rich young man in Luke is a sad example of this. God is left out, and the world fills the heart, and His presence there would be an intrusion. This is why in the law the state of man is tested and shown by the command, "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." He must be the sole, not merely the chief object of the affections. He must control all else. Man's affections are completely alienated, and he sees in God one to dread, one to doubt, but never one to love.

Finally sin has entered in and death by sin. The body, once but the link with earth, and which would lead man to realize his dependence upon God, has now become the fruitful field from which spring disease and deformity and death. Death has stamped it for its own, so that its name is now "mortal body." (Rom. 8:2:)

This then is the nature which man now has-a sinful nature-which pervades and gives character to his whole being. Sin is no partial thing, reaching to some of the faculties and leaving others untainted ; it is a complete perversion of the whole man.

This too is the nature transmitted from father to son, as we read, "Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his own image." (Gen. 5:3:) Such a state may well be termed death, in which there is no motion toward God whatever. But as in physical death corruption follows, so also from this state of alienation from God all forms of actual disobedience in thought, word, and deed flow. Man is born in sin, " shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps. 51:5) ; and we see it as soon it can manifest itself. "They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." (Ps. 58:3.)

Here we have the distinction between sin and sins-a truth familiar to many, and important for all to understand. Sin is the nature, or rather what controls the nature; sins are the manifestations of that nature. Sin is the root from which spring the fruits, sins. Man is guilty before God, not because he has a sinful nature (that he inherited), but because he has sinned.

Hence it would not be right to say that infants are guilty-that they are under the wrath of God, or that they will be punished. There is no question that they are born in sin, and have a depraved nature. Having this, they of course need regeneration-the impartation of eternal life in Christ, secured by His death and resurrection; but it is entirely foreign to scripture to speak of them as under wrath, still more so to speak of them, or any one but himself, as being guilty of Adam's sin. Adam stood for himself, sinned for himself. Man inherits the nature, the condition, but not the guilt. "The soul that sinneth it shall die." (See the whole connection, Ezek. 18:1-4, etc.) Therefore man cannot repent of Adam's sin, but of his own sins, though the sin of Eden is our common shame, because the sin of our common father.

Such being man's condition, and such being the fruits of it, wrath is that which awaits him for "all ungodliness and unrighteousness," "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil " (Rom. 2:8, 9.),-a wrath still withheld in long-suffering mercy, but none the less sure to come. It remains but to add the universality of this condition- and of the fact that all have sinned. "All have sinned and come (do come) short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:9-19, 23.) Man's responsibility is measured by the light he has enjoyed ; the Gentile is not judged by the law-the heathen by the light of Scripture.

Such, then, imperfectly given, is the state of man. How should such knowledge affect us? In the newly awakened soul a sense of guilt, corresponding in some measure to the true standing, will be pressed by the Holy Spirit. In the Christian, a sense of the utter corruption and helplessness of his nature will lead him, first to cry out, "O wretched man that I am!" and then, thankfully seeing the way of escape through the One who has passed through death and is risen now, to learn to reckon himself to be " dead indeed unto sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom. 6:2:) Let us ever remember what an awful thing sin is.

Driving along the road with a companion the writer remarked the great number of spider's web son the grass along the road-side. His companion replied, "Yes, the dew brings them out," which was in fact the case:they were made visible by the dew which lay upon them. How simple yet true a picture of our way in this world ! Our path is beset with snares, on the. right and the left. Satan spreads his nets at every step to catch the unwary. But the dew brings them out.

Israel had to gather the manna when the dew was yet upon the ground. The reviving, refreshing influences of the Holy Spirit are thus typified. It is in communion with God, enjoying the guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit, in the Word of God, that we are enabled to detect the snares of Satan, and so to avoid them. How often do young Christians ask the question, "Is there any harm in this or that habit, or association?" How often, alas ! do they step into what is nothing but a snare of Satan! How can they avoid these snares ? Simply by letting the dew bring them out-abiding in communion with God, the Holy Spirit ministering the Word to them and the snares are detected. Many apparently harmless things will then be seen to be snares.

May we thus let the Holy Spirit be our detective, and as we press on our way see the traps of the enemy and say, "we are not ignorant of his devices."

Hezekiah began by cleansing the temple of those defilements which had been allowed to accumulate during the reign of Ahaz. In other words, he attended first to those matters for which he was more directly responsible, offering sin-offerings, and sharing with Judah the joy of restored worship at the altar and in the house of Jehovah. It is well to remember that we must be right personally before we can help others. We must remove any thing from the house of God which would bring reproach upon Him before we can, as it were, throw open the doors to the rest of His people. There must at least be the earnest purpose to do this,-its perfect accomplishment should be our desire, however feeble we may be. This cleansing and these offerings, suddenly done, bring great joy to Hezekiah and Judah,-a joy they long to share with all Israel. Let us mark this :true purging of ourselves, followed by truly entering into Christ's sacrifice, brings a joy deep and full,-a joy, too, which makes us long that all God's people might share it with us. There is nothing selfish about true communion; he who has his head upon the Lord's bosom longs that others may have theirs there too. An exclusiveness which rests satisfied with a few only knowing and enjoying the good things of Christ, we may be sure is not according to God, however correct as to the letter it may be.

There is no such exclusiveness with Hezekiah and the men of Judah. It is to the passover, the memorial of their redemption, and answering to the Lord's supper for us, that he would invite them. Let us notice his letter. It is a call, first of all, back to God. "If thou wilt return, return to Me." (Jer. 2:1:) No passover, no Jerusalem-worship will answer unless there is first the turning unto the living God. Of what use would it be if all the people of God were together, without a single exception, and yet not with God ? That would be Rome's unity, tending to foster pride, not to glorify God. It is a mercy saints are kept apart outwardly unless there is truly a return to God. The outward divisions only speak of hearts divided from Him. They are to be mourned over, but let us ever remember that heart-work must come before true union outwardly can take place. Hezekiah's letter speaks of all this. It is gracious, but faithful. It does not gloss over the sad condition of Israel, while at the same time it assures them of blessing if they return-blessing reaching even to those who had been carried into captivity.

Let us notice one thing just here. There is no suggestion of any compromise as to the question of Israel's separation from the kingdom of Judah which had taken place years before. Israel had turned their backs upon God's house, and His order ; to these they were now invited to return. Had he been willing to do so, Hezekiah could doubtless have secured a much more general response. Had he proposed a common basis of union at Samaria, or, dropping both Samaria and Jerusalem, had he been willing to select some third city as their place of worship and meeting. Jerusalem too unpleasantly reminded them of their departure therefrom, so Hezekiah's message of love is treated with scorn and mockery. To-day, God's center is open for the return to it of all His people. But how is the loving invitation to return to the simplicity of knowing Christ alone received ? With scorn and mockery. The feeble few who dare to issue such an invitation to their brethren are called self-righteous, and their enjoyment of the presence and power of the Spirit is mocked at. On the other hand, every compromise, every union, alliance, society, is gladly recognized, and its appearance hailed as a fresh indication of energy and faith. Why is this? The call back to God's center reminds us of our departure therefrom, is humbling to our pride, and is therefore refused. Union and league foster pride, and are therefore indorsed. Doubtless there is real earnestness and zeal, but that is in spite of, not by means of, these leagues.
A few, not all, respond to Hezekiah's invitation, and are received by their brethren at Jerusalem. It was humbling to them thus to return, but how blessed to be once more on ground where God had put His name,-to worship Him, not " according to the dictates of their conscience," but according to the dictates of His Word.

It was humbling enough for all-Judah as well as Israel-to keep that passover. It was in the second month, not the first, and so reminded them of their uncleanness, their lack of readiness to keep it at the time appointed. Like those who were unclean in the wilderness, (Num. 9:10, ii) they came in under a special provision. Here is where all of us are. If in His mercy the Lord has recovered us, and gathered us around His table, is it not as it were in the second month ? Are we not reminded that the freshness and fervor of Pentecost are gone, that centuries of failure and wandering have come in ? None can exalt himself above the other in these things:we must all be very quiet, very lowly. Grace, and only grace, has been at work.

But there is more. Some of these people had not cleansed themselves aright for the passover, and yet had eaten it. Strictly, they would have been excluded, or, having partaken unworthily, would have been judged. But here grace again interposes. Hezekiah recognizes the purpose of their hearts to return unto the Lord ; and though many things were not as they should be, he prays, "The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary." His prayer is answered, and in peace and joy the people keep the feast seven days. Indeed, in the energy of their newly found joy, they keep seven days more. There is much for us to learn here. Righteousness is needful; but righteousness without pity, without considering past history and present circumstances, will fail of its own object. There may be many things in our brethren we could wish were different, many things in their past lives we could wish cleared up ; but can we not, spite of these things, recognize the desire and purpose of their hearts, and take them upon that.

Might we not expect much blessing and great joy did we thus imitate Hezekiah ? First, he gets right himself. Second, he invites his brethren to God's center. Thirdly, he seeks to prevent sorrow coming in through their imperfections.

Let us learn from him. But let us remember he gave up no principle. He would welcome to Jerusalem ; he would go nowhere else. In a day of declension like this, we cannot be too eager to recall God's beloved people to Himself; but if we are on His ground, let us remember that word, " Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them." In the application of these principles there may be, and doubtless will be, difficulty. But that does not affect the principles. Only let there be hearts overflowing with love, and subdued into godly fear, and we will ever be guided aright.

There is but one society for the Christian to recognize, and to which he can really belong according to the mind of God. That society is the Church of God-the whole body of believers.

We find in i Cor. 14:an example of a Church-meeting, met together in a meeting open to any to take part, ed of the Spirit; excluding, therefore, the thought of official person conducting a service, or of a chairman fading a meeting. A servant of the Lord may preach to any who come to hear, and is then conductor of a meeting in a sense, as Peter at Pentecost, or Paul in the school of Tyrannus; but a Church-meeting for worship and ministry was open to all. The many members were recognized, and the Spirit indwelling each. Now thus meeting together, no society is formed. We would meet together in such a case simply as a certain number out of the whole Church in that place, in His name, taking no other; and when we close the meeting, and return to our homes, no new society has been formed, any more than would a few Christians meeting in a hotel-parlor for prayer form a new society by so doing. And whenever Christians assemble in a Church-meeting, to take the Lord's supper, or for any other object, it should never be done as a society, distinguished from other Christians.

As to ordinations and appointments, the Lord prepares and sends forth and guides and governs evangelists and pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:); and as to elders, who were appointed as bishops or overseers (Acts 20:28), the appointment was by apostolic authority (Acts 14:23), which does not now exist. To those who do this service of oversight we should be subject, but the Church never undertook to appoint them. Even deacons, selected on one occasion by the Church at Jerusalem, were "appointed " by the apostles, and even the selecting was by apostolic permission (Acts 6:3).

Power-authority-is from above, down; not the other way,-not to be usurped by us as we deem expedient.

Christians, therefore, all belong to a society already made by the Spirit, and with ministry provided for as already shown.

We should be led by the Spirit at all times, and so led to assemble together,-and simply in the name of Jesus- no other is needed; and we are commanded to put away from among ourselves any wicked person. Nothing is left to the will of man-nothing in which the way is not marked out plainly for us by the Word. What a liberty we have thus from self-imposed burdens and human regulations!-truly, the liberty of the Spirit in reality. The ignoring of this-of these two things-the
presence of the Spirit of God in each believer, and that He guides us by the Word, and that we must do nothing but what that Word enjoins, has led to confusion in the Church.

The same principles bear upon service. All that can be done by societies can be clone in fellowship with other fellow-workers, and with all the aid that such labor in common truly affords, simply as members of the one body of Christ-Christ the Lord as Chief, the Spirit of God as the power and unity. Thus two and two can go forth, or several brothers and sisters together can hold a meeting at a street-corner, or in-doors, and with the sweet and uplifting thought that they have entered into no compact but the one that united them forever to the Lord and to all His own when they first believed. How great is our salvation ! and how glorious the Church to which we all belong! how close the tie that forever binds us together, while varied the opportunities and many the members of the one body!

If the special object be to reach young men, what better way than to welcome them in the family circle and in the Church-meetings? but if a room of public resort-a reading-room is called for, opportunity is thus given for a work of faith. Let any one be so led, and others would be certainly led to help him by the same Spirit. And not only would all be done in harmony with the truth-no new society formed, but the exercise of heart, of faith, all the mingled blessings that accompany such testings would result. The soul would realize more the direct dealings with God that accompany the path of pure faith and individual accountability to God. And help given would be more in the love of the Spirit, and less from human obligations. So also as to special meetings and work to draw out and develop younger brothers and sisters in the churches (as Endeavor societies)-all could
be fully accomplished upon the principles of Scripture, and no new society formed.

If some members of a family were to make a society and compact apart from the rest, the breach would be felt at once. We Christians are all one family. Sadly divided we are, still the way remains open for the individual who would be faithful to the Lord and to His Word-for himself to adhere to the truth, and his reward will be great. (Rev. 2:, 3:)

The path of obedience and simplicity is one of obscurity, but it has with it the blessing which obedience brings. There is little show before men, but He "who is holy and who is true" says, "I know thy works." (Rev. 3:7, 8.) He commends the one who keeps His word and does not deny His name.

"And if a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully." Let it be fixed in the heart that we should not do any thing except we have directions for it in the Bible, and we will not "join" any society. We are already joined to the Lord, and to one another as the body of Christ, the Church (Eph. 1:22), by the Spirit, who came from heaven to abide in us at that Pentecost of the second of Acts. By the Spirit we are all baptized into the one body, (i Cor. 6:17 and 12:12, 13, compared with Acts 1:5 and 2:i, 4 and Eph. 1:22.) God has placed every one of the members in the body "as it hath pleased Him." (i Cor. 12:18.) It is a perfect body -a complete society, and every member fitted in his place by the wisdom of God, to act just as and where they are placed by the power and liberty and wisdom of the Spirit. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Any earthly chief, and the bonds of a society, are, however well meant, but something between the soul and Christ-a denial of the perfection we have in the commandments of the Word, and the unction of the Spirit, and the Lordship of Christ. Nevertheless, may we be forbearing toward those who differ from us, and give thanks to God for good works any where, and maintain love to all saints.

If we say we hold the truth, let us commend the truth by love and good works. It is well if we are walking in the way of obedience, for "every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name's sake shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life; but many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." E. S. L.

AN EXPOSITION OF REVELATION IV.-XXII.

PART V.-Continued. THE VIALS OF WRATH.(CHAP, 15:, 16:)

The Vials of Wrath. (Chap, 16:)

The vials of wrath are now poured out upon the earth at the bidding of a great voice from the temple. The wrath of God is no mere ebullition of passion that carries away the subject of it. It waits the word from the sanctuary ; and at length that eventful word is spoken. Completing the divine judgments, the range of the vials is not narrower than that of the prophetic earth, and in this, differ from the trumpet-series which otherwise they much resemble. Another resemblance which is significant is to the plagues of Egypt, which were at once a testimony to the world and for the deliverance of Israel. Israel is here also in her last crisis of trouble, and waiting for deliverance, for which these judgments, no doubt, prepare the way, though that which alone accomplishes it, the coming of the Lord Himself, is not plainly included.

The first vial is poured out distinctively, in contrast with the sea and rivers, etc., upon the earth, like the first trumpet-judgment; but the effect is different:an evil and grievous sore breaks out upon those that have the mark of the beast, and that worship his image. In Egypt such a plague routed their wise men so that they could not stand before Moses. According to the natural meaning of such a figure, it would speak of inward corruption which is made now to appear outwardly in what is painful, loathsome, and disfiguring; those who had accepted the beast's mark being thus otherwise marked and branded with what is a sign of their moral condition. As the apostle shows (Rom. 1:) idolatry is itself the sign of corruption which would degrade God into creature semblance in order to give free rein to its lusts. Here it is openly the worship of the image of him whom Scripture stamps as the "beast," which those branded with his mark give themselves up to. The excesses of the French revolution, when God was dethroned to make way for a prostitute on the altar of Notre Dame, if they be not, as some have thought them, the fulfillment of this vial, may yet sufficiently picture to us how it may be fulfilled in a time of trouble such as never was before, and, thank God, such as never will be afterward.

The second vial is poured out on the sea, and the sea becomes like the blood of a dead man, and every living soul dies in the sea. Here we have the second trumpet in its effect upon the sea, but without the limitation there. And there seems a difference also, in that the blood is as of a dead man. It cannot be that it is merely dead blood, for all blood shed becomes that almost at once, and the sea turned into blood would by itself suggest death without the addition. Would it not rather seem to be, that the blood of a dead man, while it is indeed dead blood, is also that which has not been shed ? Life has not been violently taken, but lost though disease or natural decay. Thus in the law that which had died of itself was forbidden as food, because it spoke of internal corruption, as the life still vigorous when the blood was shed did not. If this thought be the true one, then the state imaged under the second vial is not that of strife and bloodshed among the nations, but of professed spiritual life gone, which the addition, " Every living soul died in the sea," affirms as complete. Life there might be in hunted and outlawed men, no longer recognized as part of the nations ; but the mass was dead. This seems to me the only thought that gives consistently the full force of the expressions.
The third vial is poured out upon the rivers and fountains of waters, the sphere affected by the third trumpet ; but in the trumpet they are made bitter, now they become blood, which, as owned to be the judgment of God upon persecutors, seems clearly to speak of bloodshed :they are given blood to drink. Where naturally there should be only sources of refreshment, as perhaps in family life, there are found instead strife and the hand of violence. The angel of the waters may be in this case the representative of that tender care of the Creator over the creature-life, which in this case comes to be against the persecutor and applauds His judgments ; as the altar does, upon which the lives of the martyrs have been poured out to God.

This seems to consist well with what has been given as the interpretation of the second seal.

The fourth angel pours his vial upon the sun, and it scorches men with its heat ; but they only blaspheme "God's name, and repent not. Here, as often, the head of civil authority seems to be represented ; and Napoleon's career has been taken as in the historical application the fulfillment of it. In him after the immorality, apostasy, and bloodshed of that memorable revolution, imperial power blazed out in a destructive fierceness, that might well be symbolized as scorching heat. There was splendor enough, but it was not "a pleasant sight to behold the sun:" the nation over which he ruled was oppressed with "glory," and soon manifested how its vitality had been exhausted by its hot-house growth. His career was brief ; and briefer still in proportion to its intensity will be the closing despotism, which will be followed by the kingdom of the Son of Man, and the display of a true glory unseen by the world before. Then shall that be fulfilled which is written:"the Sun shall not smite thee by day," and how great will be the joy of this that is added, " thy Sun shall no more go down ; . . . the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light." (Is. 60:20.)

The fifth vial is poured out, and the meteoric blaze is passed. Poured on the throne of the beast, darkness spreads over his kingdom. It is the foreshadow of that final withdrawal of light, the "outer darkness" of that awful time, when they who have so often bidden God withdraw from them will be taken at their word. But who out of hell can tell what that will be ? The sun has ascribed to it by the science of the day more than ever was before clone ; but who at any time could have said to the glowing sun, Depart from me:I desire darkness? Yet this is what they say to God.

Nor does the darkness work repentance:"They gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and sores, and repented not of their deeds." Such is the hardening character of sin ; and such is the impotence of judgment in itself to break the heart and subdue the soul to God.

So far, spite of the general character of the vials, they seem to have to do almost entirely with the beast and his followers; and these are, as we know, the principal enemies of Israel, and the boldest in defiance of God, at the time of the end. Nevertheless there are other adversaries besides those of the new risen empire of the west. The king of the north or of Greece is evidently in opposition at the close to the " king in the land of Israel, who is the viceroy of the beast in Judea. (Dan. 11:) This king of Greece also, if mighty, is so " not by his own power." (Dan. 8:24.) There is behind him, in fact, a mightier prince, who in Ezek. 38:-xxxix, comes clearly into view as head of many eastern nations, Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; Persia, Cush and Phut with the house of Togarmah, (Armenia,) being confederate with him. This is not the place to look at the people to whom all these names refer. Magog, the first of them, by common consent, stands for the Scythians, who, "mixed with the Medes," says Fausset, "became the Sarmatians, whence sprang the Russians." Rosh is thus by more than sound connected with Russia, as Meshech and Tubal may have given their names, but slightly changed, to Moscow and Tobolsk. The connection with Persia and Armenia, and with Greece no less, is easily intelligible at the present day.

Here are powers, then, outside the revived Roman empire, which we find in relation with Israel at the time of the end, and which will find their place in the valley of Jehoshaphat ("Jehovah's judgment") in the day when the Lord sits there to judge all the nations round about. (Joel 3:12.) Accordingly now, under the sixth vial, the way is prepared for this, and the gathering is accomplished. The sixth vial is poured out upon "the great river Euphrates," the effect being that the water is dried up," that the ways of the kings of the east may be prepared." The Euphrates is the scene also of the sixth trumpet, which would seem to give but a previous incursion of the same
powers that are contemplated here, the door being now set widely open for them by the drying up of the river, the boundary of the Roman empire in the past. In the trumpet there was but an inroad upon the empire ; now there is much more than this :it is the gathering for the great day of God Almighty !

Accordingly all the powers of evil are at work :three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet; for they are the spirits of demons, working miracles, who go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God Almighty ! . . . And they gathered them together unto the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon."

The frogs are creatures of slime and of the night, blatant, impudent impotents, cheap orators, who can yet gather men for serious work. Here, those brought together little know whom they go to meet; but this is the common history of men revealed in its true character. The cross has shown it to us on the one side ; the conflict of the last days shows it on the other. The vail of the world is removed, and it is seen here what influences carry them :the dragon, the spirit of a wisdom which, being, "earthly," is "sensual, devilish" (Jas, 3:15,); the "beast," the influence of power, which apostate from God is bestial (Ps. 49:20,); the "false prophet," the inspiration of hopes that are not of God:so the mass are led.

Har-magedon is the "mount of slaughter." We read of Megiddo in the Old Testament as a " valley," not a mountain ; whether it refers to this or no, the phrase seems equivalent to the " mountain of the slain," a mountain of heaped up corpses. To this, ignorant of what is before them, they are gathered.

A note of urgent warning is interjected here:no need of declaring the Speaker! "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." It is to the world Christ's coming will be that of a thief; for " in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." "Blessed is he that watcheth " is, as we see by the closing words, a solemn warning to the heedless. Who will be ready at this time to hear ? In any case, wisdom will utter its voice ; and none shall go out to meet unwarned the doom of the rebellious. Good it is to find just in this place, whether heeded or not, the pleading of mercy. Not the less terrible on that account the doom that comes.

And now the seventh angel pours his vial into the air. Of "the power of the air" Satan is the prince (Eph. 2:2), and all Satan's realm is shaken. A great voice breaks out of the throne, saying, It is done; and there are lightnings, and voices, and thunders,- the "voices " showing the lightnings and thunders between which they come to be no mere natural tempest, but divinely guided judgment. There is an unparalleled convulsion ; and the great city (Babylon or, as it is applied here, Rome) is divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations generally fall. It is added as to a special object of the divine judgment,-"And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give unto her the cup of wine of the fierceness of His wrath." This is in brief what is given presently in detail. Babylon has only once before been named in Revelation ; but the two following chapters treat of it in full.

Then "every island fled away :" as I suppose, there is no isolation of any from the storm; "and the mountains were not found :" no power so great but it is humbled and brought low. " And a great hail, every stone about a talent weight, fell down from God out of heaven upon men :and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail ; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." In the hail the effect of God's withdrawal from men is seen in judgment. The source of light and heat are one; and for the soul God is the source :the hail speaks not of mere withdrawal, but of this becoming a pitiless storm of judgment which subdues all, except, alas ! the heart of man which, while his anguish owns the power from which he suffers, remains in its hard impenitency the witness and justification of the wrath it has brought down. F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

DR. SANDAY’S LECTURES ON "THE ORACLES OF GOD."

2. The Human Element in the Bible,

Dr. Sanday's text for his second lecture is 2 Cor. 4:7- "We have this treasure in earthen vessels."His application of it is not at all that which the apostle makes, but a sad perversion. As a specimen of unfair handling of Scripture, it deserves to be looked at; for in just this way is the Bible continually made to sanction principles which it disowns and condemns utterly.

For what purpose does a "professor of exegesis" use the apostle's words ? Clearly to advocate the possibility of mistake in the inspired writings. This is the first great effort of his whole book. Nor are we raising question of his motives at all in saying this. No doubt, he would tell us, that the mistakes being in Scripture, his desire is, to show how we may have faith in it nevertheless; nay, even, -strange and impossible as the thing may look,-how that faith may be cleared and strengthened by the recognition. But is this in the least what the apostle means ?

Is his subject "The Mistakes of Moses," or his own mistakes ? We have only to read the passage to find that he is speaking of very different things. I give it in another version somewhat more literal than the common one.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the sur-passingness of the power may be of God, and not of us:every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up; persecuted, but not abandoned ; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body:for we who live are alway delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh."

Here is the earthen vessel-a humanity capable of suffering, of inward trial and perplexity, of depression and fear; but unfailingly sustained by more than human strength. Death working upon the human frame made only more evident the divine life which had been enkindled, and which the hand of persecution could not touch. What has this to do with mistakes in Scripture ? Where does any inspired writer own such, apologize for them, or intimate indeed that it was a matter of thanksgiving that he had been left to write error for truth,-that the God of truth is better served by a certain mixture of falsehood than He would be by unerring truth itself ? Is not the whole doctrine of the Word the reverse of this ?

We have now, however, to consider the human element in the Bible, and in this shall follow Dr. Sanday’s point by point. By this means the real contention will be better seen, and the truth as a whole find more complete development. He says,-

" This we may start with, that there is a human element even in the Bible; and the tendency of the last fifty or a hundred years of investigation is, to make it appear that this human element is larger than had been supposed. The freedom of the human agent made use of in the Bible was less restricted than those who argued from an antecedent view of what was to be expected in a divine revelation would have imagined it to be. That is the first point."

This is all vague enough, even to the "fifty or" twice fifty "years of investigation;" and does not sufficiently accredit the well-known father of The " higher criticism," the infidel physician, Astruc, whose view was published in 1753. The child, a weakling at its birth, waited fifty years for adoption, which it received at length at the hands of the extreme rationalists of Germany. With them it grew rapidly, was taught by degrees a more Christian mode of speech, and now can figure as if of Christian parentage. But this is not the case ; and it is important to remember that it is not the case:for who can believe that God inspired an infidel to give the direction to Christian thought after this manner? Certainly no "investigation" of any believing kind had any thing to do with it, but the suggestion of an enemy, which the infatuation of restless minds too little under the control of the Word has admitted, to the dishonor of Christ and their own undoing.

The "human element" is indeed everywhere in Scripture ; true :nor is "the freedom of human agents'" in the least " restricted" by their being " moved by the Holy Ghost." If God uses His creatures for His blessed purposes, His delight is, to lead them freely, and in accordance with the nature He has bestowed on them. To enlighten their minds, to enkindle their hearts, to reveal to them His truth, is surely in no wise to take away from them any "freedom" which is worthy of the name; not even if this be carried so far as to make error on their part impossible in the communication of His mind to men. Is God less free because He cannot do evil or be in error ? and shall man be less free the more he is raised up to God ?

"That is the first point," continues Dr. Sanday; "but the second, which seems to me to be equally clear, is, that, in spite of the enlarged scope which is thus given to human thought and human action, the divine element which lies behind it is not less real and not less divine."

Why should it be ? The enlargement of man's faculties, the clearing of his spiritual sight,-all that which makes him the more joyfully subject to God, the more fully in communion with Him,-all this must needs imply the operation of God in it to be proportionately full and mighty. That is, if the freedom meant be what is rightly to be called freedom. "Freedom" to make mistakes and go astray,-the freedom of the blind to fall into the ditch,- we shall only call such when it is demonstrated for us.

" The third point is, that we make a mistake in attempting to draw a hard and fast line between the two elements. The part which comes from man and the part which comes from God ran into and blend with each other. We think of them best, not as acting separately, but as acting together. And this intimate and organic union only serves to bring home the message which God has condescended to bring home to man with greater force and greater reality."

All true, from the point of view which we have indicated, by which the "higher criticism," however, is entirely annulled and set aside. For suppose there be in what we receive as Scripture but one demonstrable error, can we think of the divine element being in "intimate and organic union" with the human in this case? Are we not bound, if there be error, "to draw a hard and fast line" here, and to say, the error is human merely ? But then, indeed, it is impossible to tell just where the line is to be drawn ; because it is impossible to say what is the extent of the error, and into what region it may not intrude. If history, chronology, cosmogony, authenticity of the books, etc., be all more or less open to it, why not the more important "things unseen"? Especially as the Saviour's own words must at the start be given up, and we must allow that Scripture can be broken, and many a "jot and tittle pass from the law" without fulfillment! The sting is in the tail, however, and very cautiously and darkly as the professor expresses himself, it is yet to be discerned in his final proposition :-

"Lastly, I think it will be seen that the application which we in turn make of that message may need to be somewhat modified. We may find our view of the motive forces in religion somewhat altered."

Just so; but let not any timid one get alarmed. Dr. Sanday is pretty sure there is no cause; and he, if not in this special line much of an authority, has access to the specialistic workroom where these surprises are manufactured for us, and he does-

-" not think for a moment that we should find them less powerful or less effectual than they have been."

Very comforting, no doubt ; and the age is accustoming us to have " motive forces " altered, and all for good ! Seriously, does our kindly teacher imagine that he can destroy our faith in what for us at least have been Christ's own teachings, and with a smile seat himself in the empty seat?

But the language is too dark for us to attempt to interpret without anticipating what is to be brought out afterward, or exposing one's self to the suspicion of mere false accusation. It is evident, however, that it is not the power of the " motive forces " that we need to be assured of merely,-" forces " we suppose will be effective,-but rather their quality,-that is, the line in which they will be found effective. Our "view" of them may be somewhat altered. All seems very doubtful, spite of the tone of assurance that is maintained. But there is no need for doubt. Must not the "application" be altered of a text which has once been proved so largely fallible, nay, deceptive ? Shall we not take leave to apply it, as we think reasonable? and where we think well, "apply" it to some idiosyncrasy of the writer-his little enlightenment, the manners of the age, and what not beside ? And of the "motive forces" it will be easily seen how many may work, indeed, and be effective, which another view of inspiration would entirely shut out. It would spoil much good reasoning to accept absolutely such assertions as that of the apostle, that " the things that I speak unto you are the commandments of the Lord."

In what follows, the history of the doctrine of inspiration is taken up, briefly enough, but in a way which seems really to prejudice the question rather than fairly meet it. What avails it to remind us that some have thought the Masoretic vowel points of the Hebrew text to be inspired ? or that " less instructed " Protestants have " pinned their faith " to their respective versions ? Nor is it right to mix up the question of the integrity of the text as transmitted to us with the much more important and very different one of original inspiration. Granting the last to be complete, the errors that have crept into manuscripts are comparatively trivial, mere motes and specks in the sunrays. Refusing its perfection is to bring in twilight obscurity at once.

Again, Dr. Sanday, after his manner, in a few easy words about the "conflict," as he is pleased to call it, between the Bible and Natural Science, awards the victory, as a thing of course, to the latter. While he joins together " Galileo, Newton, Darwin," as representing three stages of this successful conflict. But neither of the first two ever was, or intended to be, in opposition to Scripture, as the last was and meant to be. And evolution remains to-day, in spite of the wide adherence to it, a plausible guess, and nothing more. It was put forth to show how species might have originated without special creation. But specific creation according to plan, accounts for everything at least as well. The only necessary evolution is that of the plan in the Creator's mind. And Mr. Wallace, who at the same time with Mr. Darwin, originated the idea, still contends that as to man, evolution cannot account for him. Here what is most sufficient if is the simplest thought.

He returns to the internal evidence :-

" Neither, again, were the biblical writers exempted from some, at least, of the general characteristics of their contemporaries:they shared the literary peculiarities of men of their own nationality and station:they were not supernaturally raised above the level of knowledge to which their contemporaries had attained in matters of science. Even in the things of religion it is becoming every day clearer that there is a growth and progression running through the New Testament as well as the Old. No one generation reached the limits of truth all at once:there was a gradual withdrawing of the vail at different times and in different portions."

As to language and literary peculiarities, it is no defect to the Word of God that it should not speak with the tongue of the learned. As to science, I suppose the first chapter of Genesis is yet superior to its Assyrian representative, and may fairly challenge comparison with any other account of creation, perhaps not excepting Haeckel's. And as for the progressive character of revelation, that is fully declared in Revelation itself. While it makes only the more miraculous, for those that have eyes to see, the way in which even the history of those past generations shines in the light of the complete declaration with type and prophecy and manifold anticipation of that full-orbed glory which had not yet dawned. So that Genesis locks hands with the Apocalypse, and Scripture is rounded off into a luminous cycle, the orbit of truth obedient to the divine voice from which it came. Surely, for him who knows this, the inspiration of Scripture has a witness which no consent of all the graduates of all man's colleges could give it, and which can be affected by none of the demurrers of a science born but yesterday, and which has scarcely yet attained intelligible speech.

All this Dr. Sanday omits in his estimate of Scripture-inspiration. Can he be ignorant of it ? It is evidence of the complete permeation of the human element by the divine, of which we may say, adopting the words of the evangelist, that if it could be fully written out, we may well suppose that the world could not contain the books that should be written. F. W. G.

(To be continued.)

There are three fruit-bearing trees, much esteemed and cultivated by the inhabitants of Palestine, which are fruitful in instructing us who possess and peruse the New Testament. They are the olive-tree, the fig-tree, and the vine. It was these of which Jothan made mention in his parable to the men of Shechem, which furnish parabolic teaching about Gentiles, Israel, and Christians. Privilege, profession, fruit-fulness, such are the topics in illustration of which these trees are severally introduced.

1. The olive-tree furnishes special instruction for Gentiles, as such, in the way of dispensational teaching. We meet with it once in this manner in Rom. 11:, where a word of warning is given to those who are not of the race of Israel. Promises belonged to Israel as the children of Abraham. (Rom. 9:4.) To the covenants of promise Gentiles were strangers. (Eph. 2:12.) Promises there were, as has been remarked, about Gentiles, but not to them. To Abraham they were made and to his seed. (Gal. 3:16.) Israel, on the ground of their lineage " after the flesh," looked for the fulfillment and enjoyment of them. John the Baptist had warned them how mistaken they would find themselves, if they trusted in this matter to natural birth without being born of God. God could of the stones around them raise up children to Abraham. The warning was in vain, as far as the nation was concerned. For they rejected the One to whom the promises made to Abraham were confirmed- that One was Christ, the patriarch's seed. God, therefore, has cast them off, nationally, for a time, and is now dealing with Gentiles. It is of this dispensational change that Paul writes in Rom. 11:, and, to illustrate it in a manner within the comprehension of his readers, he makes use of the simile of an olive-tree, with which those in Italy would be familiar. From this tree, a good olive-tree, some of the branches have been broken off, that is all the nation of Israel, except the remnant according to the election of grace, who remain branches in the olive-tree, where they, had always been.

Into this same tree other branches have been grafted, taken from a wild olive-tree, one which had never been brought under culture. Now these are the Gentiles, with whom God is at present dealing in sovereign goodness, brought thus outwardly into connection with Abraham, "the root of promise – the root, to carry out the figure, of the olive-tree. Before the cross God was dealing with Israel as the elect nation, but not directly with the Gentiles. Privileges belonged to the former, in which the latter had no part. The Syrophoenician woman had to acknowledge that. She felt it, and she owned it. After the cross a new feature in God's dealings with man was displayed. The privileges which had marked Israel as God's special people on earth they enjoyed no longer, for they continued in unbelief. The aged Simeon had declared that the child he held in his arms would be "a light for revelation of the Gentiles," to bring them out of the obscurity in which they had hitherto been dispensationally, as those with whom God could prominently deal in goodness; and Paul teaches us this took place when Israel for a time, as a nation, was cast off.

Advantages, then, Gentiles now possess such as they never had before the cross. The root of promise has not changed. The olive-tree has not been cut down, but some branches have been broken off, and branches from a wild olive-tree have been grafted in on the principle of faith. As grafted in they partake of the "root and fatness of the olive tree." Privileges are theirs, as brought into direct association with the root of promise, Abraham, the father of the faithful. What flows from the root, therefore, they share in ; "of the root and fatness of the olive-tree" they partake, being, as Gentiles, grafted in by faith into the line of promise on earth.

Now this is not salvation, for they might be " cut off." It is not church position, for church position is new both to Jews as well as to Gentiles who enjoy it. But here it is, Gentiles coming in to share the privileges on earth as those who, as faithful among the Jews, had never lost them. We say on earth, for the simile of the tree teaches us, that the position thus illustrated is one enjoyed on earth.

Would, then, the Gentiles continue in this privileged place ? That depended upon them. " If thou continue in goodness." Have they? One must surely admit they have not. Excision, therefore, must take place. And, if the natural branches abide not in unbelief, they shall be grafted into their own olive-tree. The good olive-tree is Israel, the root is Abraham; and the advantages Gentiles as such possess they can lose by unfaithfulness, for they stand in that place only by faith. God is now visiting the Gentiles (Acts 15:14), and the outward result of this is what we term Christendom. Privileges those possess who are part of Christendom, but these privileges entail responsibility. Could the Gentile glory, then, over the branches broken off? He could not. To the Jew his natural place was in the olive-tree, it was only through his sin of unbelief that he was broken off. To the Gentile it was of divine goodness that he was there at all, grafted in on the principle of faith, to be continued there only if he abode in God's goodness. All those, then, who are really saved are in the olive-tree, but far more than they are numbered amongst its branches. It takes in the faithful remnant of Israel. It includes all Christendom. The Gentiles, if once cut off, will never be restored. The
Jews may be, and will, if they abide not in unbelief. How truly will that be felt and confessed by and by, when that which Zech. 8:13 says, shall receive its accomplishment !

2. The fig-tree suggests teaching of a different order, and was used as an illustration to a different audience. The Lord made use of it when warning Israel, and instructing His disciples. (Luke 13:6-9; Matt. 21:19-21; Mark 11:12-14, 20-23.) Its fruit makes it of such value. If the tree is fruitless, why let it occupy the ground? Now there is one feature in the fig-tree which made it so suited to depict the state of Israel. Its flowers are formed before the bursting out of its leaves. Hence the presence of leaves suggests the promise and appearance of fruit. One sees at once, then, how fit an emblem such a tree would be of Israel, who by profession were God's people, but who, nevertheless, when the Lord came, proved by rejecting Him their unfruitfulness for God. The olive-tree, as an evergreen, fitly represents the continuance of the line of promise on earth, which would never end, even in appearance, during all the ages that should precede the establishment of the kingdom of God in power upon earth. As the olive-tree from its character suggests the thought of continuance, the fig-tree from its habit is well adapted to illustrate profession, which should be accompanied by the proofs of fruitfulness. And if it lacks such proofs, cutting down surely the tree richly deserves. God's forbearance, then, with the nation of Israel till the cross, the parable of the fig-tree in Luke 13:sets forth. The sentence on the barren but leaf-clothed tree on Olivet was the indication of the carrying out of the judgment against Israel, of which the Lord had previously warned the people. A tree cut down ceases to be seen by men. Israel, as an ordered nation, would cease to exist. Profession without fruitfulness will never do for God.

3. Turning to the vine, we get instruction of a different character. It speaks of, and to, Christians in truth.

God had a vine, which He had brought out of Egypt:that vine was Israel. (Ps. 80:8-2:) A vine which is unfruitful is useless, as Ezekiel (15:2-4) reminded his countrymen. The Lord then, in Jno. 15:, teaches His disciples that He is the true vine :hence, fruitfulness in them could only be produced as they abode in Him. For those who were of the Jewish race this teaching was important :national position, a lineage after the flesh, such would not avail. They must abide in Christ to bear fruit for God:-teaching, too, this for us, useful, needful at all times. "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away :and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches :he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples." (Jno. 15:1-8.)

When we come to the Lord's teaching about the vine, we leave dispensational truth about Gentiles and Jews, and come to that which is vitally important. But, to understand it aright we must ever remember, that the simile of a tree suggests something which is upon earth, not something about heaven. Keeping this in mind, we shall understand the bearing of what He says. He speaks of that which is seen upon earth :a branch, therefore, might be in the vine and yet be unfruitful. But no one could be in Christ before God without being really a child of God. If we bring in standing before God when we read of the vine, we shall get all wrong. If we remember that a tree is a simile of something existing upon earth, we shall be kept right. A branch, therefore, in the vine is a professing Christian. There might be that without the person being a true believer. At the moment the Lord was speaking there was a marked illustration of it in Judas Iscariot. He was one of the twelve, appeared to be a believer, was a branch in the vine ;but his occupation at that very moment indicated that he had not abode in Christ. Mere profession, then, would not do. He is not merely impressing on them that there must be reality and life to be fruitful; He is telling them how, and how only, they can be fruitful, viz., by abiding in Him. The curse on the fig-tree showed that God would not be satisfied without fruit. The Lord's teaching about the vine makes plain how fruitfulness can be insured. Professors there might be, there have been, there are still. Of such, if that is all they are upon earth, the Lord speaks in ver. 6, but let the reader remark He does it in language which, while pointedly showing the dreadful future of such, carefully guards against the idea of any real Christian perishing. Speaking to those who were true, He says, " Ye." Describing the barren professor, He says, "If a man" etc. There is no discouragement to the weakest believer. There is the most solemn warning for the mere professor. -Bible Witness and Review.