(2 Tim., Chaps. 1:, 2:, 3:)

There are just one or two thoughts on my mind, I beloved brethren, in connection with this scripture, that I would like to give expression to for our mutual profit. It is very blessed, surely, to have brought before us those wonderful blessings that God has given us in Christ. How sweet to know that we have died with Christ:not only that He died for us, blessed as that is, but that we have died with Him-that we are risen with Him-and that we are seated in Him in the heavenlies, as the epistle to the Ephesians teaches us! All that is surely very blessed. But then, there other lines of truth as well as those, and it behooves us to be prepared to look at and take in any truth that God by His Spirit may bring before us.

The tendency of the day is to set aside certain truths-to let them drop out of our ministry-out of our conversation; in fact, to drop them altogether, as being subjects on which we shall never all agree, and which are therefore best left alone; and this is just the very thing Satan desires and aims at. It is admitted they are truths taught in the Word, but" it is said, "you know it would not be wise to take up church truth, or the question of separation, as Christians may be present who do not agree with us on those subjects, and it would perhaps be wiser to let them alone and speak of what we are all agreed upon."

Beloved brethren, are we the servants of God, or men? "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable;" and whatever the Holy Ghost leads to must be for profit to some one, if not to all, and must not be withheld to please either the devil or worldly-minded saints who think more of being friendly with Christians than they do of the glory of God. Never was there a time when it was more needful for us to understand and maintain the truth of God "as good soldiers of Jesus Christ" than at the present-to understand our orders and obey them at all cost, and thus stand for God in an evil day, and in spite of the increasing difficulties.

We only need to read these verses in z Tim. 3:, and look around, to see that we are living in the last days, and that the perilous times have come. The characteristics of those times are seen full blown on every hand. It is really a very solemn thing to think that the very same things which characterized the heathen world as set forth in Rom. 1:29-31, are here set forth as characterizing the so-called Christian world, and at the close of its history on earth, with this addition:" Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; " and the Spirit of God adds, " From such turn away."

Now, beloved brethren, are we doing that ? Do we turn away from such, and accept the path of separation from evil as being the path where we can expect God to walk with us ? It is He who says,
"From such turn away." How often we find that when the Word begins to press on our conscience, and narrow up our path by its insistence on separation, we then want to set it aside! Have we not heard it said, "We will leave that question, and talk about something we shall agree about" ? But is not separation a truth taught in the Word ? Are we not to agree about all God's word ? or is it just certain parts, that suit ourselves, and we can let all the rest go ? We need to beware of all these and such like efforts of Satan to hinder our progress in the things of God.
If we look at this second epistle to Timothy I think we shall see the marks of failure and declension, and now they come in and work. But first of all we see how wonderfully God has blest us in saving us and calling us with a holy calling, etc., as chapter one shows us. He has also given us the Holy Ghost to dwell in us, as well as with us, in answer to the Lord's prayer in John 14:16-17. We must not forget there are these two aspects of the Spirit's presence; nor must we confound them. All the children of God have the Spirit dwelling in them; and that brings in the thought of union. We are united to Christ as the head of the body, and we are united to each other as members of the body, as i Cor. 12:shows us. Then there is the other thought, " Know ye not that the Spirit of God dwelleth among you ?" (i Cor. 3:16-New Version); and "builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22). Here, then, we have a set of totally distinct ideas from the other. Here we have the Spirit as controlling in the house of God-leading, guiding, directing, helping-the power for worship, prayer, or discipline; and thus by the ministry of the Word teaching us "how to behave ourselves in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (i Tim. 3:).

We need to look at God's truth as one blessed, harmonious whole, and not pit one bit against another. It is one blessed whole, and all connected with Christ and His glory. It is not the gospel as against the Church, or the Church as against the gospel, but one blessed whole; and no part can be dispensed with- all is needful. Were there no gospel to preach to sinners, there could be no Church to be loved by Christ and presented to Himself. It is by the gospel that sinners become saints, and find their place in the Church and outside the world. A holy place surely, but a happy place when taken up in faith and pursued in faith. In walking in that path we find we have to turn away from many true children of God, because of their associations, and because the Word commands our consciences, and says, "From such turn away;" while at the same time it exhorts us to " follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." We love all the Lord's people nevertheless, though at such times it is very difficult to get them to believe it. But the Word says, '' He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him " (i John 2:8).

Then, if we think of the apostle's own path as set forth in this epistle, what a path of separation and isolation it was! What pain it must have given him to have to write, "All they that are in Asia be turned away from me "! and he then names two men who seemed to be leaders in that path of declension, Phygellus and Hermogenes. They found the path too narrow for them. They had no faith to go on in it. They were not whole-hearted for Christ, like Paul, and they turned away and left Paul to go on alone -yet not alone.

It is very striking that, in this epistle, we have in each of the first three chapters two men mentioned. They seem to be leaders, and characterize the decline and its progress. In chapter one, as I have noted, they have turned away from Paul, not necessarily from Christ; but they could not go on any longer with the testimony. This is the first outward step in declension; for surely the heart must have been wrong before such a step was taken. It is the evil servant who first says in his heart, "My lord delayeth his coming," and then begins to show his state' by his public acts; and he "begins to eat and drink with the drunken," etc. Beloved brethren, we need to keep our hearts with all diligence. The moment true affection for Christ begins to wane, we are then open to receive any suggestion of Satan, and are soon manifested in our true state:we cannot long hide it.
Then, again, it will ever be found that when once our hearts get away from God the testimony of the Lord soon becomes irksome and the path too narrow, and we want to widen out and be more liberal-minded, and not so exclusive, especially towards nice Christians whom we meet and who are not with us (and perhaps do not want to be); and thus we put our foot into that delusive current, and are ignorant of the power that causes its flow; and sometimes Christians in such circumstances only wake up when they find themselves wholly carried away. There is a power behind these seductive thoughts that even Christians do not reckon on-an awful power; and when once we get off our feet into it, the moral senses become blunted, the vision becomes dimmed, and the spiritual judgment becomes wholly perverted, while honestly thinking we are still all right and doing right.

The next thing we find in the steps of declension as set forth in this epistle is, bad doctrine (chapter two). Now, you will often find that when saints do turn away from the testimony of the Lord, they fall into bad doctrine. They have no safeguard, for they have given up faith and a good conscience. In this chapter we have other two men brought before us-" Hymeneus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure." How dreadful to think that men could be so foolish and so deceived as to believe and teach such a stupid doctrine! Is it not another proof of the blinding influence of Satan ?

Then, again, is it not a solemn thing for us to know that none of us can take a false step without affecting some one else ? These leaders " overthrew the faith of some." We all know that once a backslidden saint gets hold of false doctrine, he is most anxious to propagate it-much more so than he was the truth, and he is delighted to make proselytes to his new faith. We might well ask, Does it end there ? Alas, no; and I turn you just for a moment to the other and further step in this decline. In chapter three we have other two names mentioned-representative men. It is true they are men of a past age; but they are representative men none the less-Jannes and Jambres. They withstood Moses. They were open opposers of the truth of the living God.

Beloved brethren, these things may well solemnize us as we look at them; they are set forth as beacons to warn us. (i) Turning away from the testimony of the Lord; (2) Falling in to false doctrine; (3) Open and downright opposition to the truth. Have some of us not seen it in our own short histories ? Have we not seen men who went on well for a time, then they got cold, and began to complain, first, of the inconsistencies of their brethren (never of themselves); then of the narrowness of the path; then they turned away from it-in some cases becoming more energetic in their new path than ever they were in the true one. Then they embraced false doctrine, and at last became bitter enemies and opponents of the truth. And is it not always the case that those who have most light, when once they are turned aside, are the most bitter against those who let that light shine ? Does it not fulfill that word, "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! "

What then remains for us ? What is the great preservative against this awful state we have been looking at ? Things will not get better. There will be no wholesale recovery. Nay, rather, "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." But God remains, and His Spirit and Word remain. " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." Have we found our path from that Word ? Then let us "continue in the things which we have learned, knowing of whom we have learned them." Let there be increased dependence on God and subjection and obedience to His Word, and then, and only then, shall we be preserved from the snares of the enemy, and from that awful declension which ends so disastrously. May the Lord Himself enable us to take warning from these beacons, and encouragement from the fact that He is with us, and will help us, if we desire to do His will. W. E.

New Zealand.