God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt ; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me " (Gen. 6:12, 13). Thus early in the world's history did God reveal the failure of the man of flesh, the Adam race, as to His purposes for the earth.

Next, "Noah found grace, favor, in the eyes of the Lord," and the ark and the judgment of the flood followed. This over, God in mercy began' again a further trial of the race under Noah, to whom was given authority to govern his descendants in the earth; but, instead, he failed to govern himself and his own family; with the result that upon one of his own sons he pronounced a curse.

From the failure of Adam in the garden of Paradise to Noah, man had his own way in the earth without law or restraint from God, except in a providential way, and by His Spirit in a special manner toward His called ones, like Enoch. Man unrestrained in the earth for 1556 years fitted himself for destruction, as foreseen and revealed to Noah in grace.

Again, after Noah and the flood, came another period, of 527 years, during which God, in the mercy that has ever characterized His dealings with the human race, left man free from law or restraint as to his behavior, except as to the covenant which He established with Noah and his sons in which they were instructed that all creatures should be subject to man, they should not kill each other, and His bow in the clouds should assure them of their safety on the earth from any future destruction by a flood. At the end of this period the whole race had forsaken God their maker, and turned to the worship of idols! thus demonstrating again that "every imagination of man's heart is only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).

Again, for the fourth time, God shows his favor to man in the call of Abram, out from a world far away from God and sunken into an idolatry of unrestrained fleshly evil that was monstrous (Rom. 1:20 to end of chapter). This time it is in taking up the best of the ruined race, out of which, in special favor-in most marvelous grace-it is to raise up a people that shall be faithful to Him in the earth-a family to be instructed, cultivated, blessed in all favors, and, if possible, to be made worthy of all His love. For 1921 years God dealt with Abraham and his offspring in the most marvelous mercy, grace, and love, as is fully set forth in the history of Israel and Judah; but in spite of all His marvelous works in their behalf, when He Himself came to them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,-for "He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,"-man was bad enough to reject and crucify even the Lord of glory)'! This ended the race again before God, as had been foretold to Noah before the flood, and now all men out of Christ are dead to God. The race is ended, all flesh is under the judgment of God. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." This has been demonstrated in over four thousand years of human history. Further trial is useless. '' The mind of the flesh is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; so, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

This is the result foretold to us in the rite of circumcision-the flesh cut off. No uncircumcised person could eat the passover. "There shall no stranger eat thereof. … A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof" (Ex. 12:). "Christ our pass-over is slain for us" (i Cor. 5:7)-the flesh ended for all Christians. He died in the flesh for us, our Passover, our Substitute, and we in Him, as men in the flesh, to faith, passed out of existence, and "are not now in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His; and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness " (Rom. 8:9, 10). Now "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world " (Gal. 6:14).

Christians, to faith, are not in the first Adam, but in the last Adam, which is Christ. They realize that the flesh has been cut off in the cross of Christ, and have come to the end of themselves as men in the flesh, and have entered into a new life in the last Adam. They have been, through grace, born of the Spirit of God, and thus been made "new creatures in Christ Jesus." They realize that "in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." They are alive in Christ, and have the Spirit of God, which in them is the power of their new life, and to this by faith they live. They "are the true circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3).

In commemoration of this, under the command of God, Joshua takes up twelve stones out of the bed of the river of death, and of them builds a monument in the land. And without orders he voluntarily takes up the same number of stones, each stone representing a tribe, and buries them in the bottom of the river!-a symbol, teaching us the lesson that the flesh is already cut off, judged and condemned in the cross of Christ. It is buried in the depths of the river of death. It is because of this ending of the natural man that "ye must be born again." The former is ended before God, and now there must be a supernatural creation suitable to Him. To enter this a man must be born from above, born from heaven; and this life is by the Holy Ghost. It is a new life, a divine life, an eternal life. The man once in this life "is kept by the power of God, through faith, "unto salvation "(i Pet. 1:5). " My sheep . . . shall never perish" (John 10:27, 28). "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). "He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death"-in Adam,-"into life,"-in Christ (John 5:24). "Ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life" (John 5:40) – that is, the new, supernatural, eternal life in Christ. Now is the judgment of this world" said our blessed Saviour, as He was on His way to the cross. All in Adam-the flesh-condemned and set aside! God's testing of the race was finished. Now, out of Christ, all are under the judgment of God. "He that is dead is free from sin" (Rom. 6:2-11). '' Now we have been cleared from the law, having died to that in which we were held (in the flesh) that we should serve in newness of life, and not in the old letter" of the law (Rom. 7:6).

It is a new life that is needed, not simply sins forgiven. " If a law could have been given that would give life, then righteousness would have been by the law." But there could be no righteousness by the law, because of the flesh, "in which no good thing can dwell." " It is enmity against God," and had to be cut off. It is so completely set aside before God that Christians "know no man after the flesh," but only after the Spirit; or, in other words, our spiritual relationships are so far above our natural ones that in a contest we wholly ignore the latter and cleave to the former. See Luke 14:25 to the end of the chapter. The old man is ended.

Not only does circumcision teach us this truth, but baptism itself is a figure of the same. We are dead, and buried with Christ in baptism, and we, Christians, have been raised up by the power of God into the new life of Christ. Now, to faith, we are in Him, and out of the Adam life. Christ is the head of the new creation, as Adam was of the old.

This is the basic truth of true Christianity, which the world's church has lost. It stands on "justification by faith," or the forgiveness of sins, but puts man in the flesh back under law for righteousness; a position in which man has been tested before God for four thousand years, and proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining, because of the bad nature inherited from Adam. If the sins are forgiven today, the evil nature constantly produces more and more, so there is no end to them. But with that nature judged, condemned and set aside in the cross of Christ, we have deliverance from this body of sin in that cross. We are dead with and risen in Him, and thereby know our deliverance. "They that are dead are freed from sin." So, therefore, we reckon ourselves dead indeed to the sin nature and alive unto God in Christ Jesus. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus . . . for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and of death." The law of sin is in our members (Rom. 7:23), and the law of death is in the decalogue; because, in the failure to keep it (an impossible thing for fallen human nature) it slays, or condemns, every man. So, "if Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness." "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."

May the Holy Spirit of God sanctify or set us apart from the sin-cursed and already judged and condemned world to Himself by the truth. " His Word is truth." J. S. P.