In the contemplation of the wood, hay, and stubble, we are again confronted with the further display of God's wondrous grace; for the same grace that would encourage our hearts to build upon the foundation the gold, silver, and precious stones would also emphasize the warning "let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon," by showing us the true character and absolute loss of all work that fails to have for its object and motive the glory of Christ.

Again, our hearts bow in deep thankfulness for the grace that will forever remove from His sight that which we ourselves would not wish to abide; and deep as will be the loss we suffer, we will rejoice in the faithfulness of the test that will thoroughly try all our work, consuming everything found to be wood, hay, and stubble, leaving only the gold, silver, and precious stones.

Again, too, we would praise Him for the eternal value of the work in which we stand accepted before God, – that blessed work that nothing can touch. Oh, how precious the words-"he himself shall be saved." May God grant for each one of us that, whilst much of our poor work may not abide, that of none of us it may be said "so as by fire."

We would, then, seek to contrast now the wood with the gold, the hay with the silver, and the stubble with the precious stones; for if the interpretation of the one is according to the unfailing word of God, its corroboration will be found in the harmony of the contrast, and the light of other scripture will throw its rays equally on the one as on the other. So, then, if the gold, silver, and precious
stones speak of the work and its reward, we should find a corresponding contrasting voice in the wood, hay, and stubble, for which there is no reward, but the suffering of loss.

Wood, of course; is only the tree cut down, and the word is the same word used for tree in other parts of the Scripture; and as the tree in its beauty and grandeur is figurative of man in his worldly glory and exaltation, we have the thought of the Spirit suggested in the very word itself. "Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, and with a shadowing shroud and of a high stature, and his top was among the thick boughs:therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field." (Ezek. 31:3-5.) Again, "the tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong; whose height reached unto the heavens, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much. … It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth." (Dan. 4:20-22.)

Sufficient, surely, are these divine illustrations to show that the tree is symbolical of man, in his glory and self-exaltation. How solemn, then, the warning "Take heed " ; for if the divine glory of the person of Christ as the object before us is made to give place, in any form or to any extent, to the thought of the glory or exaltation of man, every bit of such work will in that day that shall declare it be seen to be only wood, the tree cut down, the life gone, and, under the test of the fire which shall try every man's work of what sort it is, must be consumed:it cannot abide; and the builder – oh, solemn words!-"shall suffer loss." Then, instead of "how sweet will be the reward," how great will be the loss, and instead of its being manifest that in fellowship with the Father we had sought to set forth the glories of His beloved Son, it will be seen that out of communion with Him the glory of man had" been before our hearts and actuated our work. May our souls turn with distrust from all that would tend to rob our Lord of His glory and ourselves of our reward.
HAY.- In the light of the same blessed word, which is so really the "lamp to our feet, and the light to our path," hay will be seen in contrast with the silver, which speaks to us so plainly of the glories of our blessed Savior in His redemptive work for our souls,- that work which the poor sinner sees to be for sinners, for him,- and upon which his dying soul feeds and finds life; that flesh of which, except a man eat he has no life in him, that when appropriated by faith is found to be the eternal life which Christ gives to as many as His Father has given Him. Oh, the glories of Jesus as He is thus set forth .as the bread come down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die! Oh, the glories of setting forth such a work,- the food and life of poor perishing souls; this is, indeed, the silver which shall have its reward. Now contrast with it the hay, which is grass or fodder, and again we have food, but food without life, used only by and fit only for the beast. How truly, then, every bit of work that would set before hungry dying souls the empty husks that the swine eat is only fit for the fire, and must be burned. Blessed be our God! Nothing in our hearts short of the glories of Christ as the living bread will be reckoned as the silver, or stand the test in that day.

Then, again, instead of "how sweet the reward," how great the loss, to find that we have thus substituted for His flesh, which He said He would give for the life of the world, that which could not give life nor satisfy the poor heart, and thus have built upon the foundation that which is again life and glory gone, grass cut clown, only fit for the fire, and condemned to be burned. Thus, too, the absence of fellowship with the Son in setting forth other than His precious work will characterize the building of the hay in sad contrast with the silver.

STUBBLE , or straw, is emphasized in Scripture as the expression of what is worthless; the glory of the grain gone in the fruit which has been reaped from it; "that which remains after harvest, left either to be driven before the wind or burned to the ground. In Isaiah we have it referred to as that which the fire easily consumed. '' Therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be in rottenness and their blossom shall go up as dust:"-clearly that worthless chaff left standing after the fruit has been harvested. This is also corroborated by the account given in the Bible dictionaries describing the ancient method of reaping by cutting off only the heads of the grain, leaving the straw to be cleared off the field by fire. We have further light in the thirtieth chapter, where the woe is pronounced upon the spoiler:"Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble. Your breath, as fire, shall devour you."Enough in these references to give us the thought of the Spirit in choosing the word, when He would show us the worthless character of the stubble as contrasted with the divine value and beauty of the precious stones. How necessary, then, if we build upon the foundation the precious stones (those lights and perfections) which set forth the richer deeper glories of all that Christ is, that we should be filled with the Spirit, who alone can know them,-who, ungrieved and unhindered, would prove Himself to be that " same anointing who teacheth us of all things." (i John 2:2.) And as the Lord Himself said, "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive:for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:38, 39.) But now He is glorified, exalted at God's right hand, the glory of God shining in His face; the Spirit is given, and He searches the deep things of God and reveals to us those things which aforetime ear could not hear nor heart conceive. How awful, then, if, in the ministry to God's dear saints, the deep things should prove not to be the things of Christ, but only the researches and learning of man,- that which displaces His glory and sets forth another – the worthless, fruitless stubble. In such a ministry there are depths, but depths in which the person of our blessed Lord is lost. Food there is, but fit only for the beast,- the scientific husks on which this poor world feeds. Glories there are, but, alas! only the glories of poor human intellect, which, instead of setting forth the things of Christ, make only a display of learning.

Oh, servant of the Lord, be not drawn aside by the subtle influences of these perilous times! Seek not your own glory; study to show thyself approved; turn, with a devoted heart, to Christ, from all that exalt self. Be an imitator of the apostle who counted the things that were gain to him loss for Christ, who could say "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." How dare we attempt to build upon the blessed foundation God hath laid for us, anything but the glories of Christ ? Must not all else be the wood, "hay, stubble ? Must it not be burned ? Let us, then, take heed that the absence of fellowship with the Spirit, on whom all depends, does not characterize "our service; that we do not turn the sweetness of reward into the suffering of loss; and let us seek, with all our hearts, to have only Christ Himself before us, setting forth His divine person – His precious work-His eternal glories, as seen in all that He was, all that He has done, and all that He is as now glorified at God's right hand, that thus, through grace, we may build upon the foundation only the gold, silver, and precious stones. J. F. P.