"Take therefore no thought for the morrow" (Matt. 6:14).

The calling of the Church is a high calling indeed. She is "the fulness (complement) of Him that
filleth all in all" (Eph. i:23). She is "blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. i:3). As she shares His cross and rejection now, she is to share His throne and glory when He returns. She is so truly identified with Him and united to Him that He calls us "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones" (Eph. 5:30). How near, how dear this declares us to be! How passing sweet to be thus related to, and cherished by, the Lord of glory, the Son of God! It lifts the soul far above earth and earthly things, and carries it to where our Lord is.

At Pentecost the disciples did not yet know this high calling, for it was not yet revealed; but they had just received the Holy Spirit from heaven, who had baptized them all into one body (i Cor. 12:13), and that Spirit of truth knew what it all meant; and though they had not yet the intelligence of their calling, He had given them, the power and spirit of it:"They continued steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. . . . And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, as every man had need" (Acts 2:42-45).

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ had won their hearts; it commanded their faith, and they proved it in their practical daily life on earth. They took no thought for the morrow, for the Lord who loved
them would be there. They knew by His grace bestowed on them that they could trust Him at all times, for all things, and in all circumstances. The words He had spoken to them while with them were all dear to them, and they practiced them in truth. Earthly goods, instead of being accumulated, were distributed. Covetousness had received a deadly blow.

Ruin soon set in; and nowhere perhaps is covetousness now more manifest than in Christendom. May God's true people in the midst of it so enjoy their heavenly calling as to show their identity with the beginners of it, and not the enders! What holy freedom for doing all the will of God it gives if, of a truth, and by virtue of our confidence in Him, we take no thought for the morrow! It frees from many unholy influences which drive the people of God and the servants of Christ to unprofitable paths. May we not use high talk, with an earthly walk! Our eyes, though high up, despise not our feet that are way down, but seek out the good way for them.

Submission and Responsibility.

I may well submit patiently to all manner of unrighteousness from the rulers, governors, courts and powers of this world, for I form no part of them if I am a Christian (John 17:14), and am in nowise responsible for their actions. Like my Master before Pilate, therefore, I submit to all.

Not so, however, in the Church. I form a part of that if I am a Christian, and unrighteousness practiced there makes me responsible to have it removed or to depart from it if it cannot be removed (2 Tim. 2:19). To submit to unrighteousness there is to give up a good conscience. Where may not Christians drift when they have done that!
Bible Dictionaries.

In our last issue we were referring to the progress of Jewish events as proof of the nearing return of our Lord; for the restoration of that God-chosen nation to their God-chosen land is one of the chief events which mark the Lord's second advent.

We now call the attention of our readers to another event which takes place simultaneously, a painful event indeed-the apostasy and downfall of Christendom. What could give stronger proof of the rapid march toward this awful end than the recent appearing on the book-market of three different Bible dictionaries, two of which are in the full current of "modern theology." There must be demand for such books, for publishers who are destroyers of the Bible do not publish for love; and what must be the demand, when so many books of the same nature are published simultaneously! Thus is God at work to revive Israel, and the devil at work to destroy Christianity. They will cross each other's path at the coming of our Lord; and who that has ever fought against God has not fallen ?

Along with this, think of the New York Presbytery, unable to shut out of its pulpits young graduates of their schools who question the virgin-birth of our Lord, the resurrection of the body, and kindred foundation truths! Think of the Baptist body in Chicago, unable to expel from its ministry a professor of the university there who denies the deity of our Lord! Think of London, the old center of Christendom, having a " Bureau of Communication " between the living and the dead through spiritist mediums!

The word of God discredited and denied; the talk of demons accredited and desired ! Think you, reader, that God's patience can endure much longer ?