Not a Preacher. (Phil. 4:9)

Paul was more than a preacher or teacher, as our text shows:"Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do." The learning, and receiving, and hearing, refer, of course, to his preaching and teaching; and that was the great burden of his life – to communicate to men what was in Christ for them. But " seen in me " was not preaching or teaching. It was the character he bore in the carrying out of his task. It was "the life of Jesus" (2 Cor. 4:10) made manifest in his body – before the eyes of all men; and this was not the self-admiration which many in our present day call the "Jesus life"; it was by the "bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." Not a doctrine was on his lips but it was seen in his life. It is not that he was a faultless man. He could be rash sometimes, as when he called the high priest a whited wall. He could fail to recognize the voice of the Spirit, as when he went unsent to Jerusalem. But there was no self-denial, however costly, which he would refuse, to make good every, part of the glorious Person and doctrine he proclaimed.

Again we say, with a longing desire to follow him, he was not a preacher only; he lived Christ, was a witness of Christ, as well as preached Christ.

God's Purposes.

Nothing can thwart God's purposes. He has in Himself all that is required to carry to a full end whatsoever He designs. Power, patience, perseverance-all exercised in love, in wisdom and grace-triumph finally over every obstacle. When He planned the formation of the universe, He commanded it into being; and there it stands to day before our eyes for our wonder, that we may worship Him who made it. When He demanded the freedom of Israel from Pharaoh, He brought it to pass, in spite of all the opposition of Pharaoh, and He got it so fully that no victory was ever more complete.

We might follow up a multitude of cases in the Scriptures, showing, one and all, the same end to every purpose of God. One thing only He requires in them who are included in those purposes-faith. Faith clings to God, watches the processes by which He fulfils His purposes, and worships as it sees the sure end. Every promise of God in His Word is a purpose. Let our faith then lay hold of these promises; and though they be not yet fulfilled, praise Him beforehand. Nothing delights God more than this.

Instrumental Music.

As the reality of Christ departs from the soul, ritualism takes the place, and forms without life rise up on every hand. To such an extent has this grown that even the world is losing respect for a Christianity which seems more bent on entertaining than converting men.

That music is of God no one who is not a fanatic can doubt. That it has a place in the worship of God every one knows who has drunk in His redeeming love. His soul sings, and his lips must also sing. He must praise God. If in company with others, that praise in song must be orderly-through tunes put to the words which all can learn. So far all is real, full of life in the soul, and pleasing therefore to God. But here danger begins. Let love grow cold, and the song grows cold. It calls for instrumental music therefore now to fill in and make up for the want of love. Or it lets in the spirit of the world; and that comes not to worship, but to be entertained:so instruments (which cannot praise God in spirit and in truth, as Christian worship is to be) are introduced to please the ears.

It may be said that instruments were abundantly introduced in the Jewish worship. True; but if we, Christians, are to be guided by that, what becomes of our Saviour's words in John 4:22-24 ? The Jewish order of things was a system of types; the Christian is reality. It took all the Jewish instruments to illustrate the varied praises which grace and truth create in the human soul.

We believe, therefore, that any use of instrumental music in the worship of God, from end to end, in the Sunday-school, the Gospel meeting, or any other (leaving out, of course, meetings for the learning of tunes), will be found to have a tendency to lower the character of Christian praise, and finally of Christianity itself. It also spoils the voices. It makes a noise which covers the faults in the singing, while, if there was the energy of love, meetings would be held to practice singing hymns, where those faults would be corrected. If God loves the hearty praise of His people issuing from their hearts, through their lips, the ungodly will feel its power also.