There are many voices to-day, in the babel of the world's religions, striving to be heard, and claiming that their way is the way of salvation and approach to God; but in Acts 4:, 12 we have a scripture which sets aside every other way of salvation that man might attempt to present:"Neither is there salvation in any other:for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

And this, let us mark, is not the name of Jesus Christ as a teacher or as a prophet, but as the crucified and risen Son of God. Peter and John had been imprisoned by the religious leaders of the day, and on the morrow were brought before " the rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest;" and what was Peter's reply to the question as to the power which had been displayed in healing the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple ? "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. Neither is there salvation in any other:for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

God's thoughts and purposes from eternity center in Christ. As the promised One that was to come, every ritual in the Old Testament, every way there of approach to God, was but a shadow or type of Him who was to come, and God pretermitted the sins of Old Testament saints because He could look forward to Calvary and to the blessed Sufferer who made atonement there. God has thus declared His righteousness in passing over the sins done aforetime-1:e., before the cross (Rom. 3:25, margin). Since Calvary, faith in Christ crucified and risen is God's only way of salvation, so that he that hath the Son hath the life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life (i Jno. 5 :12),

The Spirit of God confirms this statement in Acts by one even stronger in Ephesians 2 :12:"At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Notice how three things are linked together:without Christ, without hope, without God.

Many are trying to-day to reach God apart from Christ. Even some who profess to be Christians talk of the good there is in the heathen religions, and are trying to find a common basis on which Christianity can fraternize with Judaism, Unitarian-ism, Confucianism, Mohammedanism, and what not; but all cults outside of Christianity are without Christ, and if we believe Christianity to be from God, we must also believe that, "Neither is there salvation in any other:for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4 :12). Men talk about the "Fatherhood of God," which, as far as being creatures of God, is true; but the preachers of this doctrine ignore the solemn fact of man's fall, and that only through faith in Christ, and therefore as born anew, can any man now claim God as his Father. The Lord Jesus told the Jews (John 8:42), "If God were your Father, ye would love Me; " and this prevents any from calling God their " Father " who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. The natural man loves hot the Lord Jesus, but hates Him.

And who is this Christ Jesus ? He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament (compare Jno. 12:41 with Isa. 6:1-3). He is "The Wonderful, the Counselor, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace " (Isa. 9:6); the " I AM " who spake unto Moses from the burning bush; the One who created all and upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. i :3). But the natural man believes it not. And yet, "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins, . . . and whither I go ye cannot come" (Jno. 8:21, 24). Again let us say, that he who abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God (2 John 9). He is without the true God and without hope in the world.

But there is a glorious contrast to this! The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth (Rom. i:16). However vile the sinner, however wicked the past life, however full of iniquity one may have been, however self-righteous and full of a false religion one has been, such is the value of the death of Christ before God, such is the power of His name, that salvation is at once assured to every one who receives Him-the crucified and risen Son of God.

" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." And not only is the sinner at once cleansed from sin and given eternal life, but while the unbeliever has no hope and is without God, the humblest believer in the Lord Jesus has holy boldness to enter the holy presence of God by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10 :19) ; nay, is looked upon by God as one risen and seated in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:5, 6).

Some day every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father. How blessed to bow and confess Him now, when hope and blessing may be ours, rather than wait for judgment and be compelled to bow at the end! F.