Satan and Christ

No one could plead for righteousness more than Satan does. Go where you like, in any new field, and proclaim to men the gospel of the grace of God, and at once Satan will raise a host of advocates of righteousness who will say that your preaching means "Let us sin that grace may abound." They plead righteousness, but they love not man, and the righteousness they plead drives men from God.

Christ pleads for righteousness too, and He loves to uphold righteousness. He threw Himself between it and its violators at the cross to bear the righteous results of their violations. He is the Friend of men; the righteousness He pleads brings them to God. Oh, the blessedness of knowing that "God is just" in being the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). It brings a peace to the soul which is unshakable, for the soul of man knows well that God is a righteous God, and that nothing therefore can be stable and sure unless it be in harmony with that attribute of Love, perfect love, displayed in the "eternal redemption" which Christ has obtained for us by His blood (Heb. 9 :12). Love alone is not enough ; it must have righteousness for its foundation, else it cannot answer the claims of God's nature, nor minister true peace to the soul of man. The Christian, too, like his Master, will plead for righteousness; not like Satan, who in pleading it is "the accuser of the brethren," but as Christ who, in maintaining righteousness, secures the blessing and happiness of His people.

"Fervent Prayer"

As one passes from the book of Judges into i Samuel, what

a striking change! There all ends in the lowest degradation:Samson, the last judge of Israel, a profligate Nazarite ; Micah's idolatrous worship, with a Levite for its priest ; the tribes at war through the lowest of crimes-all is dark as midnight. Ruth, "a stranger," follows – a lovely illustration of what faith is. Then i Samuel, opening with the case of a sorrowful woman, introduces us to prayer and the results following.

Hannah, too sorrowful to eat and drink and enjoy the feast with others, has gone into the Tabernacle then set up at Shiloh, "and she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore." She was so truly in the presence of God alone that "she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard." Oh, that this had been the condition of the nation of Israel; they would have known none of the miseries which have followed them since and until now. Even Eli, the high-priest, poor, dear man, more accustomed to the ritual than to reality, takes this praying woman to be drunk with wine. How patiently and sweetly she answers:"No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit ; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord." Therefore, though as yet there is no change in her circumstances, "the peace of God which passeth all understanding"-none the less real on that account-so possesses her soul that " the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad." She knew in her soul that she had the petition that she desired of Him (i Jno. 5 :15). And, brethren, He is not changed; He is the same now as then, and hears the "effectual fervent prayer" of faith now as He heard it in that Israelitish woman.
But there was in her petition far more than a mere personal desire, and that is what gave it such fervency. The man-child she prayed for would be " given unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head;" he would be a man separated to God by his mother from his earliest infancy. How much we ask and do not get, because we would consume it upon our lusts (Jas. 4:3), and do ourselves and others harm with it. In the second chapter, having obtained what she prayed for, she is full of praise; she proclaims the grace of God which she has proved for herself, and who they are that benefit by it. But though, as a true mother, she would no doubt gladly have hugged her child longer to her bosom, he had been lent to the Lord, and he must go where the Lord's interests center to manifest there the full fruition of "effectual fervent prayer."

How attractive and instructive to the Christian heart all this is, for if Christendom has fallen as the Jewish economy has done, such prayers as Hannah's will still be productive of blessing.

Holiday Gifts

The holidays are nearing when, according to custom, many presents will be given and received. We would put in a plea for "lectures on the tabernacle," by S. Ridout. We believe it would be difficult to find a more excellent gift to be made to sober-minded Christians. The subject is gone into with fuller detail than any other publication we know of on the subject, and the illustrations by John Bloore, all original, have been made from a careful study of the text. Its price is $2.00, sent post-paid anywhere. Such a gift does not necessarily give a temporary pleasure, but leaves in the reader's soul the sweetness of Christ with fresh views of the beauty of truth.