II ( Continued from page 35.)

The ascension of Elijah had put upon Elisha a double ministry; one of sovereign grace, the other of judgment most severe. Chapters 2 and 3 of our "constellation" give examples and principles which characterize those ministries. The fir^t is at Jericho. Upon arriving there on his journey back, " the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth:but the water is naught, and the ground barren."

What a forceful description of this world in its fallen condition! As a creation is it not beautiful and enjoyable ? Who is it that does not admire the charms of nature ? Had sin not come into it, and with it all its train of ills, who would not enjoy life here? But sin has come in, and so "the water is naught." That element which is the medium of growth for all things that have life; which enables the tiniest, thread-like roots to appropriate what is food for them, softening the dried-up ground and reviving drooping nature ; which restores strength and vigor to the thirsty, worn-out traveler-how various its functions, how beneficent, how absolutely needful, it is! If that be "naught" nothing can be right; the ground is barren; nothing is produced.

Such is the importance of the relations existing between God and men. If they are suitable relations, all is well; if they are not suitable, all is wrong. Sin has ruined the once most happy relations between God and man; it has disturbed the whole creation and causes it to groan continually. Nor is there any hope of any change until the return of the Lord Jesus. When He returns He will, like Elisha who used salt out of a new cruse, bring a totally new order of things, and thereby cleanse the whole scene. So perfect will be the change that "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."And here is the root of all this, "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:6-9).The sovereign grace of God will do this when the time has come for the establishment of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ over the earth.

But the same grace is even now operating in individuals, imparting to them, who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, a new life-eternal life-whose nature, like God's, is holy, and brings its possessors into happy relations with' God again. That is why to every invention of man for the restoration of such relations, God answers, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nothing short of new birth, imparting a new and eternal life, with its new nature, can avail.

Jericho is the place where such grace can be displayed. It was the city of the curse, and it is Christ who "hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). If man has anything to give, he looks after the most deserving upon whom he may bestow his gifts. God looks after the most needy to whom to impart His gifts. " Peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die." We have seen men sufficiently attached to a friend or a benefactor to do this, "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us " (Rom. 5:7, 8). And again, "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly " (Rom. 5:6). This is grace according to God. And it not only saves outright and forever the soul that comes under it, the moment we trust in Jesus, but it transforms the character as well. The liar becomes truthful; the drunkard becomes master of his passion; the thief becomes a trustworthy man; the libertine walks in the paths of holiness. The water of Jericho is "naught" no more, and the ground is no more "barren." Such is the ministry of grace-the "grace and truth" which came by Jesus Christ. Oh that men realized the privilege and solemn responsibility of living in the day of such grace!

From Jericho Elisha goes to Bethel. As we have already noticed, Bethel was the place of great promises made to Jacob. But what had they done at Bethel in answer to those promises-to the grace that had given them ? They had revived there the old idolatry; they had set up a golden calf to worship it, and established an order of worship in imitation of, but supplanting the true worship of God (i Kings 12:26-33). This forms the character of its adherents ; and when the man of God arrives near Bethel, a company of young lads meet him with mockery. They practice what they have heard at home. They know about the ascension of Elisha's master, but only to ridicule it, and swift judgment comes upon them. Two bears come out of the wood and destroy forty-two of them. This is the inevitable result of grace rejected.

So in our day. The ministry of grace has been going on ever since our Lord went back to heaven and from there sent down the Holy Spirit. What have men done with it ? They persecuted, beat, imprisoned, killed the apostles themselves, and it may be safely said that not one man who has since been a faithful witness of that grace has failed to suffer for it. When after centuries of Satan's . success in covering it up, multitudes, headed by such men as Huss, Luther, Zwingle, Calvin and others, rose up to be its witnesses, there was no end of inventions which demons could help men to produce, to torment, tear in pieces and destroy those witnesses. Idols have been substituted for truth everywhere. A woman who, herself, declared her need of a Saviour (Luke i:47) is deified and idolized, and worship offered her by multitudes. Blasphemy has gone to the extent of calling her "the mother of God." Wooden crosses are set up, and knees bend to them continually. Images of wood, stone, pasteboard and wax, painted and varnished, are set up to be adored. A little piece of bread muttered over by sinful man is declared to be God, and a poor mortal like the rest of us is held to be infallible! All this is called Christianity, with God's holy Book in everybody's hands which says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them" (Exod. 20:4, 5).

All this is done under much greater light than Judaism ever had, and the truth which gives that light is mocked! The Lord's return to this Bethel-Christendom will make short work of it. Indeed it looks much as if He were already now giving warnings of this. It is His usual way. The rumblings of thunder are heard in the dark clouds before the storm breaks. If it be true that the coming of the Lord is about to take place, the European struggle now going on is but the prelude of what is to follow. The idols then will melt away, and the priests of Baal in their misery will cry out to the mountains and rocks, " Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. 6:16). "Our God is a consuming fire," and if the ministry of His grace is refused; if men mock the glories of the ascended Lamb of God; if they deny His deity, His virgin-birth, His miraculous works, His sin-atoning death, His resurrection and glorification, they must be held to account at His coming again, and face the "bears" of judgment ready to execute vengeance.

The principles which govern during the ministry of grace are also clearly exemplified in our third chapter:The king of the idolatrous ten tribes asks Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to go with him to war against Moab, and Jehoshaphat, anxious perhaps to heal the breach between the tribes and to manifest large-hearted ness toward all Israelites, takes no notice of existing conditions, and replies,"! will go up:I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses." Accordingly that lovely man of God is found in a company of which the prophet said, "Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. ' It may be argued that the presence of Jehoshaphat proved a blessing to the rest, but can anything make up for the reproach of a child of God being found in company of which God is ashamed ? It may also be argued that the ten tribes were Israelites as well as those of Judah, but the fact that the prophet of the Lord was ashamed of them is sufficient answer to all human pleas. It is also true that all Israel should have been one nation, and not two, but to seek to bring them together by forgetting the past and overlooking the present conditions argued a sad lack of spiritual perception and of faithfulness.

But if His children are unfaithful to God and put Him in a second place. God is faithful to them according to the promises of His word. He chastens. Desperate thirst comes upon the kings. But He does not forsake; one of His own is there, and He has promised never to forsake them. He will even, in His rich grace, make his unworthy companions sharers in the deliverance because they are with him. If we are careless in honoring Him, His heart is not closed toward us. Accordingly not only water fills the valley, but complete victory is granted them.

Our next papers will now, D.V., be taken up with the present reign of grace in various individual cases, carried on according to the principles above mentioned, for the salt of God's holiness and righteousness never fails to accompany the sweetness of His grace.

(To be continued.)