Calendar :Aug. 16th to Sept.15th.

DAILY BIBLE READING:………Aug. 16th, Isa. 5 ;Aug. 31st, Isa. 20 ; Sept. 15th, Isa. 35. MEMORY WORK:……………l Thess. 2:17-3:13.
GOOD READING:…. C. H. M.'s Miscellaneous Writ's., Vol. 5, pages 111-262, "Life and Times of Elijah."
MONTHLY QUESTION:-What passages of Isaiah are applied in the New Testament to the Lord, His person, life or work ?

Our Memory Work

I have remarked before that the most important feature of this work is not how much we can retain word for word of parts of Scripture (important as that is), for many no doubt find it difficult to attain perfectness. Let not this discourage you, for occupation with God's Word cannot fail to give you a large measure of acquaintance with it textually; then from the habit of recalling from time to time portions we have been seeking to memorize, meditating upon them, we shall reap much spiritual profit.

In the words of another, " We want to be in company with the Lord Jesus. He had a thousand links formed between His soul and the scriptures of God. So it should be with us. His references to it were as the glance of an eye familiar with its object. Fill your vision with the glories of Scripture, and all the darts of wicked and unreasonable men will be as so many straws. God has put in His oracles all the vindication they require."

Shall we not find our company with Him in and through the precious book of God? To Him its every! word was life and power. In it He is everywhere to found,-He is " the Word," and "the Bread of God."

Our Daily Bible Reading

We are now reading Isaiah-the chief of the major prophets. He surpasses all in wonderful breadth of vision, which is really universal in its scope. The richest figures and forms of expression abound in this book. The prophet's presentations of the glories of Christ and His kingdom are most graphic and glorious, and along with this, as we might expect, redeeming love and grace are interweaved, so that Isaiah has been rightly called " the Evangelical Prophet."

He fully exposes the moral ruin of Israel, but sheds upon this dark background the future glory of the Messiah and His kingdom. This involves the restoration of the nation after Jehovah's judgments have been accomplished. The bringing in of blessing for the nations, and the supreme exaltation of Jehovah's house as the divine center for the whole earth form bright parts of his prophecies. All is set forth in such rich and varied ways that an attentive reading of this prophet cannot but command our heart's worship, and cause us to rejoice in such a blessed revelation of the purposes and grace of God.
To outline the divisions of this book may be helpful in our reading.

Div. 1 (chaps. 1-12). Israel's failure through independence and rebellion. God coming in sovereign grace to accomplish final blessing.

Div. 2 (chaps. 13-27). Divine judgments upon the nations and Israel are in view of deliverance from the thraldom of sin. The judgments reach a universal scope, as also the blessing.

Div. 3 (chaps. 28-35). Here the holiness of God shines out m a succession of "woes" pronounced against Israel's sinfulness. By contrast we get the reign of peace, the out-poured Spirit, and all creation made glad through the revealed glory of Jehovah.

Div. 4 (chaps. 36-39). This is historical, giving us facts of Hezekiah's reign, but prophetic in meaning.

Div. 5 (chaps. 40-48). God's controversy with Israel concerning idolatry, and His ways in grace and government.

Div. 6 (chaps. 49-60). The victory, and He who wins it through rejection and suffering. Here Christ is the great subject. He takes the place of Israel, Jehovah's failed servant, and carries all to a glorious end.

Div. 7 (chaps. 61-66). In this final portion, God's ways with and for His people are presented, consummated as they will be in the glory of the last days.

Throughout, Isaiah gives us the greatest range of subjects, and widest view-point of any of the prophetical books.

Some Outlines of Truth

Let us now briefly consider the Assembly's relation to the Holy Spirit.

We have already spoken of how the beginning and formation of the Body of Christ, which is the Assembly, is connected with the coming and personal presence of the Spirit in the world. This fixes Pentecost as the commencement of its history.

As thus formed and established, it is the unity of the Spirit, not only because He forms it, but because He dwells in every member of it ; and not only for their individual blessing and direction in their special privileges, responsibility and walk, but also as uniting each member to every other in mutual dependence, interest, and ministry for the good of the whole. He is the sole power for and director of its activities (1 Cor. 6:19; 12:4-27; Phil. 3:3, N. Trans.).

Not only is the individual believer spoken of as the temple of the Holy Spirit, but the local assembly is given that place also. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? If any man defile [or, destroy] the temple of God, him shall God destroy ; for the temple of God is holy, which ye are " (1 Cor. 3:16,17). Thus the company of God's people is viewed as God's temple by reason of the Spirit's indwelling, and the evil workman who destroys the character of this temple by his wicked work, shall suffer God's judgment. Holiness is emphasized in both the individual and collective applications of the figure of the temple (1 Cor. 6:15-20; 2 Cor. 6:14-18). This should be given the most serious consideration, for He who dwells in us is the Holy Spirit. We are called to perfect holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1). This not only implies personal purity, but also that the assembly must be so characterized, and what is unholy is to be judged. This brings in the important subject of discipline and government in their various forms, which we must leave for another occasion.

Another scripture links with our present theme (Eph. 2:22), "Ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." The thought is similar to that of God's dwelling in Corinthians. Clearly all here is spiritual, not material, as it was with Israel. And since it is by the Spirit's presence that the company thus spoken of are God's habitation, it is there that the Spirit's power and leading are to be realized. He is to rule-not man. His fruit is to be manifested-not the works of the flesh. The assembly is the sphere for His activities in service and worship, not for human display or leadership. The flesh and its desires, the world in its way and wisdom have no place in such a temple. In the exercise of both mind and heart each individual must accord the Holy Spirit His place of full control ; and, in waiting upon Him, set aside fleshly impulses or restlessness of mind. How subduing to soul and spirit is the thought of the Holy Spirit's presence and indwelling, whether it be when we come together in the assembly, or in the daily course of life. May the Lord grant us a deeper apprehension of this sanctifying truth. Of course the Spirit's activities are by means of the saints as His instruments, both within and without the assembly. It is He who uses whom He will to God's glory and man's blessing-not human expediency or man's wisdom. Then it is the Word of God which the Spirit uses. It is " the sword of the Spirit"; the source of food for God's people, and the light for our guidance. How needful therefore to grow in acquaintance with it.

An illustration of John 7:38, 39.

Upon the site of the submerged cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, and in all the region of the Dead Sea we are told there is nothing but desolation, no vegetation-a desert. But amid all the death and sterility of the country, there is one little belt of bright green verdure, where waters from a spring flow down from the hills of Bashan and run out in a wandering stream. There, oleanders and small palms flourish, forming one spot where the eye can rest in the midst of ruin and death. So it is in a world lying in moral death that living waters through the believer are to flow out, carrying wherever they pass blessing and spiritual quickening. May God awaken increased exercise in our hearts that we may be wells of refreshment by the way.