Satan at Work.

At the end of the millennial reign of Christ there will be a great rebellion. The devil, who had been cast into the bottomless pit at the beginning of that reign, will be let loose for a little season, that the true state of every heart may be manifested. A multitude like "the sand of the sea" will arise, and will actually come up against Jerusalem to overthrow the King of kings (Rev. 20).

The same process is now going on in Christendom. The blessings of Christianity are very different from the blessings of the millennial reign, and much higher. They tell of God's richest grace to men-a grace which not only forgives the repentant sinner, but unites him to Christ, makes him a member of Christ's body, and a fellow-heir with Him of all the glories in which He is soon to appear. The great movements of the present day, such as Unitarian-ism, Higher Criticism, Christian Science, Millennial Dawnism, and various others, are, toward Christianity, what the rebels at the end of the millennial reign will be toward the kingdom of heaven. The object of Satan, by them, is to dethrone Christ by leveling Him down to other men. As Rome wrecked the apostolic Church, and turned it into a "Mother of Harlots," so these, unable, as Rome, to close the Bible which was reopened by the Reformation, are corrupting it, and making it of no effect thereby. Thus is the apostasy which is to end Christianity, as prophesied in the Word, rapidly coming on. The doom of all who are bringing it is coming on at the same time (2 Thess. 2). Let all who care for their souls beware of trifling with these works of the devil. Let them reprove them, and stand off from them as Abraham from Sodom, though an intercessor still- not like Lot, who, while he vexed his righteous soul about them, remained with them, and suffered great loss thereby. Indeed, abiding with what we know the word of God condemns, whatever our excuse may be, is a destruction of conscience and of Christian progress.

Death.

In Scripture death, in reference to man, never means extinction. It is always, as one can easily learn by careful examination, a parting, a change of condition, a transferring of the individual from one sphere into another.

If used in the sense of physical death, it is the parting from each other of the body and the spirit. Luke 16:19-31, among a host of other scriptures, shows that the two men who died were in no wise extinct. Parted from his body, the spirit of the one was in bliss; of the other, in woe; while waiting, both of them, for a time when " there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust" (Acts 24:15).

If death is used in the moral sense, it is a parting of man with God, which sin indeed effects (Gen. 4:16). And this parting is as complete as the parting of spirit and body in physical death. So complete is it that man in his natural state is said to be "dead in trespasses and sins," and must be born anew to be brought again in communion with God. Thus the apostle, in Eph. i:4, 5, speaking of those born of God, refers to their past condition in these words:"God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ," etc.
If used for the deliverance of the believer from the torment and power of indwelling sin, it is to teach him that in the death of Christ, "made sin for us," with whom he is now identified by the new life he has received from Him, he is forever parted from the sin that dwells in him, and from the law which condemns it. "Dead to sin" and "dead to law" express thus our perfect deliverance.

Again, if used in the eternal sense, as in Rev. 20:14, it is the parting of man with God from which there is no return. From the first death, which began in Eden when man disobeyed God, there is return. God, in Christ, has made abundant provision for that; He has made it for all men; so that not one need perish nor remain in alienation from God. Christ "is the propitiation for our (believers') sins:and not for ours only, but also for the [sins of] the whole world " (i John 2:2). This life is the time to appropriate the benefits of this, through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. This neglected, or spurned, brings on "the second death "-the eternal parting.

Much more might be adduced to the same effect, but enough has been said to set the honest seeker in the way of finding the true meaning of death as taught in Scripture. What a blessed friend it is to the believer-how justly the king of terrors to the unbeliever!