(To the Editor of the " Witness," Montreal.)

Sir,-The letter of Mr. H. on the "Higher Criticism,"in your issue of last Saturday, has suggested some thoughts to me for which I crave a small space in your paper.

The writer has given us some of his experiences in connection with the Bible, from the loyal belief of childhood through the struggles of later years, till he has reached what I suppose he would call the "solid ground of reverent higher criticism."May I give the experience of Another from early youth up to the time of His departure from this world, and crave for it the careful and prayerful attention of the reader? Your correspondent speaks of not being able to remember when he expected to lead other than a Christian life, and of having made a public profession at the age of twelve years. The Lord Jesus could say, "Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother's breasts" (Psa. 22:6). When He was about twelve years of age He went up with His parents to Jerusalem, and on their returning He remained for a time, and was found by them in the temple with the teachers of the law, "both hearing them, and asking them questions" (Luke 2:46). In answer to the solicitous question of His mother, He replied, "How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" Here is one whom, I would fain believe, your correspondent would recognize in the fullest way as having an experience as far beyond his as the heaven is above the earth-Jesus, the Son of God.

No one can question, who has thoughtfully read the four Gospels, that absolute faith in the word of God as being that, and only that, marked our Lord's attitude towards the Scriptures. When He was tempted by Satan His only and sufficient reply was from the Scriptures, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God " (Matt. 4:4). In enunciating the principles of the Kingdom of heaven, He rests all that He has to say upon the law and the prophets. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:17, 18).

Thus the time of temptation with Him was not a period of unrest about the word of God; it was the assault of Satan against One who never for one moment had a thought of self-will or unbelief. Therefore, when the time of His public ministry came, He reiterated and emphasized the absolute and divine authority of the word of God. That which your correspondent calls "Christ's higher criticism" was not a denial of the Word written, but an amplification of it:hatred was murder; a lustful look was adultery. For the hardness of their hearts Moses, in the law, permitted divorce under certain limitations. Our Lord reasserts the original word as to man and wife (Matt. 19:3-9).This was not a denial of the inspiration of the permission given by Moses, but showing that under the rule of the kingdom of grace a still closer conformity to God's will was to be had. And so with all the contrasts between law and grace. The holiness secured by the latter was deeper and wider reaching than that even demanded outwardly by the law. This is a wide subject, and will repay prayerful, reverent study. If the purpose of God is seen in it all, there will be no difficulty, only an adoring sense of His wisdom and goodness and love. But, if with higher critics, men begin by denying the inspiration of the word of God, they put out the light divine which love has given to be our guide.

Your correspondent rightly says the writers of the Scriptures were men separated from each other by time, circumstances, and knowledge, and then wrongly argues that they could not be expected to speak without human error. Our Lord quotes freely from Moses, David, and the prophets, without a hint of anything, but divine truth being in their writings. The life of Abraham was a reality to Him, and so Was the account of Jonah in the whale's belly. He quotes a rather obscure passage from the Psalms (82:6):"I said ye are gods," and in explaining it declares, " The Scripture cannot be broken " (John 10:34-36).And this absolute faith in every word of God marked His entire life, never more so than when about to go to the cross for our redemption, He refuses to ask His Father for defense (Matt. 26:54), and as He hung there upon the cross said, "I thirst," "that the Scripture might be fulfilled "(John 19:28). Nor does this loyalty to the word of God stop there, but after His resurrection He still turns His disciples to it:" These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalms' (the well-known threefold division of the Hebrew Scriptures) "concerning Me " (Luke 24:44).

This briefly is the "experience " of the Lord Jesus Christ in connection with the Bible. The writer speaks as though he loved Him; is there not an appeal from Him, the Saviour and Lord, to hear only the Shepherd's voice, and not that of "sages of the latter day," who refuse His testimony:"If ye believe not his (Moses) writings, how shall ye believe My words?" (John 5:47). S. R.

*While this article reaches us as a contribution for our pages from one end of the earth, a question on the same subject comes from another end. This made it manifest to the Editor that there is a stir on the subject, and he therefore put the question above mentioned to several brethren whose minds are much in the word of God, and who live in different places. Their answers are given in full in the "Answers to Correspondents." The Scripture says, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge." A brotherly examination of any questioned truth of Scripture can do us all but good, even though, as the present one, it be of minor import. Editor.*

To the above question there seems to be various answers. It is not so many years ago there would have been but one; students of the Word would have replied at once-the Church. Today, other answers being given, it becomes us to know what Scripture teaches on the subject, for it, and it alone speaks with authority and settles the question; and until we have learned for ourselves what it teaches we shall be affected more or less by the various conflicting statements that are advanced by one and another today.

It has been taught by some that Israel is the Bride. One or two passages of Scripture will, I trust, clear the minds of any who are subject to the Word. I will also quote the words of another which puts the matter in a clear and concise way. "The Bride is 'the Bride of the Lamb,' not the Bride of Jehovah, though He who is the Lamb is Jehovah. Both Israel and Jerusalem are viewed as the wife of Jehovah. He being a Husband to both of them, though for a time, because of their sins, they had been cast off. (See for Israel Hos. 1:, 2:; and for Jerusalem Isa. 54:5.) The term Bride, too, necessarily suggests to us a relation to the Bridegroom very different from that of a divorced or cast off woman, with whom her husband resumes nuptial relations. In this last case, of course, they have been interrupted, broken off; in the former they never existed. Now what Jerusalem's relations were with Jehovah, and what Israel's were likewise, the prophets have told us (Ezek. 16:, and Hos. 2:2). The Bride never was in such a relation to the Lamb, and never will be to Jehovah."

Again, " The marriage of the Lamb takes place in heaven (Rev. 19:6-9); the renewal of nuptial relations with Jehovah and Israel takes place on earth. Israel will not be a bride; the Church is not a wife for a time cast off."* *From article on "The Bride of the Lamb" by the late C. E. Stuart " Words in Season " Vol. 3.* Several other points of difference might be noticed, but this clear distinction will surely satisfy any subject mind.

Others there are who teach that all the heavenly saints form the Bride. That is, Old Testament saints, the Church, and those saints martyred after the Church is gone; making up the companies mentioned in Rev. 20:4 Now there are two words translated " lamb" in the New Testament and applied as titles to the Lord Jesus. "Amnos" is a title connected only with the past, and occurs but four times in that part of Scripture. John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32 ; and i Pet. 1:19. It was given to the Lord Jesus on earth and connected with earth, and relates to sacrifice, dealing with sin, and redemption by blood. He was the Amnos for God and for us; but as such He has no bride. Jesus was alone as the sacrificial Lamb, and it is important to remember this.

But there is another word translated Lamb- " Arnion "-a title of the future. It occurs twenty-nine times in the book of Revelation, and is found no where else. It means a little lamb-a lambkin; and denotes insignificance and rejection; not the thought of the Lamb for the altar, but the rejected Lamb-now raised to the throne, and kingdom, and glory. The world-rejected One, despised and slain, is there seen in the highest heaven, given the highest place in glory, and a kingdom and a Bride, in connection with the world to come-the Millennium-in answer to His rejection and shame.

The present is the time of His rejection, while He is on high. The present is likewise the time that His Bride is being brought, blessed, and fitted to be His wife hereafter. Here it is she shares His rejection, as there she will share His glory. Now such a place and portion, I judge, could not correctly be attributed to saints of a past dispensation. We could not speak of them as associated with Him as the Lamb; nor could we speak of them as the objects of Christ's present, unceasing love and devotion as His espoused Bride, in order to fit them for the position of wife hereafter (Eph. 5:). It will not fit with the general tenor and teaching of the New Testament on the subject.

It is well to remember that Paul in his ministry in connection with the Church as the espoused chaste virgin (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:), presents her as being fitted here in order to be presented there. He takes the Church up to heaven. John, on the other hand brings her down and presents her in her displayed beauty and glory to the world in the character of the holy city. He does not, however, see her in her relations to the Bridegroom, nor does he describe the marriage; none are permitted to do that. That is a sight reserved wholly for those who are in heaven. He describes her as she is seen coming down from God out of heaven. She must therefore have been taken up previously. It is the same blessed Person, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the same Bride in each case, only spoken of in keeping with the ministry of each of these apostles. We do not therefore expect to find in Paul's epistles the Lord set forth as the Lamb (Arnion), nor the Church spoken of as His Bride. At the same time we do find teaching about the Bride as the Bride of Christ, though the word Bride is not used:as likewise the Bridegroom is supposed, though not mentioned. But are we to reject the truth because of the absence of the words? If so, we shall find ourselves compelled to reject some foundation truths for the same reason; a thing for which I think, none are prepared.

We read " Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it." That does not include Old Testament saints. It is the Church. Not even the individuals who form it are here viewed as the objects of His love (though each one can say, "He loved me and gave Himself for me"). It is the whole Church- the concrete idea, and the Church exclusively. And what is the actual state of the Church that He has set His affections on and given Himself for? Is she suitable to Him? Does she answer to the desires of His heart concerning her? Is she fit to take her place as His wife? Far from it. There is a moral
fitness and an education so to speak, required for the position she is destined to occupy as the Bride of Christ; hence the need of His present ministry and service.

Objection has been taken to the use of the term "Bride of Christ" because of the absence of the words. But what have we here? It is Christ who loved the Church and gave Himself for it. It is Christ who is sanctifying and cleansing it. It is Christ who is going to present it to Himself, a glorious, unspotted, unwrinkled Church, holy and without blemish. Are we then to reject the truth because of the absence of the word? Why is the figure of husband and wife used here, if bridal relationship is not contemplated in the "presenting her to Himself "in the future? Why the evident reference to Adam when Eve was brought to him? It is not the truth of the one body that is in view. The Lord does not present His own body to Himself. In that character it is part of Himself. A man does not marry his own body; nor is a man's wife his body:though he ought to love her as his own body. If this does not teach that the Church is the Bride of Christ, what can it mean? And if it does, then it excludes all others, for none others can have a place in the Church, and therefore cannot form part of the Bride.

At present she is viewed as espoused to Him as a chaste virgin (2 Cor. 11:2); not yet seen as ready, but being made ready; and made so by Himself, and for Himself; the joy of doing it a joy peculiarly His own, as the joy of anticipation of the marriage day- the day of presentation to Himself must be likewise specially His own. As before noted, we do not expect to read here of " the Bride, the Lamb's wife; " that is a title of the future, taught only by John and connected with earthly display:"whereas, as the Bride of Christ it is wholly what she is to Him now and for Him in heaven and taught by Paul. Not that there are two Brides. No, it is one Bride; and He who is the Christ of the present is the Lamb of the future.

Yes,' it is Christ and His Bride the Church:she in her subjection now:He in His faithful love, cleansing and fitting her for the nuptial day. Then in the day of display to earth, it will be as 'the Bride, the Lamb's wife" she will come forth. That is, the rejected One with the Bride who shared His rejection are seen together, satisfied. Then descending to earth, decked and dowered for display to earth, she will be seen in all her splendor and glory as the holy city New Jerusalem. Mark, not the heavenly Jerusalem.* *All the heavenly saints are on the burgess roll and belong to the latter. Only the Church of God compose the former.* How could these things be true of, or applicable to any other saints than the Church? Impossible! It is not a question of setting aside, or depriving Old Testament saints of blessing; God will see to it that they lose nothing; but the place that He has given the Church according to His eternal counsels, and in His ways as revealed in His Word.

Then again in the words of another, "The false bride-the harlot (Rev. 17:, 18:)-is surely the harlot of this Christian period, not a Jewish adulteress; and if she be the Christian harlot, then the true Bride must be the chaste Christian woman, or there would be no contrast; for what is the false fornicating Christendom a travesty of, save of the pure Church of God that shall come out of the awful defection as "the Bride, the Lamb's wife." And surely , this witness is true. For if the saints of the past dispensation do form part of the Bride, it certainly seems incredible that for 4000 years or so, Satan should have no counterfeit of her on earth, and only begin when the Church is on the scene. In fact it is so opposed to the ways of the enemy in his hatred and opposition to all the ways and truth of God, that one fact alone would almost settle the question.

Then we might ask again, can such language be applicable to heavenly saints after the Church is gone? From what has passed before us we are compelled to say no, it cannot be; they form no part of the Bride any more than saints of the past dispensation. They partake in the first resurrection and live and reign with Christ as do all the heavenly saints (Rev. 20:4). They are not, however, "partakers of the heavenly calling:" neither were Old Testament saints before them. They, like them, have an earthly calling, and because of their faithfulness they are slain, and obtain heaven instead of earth. They are not losers in being slain, but gainers; hence we read, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth" (Rev. 14:13). They lose earth but gain heaven.

There is one company, however, that some might feel inclined to look upon as part of the Bride because it says of them, "These are they that follow the Lamb (Arnion) withersoever He goeth " (Rev. 14:4). But it will be observed these are a company on earth, who pass through the awful horrors of that time of tribulation and are blessed with the Lamb on Mount Zion. They are not a company of heavenly saints. It is therefore evident they cannot form part of the Bride.

The more we examine the language used in Scripture and its connection, the more we see that the expression, "The Bride, the Lamb's wife is only applicable to the Church and excludes all others It
does not deprive others of heavenly blessing, or sharing in the reign with Christ; but they have not
that place of nearness to the Lamb as His Bride. Blessed indeed are those who are "called to the
saints form the Bride? Where do these come from? We can hardly apply such language to the angels. Would it not rather be spoken to and of those possessed of a like nature, and like feelings, and in a like position with ourselves as saved by grace, but who are not the Bride, though invited to share in The joy at the wedding feast? Such invited guests, I should judge, can only be the heavenly saints who do not form the Church" the Bride, the Lambs wife."

The Lord give our hearts to apprehend more clearly the wonderful place and blessing that is ours in Christ according to His eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ before the world began, so that we may be formed by it here, while we wait His return to take us there to enjoy it in its fulness and perfection forever, and as "the Bride, the Lamb s wife. Wm. Easton

New Zealand

We have to seek, amidst all that is passing around us, to minister positive truth and blessing, Christ and what is eternal; and for that we must live of Him, and with Him too, and not much mind what passes around us, save as God brings it before our eyes. It is Christ-the positive good-the world wants, and saints too. J. N. D.

The things of time, of the earth, often obscure the heavenly and eternal ones. What need that God stir up faith in His people continually! We often shrink from the exercises by which He does this very thing, but when one sees the results, the end, oh how preferable to be tried, and exercised, and cast upon God, than the absence of these, and spiritual torpor creeping in and deadening the spiritual aspirations and joys.

AND THE CHARACTER OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
The subject in the offerings in Lev. 4:and 5:to 6:7, is not sin and sins as root and fruit. That, we have in Romans, but not in the Old Testament, in the same plain way. It is misunderstanding the character of the Old Testament to look for it there. The sin-offering refers to sin in its nature (not in the nature), the trespass-offering to sin as trespass, but both refer to sins, to deeds-neither to root, condition, or nature.

In the light of the New Testament, we can see death out of the old Adam state in the death of a Substitute, in sacrifice; and we can also see our standing in Christ in the burnt-offering, in the words (Lev. 1:3) "he shall offer it for his acceptance"- as no doubt it should be rendered. We are "accepted in the Beloved." But by the law the question of a nature would not be raised directly, but only of the deeds; and so the sacrifices in connection with the law referred simply-on the face of things -to deeds done, to breaches of the commandments. So the epistle to the Hebrews, which answers to all this, does not refer in plain doctrine to the old and new nature, or to sin and sins, but to sins. These are forgiven, and so the worshiper has access to the holiest. The same people who had been waiting, as it were, for the accomplishment of the cross, are now forgiven and ushered into God's presence. "Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin " shows that the offering for sin here, refers to sins. Sin in the abstract (Heb. 10:18) "our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb. 10:22) suggests, it is true, a new and perfect nature formed by the Word but there is no distinction of sin and sins, here, or in Lev. 4:and 5:, such as is presented in the epistle to the Romans.

Scripture is framed in perfect harmony like the ''earth, with its rocks and metals, and soils. Parts of the earth may be disturbed, but in Scripture everything is in its place, and nothing will be found out of place, or where it does not fit.

Another example of misinterpretation in this connection is the introduction of the doctrine of the resurrection into the prophets. The prophets spoke of the restoration of Israel to their own land. Resurrection has no place here. The nation that came out of Egypt (that is, descendants who will represent the nation in the last days), will be established in Canaan-in millennial blessing at last. Figures of speech are used (Isa. 26:; Ezek. 37:; Dan. 12:; Rom. 11:) that show that morally there will be a resurrection-the nation will be raised from a dead state. But there will be generations of children after this moral resurrection, as we see in Ezek. 37:25, "They and their children and their children's children;" showing plainly as the connection always does, the real meaning of the passage, that is, in this case, that Israel will be restored to their land. Time will be still continued. They will be in mortal bodies, just as we now are.

Let the character of the Old Testament be considered and all is plain. It is in the main, the history of an earthly nation, Israel; now scattered for their sins, according to the warnings of the prophets, and yet to be regathered to their land according to the prophets. THE SIN-OFFERING AND THE TRESPASS-OFFERING.

All believers who have died-Jews or Gentiles- Old Testament or New Testament saints-all such will be raised from the dead when the Lord descends into the air to take away the Church to Himself. The dead will be raised-dead believers, and living believers will be changed-and all will be caught up to be "forever with the Lord" in heaven (i Thess. 4:13). The last resurrection is at the close of time, after the Millennium, and includes only the wicked. All who share the first resurrection go to heaven. There is no such thing as resurrection for those who are to dwell on the earth. Believers who die and are raised from the dead, all go to heaven, and remain "forever" in heaven. Restored Israel and Gentiles blessed with them will be on earth-in millennial blessing-and there will be "men" on earth forever, on the "new earth." How they will be transferred from the old to the new earth, we are not told.

Therefore heavenly blessing awaits the heavenly saints, and earthly blessing awaits the earthly saints, whether for the Millennium, or for the eternal state.

The idea of resurrection has no place in connection with the restoration of Israel to their land, nor in connection with Gentiles who will be blessed with them. It has nothing to do with earthly blessing. Heaven is heaven and earth is earth-and "in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He will gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth" (Eph. 1:10). It is deeply important for the soul that we should diligently and patiently consider the connection in interpreting Scripture. E. S. L.

Under this heading – in "Watchword and Truth" (Nov., 1904) the Editor contends that " it was not revealed to Paul that a new Body was formed, but that Gentiles were now admitted on equal footing with Jews into the Body that already existed " (in Old Testament times). But we learn from i Cor. 12:13, that "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles." Therefore the Jew, as well as the Gentile, is introduced into the Body by the baptism of the Spirit. By the baptism of the Spirit the Body was formed; and this baptism of the Spirit took place at Pentecost, as we learn by comparing Acts 1:5 with Acts 2:1-4. In the former passage we read, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." This was at the end of the "forty days;" and at the fiftieth day (Pentecost) the Holy Spirit came from heaven as recorded in Acts 2:1-4; and thus the Church was formed, by the baptism of the Spirit, as announced by the Lord in chap. 1:Eph. 1:tells us that God "set Christ at His own right hand" and "gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body."

Do not these scriptures declare that the "Body" did not exist until Christ was exalted, and the Holy Spirit had descended to form that Body? The revelation of the "mystery" is not that the Gentiles were now to have a place in the Body, but that God was making a new thing, into which both Jews and Gentiles are baptized by the Spirit, forming thus the Body, and united to Christ, the Head of it. No such Body had existed before, either of Jew or Gentile. Both are introduced into it by the Spirit, who could not come until Jesus was glorified:"for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified " (John 7:39) as we have seen by the passages in Acts.

Therefore, not only do the scriptures already considered (Acts 1:and 2:with i Cor. 12:13) refute (1) the Editor's teaching, but Eph. 3:clearly excludes his assertions as to that passage. The passage excludes the thought that the Gentile belonged to " the Body" of old; how could "the Body" have existed with the Gentile on a different level from the Jew ? The nature and unity of the Church, the Body of Christ, excludes such a thought:it is a dislocation and confusion of the truth.

(2) As to the teaching of the eleventh chapter of Romans, that the Gentiles as a "wild olive-tree" were grafted in among the Jewish branches and became partakers with them "of the root and fatness of the olive-tree," that is a matter of life and salvation-not of "the Body of Christ." Old Testament believers were born of God, and New Testament believers are born of God.-all have life in Christ. But New Testament believers have something additional. Besides having life in Christ, they are joined to Him as the Head of the Body by the indwelling Holy Spirit, as we have already seen, and thus become members of His Body, the Church. We are in Christ by life-He is in us, and we in Him:but by the Spirit we are joined to Him and to one another as members of "the Body," and thus form the Church.

(3) What is said by the Editor under this number, is answered by what we have just presented under
No. 2. "It is not a new family that is formed (in Christianity) but the same family brought into the standing of full grown sons, and having an experience by the Holy Spirit that corresponds to that standing," says the Editor in reasoning from Gal. 4:Here again (in Gal. 4:) Church truth is not referred to, any more than in the eleventh chapter of Romans. Jewish believers of the Old Testament times were God's children as surely as we are. It has no reference to the subject before us. The Editor again fails to distinguish between life in Christ, and being "baptized into the one Body" "by the one Spirit."

(4) Under this number we have the following statement, " If those believers before the day of Pentecost, and also those after the Advent and resurrection, do not have Christ as their Head, then they are without a Head, without salvation, without God, and without hope." But Christ is "the Head of every man," saved or unsaved (i Cor. 11:3) and He is the Head of all who are saved, no doubt, as their Lord and Saviour; but He may be their Head in that sense, without their being of His Body, the Church. He is " Head over all things to the Church which is His Body" (Eph. 1:22). As we have seen this is true only of those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that is true only of believers of the present dispensation. King Edward of England is head of his kingdom, but he is head of his wife also, for "the head of the woman is the man" (i Cor. 11:3).

No. 5. has been already answered, " How can they have the same divine life from the same glorious Head, and yet not be members of the same Body, according to the Scripture? " As already set forth, partaking in life with Christ is a different thing from being joined* to Him by the indwelling Spirit so as to be a member of His Body. *"He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17).* Were not Old Testament saints possessors of life in Him? But the Holy Spirit had not then come to dwell in the bodies of believers, which was essential to the formation of the Church according to i Cor. 12:13.

(6) As to i Cor. 15:49, "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly," this is true for the Old Testament saints as well as for us. It is speaking of resurrection, but in no way denies the distinctive relationship of the members of the Body, which, as we are elsewhere told is peculiar to the present time.

The writer speaks here of the "saved Jew on earth, and the saved Church reigning in glory over the earth" in a future time. Israel's blessing no doubt is referred to; but will not saved Israelites who are on the earth in that day have life in Christ? -and yet the writer speaks of those in heaven only as the Church. What is the explanation of this? And speaking of the Church in heaven in that time, he says "that Body will be the Church of the firstborn ones-all who have fallen asleep in Jesus, from Abel to Advent." But if this be true who are " the spirits of just men made perfect" spoken of in the same verse? If they are Old Testament saints in distinction from "the Church of the first-born ones" all is plain:but if "the Church of the first-born ones includes all from Abel to Advent," who are these others that are mentioned in this heavenly array? E. S. Lyman

(To be concluded in our next issue.")

(Continued from page 136.)

There are a few ill-advised expressions and several misunderstood passages of Scripture in Mr. McC.'s books it may be well to take notice of. On page 45 of "The Threefold Secret,"speaking of the Holy Spirit as dwelling in the body of the believer, he calls Him " a joint-tenant with the flesh."On page 46, he says, "Yet every believer thus co-indwelt by the flesh and the Spirit."Now I do not desire to make a man an offender for a word. I am sure he means right. I think it is plain all he intends is, that notwithstanding the fact that the Spirit is in the believer, the flesh is still in him too. But if he means right, one may ask, why take notice of a mere slip of the tongue, or of simply an ill-chosen term ?Well, there is danger of the truth being obscured in the minds of young believers, and of their adopting expressions which it is better they should learn to avoid. Now the terms "joint-tenant" and "co-indwelt" really imply fellowship. The thought of Scripture is not that they are there with common rights and interests. They are there as opponents. They are not dwelling together in a joint possession. They antagonize each other. The terms joint-tenant and co-indwelt should be avoided, as liable to hinder clearness in the perception of the truth.

Mr. McC. does not see the distinction between unity and union, between being one with Christ and united to Christ. I will quote a few statements from " The Threefold Secret":

" Do yon forget that His indwelling does not depend upon your emotions, but upon your union with Christ, which has been long since accomplished by God through your faith in Him?" (page 28).

"In Him is life, and the instant we are united to Him by faith we must receive the Spirit" (page 29).

"Now the indwelling of the Holy Ghost depends upon our union with Christ, through faith" (page 60).

"When we see that His indwelling depends upon an unchangeable fact-our eternal union with Christ by faith" (page 61). "He has received the Holy Spirit through union with Christ" (page 88).

"It is by virtue of our union with Christ, then, that we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost" (page 104).

"A man in Christ has the Spirit in virtue of his union" (page 105).

Uniformly and constantly is the confusion between unity and union to be found in these writings. One with Christ and united to Christ are, in his mind, one and the same thing. Is it so in Scripture? First, let us look at the account of Rebekah in Gen. 24:In verse 4 we read, "But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac."We look at Isaac here as typifying Christ. A woman is to be found to be united to Isaac. She must be of his kindred. She must be one of his family, a woman of those who have a community of life and nature with himself. No woman not of his blood, not of his family, will do to be united to him. In John 17:our Lord says (verse 21), " That they all may be one :as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us." This oneness is a family unity. It is the unity of kindred. Before there can be union with Christ there must be unity with Him. In this verse our Lord is not speaking of union, but of oneness, or unity. It is what belongs to the family of Christ, the family of God. The blessing belongs to every child of faith. All who believe through the word of the disciples (see verse 20) share in this blessed kinship. Unity of life, of nature, of kinship with Christ, is by faith. But is this the same thing as union with Christ? Is it the same thing as being united to Him ?Let us see. In Rom. 7:we read of some of the family of faith who, before the death and resurrection of Christ, had been united to the law, but who now, by the body of Christ, are dead to that to which they had been united, 1:e., the law (see verse 4).Being thus dead to what heretofore they had been united to, it is now possible to unite them to another, to the risen Lord Jesus Christ. By faith they had kinship with Christ already-a kinship which others who believed the coming testimony-the revelations of Christianity-would also have. But now, Christ having died for them, and thus freed them from their union to the law, they receive union to Christ risen. We are not told here when this union to Christ is accomplished, or how or by what means it is effected. To learn this we must look elsewhere. In i Cor. 6:, our bodies being indwelt by the Spirit, we are viewed as "joined unto the Lord." Here we have union, and see that, instead of the in dwelling of the Spirit depending on union, union depends on the indwelling of the Spirit. Instead of receiving " the Spirit through union with Christ," it is through the Spirit indwelling us we have union with Christ. Again, in chap. 12:13, we read, "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body."Here we have the union of the members. The members being joined to each other, they are one body. Again it is by the Spirit. Union is always by the Spirit. Unity, oneness with Christ, is by faith. Union, whether it be union with Christ, or the union of the members, is by the indwelling of the Spirit. In Scripture these different things are never confused.

On page 27 of "The Threefold Secret," 2 Cor. 13:5 is quoted, from the Revised Version. "Try your own selves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed ye be reprobate ?" His comments are:

"How clear this last passage is upon the points named ! Note the simple conditions again :'Try your own selves, whether ye be in the faith.' That is, 'Are you believers? Are you simply trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation ? If so, know ye not as to YOUR OWN selves that Jesus Christ is in YOU? Unless, indeed, when you examine yourselves, you find that you are reprobate, that is, not standing the test, not trusting Christ, but something else.'"

We will quote this passage in its proper connection, simply leaving out the parenthetical part, beginning with verse 3 :" Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, . . . examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith." Have you the truth from God ? They thought they had. Well, then, Who was the divinely chosen instrument of the communication of this truth from God to you ? It was the apostle. If they had the truth then,-the "faith " God had "delivered to the saints,"-they possessed the " proof " of his being an apostle ; " of Christ speaking in " him. Unless the faith they held was a false faith, then they were bound to acknowledge that he was an apostle. If they were reprobate, if what they held as truth was not a revelation of Jesus Christ to their souls, so that they had no inward knowledge of Him, no enjoyment of Him, no real sense of what He is, then they lacked the proof they, or at least some of them, were seeking for. If the truth they held was really from God, and, laying hold of their souls by the power of the Spirit, gave them an in-ward apprehension of Christ, the apostle was the divinely authorized communicator of that truth to them.

Beloved reader, this passage applies to us with all the force it had with the Corinthians. Unless we are reprobates, unless what we profess as truth never came from God, unless what we hold as the truth is a " cunningly devised " fable, God has spoken to us. If Christ is apprehended in our souls, if the truth that has been given to us has revealed Him to us and given us to enjoy Him inwardly, then we have heard the voice of Christ. We know what has been His voice to us. It is "the apostles' doctrine"-the doctrine they were the authorized communicators of. C. Crain

(To be concluded in our next issue.)

(Lately given at Duluth, Minn.)

My purpose, brethren, is to seek to give you a fair insight into this Epistle as a whole; as when one receives a letter of a dozen pages from a friend, he reads it all through at once, then returns to details one by one. When we thus possess the general drift of any of these Epistles, their details are better understood and full of blessing.

The occasion of Paul's writing this Epistle was that the assembly had gone wrong in some things,
and his object is to set it right before God. This he does by first pointing out the things which had brought them to that low condition.

Of old, God planted a garden and set man in it to dress it for fruit. So now Christ in the midst of His people is cultivating them with a view to their being made fruitful to God, and our wilderness journey is His instrument to that end. The assembly here on earth is the garden of the Lord to produce for Him fruit that will abide forever.

The apostle, as Christ's servant, sets to work here weeding out what has intruded itself in this garden, then carefully fences it in-separates it to the Lord, and therefore from all that is contrary to His mind.

When we remember that Satan is the prince of this world, the great enemy of Christ and His people, instead of its being a surprising thing to us that he should seek the ruin of the assembly, indeed we should expect that it would be the special object of his attack.

It is solemn to notice his method of attack, as well as how thoroughly it succeeds with God's people, when he first of all succeeds in throwing them off their guard:he has a wedge to drive into the assembly, the point of which is the world, the host of evil following after. You cannot help noticing in the first four chapters how the wisdom of the world had been imported into the assembly, and general worldliness with it. That being successful, the flesh in its shameful immorality follows in the fifth chapter, so that the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters are devoted to ministry called for by that fact. Then the thick end of the wedge is plainly seen in the eighth, ninth and tenth chapters, where the apostle has to point out that communion at the table of demons in idol-temples had already ensnared some of them.

Satan well knew that if he could introduce the world in the form of worldly wisdom it would so weaken their souls that the other steps would be easy. It is ever so; he does not bring in at once that which would shock their moral sense, but rather that which the world around them would smile upon; then what dishonors them and the gospel; then what displaces Christ. The snare is so gradual, they hardly detect it.

The way it manifested itself in them was, that they were following man as man, even though these men might be servants of God. There, out in the world was this great man, and that great man-great thinkers, whose wise thoughts were adopted and followed by their disciples, and the same had come to pass among them. It is in this connection that he reproaches them with walking as men. Notice, he does not say as wicked men. To walk as men was to walk in the mind of the world, and whether it be the world in its respectable wisdom, or in its gross immorality, to follow the world is practically to be against God.

Fullest provision was made for them in this matter of wisdom, as all else, in Christ, and the Spirit of Christ given to them to lead them into all truth, as well as to minister all needed power to follow it.

If even the thinnest veil comes in between the soul and God, God loses His place in the soul, and it is thus prepared for any amount of departure from God. We find therefore that the world's wisdom having come into the assembly, there is now tolerated among them "that wicked person" (see chap. 5:) whose wickedness was so gross, that out in that world, whose wisdom they had adopted, it would be regarded as shameful. The assembly, under the leading of her cunning enemy, is now outdoing the world in wickedness. What a triumph of Satan; what a fall for the assembly!

The apostle not only gives the needed instruction for the assembly to clear itself of this wickedness, but adds, continuing up to the end of the seventh chapter that which is the mind of God for maintaining holiness among His people.

In chaps. 8:-10:, it is no longer the assembly bringing in something from the world, but, instead of the Lord's table being understood and fully satisfying their souls in the blessed communion it expresses, there is the going out and partaking of the cup of devils. This, of course, as the apostle shows, cannot be. The one destroys the other, for they are opposite. "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils."Moreover in the eleventh chapter, they were turning His supper into something for themselves, so that one was hungry and another satiated. It would seem that they had a supper-a kind of love feast, before the bread and wine in remembrance of Christ were passed; but instead of its being really a love feast, here was a group of them forming a social circle which excluded their poorer brethren; feasting themselves to excess, while the others were despised and went hungry. Thus despising their brethren, they really despised the Lord and His supper.

Having now brought them face to face with the Lord Himself unto whose name they gather together, and led them to realize what was due to Him, they are now brought where they can be helpers one of another. That is God's order for us; if the Lord has His proper place in our souls, depend upon it we will give one another his due.

Out of sixteen chapters, eleven close before the subject of ministry is touched upon. What a lesson for us, dear brethren, as to where we should put ministry. How can ministry be what it ought to be if the Lord is not revered and obeyed in His assembly?

What a striking figure is used in chap. 12:to set forth how the Head of the Church can minister through each one of His people. I once asked the question in a meeting at a certain place, "How many ministers are there in this assembly?" A brother thought " there were three." Just three brothers in the assembly who opened their mouths! I said, "How many parts of my body are to be of use to me, to minister to me? " Why, all, of course, was the only answer to be given. Now, how many parts of the Lord's body are to be of use to Him? Two or three out of a whole assembly? Brethren, do we know the truth of our common membership in the body of Christ, or is it to be a truth which will put us to shame, as we show how little we act upon it, in seeking, all of us, to minister as the Lord has appointed?-whether it be publicly or quietly, each in his or her place, seeking to contribute to the blessing of the whole body.

Isn't it an unsightly thing when some member in a man's body is out of proportion to the rest, or any feature unduly large or unduly small ? Now, when one brother, or a few brethren, in the assembly are either allowed or compelled to be, and do, everything almost, is it not something much like that? Let us, then, covet proportion in the body of Christ, in its members, as we would covet proportion in the members of the human body. Let me add that while ministry outside the assembly, say in preaching the gospel, is not touched upon in this case (for it is ministry to the body itself I am now speaking of), yet it will certainly follow that if ministry have its full flow in the assembly, there will be also activity in reaching out to others, as we know there should be.

In the thirteenth chapter, love is shown to be the motive which will rightly set all these parts of the body in action. "Love seeketh not her own" is the grand secret of all true and effective ministry.
these gifts are fourteenth chapter, he shows how all lese gifts are to be governed when the whole assembly is together. All must be done decently, and in order. All must be governed by the thought that it edifies. Then, as God in creation has given to the man a certain place, and to the woman another, so, in the assembly, men are there, as everywhere, to be men, and women to be women. Not that this debars women from ministry, for be it remembered that though the prophesying spoken of in this fourteenth chapter is in the assembly and by the men only, in the eleventh chapter he has already spoken of women prophesying – outside the assembly, of course; not in a public, but private way.

The fifteenth chapter gives us the foundation of the assembly, and its hope; Christ crucified and risen, is the foundation. " If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." Then Christ's return is the hope-the time when God will complete His glorious purpose in us:"Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming."

In the last chapter he has a word to say on a commonplace matter, which, nevertheless, is in the line of ministry too. Temporal need is referred to, and temporal ministry therefore receiving regulation also:"Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him." No mere impulse on some great occasion, as when the apostle would come and there would be a general stirring up of heart, but a deliberate purpose of heart before God to tax the weekly income. The proportion is left to the heart of each one-not the rich only, remember, dear brethren, but ''every one of you."

Coming back to the beginning again for a brief word in closing. Here is an assembly that came behind in no gift. They had knowledge, they had utterance, but, with all that, they were not spiritual. They were not growing as they should grow. They were walking as men. They were not growing as they should grow. They were in a condition of childhood. Let us learn wisdom from the apostle's example in dealing with them. He does not give them what might be termed something grand, some heart-thrilling unfolding of truth, but gives them that which, if they take it, will bring them right with God, and where, therefore, they can receive further truth. It indeed does this in effect, as his second epistle to them bears witness.
Thus the Lord's garden has been weeded; its wall repaired and strengthened; fresh seed sown in; and
an increased harvest in prospect for that blessed eternity, in view of which everything has been done.

"How good is the God we adore ! "

QUES. 2.-Can you give me some light on the seventh of Hebrews particularly the seventeenth verse, and where can I find who is Melchisedek is, any farther than the king of Salem? Where he originate from ? It is so often repeated throughout He-s, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedek," to find who he is.

ANS. -Hebrews is an epistle of contrasts; Christ contrasted with angels with Moses, with Aaron; Christianity with Judaism; the new covenant with the old-all to bring to view the fulness of blessing which is in Christ.

Thus in chap. 3:5, 6, Moses is but a servant in God's house, Christ is Son in His own house. In chap. 8:23, 24 the great high priests of Israel-Aaron's family-were unable, by reason of death, to carry the people committed to their charge all the way through, "but this one (Christ) because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost (1:e., to the very end) that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."

This unchangeableness in Christ our great High Priest, and in the sacrifice which He offered for us, by virtue of which the end is sure for all who come to God by Him, required therefore another beside Aaron to illustrate it. Melchisedek serves this purpose-a personage without known beginning or ending.

If his origin, his birth, his death, were given, the purpose for which he is" introduced in Scripture would be destroyed. We may see in this a perfection of Scripture in what it omits as well as in what it reveals. As you say, he is much spoken of in Hebrews, not for his own sake however, but because God desires to call our attention much to the character of the priesthood of His dear Son. Great things for us depend upon it, as chap. 10:bears witness.

If you will read the NUMERICAL BIBLE on the subject of Melchisedek we believe yon will find help which will increase to you the value of Christ.

Notes on John 13:and 14:by A. E. B.

This last evening spent by the Lord in the upper room with " His own " was a rich unfolding of His love to them. "Having loved His own who were in the world He loved them to the end," is a key thought to all that developed there that evening.

Let us trace out a few links in this golden chain of love, perfect, pure, and everlasting.

1. This love is expressed in three words, "Come from God." In this we get the truth of the incarnation, a wonderful theme for contemplation. Not that this great love then began:"He loved me," "He loved the Church" "loved us," is like Himself eternal-always was, is, and ever shall be.

But we see in His coming into the world, coming from God, the love of Christ beginning to unfold itself. It is divine love made known on human soil, and that perfect also-Deity clothed in humanity that we may trace out and follow its footprints of glory across the desert path. Every step, word, or deed which, during those thirty-three years of His lowly life, has been given, is set before us to reveal the glory of that perfect love. Blessed mission His was; blessed life for us now to contemplate; and blessed the end.

2. The love being fully expressed,-He "went to God." At the manger in Bethlehem the love had entered this scene (in His person) unfolding itself day by day. But at the cross (the way by which He returned to God) it had reached its full expression. '' He loved me and gave Himself for me." " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins." In that cross the believer sees the perfect removal of all his sin, in righteousness and true holiness; the love expressed in it divinely pure and perfect. As the rainbow is seen in the dark cloud, beautiful and perfect in each and every ray, so the love, grace, and tender compassion of our God and of His beloved Son shine out amid all the darkness of Calvary's cross.

Then His atoning sufferings were endured. Then the basis of God's grace and glory among His own people was firmly laid, and whatever may change here, now, or hereafter, that foundation will remain firm and steadfast forever. This foundation was what love firmly laid, and is what faith in God's children now builds upon for present joy and eternal safety.

As we look back into eternity before Gen. 1:i, we can say, " He loved me." As we see Him enter this scene, "He loved me." As He goes with a firm step to the cross and dies, a victim there for our sins, "He loved me." And "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end."

3. His love continues. At the cross He fully expressed His love to us, but He did not exhaust it. It is deeper than the deepest sea, higher than the highest heaven, broader than the earth. Nought in time can fully illustrate love so full, perfect, and free. It is as eternity itself, as the boundless, shoreless, blue ocean above us.

This chap. 13:illustrates the service of love which our Lord carries on now. In chap. 12:He speaks of being lifted up on the cross-the brazen altar. But
here He passes on to the brazen basin and its water His priestly care for His own. He desires to keep them clean. The blood of the cross removes their guilt, their sin; but this love of His, as seen in the water, removes any defilement which we may contract after.

We are "bathed," our "bodies washed with pure water" as Aaron's family were washed all over. This is New Birth. But our hands and feet are washed day by day after that, fitting them for holy walk and service in the sacred court and tabernacle of Jehovah. "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord."

This priestly service – washing the feet of His own, He superintends from the heavens. We have in a very wonderful way access to Him. He also has access to us-all by the Spirit, and for the benefit of those who have faith. We have a new life, our guilt, our sins removed by blood, and all defilement which we may contract through life, removed by the application of the Word.

4. "wash one another's feet. " He has given us an example, and now enjoins the same service upon each of His own.

This is His love active, reproduced, and manifested in the life and acts of God's people with one another, a service they owe to one another. If we say as Cain, ' 'Am I my brother's keeper?" Yes, we are indeed. Love that won us and brought us to know itself, has taken up its abode in us because we are "born of God " (i John 4:7, 8). And as we look back and think of love in Jesus so tender and true, then look up and see this service continue, to follow His example is but the natural and necessary outcome. Living near Him, enjoying communion with Him, we will imitate and reproduce His love, by caring for one another. The gracious, tender, lowly spirit of the Master will enable all to fulfil such service in a true and proper way.

We owe this service of love to all His own, because we are by the Spirit all joined in one. They need this service of love. No one can say to another, "I have no need of thee."We also need to guard the way and manner we approach each other, and see that it is love, the love of Jesus, moving us to such service. If love is prompting us we will proceed with a soft and tender step. And love will temper the very water we use, that we may neither chill nor scald, but be as what our own hand can bear. After this we shall use the towel too, that our work may be well done. This is love, a service of love. 5."leaning on (in) Jesus' bosom" (ver. 23). Every one redeemed by His blood, and whose feet have been washed by the priestly hands of Jesus, now in the heavens, are enabled as this beloved disciple to recline on the Saviour's bosom. Blessed provision! Blessed place of nearness to His heart of love, either for the beloved John, or ourselves now. It is love, in grace, which has opened this to us. The ideal place for every departed saint of old was '' Abraham's bosom."When the saint passed out of this world to be with "Father Abraham" in the other, it was a joy and a consolation (Luke 16:23).John 13:opens up another bosom for us, Christ's bosom. The place Christ has, is a place in the "bosom of the Father," nearness and dearness being expressed in it the nearness and sweetness of a known and enjoyed relationship (John 1:18). The bosom of our glorified Lord is thus our place, our home. We draw near to His heart and feel the throbbings of that love for us. This is how He cherishes His own, His If Church. This is where we ourselves learn the secret power of love, where the chills are removed, where the heart grows warm and expands with the love of Christ. It is thus also " the love of Christ constraineth us," to service.

6." LOVE ONE ANOTHER. "
Such is the parting charge of Love. "A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another"

(ver. 35).

He was going to leave them; they were, everyone of them, "the excellent of the earth "-the purchase of His blood. He knew what a place the world was for them to abide in after He would leave. They were to expect nothing but hatred from that quarter (John 15:18, 19). He knew also that in themselves was a nature which, if not guarded and kept under control, tended to selfishness. If that worked, love would be inactive. Therefore He gave them a beautiful and suited charge before He left, "Love one another as I have loved you."

We need to read His words in John 13:of ten, and follow in spirit to the side of the cross to learn the way in which He expressed His love for us, "He died for us." " We know we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren." "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." These things show us what the love of our God is, and the love of Jesus leads us to care for, and "by love serve one another."

We are here in the element of our very life and nature as born of God. Oh may love develop from
the mere sparks in us to the flame in our Lord and Saviour.

7.THE CONSUMMATION OF LOVE.

"I will come again." We saw that He "came from God;" then " He went (again) to God "-returned to heaven. But here in John 14:He states, "I will come again."

At this time we will get the consummation of the love of Jesus. His love then will be fully satisfied, yea delighted; and He also will rejoice over His own with singing. How could it be otherwise? At the cross He paid the purchase price for us. He suffered, He died for us. In the heavens for 1900 years He has waited until the company were completed-His Church formed and gathered home.

He views the Church from the throne above. He knows her trials and ills in life. He knows, alas, her unfaithful testimony also. But soon He will come again. The promise is of long standing, but He will fulfil it, and we shall rise as declared in i Thess. 4:13-18. In the air we shall meet as we join the raised saints and the changed ones. He shall conduct us into the Father's house on high. As we enter the glory above, "forever with the Lord" will fill the breast of each one of the vast host; then not only shall we see Him face to face, but we shall bask in the sunshine of His love and abide in it forever.

"And thou shalt remember all the way Jehovah thy God led 4) thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or not. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with the manna, which thou hadst not known, and which thy fathers knew not; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by everything that goeth out of the month of Jehovah doth man live" (Deut. 8:2, 3; J. N. D.).

"To humble thee! " That is what God was doing with His people of old; that is what He is doing with His people now; and that is what He will ever be doing with His people. They must be humbled. God cannot delight in a proud spirit; He cannot take pleasure in a stiff neck; He will not bless an independent soul. Our wills must be broken, our thoughts must be set in order, our ways must become as His ways, our self-sufficiency must be superseded by His sufficiency. But God does not arbitrarily humble His people; it is all for His glory manifested in their blessing.

It takes actual experience to make certain truths good to our souls. It is good to see others converted and manifest their joy in a new-found Saviour, but it was many times more real to us when we so found Him for ourselves. It is well to understand something of what the apostle meant when he said, " for me to live is Christ; to die, gain:" but to go through the school of experience and have that truth thus made good to the soul is more blessed.

What matters it if our fond ambitions are not realized, or our earthly hopes shattered, or keenest disappointment pierces the heart, or failures rob life of its allurement ? Ah, brother, these are the things of the wilderness that should humble us, and make some corresponding truth more real and precious to our heart. God has nothing for us but the manna- not a thing besides. But how sweet that Manna becomes after the heart is humbled and brought to that place where earthly appetites are taken away and Christ becomes everything to the soul. " To humble thee!" Our Father, we bless Thee for these words. Lord Jesus, we bless Thee for Thine example of humility; give us grace to pattern after Thee.

"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." F. H. J.

(John 13:and 15:)

"Feet washing"and"fruit bearing." The former is the Lord's self-imposed responsibility, if one may reverently use such words in connection with Him; the latter is our responsibility. In John 13:it is the intensity of His love for " His own that are in the world " which leads Him to stoop and serve us in order to remove the defilements which are contracted while passing through the world, and keep us in moral suitability to Himself, ready at any moment to be taken away into the place where He is gone Himself. It is not making us fit in the sense of giving us righteous title to be with Him where He is; that is the result of the work of His cross:and through the infinite value of that work as seen, known, and valued by our God and Father, we "are made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). It is keeping us in moral fitness by the action of the Word as used by Himself, in whatever way, so that there may be no break in the enjoyment of His love here, and moral fitness to receive Him, and be with Him when He comes to take us there. The action is His, not ours. All His own are the subjects of that action; if any are not, it is because they are not His; they have " no part with Him."

The blessed Lord knew He was going out of the world to the Father:and that the Father had given all things into His hands. He was therefore going back to Him in a new character-as Man; and as the one who had all things given to Him as Man. That marvelous love of His had given the poor things He calls "His own" to share with Him-to have "part with Him" in all that was given Him; and now He would still serve them and stoop to their very feet so that the knowledge and enjoyment of that love might not be interrupted by the world's defilements. They were "perfected forever" by His one sacrifice (Heb. 10:14). They were "clean every whit" by the action of His Word (John 15:3). But being in an unclean and defiling world, they would necessarily contract its defilement and need the constant activities of His eternal and unchanging love to remove those stains so that there might be no moral distance between Him and them, and therefore inability to enjoy His things-the "part with Him " here and now before He comes to take us there to enjoy it in its fulness. Let me observe again the action is His, we are the subjects of it and benefit by it.

In fruit-bearing it is different, the responsibility is ours, and that side is put first throughout the chapter. "If ye abide in Me.""Abide in Me," etc., etc. Fruit-bearing is the object, and the Father the One for whom the fruit is produced. Jesus washes our feet because His love cannot bear to have distance and lack of enjoyment between Himself and His own, no matter what produces it. When the feet are washed, and the defilement is removed, then there is no hindrance to fruit-bearing; so that there is a moral connection between the two chapters in that sense. His love is seen in the removal of the hindrance; the Father's heart is gratified by the fruit which is produced when the hindrance is removed. Our responsibility is to abide in Christ that we may produce much fruit.

In communion with Christ the Word has its power over us, the conscience is sensitive and receives its impression the more easily, and one is the more easily cleansed as a fruit-bearing branch. Everything is refused which would be a hindrance to that which gratifies the heart of the Father. Not that we are occupied with the fruit we produce, but in loving obedience, and in dependence, the heart is free to occupy itself with its object-Christ; and in so doing readily and willingly responds to the desires of His heart whatever they may be, and in so doing produces that which satisfies the Father.
Wm. Easton

New Zealand

Rock of Ages! cleft for me,
I have found my rest in Thee.
Thou, my loving Saviour art,
Worthy Thou to fill my heart.
All my sins were borne by Thee,
In Thy body, on the tree:
There we view the Smitten Rock,
Yielding water for the flock.

" Blessed Jesus-Thou alone
Didst for sinners there atone,
When uplifted on the tree
Thou didst bear the curse for me,
And from out Thy pierced side.
Flowed remission's cleansing tide.
Then was bruised the serpent's head,
And the darkness thus has fled.

" Christ now risen from the dead,
Is become our living Head;
And we wait His voice to hear,
When to us He will appear:
Sleeping saints who then arise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
While the saints who wait shall be
Changed, and ever, Lord, with Thee.

"Washed in Jesus' precious blood.
And made kings and priests to God-
Saints now join the heavenly throng,
Who lift up a grateful song,
To the Lamb who once was slain,
But forever lives again.
'Rock of Ages! cleft for me,'
All my springs are found in Thee."

Think of human blindness:-there was Israel to whom God had given great and multiplying flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, crops of corn, and oil, and wine. The continuation of this in the future was also in His own hands. They were therefore indebted to Him for all they had, and dependent on Him for all they were to have. To test their recognition and appreciation of this He had imposed tithes upon them. Yet, they grudged Him the tithes; they made them up with the lame and refuse of their substance that they might still appear as paying them:then they held them back altogether; then they sacrificed to idols-beyond anything God had ever asked of them for Himself. Is it a wonder that He has forsaken them, and that under His righteous government they are now reaping the fruits of their doing ?

Is not this a lesson for us Christians ? We, too, have a debt of love to pay-a far greater one than Israel's, for He gave them only Canaan, but He has given us heaven:He gave them only sheep and cattle, but He has given us eternal life and forgiveness of sins:He gave them but corn, and oil, and wine, but He has given us the Bread of heaven, and the Holy Spirit, and eternal glory. He but called them to be His own peculiar nation among all the nations of the earth, but He has called us to be His bride-the Church which is His body-the Lamb's wife.

He has therefore a greater claim upon us-a claim which begins with our heart's deepest affection. He must have that first, and have it in truth, or everything else is of little value to Him. Then follows all the rest -body, soul, spirit-and our substance.

Brethren, do we value Him enough to respond to His claims ? Do we appreciate His gifts for eternity enough to sacrifice something to Him during the little time we are here ? If so, we will lack no power for spiritual growth, and service, and testimony.

But if we are indifferent to His claims, unthankful "for His great love wherewith He loved us," need we wonder if we grow poorer and poorer in soul, and have to cry, "My leanness, my leanness."

O beloved brethren, "the night is far spent; " the morning is dawning; let us not drop asleep at such a time, but watch while we wait for our "blessed hope." It is at the end of the race that men are liable to be overcome. But those who keep the prize in view have their strength renewed as they go. Sweet will be the goal, glad the meeting with Him who is our Hope.

'' The night is now far spent,
The day is drawing nigh,
Soon will the morning break
In radiance through the sky:
Oh let the thought our spirits cheer,
The Lord Himself will soon appear."

QUES. 4.-Kindly state in "Help and Food" the teaching of the New Testament regarding capital punishment.

ANS. First of all, "There is no power but of God:the powers that be are ordained of God" (Rom. 13:1). But for what purpose are they ordained of God? "He beareth not the sword in vain:for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Rom. 13:4).

The expression "the sword" used here is quite sufficient to establish capital punishment, for the sword is for death and nothing else.

The cross of Christ itself establishes it, for while it is the place where the repenting sinner finds salvation, he finds salvation there because it is the place where the just punishment of sin was executed upon our adorable Redeemer. The just government of God is perfectly upheld by the cross, and therefore the grace to all that repent and believe the gospel.

But to seek to set aside the power and the duty of the government to execute murderers, which is now being done by many under the plea of Christianity, is utterly to confound the differing characters and purposes of both government and Christianity, and to destroy both.

Let the government faithfully execute all murderers; punish, and terrify every evil-doer, and let Christians, in the love of Christ, seek the souls of all men alike, to bring them at the feet of Jesus, and all will be in its proper place.

Having now answered your question as to the New Testament, we would remind you that government is no more of New Testament origin than creation, marriage, sin, death, etc., etc. are, though the New Testament affirms all. Its origin is in Gen. 9:5, 6, where "capita! punishment" is clearly ordained of God. We are not aware of one line in Scripture where He has ever revoked this.

We were astonished beyond measure lately in reading the report of an interview between a Mr. Sweitzer and the governor of Pennsylvania concerning a Mrs. Kate Edwards condemned to death for murder. The governor, who is opposed to capital punishment, is reported to have said, "If it is wrong for one man to kill another, it is wrong for one thousand to kill one person."

We take his meaning to be that "one thousand" means the government. If such doctrine be true, then has each man the right to avenge himself against his neighbor for all individual wrong and is in no need to appeal to the government. The awful results of this no thoughtful man can fail to see. What a mercy of God therefore is government, even in its lowest forms! The sense of this excites the Christian to prayer for all who compose it, as the New Testament bids us.

QUES. 5.-Is there any scripture proof that the Rahab of Josh, 2:1 and Matt. 1:5 are the same?

ANS. -According to Usher's chronology there were about 150 years between the taking of Jericho and the marriage of Boaz with Ruth. Though Boaz was then an old man(Ruth 3:10) and Rahab probably a young woman at the taking of Jericho, 150 years is rather a long time for Rahab to have been the mother of Boaz. Yet, we cannot understand why an unknown woman (we know of no reference in Scripture to any other Rahab) should be introduced in such a place as Matt. 1:5; and considering the spiritual fitness here for the Rahab of Josh. 2:1, we believe she is that. If the accepted chronology be right, the difficulty in the matter of age is yet no harder for God to overcome in Rahab and Boaz than in Sarah and Abraham. If God could specially strengthen Abraham to manifest faith, how much more Boaz to illustrate the great "kinsman," our Lord Jesus Christ.

QUES. 6.-Is it scriptural, to say the Lord Jesus is not Lord of the Church, but Lord of individuals?

ANS.-Yes. We are not aware of any instance in Scripture which teaches otherwise.

A man may preach from false motives. A man lay write books, and make fine speeches, and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is in earnest. The Lord Himself has set His stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When He sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, He gave him no other evidence of his change of heart than this,-" Behold, he prayeth" (Acts 9:ii).

In the first verses of the eighth chapter of Romans, we see the great privilege of those that are in Christ Jesus. There is no more condemnation for them; there is not only the forgiveness of sins, but a full restoration from the power of sin. Not only that which has satisfied god’s justice, but that which frees, and carries us in a new position in Christ. Besides this, there is the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who, in the first place, gives " witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God;" and in the second place, comes to help us in our weakness, while we are walking down here, making "intercession for us with groanings which cannot be expressed."

We are not in the flesh in the presence of God, but in the Spirit, though sin is yet in us, by reason of which, and of all the corruption and confusion in the world around us, '' we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."

Now the believer, having the forgiveness of his sins, delivered from the power of sin, and having the comforting Spirit, has learned a holy truth, that is, God is for him.

Afflictions then cannot separate us from this love that is in God. It is a divine, unchanging love, which enters into all our circumstances. God is for us in our afflictions. He knows them beforehand. Jesus did not pray that Peter should not be tried by Satan, but that his faith should not fail; that is, Peter was to be tried. He trusted in himself and this was not right. There was danger that his faith should fail and that he should fall into despair, like Judas who went to kill himself; so the Lord prayed for him.

We also must be tried, but this must be done under the eyes of God, where we learn the perfect character of this love in all the circumstances.

Then after all this array of grace in the things spiritual, God is now seen as the Provider in the things temporal. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things ? " God thought of the clothing of the children of Israel in the desert. God is for us in everything. If death comes to us, we know that Christ has gone through it; if the strength of the enemy arises against us, we have the sustenance of that love which destroyed the enemy's power. In these things we learn the perfection of the love of God. It is manifested in the smallest circumstances, in all the particulars. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" There is no reason left to doubt this. If we find ourselves therefore in afflictions or in difficulties, it is a proof of the care that God takes of us.

Have we such thoughts of God? Not only that He has justified us from our sins, but that He Himself is for us? This is submission, and submission is a good thing, but we must do more:"In every thing give thanks!" Are we sufficiently near to God to give thanks in everything? To do this, it is imperative that our will be subjected to Him. We feel the affliction; God wants us to feel it; not to produce despair, but the sweet fruits of the Spirit-the character that was in our Lord. We then acknowledge this great truth, that He who works all things according to the counsel of His will, is the very One who is for us.

Thus we may confide in His love; and not only this, but also give Him thanks.
May the Lord give us understanding to comprehend better what grace is, that we may always be able to say, spite of the fact that we all fail in many things, "GOD IS for us."

Translated from the Italian "Dispensatore," by J. M.

4. I AM THE DOOR.

(Continued from page 274.)

The door suggests the thought of the dwelling-place to which it is the means of entrance. In it we find the possession or portion of those who can by right enter in by the door. Thus it is a place set apart for its possessors from all that which is outside. In this way we may say it is a sanctuary. These things are rightly connected with the door, it being the only right way of entrance. Thus the order in which this title comes is fully justified, -the third place.

There is undoubted connection between the discourse in which this title is given and the narrative of the blind man preceding it. He is cast out of the fold of Judaism by its false shepherds, only to find the Door, wide open, which gave entrance elsewhere, under the care of the true Shepherd.

We see from the allegory Jesus uses in reference to the sheepfold, that the door and he who enters thereby are closely linked together. The door opens only to the true shepherd of the sheep. Those who are not this never come through the door but seek to climb up some other way. Such are thieves and robbers. The Shepherd coming in by the right way calls his sheep by name and leads them out. Judaism was the fold, in which the true sheep were mingled with others from whom they needed to be separated when the Shepherd came. A practical example of this is afforded us in the blind man called forth to follow the true Shepherd. We may note two points as to the door. It was the way by which the true Shepherd must come in; then it is the way of exit for the sheep as they follow Him out.

The door, opening only to the true Shepherd, speaks of those characteristics which must mark the true one, or it cannot be opened to admit the applicant. By the fulfilment of this could entrance alone be made. Hence it is only by such fulfilment, and opening the door for the sheep that they can pass out, following the Shepherd. Christ declares, " I am the door of the sheep." He was the One who fulfilled all the requirements in answer to which the fold-door must open. But its opening accomplished nothing for the sheep; that which counted for them was the call of His voice, to which they could answer, and then go forth with Him. Thus He does not say, I am the door of the fold, but of the sheep, -they find their way out through Him. The fold-door has been but the means of admitting Him; for them, the way out could not be save through and with Him. This is of special importance when we consider what the fold represents. Plainly it is Judaism in which the sheep were shut up under law until the faith came that should be revealed (Gal. 3:23). This revelation awaited the coming of the true Shepherd announced by the prophets. For Him, the way into the fold must be by the accomplishment of the prophetic announcements which marked Him as the true One. This fulfilled, the door open, the Shepherd within the fold, His voice now sounds" calling His own to Himself. As they answer, they are put forth without to follow His leading. No other way could be found for them to pass out of that wherein they were held. All waited for His coming by whom the sheep would be called to liberty. In this way He is the " door of the sheep." Thus we see the flock gathered without the fold. In the language of the apostle Paul they are no longer under a tutor, but in the full sonship place through Christ (Gal. 3:25, 26).

Thus far it has been a question of exit from bondage to liberty, such as the Jews who followed Christ were to experience, and which we know the Church in its early stage had to pass through.

But we now come to the question of others entering into (no longer exit) this same blessed liberty. This therefore deals no longer with the Jew but with the Gentile. In accord with this, Christ declares, "I am the door; by Me if any one enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." Note that here He does not say "door of the sheep." It is a question now of those who are Gentiles entering by Him into the same blessing that He has brought the sheep, by leading them out from the fold in which they were kept. They become thus part of the flock He has called out. Thinking of those who would so enter, the Lord says, " other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also must I bring; and they shall hear My voice, and become one flock, one Shepherd." For them He is the door of entrance into all blessing; for the others He is the door of exit from bondage into liberty and blessing. This calls to mind that wondrous unfolding by Paul of the mystery of Christ-the one body; Jew and Gentile united in one under one Head. This, which gives us the revelation of the heavenly blessings, appropriately connects itself with the third place, in which this title comes.

In connection with this second declaration of Christ as the door, we have salvation mentioned- not with the first. In the first case, where the sheep in the fold are in question, salvation does not come in because they already are in relation to God – life is theirs. In their condition, shut up in the fold, they were children under a tutor, as Paul says, not knowing the full infinite blessing of the life and relationship which they nevertheless possessed. But by Christ coming they were delivered from this bondage, and introduced into full sonship outside of the law. Thus He says, "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly:" for, as the Greek word suggests, it is life in excess, or beyond that which they had before. In contrast with this, the first step with the Gentile must be salvation, and that is obtained by entering through Christ, the door, into the flock. Thus those who were once aliens and without Christ, being saved through faith in Him, are those of whom it is said, "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who once were afar off are become nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13). He, being the peace on which all rests, "hath made both one, and hath broken down the dividing wall of enclosure." He has brought out those who were within it, through His death, and has brought those who were banished by that enclosure into union with the others, through that same death, forming the two in Himself into one new man (Eph. 2:14,15). Now all have given to them the abundance of life.

Christ as the door is the way of introduction into the fulness of Christian blessing. One of the first lessons suggested in connection with this, and in full accord with the numerical place of this title, is that of sanctification. For the Jewish "sheep" it must come by being set apart from the fold. Then their portion and possession is found without in the separated place. For the "other sheep," who must needs be brought and added to these, sanctification is in being entirely set apart from their old position of alienation, and brought into the blessing of relationship. And this sanctification must be the rule of life in which the blessing is to be enjoyed.

Through Christ we enter the Sanctuary. Through Him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Through Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Through Him God has poured upon us the riches of His grace. Through Him we have the adoption of sons. Through Him we enter into the full knowledge of God, having His purposes and counsels revealed to us. Through Him we enter into new creation relationship, in which old things are passed away, and all things become new. Through Him we shall abide in the presence of God for eternity in full enjoyment of His favor and blessing. Through Him we have obtained this glorious inheritance and are co-heirs with Him of His glory. Truly, then, "Christ is all things, and in all "(Col. 3:ii, J. N. D.).He is the door into it all. He is, in divine fulness, as we shall see, "'The Way, the Truth, and the Life."

What an object God has set before us ! What an infinite wealth of blessing and glory is opened up to us ! May our hearts enter into it all. In a very real sense God has set before us "an open door, and no one can shut it." Let us avail ourselves of this infinite grace, and lay hold of our portion and pos
session to all of which Christ is the door. Let us remember that we cannot enter into these things and seek admittance into the things of this world. We must be sanctified from the latter to possess the other. May it be so with us to His praise and glory. J. B. Jr.

(Eph. 3:14-21.)

The apostle believed in the efficacy of prayer. Would that we might imitate him in this respect. Is it not true that often our prayers are formal or customary or habitual, rather than spontaneous desires and praises arising from the needs and thankfulness of our heart?

We find Paul praying at his conversion (Acts 9:ii); when he starts on a journey (13:3); in prison (16:25); when leaving the assemblies (brought out through his ministry) as he goes up to Jerusalem (20:36); and from his own statement in his various epistles, he is constantly in prayer for the saints he loves so well. He exhorts us to pray "without ceasing" (i Thess. 5:17); "always" (Eph. 6:18), which means there is no time when prayer is not proper; "everywhere" (i Tim. 2:8), which means there is no place where prayer is not appropriate; and "in everything" (Phil. 4:6),which means there is nothing the Christian needs about which we should not pray.

Would that we realized more our need of prayer, and also the fact that God has given His people this great power! Paul's was a fellowship of prayer.

He prayed for all the saints in the various assemblies to which he ministered, mentioning the fact in his letters to them, except in the case of the poor legalized Galatians; and even to them he seems to intimate that he had gone to the Lord about them (5:10), No doubt, if it were possible, he prayed more earnestly for them than for those to whom he tells that he prays for them, because the deep need of the Galatians would but bring out the earnest longing for their blessing which he carried in his bosom. His not mentioning fellowship in prayer with them is a stern rebuke. He could have no fellowship with those who had turned from Christ to be justified by law.

The apostle prayed that the Colossian saints "might be filled with the knowledge of His will" (Col. 1:9); that he might come unto the Romans to impart some spiritual gift (Rom. 1:10, 11); that the Philippians might be kept in the path in which they had started (Phil. 1:4-6); that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in the Thessalonians (2 Thess. 1:12); that the Corinthians might do no evil (2 Cor. 13:7), and above all for the Ephesians, blest as they were "with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ." They are on this account but the more subject to Satan's attacks, and he prays for them to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they might know the heavenly hope and riches and power, all of which is wrought in Christ raised from the dead (Eph. 1:16-20).

He also offers for them this wonderful prayer of chap. 3:, but not until he asks for them wisdom to know the power of God as seen in the risen Christ. Chap. 3:is a sanctuary prayer and is not in place until the fact of justification of sinners has been realized. We must pass the altar of sacrifice and clearance of sin before we can enter the holy place for communion with God.

The apostle not only prayed for the saints but longed for their prayers on his behalf, especially for the gospel (2 Cor. 1:ii; Col. 4:3; 2 Thess. 3:i). Should we not have fellowship in prayer, one with the other, and especially for those of the Lord's people who are laboring in the gospel; that they may have free utterance, that doors may be opened to them, for blessing on the Word, and for their temporal support? Let us, with our tithes, bring our prayers into the storehouse, that God may open the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing there will be no room to receive it.

The measure of the blessing for which Paul prayed was "the riches of His glory." Words fail to describe what this would mean – it is beyond all thought or comprehension, or as he says later of God's love, it "passeth knowledge." His prayer for the Ephesian saints was illimitable and immeasurable-limited or measured only by the glory of an infinite God.

Did we but realize who is the Answerer of our prayers, how much more faith and freedom and power in prayer we should have! It is the Almighty God Himself, and He has told us we cannot ask too much of Him " whatsoever ye shall ask in My name I will do it."

Ver. 16.This prayer asks God for strength. How great is our need of it! How weak is our grasp of the revealed wonders of divine love! Truly in us the treasure of God's testimony is in earthen vessels.

But God has given His saints the eternal Spirit to strengthen us with His might. The indwelling Spirit means strength to the Christian, but it is only as we let Him have His way with us and live to Christ. "If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit."

He strengthens the inner man, and thus keeps the outer man under.

When we are in Christ Jesus there is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The flesh is not dead but subjected to the Spirit. We reckon ourselves dead to sin although sin is there as we know too well. As we walk in the Spirit so the new nature is strong and overcomes the old. If we walk not in the Spirit the spiritual nature languishes and the flesh gets the upper hand. We are strengthened in the inner man when God's Spirit rules our ways (Rom. 8:4, 5; Gal. 5:16, 22; Rom, 8:26). And the inner man is renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).

Ver. 17.Indwelling.

Why should the apostle pray for Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith, when He is in the heart of every child of God? It is a stronger word than simply to be in our hearts. The word literally means, dwell deep down, or find a habitation; the thought being of a regular, constant home where we dwell always, to which we return at night, no matter where we may have gone through the day. As the indwelling Spirit means strength, so the indwelling Christ means love. The Spirit takes up His abode in us after new birth to reveal to us the varied beauties and glories of Christ (John 16:13-15). The Spirit actually and ever dwells in us (i Cor. 6:19 and Eph. 4:30) but Christ only in the measure and exercise of faith, as the Spirit shows Him to us; and as the blessed Spirit reveals to us Christ's perfections and affections, we learn to love Him more and more. Thus each day His presence, by faith, becomes more real to us, and more desired by us.

The soil in which the Christian life grows and thrives is love. Our roots must reach down into it if we would be established and bear fruit for the Master. We must "take root downward " before we can "bear fruit upward" (i John 4:17). The Lord Jesus did not die for us because we were worthy, but because He loved. A knowledge of this begets love in us too-love to God for His grace toward us; to His children because they belong to Him; and not only so, but possessed, by the new birth, of that life which is love, love becomes, in all things and everywhere, our principle of action according to the measure in which Christ dwells in our hearts.

Ver. 18. Fellowship.

The apostle would share the blessing with all saints. It has been said, " No one has a monopoly of the love of Christ." Paul goes beyond this and so far from monopolizing would press it upon all. He would give all the members of the Body of Christ all they could know of His love. If one member suffer the others suffer with it; also if one is honored all rejoice. So he would have all to comprehend to the extent of which each was capable, the love of Christ (see i Thess. 3:12). Shall we not share our blessings with all the members of the Body as far as we are able?

God's love is as broad as from " east to west;" as long as eternity itself; its depth as the depths of the sea and its height reaches up through the heavens, up and up and up without limit on into infinity. This love can save a guilty wretch or feed an insignificant sparrow. Should we not seek earnestly to know it more and enjoy it more? Then we can set it better before the lost and dying world which knows it not.

Ver. 19. Knowledge.

The knowledge of the unknowable. It is at best only a glimpse of Christ's love which we get. As it were, we touch only on the edge of an infinite, eternal sea which has no boundaries and whose depths cannot be sounded. Shall that deter us from seeking to know more about it ? Shall the fact that we can never know all the love of Christ deter us from knowing all we can ? Eternity will but bring new and fresh revelations of His grace and love, but the more we know of it here, the happier we will be, the more free from care, and the more ready to bear and endure all for His sake. May we heed as the Spirit would reveal to us the love of God in the face of Jesus Christ!

Ver. 19.Filling.

The last petition is for filling. How empty we are at our best of the things of God. How full of our own ways and works! How much more engrossed with what is in and around us than with the fulness of the glorious things which are in God. In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost to make known to us that fulness, but only as He is ungrieved in us by our daily ways will He fulfil that office. All that ''fulness of God" is for us, but is only enjoyed by subject, obedient hearts. Let us, too, pray for this to rest upon one another through the power of the Holy Ghost.

And after all this, God has blessing for us yet far beyond all we can ask or think. Well may the song of praise well up in our hearts and burst forth from our lips "Unto Him be glory in the assembly by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, age without end. Amen." F.

"Lord Jesus, I have naught to plead,
In earth beneath or heaven above,
But just mine own exceeding need
And Thine exceeding love.

" The need will soon be past and gone-
Exceeding great, but quickly o'er;
Thy love, unbought, is all Thine own,
And lasts forevermore."

The epistle to the Colossians presents believers as dead and risen with Christ:upon this ground are given the main exhortations of the epistle. The varied glories of Christ mentioned in the first chapter are also a distinguishing feature. As man, He is preeminent above all creation; for '' all things were created by Him and for Him."Divine and human glory is seen in the Son:He who was manifest in the flesh is Himself Creator of all.

As "first-born from the dead," "He is head of the body, the Church;" and the saints are warned against those teachers of false doctrine who were "not holding the Head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." We have thus presented to us the truth that Christ is Himself Creator of all things, and that He is risen -first-born from the dead-the "first-fruits"* in resurrection, and Head of the Church-and that believers are risen with Him. *1 Cor. 15:ami Lev. 23:* A truth peculiar to " Colossians " is that the kingdom of Christ is spoken of as present, and believers have been translated into it:and Christ is the Son of the Father's love- "hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (1:13). The mention of the kingdom at all in "Colossians " arrests the attention:it is unexpected, if one may use such a term:there is no mention of it in Ephesians-that companion epistle to the Colossians.

These two epistles, Ephesians and Colossians, are akin to one another to a degree that is true of no others. There is no other such parallelism in doctrine and exhortation, perhaps, in Scripture. It is intended to strike our attention, and lead to comparison, and thus to impress the more clearly on the mind the distinctive features of each. Thus the Spirit of God would impress us, too, with the special importance of the doctrines presented in these epistles. The necessity of this, also, is seen in the ignorance that prevails in the Church in regard to them. The world has blinded the Church to its exalted position and relationship.

In Ephesians, the truth is presented of the heavenly position of the saints:God has blessed them with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Israel blest with earthly blessings in Canaan is a type of this.

In Colossians, as we have seen, we are "risen with Christ"-the type of which is the priests with the ark passed up out of Jordan:" dead with Christ" and "risen with Christ" as the priests with the ark halted in the bed of Jordan, and then passed up out of it, and the Jordan flowed on again in its course behind them.

We are thus instructed as to a peculiar presentation of the believer's position in relationship with Christ in this epistle. We are seen not as in Canaan -to refer to the type-and yet, as it were, at the end of the wilderness. It suggests that what answers to this position is a heart on the alert for deliverance out of the world at the Lord's coming."Ye are dead, your life is hid with Christ in God. When He who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."Nevertheless, it has been shown that while Ephesians is typical of the book of Leviticus in the pentateuchal arrangement of the Bible, Colossians in this way answers to Numbers, since Colossians makes prominent the "walk" just where in Ephesians we have position and relationship. How, then, does this harmonize with the type, which suggests a heart having done with the wilderness, as "dead" and "risen with Christ," and beyond the Jordan ?

We may call attention at this point to what may not have been noticed, that at the passage of the Jordan it is no longer the Levites who bear the ark, but the priests. The testimony, therefore, is priestly. May it not be, then, that we have in Colossians the walk through the world in its priestly character ? or perhaps, rather, a testimony in the world of that character ?And this may be further illustrated by the priests and their occupation among Israel during the journey through the wilderness. Their service was in connection with the tabernacle and the worship of God. So Colossians may give us a priestly testimony in the world-that side of things-more than the pilgrim journey through it. We have the two sides in the second chapter of first Peter, where Christians are appealed to as"strangers and pilgrims," and also as a "holy and a royal priesthood; " so also in Hebrews. In the fourth chapter is the pilgrim journey, Israel as a whole, types of us as we "labor to enter into" God's "rest;" and in the tenth chapter we are priests;* the priests only in Israel, at this point, being our types. *"We have boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the holiest" (10:19).* That is, Colossians gives us a priestly Godward side of the believer's witness. He is in the world, but lifted above it. We are thus to walk worthy of the Lord:and who is He? He is one risen from the dead, "first-born from among the dead," and we"are risen with" Him:and He is Creator of all.

In the epistle to the Romans we have presented the line of truth that is typified in Israel's history, as sheltered by the blood of sacrifice in Egypt, and brought through the Red Sea-answering to the deliverance from bondage to sin, in the old nature, in chapters six and seven ; then journeying through the wilderness, after being presented to God at the mount. The whole nation, as pilgrims, treading the sands of the desert, typify thus what we have in Romans, rather than the priests and their sanctuary-service:though Scripture does not rigidly separate things, where, nevertheless, it may be instructive to see that one side or the other of truth is more or less prominently presented:and Colossians does seem to present this worshipful "heart at the end " side of things, as we compare thus the doctrine and the types. Note the spirit of praise throughout the epistle:" long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father"-" established in the faith . . . abounding therein with thanksgiving"-"let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, . . . and be ye thankful"-"singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord"-"and whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him"-"continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving."

Twice only do we have such exhortations in Ephesians, and hardly at all in Romans.

In Ephesians, as we know, the one body and one Spirit is prominent-our exalted relationship to Christ; whereas in Colossians Christ the Head of the body is exalted, as we have seen:and so the name of Christ is prominent throughout in Colossians. We have mentioned, the " afflictions of Christ"-"Christ in you"-"the circumcision of Christ"-"the body (substance) is of Christ" – "Christ is all, and in all "-" as Christ forgave you" -"let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts"-
"let the word of Christ dwell in you richly"-"ye serve the Lord Christ" – and "the mystery of Christ." Therefore, in Ephesians we are exhorted to be "filled with the Spirit" where in Colossians it is said "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns."
Another point that shows the harmony of each part of the epistle with the whole is, that in Ephesians Christ is spoken of as " raised from the dead and set at His own right hand in the heavenly places," there to be "Head over all things to the Church, which is His body;" whereas in Colossians "He is the Head of the body, the Church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead." In each case in Colossians, whether as to the "Head of the body " or as to the position of the saints, the truth goes as far as resurrection only; but in Ephesians, both as to the " Head of His body " and as to the saints, the position is "in heavenly places."For this we see the perfection of Scripture, to the glory of God, every part being consistently in the place where it is found, just as with things in creation.

It is the handiwork of God that we see, whether in the Bible or in nature. All has the divine stamp upon it:it is not of man-he is but a learner in the school of God; and he only enters that school when born again. The priests could see the gold and the silver and the blue and the purple and the scarlet in the holy sanctuary, but the wise of Egypt lived and died in ignorance of it all. No wisdom of Egypt could enable one to see what could not be seen in Egypt. E. S. L.

(To be concluded in our next issue.)

(Continued from page 52.)

On page 43 of "The Three-fold Secret of the Spirit," Mr. McC. says :

"What then is the secret of Hi? fulness, of His abundant life of Peace, Power, and Love? We answer:THE ABSOLUTE UNQUALIFIED SURRENDER OF OUR LIFE TO GOD TO DO HIS WILL INSTEAD OF OUR OWN . . . when we surrender our lives and believe, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, . . . THE FULNESS of the Spirit is God's answer to SURRENDER and faith, . . . at SURRENDER the Spirit, already entered, fakes full possession. The supreme, human condition of the fulness of the Spirit is a life WHOLLY SURRENDERED to god to do His will.''

Also on page 15 of " The Surrendered Life:"

"What is the Surrendered Life? Or, rather, what is the act of surrender which opens the portals of the life of surrender, of consecration to God ? "

Then on page 16 :

"The word consecrate means 'to fill the hand.' Just as the Jewish worshiper tilled his hand with the best, richest, and choicest of his own, and brought it as an offering to the Lord, so is the redeemed child of God to offer himself to God as the highest expression of grateful worship he can possibly make to the Lord who has redeemed him."

There is much more of like import. But it is not necessary to quote more. In what we have extracted Mr. McC.'s ideas are sufficiently clearly expressed. It devolves on us now to examine them in the light of Scripture. We shall consider, first, the statement that "at surrender, the Spirit, already entered, takes full possession." Mr. McC. insists that the Spirit comes to indwell at conversion, but that He does not take full possession then ; that depends on our surrender. Now i Cor. 6:19 reads, "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost ?" He is in the body, then. If He
has not taken "full possession," what part of the body is it He has not taken possession of? Is it the eyes, the ears, the feet, the heart? Surely, in entering the body to dwell there, He claims the whole body. The whole body belongs to God; and when God gives His Spirit to dwell in the body, by that very fact He claims the whole body. The Spirit's coming to indwell the body is then His taking possession-full possession of the body. If it be asked, Can it be possible that the Spirit is in full possession when there is so much, as is often the case, in the practical life that is inconsistent with His presence and even antagonistic to Him? Is He there in the fulness of His powers? I answer, Yes, certainly. The inconsistencies of our lives, our lack of surrender, our insubjection to His control, is no more a denial of His being in us in the fulness of His energies than it is a denial of His presence. If He is in us, indwells our bodies, as the scripture we have quoted affirms, He is in us as possessing infinite wisdom, power and love. He is in us in the fulness of the divine resources that are in His hands.

But it will be said, He is not filling many. True. A family living in a house in which there is city water complains of not having good water. They are drawing the water they use from a well nearby with very inferior water, and yet good city water is in their house, in ample abundance, in the power of the reservoir from whence it comes. Too true a picture this of too many Christians. Nevertheless the Spirit is in them as " able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think:" I am not denying the need of surrender. I am not saying that any who have not surrendered are "filled with the Spirit," but I do urge that the lack of being " filled with the Spirit" is not evidence that the Spirit is not there with His fulness. He is there to fill. He is there Himself with all fulness, with divine knowledge of the word of God, with absolutely perfect divine competency therefore to unfold it and build up in the knowledge of it, and in all fruitfulness.

On the other hand, however truly "filled with the Spirit" one may be, he cannot truthfully say he knows or enjoys all the "fulness of the Spirit." The Spirit's measure of the knowledge of God is immeasurably beyond ours. And this is true even in those in whom surrender has the fullest expression. The most devoted saint, the one most fully consecrated, even in Mr. McC.'s sense of the term, does not "ask or think" the exceeding abundant fulness of the Spirit.

It is not the truth, then, to say that " at surrender the Spirit, already entered, takes full possession," or that "the fulness of the Spirit is God's answer to surrender and faith." While it is indeed a "supreme" condition of much blessing-of the enjoyment of blessing, it is not the secret of the Spirit's being in us in the fulness of His resources and powers for us.

In answer to the question, "What is the act of surrender which opens the portals of the life of surrender?" Mr. McC. says on page 15 :

"Surrender, or consecration, is the voluntary offering of ourselves unto God to do His will instead of our own.''

It is clear that in his mind "surrender" and "consecration " are identical. Does the word of God teach that surrender and consecration are one and the same thing ? If it does it should be shown, not assumed. Since Mr. McC. assumes it-does not refer to any scripture- it becomes necessary for us to inquire whether there is ground in Scripture for what he assumes. Let it be distinctly understood that I am not denying that surrender is taught. It is insisted on, not only in the passages Mr. McC. quotes, but many more. The question is, Is our surrender, or our devoting ourselves to God, the same thing as consecration ?

For answer to this question we have but to turn to Lev. 8:The consecration of the priests is the great subject of this chapter. Let every one as he reads this important passage ask, Who consecrated the priests ? and, What was done to consecrate them? One reading the chapter, even in a cursory way, can not fail to see that it is Moses who acts all through. Moses consecrated the priests. It was Moses who took "Aaron and his sons," "the garments," the "oil," the "bullock." the "rams "and the "basket of unleavened bread" (vers. 2-4). It was Moses who "brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water" (ver. 6). This washing with water is a type of "our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb. 10:22). But whose work is this? Our own, or God's? It is certainly God's, because Peter tells us, i Pet. 1:2, it is "through sanctification of the Spirit," that is, through the Spirit working in us with the word of God, giving the word effect in us, that we are brought into the path of the obedience of Jesus Christ and under the shelter of His blood. It is not, then, our washing ourselves. It is the "washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5). Further, it was Moses who put the garments upon the priests (vers. 7, 13). These garments speak of the ways of Christ in obedience, the outward effect of the Spirit's work within us. It was Moses who "brought the bullock for the sin-offering and slew it," and with the blood " purified the altar." True, the priests "laid their hands upon the head of the bullock " in token of, and as confessing, the need of an "offering for sin," but it was Moses who "brought," "slew," and "burned" the offering (vers. 14-17). How precious a type of our standing before God, cleared from the full due of our sins and accepted on the ground of a sacrifice He Himself has provided, and which His own Son has made in offering Himself! The full measure of our acceptance is witnessed to in the "ram for the burnt-offering" which follows, and which is also "brought" and "killed" and "burnt"by Moses (vers. 18-21). No works of righteousness of ours, no obedience of ours could possibly be the measure of our acceptance if it be, as it must be, that we are accepted in the Beloved. How plainly all question of anything that we do, however right, however much it is enjoined on us, disappears here!

Again:Moses "brought the other ram, the ram of consecration," "slew it," and applied the blood to the "ear," the "thumb" and the "toe" of the priests (vers. 22-24). How this tells us that it is the knowledge of God given to us in the atoning work of the cross of Christ that commands our ears, our hands, our feet! It is not in surrender, right as surrender is, that we find our power to live for and serve God. It is by revealing Himself to us as a Saviour-God that He has laid hold of our members to control and use them. Reconciled to God by the blood of Christ, it becomes our joy to be His; and joying in Him we find sufficient motive to do His will.

Now Moses takes certain parts of the ram, an "unleavened cake," a "cake of oiled bread" and a "wafer" and "puts "it all upon the "hands" of the priests and " waved them " before the Lord and then " burnt them " on the altar upon the burnt-offering (vers. 25-28). What a delightful type this of our communion with God! He puts Christ into our hands, gives us His own thoughts about Him-His joys and delights in Him. How perfectly He knows Him! How fully He enjoys Him! True, our hands are too small to measure Him, but it is God's thoughts we have, however short of His measure ours is. It is not our thoughts of Christ that He uses our hands to wave before Him, but His own which He graciously gives to us. Then, too, how He delights in these thoughts of His concerning Christ as they come back to Him from our hands! How He links all the value of the absolutely perfect devotedness of Christ with them! What absolutely perfect satisfaction He has in the One we wave before Him, a satisfaction that is measured by His own estimate of the perfections of His person and work-not our measure, so immeasurably inside of His !

We read yet again that Moses took "the breast" of the "ram of consecration" and"waved it before the Lord," and then took both"oil" and"blood"-"the blood which was upon the altar," and " sprinkled " the priests and their garments (vers. 29, 30).Aaron had already been anointed with oil without blood (ver. 12)-a type of Christ as not needing to make a sacrifice for Himself (Heb. 7:27). Now, both Aaron and his sons are anointed together and in connection with blood. In this is shown that Christ's sacrifice is the ground of our being linked with Him in the possession of all that is founded on that sacrifice.

Finally, we have Moses directing Aaron and his sons to "boil the flesh" and "eat it" with the "bread" of the "basket of consecrations" (ver. 31). This speaks of our satisfaction in the obedience of Christ-that obedience so precious to God; satisfaction realized now in our souls as in the presence of God we feed on Him who in perfect devotedness to God did His holy will, laying down His life.
We have seen that it was Moses who consecrated the priests, and also what he did to consecrate them. We have seen also what the interpretation of it all is. The conclusion is plain. We do not consecrate ourselves by " surrender," by " yielding," by giving up our wills. It is God Himself who consecrates us. God by His Spirit working in us with the word of God, separating us thus from the mass of men and to Himself on the ground of the sacrifice of Christ, linking us with Christ in the place where He is appearing for us, and with Himself in the satisfaction He has found in the Christ who is ever before Him. But this satisfaction which we are given thus to participate in is satisfaction in Christ- in what He is and has done-not in our own lives-not in our surrender, nor in what we feel to be a higher plane of life reached by surrender.

( To be continued.)

We are very thankful to see how the Lord has been working in leading you on in the knowledge of the truth. We trust the way may be opened, by the Lord's good hand, that your desire as to fellowship may be fulfilled.

There is one thing however which we feel led to bring before you, not knowing whether it has been a subject of exercise with you or not. It is the matter of the temporal support of those devoted to the ministry of the gospel.

We have no humanly organized method of supporting those who labor in the gospel and in the Word and doctrine. In this matter we seek to follow the teaching of Scripture as jealously as in the fundamental truths of salvation.

It has happened sometimes that, coming into the position of our fellowship, those who had been in the ministry in the organized systems, have experienced considerable trial and disappointment as to this matter. They had not perhaps learned the truth as to this subject as well as they had learned some other lines of truth; consequently, when trial came in this line they were inclined to blame their brethren for not ministering to them of their carnal things, and, indeed, in some instances have turned away, and followed a course in which they could have the guarantee of something tangible, as to support.

In saying these things we do not wish it to be understood that nothing is done amongst us for the help of those who minister in the Word. On the contrary there is a great deal done; but it is done in such a manner as not to hinder the development and exercise of faith in the living God as the one who is able and willing to sup-ply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

'Thus it will begin to appear to you, dear brother, that in receiving you into fellowship we could only receive you as a fellow-member of the body of Christ. As to your gift for ministry and the exercise of it, we believe it would in due time find recognition according to the measure of it, according to the principles that govern us in such matters; but in the meanwhile you might experience trial of faith and patience.

Some of us who have been years on the way can call to mind our early exercises in connection with Phil. 4:6."Let your requests be made known to God," and under the guidance and power of this word it has been our studious aim to keep our needs a sacred matter between ourselves and God, and we can bear abundant witness to how He has honored this confidence. Beside this matter of support, our path abounds with trial, and it is only love of the truth, for the truth's sake, that enables us to continue.

Truth must be precious for it came from God. The inspired Word says, "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus 1st."The Lord said to Pilate, "For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice."He could say, "I am the truth." He was the full expression of it. He is designated, "The faithful and true Witness. "And the truth that came by Him, and shown forth in Him, was divinely
intended for the blessing of poor fallen man. We are assured that God "will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."We are saved by coming to the knowledge of the truth.
The Lord said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."In praying to the Father for His own, He said, "Sanctify them through Thy truth ; Thy word is truth. "The apostle tells us that "the truth is in Jesus." Surely then as truth came from God, and by the Lord Jesus, it must be a most precious boon ; and being intended for the blessing of man, – man deceived by Satan who "abode not in the truth" – it should be gladly received by all, and at any cost. No wonder, therefore, it should be said in Scripture, "Buy the truth, and sell it not," – that is buy it at any cost, at any sacrifice, and at no price sell it ; sacrifice anything sooner than sacrifice the truth. Millions of worlds, if offered, should be no inducement to reject or give up the truth, and indeed would be none to those who truly know it; and yet they are most glad to make it known, that others may enjoy what they enjoy.

And is it so that a thing so precious, and intended to bless, and so needful in a scene where all is false, should be the occasion of trouble and bitterness? Alas, it is really so! It has been thus from the days of Cain and Abel down to the present. Hence we are not to expect anything else. Yes, the truth, as it is in Jesus, may bring a storm on those who receive it; but never mind, my dear brother or sister, it is better to be saved in a storm than to be lost in a calm. And yet it is not always that simply receiving the truth brings the storm, but taking the path which the truth points out. In these days almost any truth may be made popular as long as you will go on with the great current of profession. You may hold the doctrines of grace, full atonement through the Cross, salvation simply through Christ and on the principle of faith, also the heavenly calling, and the Lord's return, and the storm may not come; but take the path of truth, the path suited to these doctrines of Christ, having your back turned on that from which you are delivered through the Cross, and your face firmly set toward that into which you are brought in Christ, and you will find that you cannot make the path popular; rather you will find the winds contrary; yea these contrary winds may amount to a hurricane, carrying all before it, all of earth you have held dear. Yet, surely it is better that it should be so, than that you should purchase a calm at the expense of truth, and by dishonoring Him who bore an infinitely greater storm for us on Calvary.

But the question comes up, Why is it that this precious gift of God is thus made the occasion of trouble and bitterness? Surely the fault cannot be with the truth itself, nor with the One from whom it came, and by whom it came. The truth brings no discord in heaven where all is pure and good. Why then is the effect so otherwise on earth? Certainly it must be something very unlike heaven, and contrary to God, which it has to meet, and which is the opposite of itself. It is very clear that the coming of Him by whom truth came, was divinely meant for blessing to all. When Jesus was born, the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people," and the multitude of the heavenly host was with the angel praising God, saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." This was what was in God's heart. His grace was toward all, and for the blessing of all. But though this was true, yet, alas, in view of the fact that, while some would bow to the truth and be saved, many would reject it, and be bitterly against those who received it, the Lord had to present His coming, looking at the results, under a very different aspect; He said, " Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." And who is to blame for this unhappy result? Certainly not those who receive the truth in the love of it, and act accordingly. They do not turn bitter against the others, but pray for them, and long for their real good. The blame is clearly with those who reject the truth, and are bitter toward those who receive it, thus taking sides with him "who abode not in the truth." He is urging them on, and will, in due time, meet his doom; but those who put themselves in his power, cannot clear themselves by casting the blame on him. We are individually responsible to receive the truth, and thus be on God's side.

Of course there are those who are slow in understanding anything, and therefore slow in seeing and receiving the truth, and yet long to know the truth. It may require patience in dealing with such; but seeing they are honest and sincere, it is pleasant work to be helpful to them; and, as the result, they see and rejoice. But others, when the truth is presented, opposition is their first thought. The will of the flesh is up at once, and thus the great enemy can use them to his advantage, and their own injury; and under his influence, they become awfully bitter, and their spirit and words, alas! become almost, if not really, satanic. The enemy is acting through them. You may be telling out the most important truths, as plainly taught in the word of God, even the way that a poor lost sinner is saved-that is through the Cross, clung to by faith, without the deeds of the law, and which an inspired apostle designates " righteousness without works;" or you may speak of the standing of the believer as '' complete in Christ " by being seen of God as "dead with Christ" and "risen with Him," and seated "in heavenly places in Him," and of the behavior suited to such an exalted calling,-truths which Satan must especially hate, as they magnify the riches of God's grace, and consequently those who have put themselves in his power find it hard to invent language sufficiently hateful to express their intense bitterness against such thoughts. Should a child of God thus yield to the flesh, and so take sides with "that wicked one," the loss thereby sustained will be shown up at the judgment-seat of Christ.

Beloved, if you are called to suffer for receiving the truth and acting on it, happy are ye; God knows all about it. Beside, your treatment gives you a good opportunity of showing another thing which came by Jesus Christ, namely, "grace."It is for you to show grace, though none may be shown to you. While we are to "walk in truth," we are to " walk in love."The Lord help us to cling to the truth, and to walk in the power of the love which brought the truth; and may those who have manifested such sorrowful hatred to the truth, give evidence of repentance before their little day is over, and rest simply on the grace of God, and the merits of the Lord Jesus, and so pass to that scene of blessedness where all ascribe their salvation to God and the Lamb. Yes, happy if they can say, even at the last, from a full heart,

"Vile and full of sin, I am,
Thou art full of truth and grace."

and
"In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling,"

R. H.

The Lord of Life did bow His head
In death-a death of shame,
That guilty sinners might be brought
To God through His blest name.

He always did His Father's will,
And sought the good of men;
Love's perfect law did He fulfil,
Though tried again, again.

Though ever active, doing good,
Reviving those that died,
Men's hatred was so fierce, so great-
That, "Crucify!" they cried.

Under God's awful curse and wrath
He hung upon the cross;
Eternal Life-enduring death
As Substitute for us.

No sorrow was so great as His,
No suffering so real-
More pain, more shame, more loneliness,
Impossible to feel.

But, now, all hail, the sorrow's past,
The judgment all is o'er;
Triumphant over all, He rose;
He liveth evermore.

Above He sits at God's right hand,
His people's advocate;
Ever, He lends a listening ear
To those who supplicate.

Worthy, thrice worthy art Thou, Lord,
To have the highest place;
Worthy indeed to be adored
By men of every race.

L. H. F.

(Concluded from page 232.)

But if the believing Jew under the guidance of the Holy Spirit has been forced to preach repentance and remission of sins to the Gentiles, to declare among the Gentiles the doctrine of free, sovereign grace; to announce to them the gospel of salvation-by grace through faith-will he allow a believing Gentile to openly take his place along with those whom God has publicly acknowledged as His people, His sons ? This is the next question to be considered and, as all through, God Himself acts to force a right settlement of it. While Peter is declaring the message of God-a message, which, as we have seen, assures Cornelius that he belongs to the household of faith and has part in its blessing-God bestows upon Cornelius and the company of believers that were with him the Holy Spirit, thus owning them to be His sons. If in Acts 2:believing Jews had received the Spirit of adoption, and in chap. 8:the believing Samaritans, now in chap. 10:it is bestowed upon believing Gentiles. In each case it is God's public acknowledgment of them as His own. But if God has openly owned a believing Gentile why should not a believing Jew openly acknowledge him ? Peter feels that he is bound to do so, that he cannot refuse them baptism, and orders it to be done, putting them thus in open association with those upon whom the name of Christ has been publicly placed.

To what lengths Peter has gone! But will the Jewish company of believers at Jerusalem endorse all this? Will they admit that God has "granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles"? They are forced to do so. They sharply rebuke Peter for going "in unto men uncircumcised and eating with them." Then Peter explains the whole matter from the beginning and shows them the evident hand of God all through. He speaks of the manifest lesson of the vision he had seen of the great sheet let down from heaven, of the express command of the Spirit that he should go with the messengers that had come from Cornelius, of how he came to send for him, and of the assurance given to Cornelius that he would "hear words " which would be to him the unfolding of the salvation of God. Then he tells them that as he began to give the promised message God gave them the Holy Spirit, thus owning them as His, as He had already owned the believing Jew. How, then, he says, could I withstand? If God gave them the same Spirit of adoption which He has given to us "what was I " to oppose? Convinced thus against all their prejudices they allow it to be a matter that God has settled and consent to the admission of the believing Gentile, themselves thus putting down the bars by which they would have kept the Gentile believer in the place of distance, and owning his unity with the believing Jew.

Thus the lessons of the story are manifest. They are:First, the guidance of the believing Jew into the truth of the unity of the Jew and the Gentile in Christ. Second, the practical reception by the believing Jew of the believing Gentile into the place of privilege and enjoyed blessing. Third, the making known to the believing Gentile the blessing and portion of faith in the presence of God. And, Fourth, revelation to him of his right to take his place among those who are openly marked off as the household of God.

The story has been written that these lessons may abide for us. Alas! they have not always been remembered. The spirit of making "a fair show in the flesh " has come in, developing much that is inconsistent with these lessons. How many have forgotten that God does not regard the person of men! How many substitute works in the place of faith, denying thus Peter's gospel of salvation. How often, too, the receiving of the Spirit by "the hearing of faith" (see Gal. 3:2) is denied. Even the fact that Cornelius is already a believer when he is directed to send for Peter is used in this way, forgetting that Cornelius lived in the time of the overlapping of two dispensations. But Judaism, as a dispensation, has passed away, and so there are now nowhere any converts to God by its testimony. It is by the gospel of Christianity that men are " turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God " (see i Thess. 1:9). The"word of truth," the gospel of Gentile salvation, as preached by Peter is "whosoever," whether Jew or Gentile, believes, "receives the remission of sins."The record of the history of Judaism of course abides, but it is only as in the hand of the Christian that it gets its true interpretation. Alas! even he too often misinterprets it. But it is Christian testimony that now turns men to God. Whoever does turn to God gets the remission of sins, and the gift of the Spirit is distinctly connected with this. Cornelius received the Spirit when the remission of sins had been ministered to him. Under Judaism it could not be ministered to him even though he was a believer. But the gospel of Gentile salvation does just that, and hence a convert under its administration receives the Spirit when he receives the remission of sins, 1:e., when he believes (see Eph. 1:13). There is also another doctrine sometimes urged that is a clear misuse of the story of Cornelius. It is said that Peter asserts that he was to "tell him words whereby he and his house should be saved " and that therefore there are at least two kinds of believers, one having salvation, the other not. But, as we have already seen, in considering the previous point, the story of Cornelius shows the passing away of Judaism. He lived in the time of its overlap by Christianity. He knew the promise of a Saviour God had made to Israel. But he had not yet learned that promised Saviour had been sent to Israel and that they had rejected Him, crucifying Him upon a cross, and that God had raised Him from the dead and made Him Lord of all, the Judge of both the living and the dead. Peter tells him all this and then goes on to show him that the old dispensation under which he had turned to God was now passing away. A new dispensation was coming on, had indeed already begun, in which the believer, whether a Jew or a Gentile, should have the blessing of a known and enjoyed salvation, that the grace of God now brought salvation to all, and all who believed in and submitted to the risen Jesus shared in the salvation. This is the plain meaning of Peter's words when he says, "Words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."He is really explaining to his Jewish brethren, who were so full of prejudice against the Gentiles, that he was guided of God and indeed forced to announce to the Gentiles their title to participation in the salvation of God. The meaning of the words must be understood from the evident object of the Spirit of God in the account. This, we have seen, is to declare the salvation of God to the Gen-tiles and to force the believing Jews to acknowledge the Gentile's title to it in common with themselves. It is not intended to teach, directly or indirectly, that there are or may be two classes of believers, one with, the other without salvation. It is an unwarranted use of the passage. Let it be realized that the question before the brethren of the circumcision was, Shall we admit that the believing Gentile shares with us in the salvation of God? and all difficulty disappears at once. Peter's answer is, Why, that is just what I was to preach to Cornelius. I was to tell him words whereby he and all his house should be saved. I was to tell him that he and his house should participate in the salvation which is now "preached by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. "

"Words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved," thus undoubtedly assures us that all believers are saved, that faith's blessing is salvation. It is true there may be much yet to learn. Peter had only begun to speak. But God waited not for them to advance in knowledge. Just as soon as Peter, the Jew, had declared the Gentile title to salvation God gave them the Spirit to say, I own them as saved. They are Mine and I claim them. It is a claim that cannot be disputed. He who does so resists God. C. Crain
"IN ME FIRST" AND "US . . . LAST."

"Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Rom. 4:3).Is it then that faith itself is a meritorious thing which is to do duty in the place of good works ? Not at all. Were it so it would be the degree of faith we possess which would be the measure of our righteousness-of our acceptance with God. This would leave us still in bondage and self-righteousness, ever busy with our faith, and thus with ourselves.

Faith is that in us which clings to Another; conscious of our ruin, and of the uselessness of trying to find acceptance before God by works of righteousness which we have done or ever can do, we learn that He has given His Son to accomplish a work- the work of the Cross-by which He can righteously accept us. We cling to Him therefore. We believe in His love for us, and in the gift He made us in sending His Son. We believe what His Son has done. We believe God has accepted that work, and that we are justified by it. Thus it is no longer on the principle of our having done something good that we draw near to Him, but on the principle of what He has done for us because of which our faith clings to Him. When all hope was gone in Abraham in the course of nature to have a son, God promised him one. He believed God, purely and simply because he accounted God faithful and able to do what He promised, and thus he was accounted righteous by God-"his faith was counted to him as righteousness, " " Now it was not written for his (Abraham's) sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:23-25).

Since this is so, have we not indeed a divine title to peace – righteous, holy, perfect, ever-abiding peace? Indeed we have! and so it is added, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (5:i).
"NOT ASHAMED."

The"happy school-days of childhood" are remembered with delight by nearly every one; but comparatively few Christians realize the joy and blessing that may be found in God's school. They forget that, even now, they are students for a higher profession, with prospects far higher than this world can offer, and of an enduring character.

What earnestness marks the diligent student; what solicitude to master the lesson, and what keen satisfaction is experienced as each advance is made! There is real pleasure in making conquests in fields of human knowledge; but it is trifling compared to the joy of making progress in God's school. If the former be of temporary value and pecuniary profit to us, the latter is eternal gain.

Let us, then, consider our privileges as students in God's school, and use them to advantage. The

The Schoolhouse. First, we are at school as long as we are in the world. Our Lord said,"I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world."Why ?Because the needs and vicissitudes of this life are used to display God's grace and character in a way that would be impossible in glory. The Master would not have His disciples lose a single experience which would teach them more of God.

This world, then, is God's schoolhouse. Its colossal proportions, its marvelous construction, and its brilliant canopy, declare the glory of its Architect. In this schoolhouse can be seen the work of students that have gone before :some are ruins which warn us to avoid their errors, and others are noble monuments which encourage us to imitate their faith.

The Teacher. There is one Teacher:none other is needed(1 John 2:27). He is personally interested in every pupil in the school, and tutors each one individually (Rom. 8:9). Not a. point of profit escapes His notice, and He teaches "all things" (John 14:26).

What wonderful advantages are these! What high and holy lessons may be learned under the teaching of the Holy Ghost!

The Text Book. There is one text-book:suited to the simplest beginner (i Peter 2:2); and, withal, sufficient for the thorough education of the ablest scholar (2 Tim. 3:17). This book, moreover, contains an answer to every question of importance (Prov. 22:20, 21).

There is no tedium in the pages of this volume, but never-failing delight in their perusal; and besides its pleasant reading, it is wonderfully effectual in giving wisdom. Listen to the testimony of a faithful student:he had only the earliest chapters of our text-book, but had learned to love them:" O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou, through Thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies:for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers:for Thy testimonies are my meditation " (Psa. 119:97-99).

The Scriptures, therefore, are to us the oracles of God for wisdom and instruction, and a never-failing source of joy and comfort to our souls.

The Lessons. There are many lessons-lessons for all ages; for babes and for children, for young men and for fathers (i John 2:)-lessons for all relations in life; for husbands and wives, for parents and children, for servants and masters, for kings and for their subjects.

A somewhat different course of instruction is given to every pupil, exactly adapted to his strength and character. Some must "study to be quiet and do their own business;" others, to "stir up the gift that is in them; " each according to his need.

The lessons are also of a progressive character, leading on to an active and useful life. "Giving all diligence, add to your faith courage; and to courage, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:5-8).

The Manner of Teaching. There are two methods that God uses in teaching His own. Of the first He says, " I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:I will guide thee with Mine eye." How blessed to be in such communion with God, and so understand His mind, that a look from His eye will teach us the right way! The second method in which God teaches is used only when the wayward pupil refuses to be instructed by the first. " Be not horse, or as the mule which have no understanding:whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle" (Psa. 32:9).

Can we not, dear brethren, explain many of the sad Circumstances in which the people of God are found as the bit and bridle, turning them in the way which God's eye had indicated long before? Obedience had been refused, and had to be enforced, leading to much pain and sorrow. May we earnestly seek the spirituality necessary to know God's mind, and the faithfulness to carry it out.

Discipline. How good is discipline at the Father's hands!. His love is perfect, His knowledge absolute, His power supreme! We are prone to be either harsh or lax with our brethren, but God's government is infallibly for our good. His dealings are most considerate:every faithful service is remembered, and shall be rewarded; all that is good fully recognized. On the other hand, no sin is so small that it may pass unnoticed. God's balances are true; His justice unwavering.

We are not to suppose that discipline is only for punishment, however:it is often to check our natural disposition; but all is corrective, and it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised thereby. Let us not seek to build a wall about us to shut out God's governmental dealings, for we will find Him stronger than our wall, and reap sorrow for our rebellion. Let us rather humbly apply our hearts to learn the needed lesson, that we may rejoice in its rich fruition.

The Students. The students in God's school, manifestly, are God's children. No child can escape the training:his very relationship places him under the Father's instruction and discipline. On the other hand, only those born of God are taught of God, or can understand His things. The mere professor is a counterfeit student, "ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7).

Real students, however, are far from being alike in their qualities and character. There are diligent
students, and slothful students; they may be apt, or dull; willing, or rebellious. The delinquent ones have a sorry time in this life, as did Lot, and not much treasure laid up for the life hereafter. The good students gain fitness to be used of God, as did Moses in the backside of the desert, David with his sheep, or Peter with the Master. These had much joy in serving God; they learned, too, how to wait for Him, and to suffer the sorrows of the way; high honor was given to them, and great is their reward in heaven.

Let us each consider, in God's presence, what kind of students we have been, and are. Have we obtained "a good report" through faith? And let us seek grace to so apply ourselves that we may be much used in God's service.

Advancement. Advancement is the fruit of diligent or patient study, and the result, besides the actual knowledge gained, is a change in the student-a ripened judgment, an increased power, and an enlarged capacity. So it is in God's school:as we be-come acquainted with Him, our capacity is enlarged, and we are increasingly able to take in and enjoy His blessed fulness.

Reward. Some have wondered what will be the difference in heaven, between the man whose earth-ly walk with God has been long and faithful, and another whose acquaintance had scarce begun, when taken from this scene. Doubtless the difference will be vast; similar, perhaps, to the contrast between a great cask filled to the brim, and a tiny vial likewise full. We know that every soul in that blessed place will be fully satisfied, but we also know that there will be peculiar and individual joys for those who have been in special ways faithful to their Lord. " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."

The reward of every loyal heart is God Himself. "To win Christ" is the supremest joy of the heart who has experienced something of His matchless love down here.

Dear brethren, let us be good students in God's school! Let us get all the lessons and blessings that are intended for us.

Let us make the most of the wilderness. Rest is sweet after a desert journey.

Let us get acquainted with our God, and learn of Him in His Word and in all His dealings with us. Let us use this life, not for itself, but for the one ahead of us.

"There, no stranger;-God shall meet thee;
Stranger thou in courts above.
He who to His rest shall greet thee,
Greets thee with a well-known love."

A. S. L.

"… I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:14).

The truth of God, and especially that part of it which has to do with the honor and dignity of our blessed Lord, cannot be too much insisted upon and guarded in these days of widespread departure from the truth and the principles that flow from it. Assuredly every true-hearted child of God desires their maintenance. It is with this in view that I desire to dwell upon the significance of the three great titles that belong to Him; and may the Holy Spirit guide us as we tread such holy ground, ever remembering that He is holy that inhabiteth eternity. With what reverence should we approach such a subject! He is the Holy One of God, whose "throne is forever and ever," the Lord of glory; hence we cannot be too clear upon such a momentous and sacred subject.

There is, alas, on the part of a great number of God's people, a growing carelessness and indifference as to our Lord's claims as to this; not, seemingly, realizing how deeply His honor and name are affected by it; and therefore no pains should be spared to make clear all that it involves. "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so " (Josh. 5:15).

We will therefore, first of all, consider His titles, and then their significance, allowing the word of God to interpret them for us. I am well aware that in handling 'such a subject as this-one that so closely concerns the whole glory of the incarnate God, the whole weight and dignity of His person- jealous care must be taken not to, in any wise, make less of His manhood than of His Godhood; and this is what I am most earnestly desirous of maintaining ; for this, I know, the Scriptures themselves bear out.

In Matt. 1:20, 21, we find the angel of the Lord instructing Joseph in a dream as to the name of the child about to be born of the virgin Mary. "And thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins." This name is but the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Joshua," or "Joshua" (Num. 13:16), and means "Saviour;" but, as though to guard our blessed Lord against being considered as merely a human person, with a merely human name, the Holy Ghost adds the quotation from Isa. 7:14-of course, as well to show the fulfilment of that prophecy-"And they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (verse 23). This at once settles His divine identity, and introduces Him to the world as the incarnate God-Deity revealed in man, God manifested in flesh-sinless flesh, of course. Truly human, but absolutely without sin, and utterly incapable of it. No spot within, no stain without, internally spotless, externally pure, no trace of sin in Him, no trace upon Him-the Holy One of God (Luke 1:35). Well might the apostle exclaim (by the Spirit), "and confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh, has been justified in [the] Spirit, has appeared to angels, has been preached among the nations, has been believed on in the world, has been received up into glory" (i Tim. 3:16-j. n. d., r. 5:). Let us pause here for a moment, and with reverent hearts bow before Him. The little Babe that lay in a manger was the fullest expression of eternal life, the omni-existent God, God incarnate, God come down in love to man. So, also, when He returns to His Father, in the glory whence He had come, He is still the same Man who had been "crucified through weakness," had emptied and humbled Himself to the lowest depths (Phil. 2:7, 8). What glory in all this grace and love! This is our Saviour, the One who bore our sins in His body on the cross, enduring to the full the awful blast of the judgment of a holy and sin-hating God!-settling forever the question of sin, and putting away forever our sins-God having laid them on Him. This One, then, is He whom the angel announced before His birth, and heralded afterwards; of whom Mary His mother could say, as she burst forth into an ecstasy of song, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour"-He is "Jesus," "Emmanuel," the Saviour, God with us, and, blessed be His holy name ever with us, His own blood-washed saints. Let us bow low before Him, and praise and magnify His name (i Chron. 29:13).

And now let us look at another title given Him, or rather, more correctly speaking, belonging to Him-that of "Christ" (Matt. 1:16). It is from the Greek word " Kristos," meaning the "Anointed One," or the "Messiah." This latter term is only found in four places in the Scriptures-Dan. 9:25, 26; John 1:41; 4:25. It was applied principally by the Jews to that sovereign Deliverer whom they expected (but, alas, whom they rejected when He did come,-John 1:ii). It is used in the Old Testament, and speaks of Him as the One to come (i Sam. 2:10; Psa. 2:2; Psa. 45:7; Isa. 61:i, etc.):the One prophesied of in the Old Testament and revealed to man in the New. Just here let us remember that this was no after-thought of God's because sin had come into the world and ruined man; or, later still, because of the failure of His people Israel, calling forth from Him new plans or purposes. No, but because He had purposed this according to His own counsels or ever the world was (Eph. 3:ii; i Peter 1:18-20). Our God has never had to formulate new plans to offset old or miscalculated ones. All was predetermined in the eternity of the past, 1:e., before creation.

Let the false critics hurl themselves against the word of God in their insensate folly, and in their endeavors to give the lie to it; it only recoils upon themselves, and makes "their damnation" all the
greater, and the word of God stands majestic in its divine entirety.

Scripture never seeks to vindicate itself; it is the written word of God, bearing testimony to the eternal Word who was made flesh.

The last title to be considered which concerns my subject–though, as we may well know, not the last of His titles-is that of " lord." It is upon this one that I would seek particularly to lay emphasis, as it involves solemn considerations. It may not be amiss to define it in some of its varied forms in the Old Testament before proceeding to enlarge upon it. "Jehovah," the first one that we will consider, is used seven thousand times, and means " He who is" -the "I Am that I Am" of Ex. 3:14. See, also, John 8:58, in which our Lord discloses His glory as the Ever- or Self-Existent One-"Before Abraham was, I am."

Another term is that of " Jah," meaning the lord. It is found forty-nine times in the Old Testament, and, being briefly interpreted, means, "The Eternal One." Then comes "Adon" (singular), meaning, simply, Lord, which signifies "master, possessor, proprietor," and is used thirty times.

Lastly comes "Adonai," the same as Adon, but plural form, and is used two hundred and ninety times. These terms are all translated "Lord" and "Lord," in our Authorized Version, but will be found as stated in various revised versions. (See Numerical Bible; J. N. D.'s trans., W. Kelly, etc.). In the New Testament the word used is Lord all the way through.

Now we have these titles linked together in their complete form, " Lord Jesus Christ." They will be
found placed in various ways in the Epistles, and not without a purpose, as the Holy Ghost writes nothing in a haphazard way-thus:"Lord Jesus Christ," "Christ Jesus," "Jesus Christ," " Lord Jesus," "Christ Jesus our Lord," and "the Lord Jesus Christ;" and in every case it is in order to present our Lord in some particular way, and which their contexts explain.

And now, as to this last title of "Lord," how frequently do we hear Christians, especially those uninstructed in the truth, speaking of Him as "Jesus "- "Jesus said this," "Jesus did that;" and, in fact, in some quarters He is alluded to as "Dear Jesus," " King Jesus," and even as "our elder brother Jesus," etc. Beloved, our Lord is risen, is ascended, and seated at the right hand of God the Father, on His throne; is crowned with glory and honor, and saluted of Him as God (Heb. 1:3-8). When in this scene, He was the lowly Jesus, the "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," the One who could weep in the presence of suffering humanity, identifying Himself with man in his sorrows. He ate, drank, slept, etc., and was wearied (John 4:6). But now, in the glory, He is crowned "King of kings, and Lord of lords," the "Alpha and the Omega," with the keys of hades and death hanging at His girdle. He is the Lord Jesus, our Lord and Master (John 13:13, 14). And we need to remember that the title of "Lord" implies authority on His part, and full subjection on ours. Thus-"the Lord's day," "the Lord's table," or, "Table of the Lord;" meaning that at that table His authority, and consequently Himself as the Divine Center, must be fully owned. It is the Lord's table, not the Father's, or the Saviour's, or the King's; thus implying that it is not only as children, saved people, or subjects that we have a place there, but as truly in subjection to Him. Remember, I am not saying that it is the amount of ecclesiastical light that a saint has that entitles him to that table; else where would the babes be ? but simply what the Lordship of Christ involves in connection with His table; neither do I set up barriers that He has not set up; but if holiness befits His house, is it not needful that which characterizes that table should be clearly recognized ?

Again, as to marriage, it is to be "only in the Lord " (i Cor. 7:39). It may not be sufficient that both of the contracting parties be believers, and all else be waived, for there might be a great breach, even, between them. How can one truly subject to Christ be united "in the Lord" to one who is walking in a path contrary to the Word, and thus ignoring the Lordship of Christ ? And now the question arises, Should we not, when speaking of Him, give to Him all that the Scriptures claim for Him ?- should we not speak of Him as the Lord Jesus ? I have no desire to hinder the fullest freedom of the Spirit of God in any one of His people; but were He personally before us on the earth, could we do less than give Him the title which belongs to Him ? Would we think of addressing Him simply as Jesus ? Surely not. I am not now alluding to quotations from the Scriptures, nor even as to the question of thus speaking of Him when preaching the Word (Acts 8:35), but refer to our habit of speaking of Him, or addressing Him, in a general way-what should characterize us when mentioning that blessed name among ourselves. He will always be our Lord and Saviour, both for time and for eternity, even when united to Him in spiritual wedlock. Brethren, all around us the holy name of our adorable Lord is being spoken of in a rude and irreverently familiar manner, as though He were a mere man-even if not compared unfavorably with some of the so-called great men of this age. He is looked upon by some as a sort of a Prophet, or a great Exemplar, a Philanthropist, a social Reformer; by others, as having been shut up, in a great measure, to the ignorance of His times, and consequently unable to know as much as men of our times. They have even gone to the extent of linking Him with such as Shakespeare and Mohammed. His holy name is made the subject of a lecture by some sordid-minded orator. He is impersonated by an ignorant Romanist; or, worse still, by a professional actor in the Passion Play, and His holy person pictured by exhibitors of the cinematograph. Thus is the adorable name of our glorious Lord handled by unpriestly, wicked, and impious hands; and the sorrowful part of it is that Christians seem to grow indifferent to such base indignities against their Lord.

We live in perilous, yea, in blasphemous times; and just as heresies have always originated from amongst the people of God, so do all these things find their conception amongst the ranks of profession -a bastard Protestantism, neither true in letter nor in spirit to its name; and so, quite aptly can a scriptural question be put to-day, "Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called" (Jas. 2:7) ? Men render to their earthly monarchs and potentates a reverence and homage that they fail to accord to Him who is " King of kings and Lord of lords."

Beloved, may our hearts be so stirred as to all these things that there maybe kindled afresh among us a holy desire to ever give to our Lord Jesus Christ the full honor due His holy name! Let there be no hint of irreverent familiarity. Let us gaze upon Him with hearts filled with admiration and love. "But we see Jesus, who was made some little inferior to angels, on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor" (Heb. 2:9-J. N. D.). O beloved, what an Object we have, in the glory, to contemplate! Surely the heart longs for the moment when waiting will be changed to seeing, and failure will be a thing of the past for ever.

But whilst here, let us allow nothing to slacken. Let us stand fast for the maintenance of all that blessed Person calls for-His honor, His name, His glory, His work, His present as well as His future exaltation, when "every eye shall see Him, every tongue confess Him, and every knee shall bow to Him."

My prayer is that this little paper may have the effect of "stirring up our pure minds by way of remembrance," and of stimulating us to renewed desire to exalt that One "who is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). F. J. Enefer

(Continued from page 20.)

The defect in Mr. McC.'s ideal of the fulness of the I Spirit is seen, also, in another way. We should expect in one who is seeking for himself and for the saints a higher plane of practical life, an approximation at least to the example of the apostle Paul. For instance, in the epistle to the Ephesians he sets before us the truth concerning Christ set at the head of all things in heaven and earth, and of our inheriting all this vast domain in Him, 1:e., jointly with Him, and then prays (chap. 1:16-18) that the spirit of this truth, of this "wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him "-the full knowledge of Christ thus bestowed upon us, may be given to us to be the enlightenment of the "eyes of our hearts" to enable us to realize the " hope of our calling." The reader of Mr. McC.'s books will look in vain for anything of this. There is not so much as a hint that he knows such truth has been given us. Of course, if he does not know it, he cannot insist on it as being a part of the "fulness of the Spirit." If we turn to Col. 1:9-11, we learn that the saints need to be " filled" with this knowledge in order to " walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," to bear fruit "in every good work," to grow by the "full knowledge of God":and, further, to find in this knowledge a power-the power of that sphere of glory of which Christ is the center-adequate to sustain in patient endurance in the midst of the trials inseparably connected with the path to the hope set before us. How defective is the teaching of Mr. McC. in the light of this! How far short of the " fulness of the Spirit" his ideal comes! What a loss, to give up the scriptural ideal for his ! In his system we may have some knowledge of Christ, but not "full knowledge." Under his system we may have enough wisdom by which to please the Lord in some things, but not in "all things." In that truth which the apostle speaks of as completing the word of God (Col. 1:25), filling out the list of its subjects, we have a wisdom adequate to enable us to " walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." Under his system there may be bearing fruit in some good works, but the scriptural system furnishes us for bearing fruit " in every good work."

I am not saying whether any one does, or ever did, walk unto "all pleasing," or bear fruit in "every good work." That is not the point. Mr. McC.'s system does not furnish for this, but the system of Scripture does. The failure of those who believe in it is not because of any defect in the wisdom it furnishes, but in their dependence upon it. But it is important to have the right furnishing, and this Mr. McC.'s teaching does not supply.

Other scriptures might be quoted to still further show the insufficiency of the teaching we are considering, but considerations of time and space forbid. Besides, it is not necessary:it would only be accumulative evidence. But we have shown that Mr. McC.'s ideal pf the Christian life is deficient. It is not God's ideal as revealed in His Word.

We further judge that the teaching is dangerous. It holds out delusive and false hopes. It presents the hope of the "whole life" being " brought into that perfect alignment with God's will for us which makes not only isolated acts, hut the whole course of our life, always well pleasing unto Him and a constant joy to ourselves."- "The Surrendered Life," page 13. (Italics are mine.)

"The whole course of our life" "a constant joy to ourselves " ! How easily possible this, if we are ignorant of God's ideal, and fancy we have attained our own! But are we sure we are "always well pleasing unto" God? Ah, that is a different matter. Will He not hold us responsible to learn what His ideal is ? Can He be pleased with our lives when they are so far below the level of His own ideal, or with our ignorance that permits us to be so self-satisfied? Surely not. Then the hope held out in Mr. McC.'s teaching is a delusive hope. The effect of it will be to turn the feet from the true scriptural path into one in which, while there is the promise of a high plane of spiritual life, and a "course" of life that is "a constant joy," there is, notwithstanding, no apprehension of the truth of which Paul was "made the minister." Such a teaching cannot be sanctifying. Our Lord teaches in John 17:17 that it is through the truth we are to be sanctified. A system like this, which at least ignores essential and important truth, must fail of sanctifying its adherents. It may enable them to be satisfied with their practical lives, to constantly look at them with elation and joy, though they are barren of all the fruit that depends upon the knowledge of Christ as Head over all things and their relationship to Him as such. The fruit of the knowledge of the mystery of which Paul was the minister-Christ and the Church-is this to be abandoned ?. Are we to give up in practice those ways that this truth teaches us ? Are we to be satisfied with our lives, find them " a constant joy," while we are walking in disobedience to the truth of Christ as Head of His body? Are we to consider we have attained to the "fulness of the Spirit," and yet be lacking in so much? Plainly, this teaching is erroneous, and dangerous. It is destructive, hides the truth, and robs the soul!

Mr. McC. has not thought it necessary to enter upon the subject of growth. He makes certain statements, however, which make it clear that his ideas on the subject are not in accordance with Scripture. I invite the reader to study well certain utterances of the word of God on this matter, because it is very important to be clear about it. I will turn first to i Peter 2:2. "As new-born babes, desire the sincere" (unadulterated) "milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby." It is evident the apostle desired to see growth in the saints, But this is not all. It is also manifest that his idea of the way in which we are to grow is by drinking in the pure word of God. Growth, then, is growth in the ap-prehension and enjoyment of the Word which God has given us. It is not that certain parts of the Word only belonged to us yesterday, and then, because we have surrendered, certain other parts become ours today. Every ord God has spoken is ours, and ours, too, from the moment we first believe. We have not understood it all, we have not realized all that is expressed by these divine statements; but as we have fed on the words of God, studied them and meditated on them, the Spirit in us, having full knowledge, has given us enlarged under-standing. He has deepened in us the enjoyment of the truth that we have received from God. He has been in us all the time with the fulness of His own knowledge; and as we have listened to His voice, drunk the waters He gives, fed on the words of God as He ministers them to us, He has increased our enjoyment of what He enjoys fully, and deepened our sense of what He perfectly knows. Growth thus has been growth in the fulness of the Spirit. It is not that our inheritance has enlarged, but we have enlarged in it:it is not that our fountain has been augmented; but we have learned to drink in with an augmented measure. But let us look at another passage.2 Peter 1:5-7 is known as a passage treating of growth."And be-sides this, giving all diligence, add to " (or, perhaps, bet-ter, have in) " your faith virtue," and so on. Now the idea here is development, not accretion. The bud con-ins the flower. As the bud develops, the flower is manifested. So faith that is given of God has in it, potentially, what at first has little or no manifestation; but, nourished by the word of God, it enlarges, like the bud, through internal activities, until it unfolds to display its beauteous characteristics. These characteristics are in the faith that introduces us into those things in which we are " partakers " with God. They " abound" more or less in all who believe. The being neither "barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" is in the measure in which they abound, but the measure of their abounding depends on the measure in which we are nourished by the " great and precious promises; " that is, the word of God, in which we have the knowledge of God-the God who has " called us by glory and virtue." It is, then, as the knowledge of God deepens in our souls that the characteristics of faith are developed. So, then, growth is in the word of God. But this, as we have already remarked, belongs to every believer. The entire word of God has been given to him, and the Spirit, who has perfect divine knowledge of every word that has proceeded from the mouth of God, is dwelling in him. The fulness of the Spirit, then, is always with the Spirit, who dwells in the body of the believer, but the believer grows in the apprehension of that fulness. The sense of it deepens in his soul as he drinks in the Spirit's gracious ministries.

Let us turn now to Col. 1:10, where we read of "increasing in," or rather by, " the knowledge of God." We have already seen that the revelation of " the mystery of " the will of God concerning Christ completes our equipment for walking " worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," and"being fruitful in every good work."It is the knowledge contained in this revelation that gives that full knowledge "in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" that we need in order to be completely furnished for the path the will of God has appointed us. It is the knowledge of God, of His thoughts, mind and will, concerning Christ. Now this knowledge we have in the word of God-the written word of God. By this knowledge we increase. Increase in what? In walking " worthy" and in "being fruitful," clearly. But that means that the more we grow in the knowledge of God the greater will our apprehension be of that which is the only means by which we can " walk worthy of the Lord" and be " fruitful in every good work; "and as our apprehension deepens, we increase in walking worthy and in fruitfulness. Thus it is that we increase "by the knowledge of God."But here again we see that growth is growth in the word of God. It is growth, therefore, in that which is in the hands of the Spirit in divine fulness. There is never any deficiency in His possession of the word of God or in His knowledge and enjoyment of it. He is in us, and, from the very first of His being in us, fully equipped to fill us with His own fulness. We have seen why we are not always filled. We sometimes cease drinking of His water, or drink too sparingly. But the more continuously we drink, and the larger the droughts we take, the more we find ourselves deepening in the sense of what is already ours, and the deeper is our joy in Him. Growth is thus in the knowledge of God, and this is by growing in the knowledge of His Word.

It is because this is so that we are told to " grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). But where do we find this knowledge of "grace" and of "the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" ? Nowhere except in the written Word. To grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, we must grow in the Word. It is always by the Word-the pure word of God.

It scarcely needs that we should consider other passages, such as, "I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment," or intelligence (Phil. 1:9);and " The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men" (i Thess. 3:12), and many more of similar character. It should be perfectly clear that these desires of the apostle are only realized in us as we grow in the apprehension and intelligence of the word of God. C. Crain.

(To be continued.)