(Dan, 1:3-21.)

A lovely and instructive picture is presented to us in the opening chapter of Daniel, and one affording wonderful encouragement to faith in a scene of evil and a day of trial.

The faith of these young men was something marvelous at a time like theirs, when the whole current of things was against them; but it is at such times that faith shines out the brightest. They are in the hands of Ashpenaz, whose name is significant in this connection:"I will bring out the sprinkled," since it is clear that they are indeed the "sprinkled" in the sense of Heb. 10:22; they have set themselves apart as true Nazarites unto the Lord, and He will not fail to " bring out" all such in due time, although He may pass them through the fire meanwhile, to test their faith.

Their names appear to have been of considerable importance, since their governor sees fit to change them.

Daniel means, " My God is judge; "

Hananiah, "A gracious giver is Jah; "

Mishael, "Who is as God [is] ? "

Azariah, " Helped of Jah."

Beautiful names they are, and, it would appear to us at first sight, a serious loss to abandon them; but submission seems to be a prominent trait in the characters of these worthy youths-submission, at least, where submission does not mean insubjection to God. We must obey, but '' we must obey God rather than men." When one cannot be obeyed without disobedience to the other, then these faithful youths have a ready answer:"We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us . . .; But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods."

How fitting is it that Daniel's name should have the first place on this brief catalogue of names, shining like a grand beacon-light upon the threshold, as upon all their path, with its encouragement and its admonition, " My God is judge." Are they torn from their homes and their possessions in the land of their fathers, the land assigned them by the God of Abraham according to promise, and carried captive to a heathen land ? " My God is judge." Are they now to find themselves in conflict with the wishes of their masters, who would require from them what their consciences forbid? "My God is judge." They confidently "commit their cause unto Him that judgeth righteously." How important, then, that this name should have first place in this connection, their guiding star through all the difficulties they are to encounter !

Hananiah comes next, confirming faith with the assurance of what kind of judge they have to do with; "A gracious giver is Jah." A righteous judge, and yet a gracious giver, are attributes which the Cross alone can unite; and are they not united for us in the wondrous "throne of grace?" (Heb. 4:16.)

Mishael. comes next, the third name, "Who is as God is ?" suggesting the complete sufficiency of God for them; a question which, if it were but the language of their hearts, as it assuredly seems to have been, was most triumphant and impossible of answer.

Azariah is the fourth (how significant that there are four!). "Helped of Jah " is the meaning of this, and suggests experience ; they have found Him true to the faith that counts upon Him, as faith ever must-" He cannot deny Himself."

But their names are changed. Daniel becomes " Belteshazzar," which is " master of the treasure of the straitened," reminding us of what the apostle says-" I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12). This change of name involves no loss, as is evident. It is a distinct gain since there is experience in it. These dear witnesses are indeed "straitened," and they have a "treasure; " it may not have been what Babylon would count treasure, but it was treasure which Nebuchadnezzar's fire could not touch, and they had committed it to His keeping. He was "master" of it, and would keep it.

Hananiah gives place to "Shadrach," meaning "the breast is tender," which at first sight does not appear to be much of a change, save perhaps from the abstract to the concrete. It is one thing to know the doctrine of the givingness of the Lord, and a precious thing too, but it is quite another to prove the tenderness of that "breast" by leaning upon it, as the "beloved" disciple of old. The change is a gain, and in the same direction as Daniel's.

Mishael becomes " Meshach," meaning "waters of appeasal." This may remind us of the "waters of quietness " of Psa. 23:2, and, as taking the place of the other name, it may speak to us of " the peace of God, which passeth all understanding " (Phil. 4:7). "Waters of appeasal" supposes conflict, but rest as to it-God for us, realized to be so; and this is indeed gain, and in the same direction as before.

Azariah is changed to "Abednego," which is "servant of brightness." This is precisely like Isaiah of old (chap. 6:1-8). The prophet had seen the "brightness," and been stricken down by it; now, as "helped of Jah," he can be the servant of that brightness-" Here am I, send me." He has learned the. lesson, now he can teach it. It is ever the Lord's way. For this purpose were these dear faithful ones left in Babylon; and for this cause, may we not say, we are left here ? Our Lord's prayer was "not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). He would have "servants of the brightness " here during His absence.

How beautifully, then, are these names changed from the mere abstract to the concrete-from the mere doctrine to the realization in the soul ! And the world changes them'! Be it so; its utmost endeavors to wipe out all that is of God in His people can only result in transforming the doctrine into practice, in making them (like the true ruminant animal) transform the food they have gathered into that which shall form the bone and sinew of their moral being.

What a definite and wondrous purpose attaches to their sojourn in Babylon! and what deep meaning in all they are to pass through! And since all this was "written for our learning," may we not say that the same, or. similar, importance attaches to our sojourn in a world which knows not God, and whose prince is the enemy of Christ ? " Servants of brightness " we shall be indeed if we have learned the lesson these worthies and their names are designed to teach, and our faith be in exercise.

Melzar appears to be the one who had the more immediate charge of these young men-their '' schoolmaster,"may we say? His name means "He straightened the circumcised," and well pictures the "schoolmaster" referred to in Gal. Hi. 24, who has important lessons to teach, if men will but listen to him. Alas, so many are filled with a sense of their own righteousness, that it may be said of them as of some stoutly religious ones of old, "Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost:. . . who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it." But these four were of the "true circumcision," which is "that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; ' whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2:29, and see Phil. 3:3). They had "heard"their " schoolmaster," and had learned the lesson he had to teach; and now they can, in the boldness of faith, challenge him to leave them to their "pulse "for "ten days" (a significant number in this connection), and they will show a condition of things which he could never produce. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3, 4).

Their first test is strikingly like the Lord's temptation in the wilderness, in that it has to do with their
food, what they subsist on; and how much a man is characterized by what he feeds upon! Our blessed Lord's reply to Satan, that "man shall Hot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," was more like the reply of these worthies than is at first sight apparent. The word rendered "pulse " is from the same root as the regular word for "seed." Those who are born of the incorruptible seed must needs have it to "grow thereby" (see i Peter 1:23-25 and 2:3). If the enemy can but succeed in producing indifference to our daily food, he has gained an immense victory; but these worthies had doubtless learned from Proverbs, " Be not desirous of his dam ties :for they are deceitful meat" (Prov. 23:3). How bright and bold the faith of these four! "Prove thy servants I beseech thee, ten days ; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink," is their confident appeal to their tutor:the word of God, represented in its twofold character, as sustaining life and as refreshing, is all-sufficient for them.

May these lessons abide with us, dear fellow-believer; and in the same living faith may we too step out boldly upon the all-sufficiency of the word of our God in a world which knows not God and in a day of increasing evil; believing it to be "God-breathed" and "profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness :that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). And let our faith, as theirs, take in all who are likewise standing for Him in an evil day:compare, as to this, Dan. 1:12 13; 2:17, 18, 23. J. B. J.

As the national restoration of Israel is intimately linked with the closing of the Christian dispensation and the rapture of the Church from earth to heaven, the late action of the Sultan of Turkey, and its results, cannot but deeply interest all who wait for our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven.

All hindrance to the return of the Jews to their land has been removed, and they are now free to flock into it as much as they desire.

The International Zionist Conference, recently held in Cologne, have accordingly adopted and proclaimed a program for the re-settlement of the Jewish people in their own land, which, seeing the immense emigration which has already begun from Russia, indicates a true fulfilment of Ezek. 37:The " dry bones " seem indeed to be "shaking" and "coming together, bone to his bone." Israel is looking on to a national restoration.

They little dream of what they are yet to pass through before they can be established according to God's great mind and love toward them. They have no thought of the "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be " (Matt. 24:21), which is yet to deluge them in that very land of their right desires, but in which they called upon their own heads and those of their children the blood of Him who is the only King, able to make them the Royal Nation of the earth.

The Christian heart, knowing this, sorrows for them, while rejoicing at the glorious end the faithful remnant will surely get. They are going back to reap first the fruit of their awful crime against Immanuel; then the fruit of the infinite grace of that same Immanuel.

And we, beloved brethren, fellow-members of "the Church, which is His Body," what does all this say to us, save that we are near the end of our journey ? At any moment now we may see and hear our " Lord Himself descending from heaven with a shout" (i Thess. 4:16-18), to take us out of this scene of sorrow, and into His and our home of love and eternal rest. The heart upleapeth with joy, and says, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Luther wrote, "At one time I was sorely vexed and tried by my own sinfulness, by the wicked-ness of the world, and by the dangers which beset the Church. One morning I saw my wife dressing in mourning. Surprised, I asked her who has died. She replied, ' Do you not know ? God in heaven is dead ! 'I said to her, ' How can you talk such nonsense, Katie ?How can God die ?He is immortal, and will live through all eternity!' ' Is that really true?' she asked. ' Of course, ' I said-still not perceiving what she was aiming at;'how can you doubt it ?As sure as there is a God in heaven, so sure is it that He can never die.''And yet,' she said though you do not doubt that, you are still so hopeless and discouraged!' Then I observed what a wise woman my wife was, and mastered my sadness."

By making as know what we are, and loathe it, God in His ways of peace, teaches as to identify ourselves with Him against ourselves, as also against Satan and the world.

Prov. 30:

The last two chapters in the Proverbs are an appendix to the book-the words of Agur to his pupils Athl. and Uca, and the words of King Lemuel, taught him by his mother.

Sometimes in the word of God much rich blessing and wholesome food for our souls is couched in but a few verses, yea, in but a few words. Let us see what instruction we can gather from a few words in the beginning of this 30th chap. of Proverbs.

Agur, means, "assembler," i e. a member of the wise men's assembly. All through this book of Proverbs the wise and the foolish are contrasted-in fact all through the word of God. (See Matt. 7:24-27 and 25:1-13.) Thus God's children are the wise, and never more so than in the Christian dispensation when indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and are all "assemblers," being in the true assembly, Christ's body.

Agur was the son of Jake. Jake means "pious," or "obedient"-the suited character of those who are the assemblers to Him who is Head of the assembly. What rich blessing is attached to obedience. "To obey is, better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams." Is not obedience everywhere, in both Old and New Testaments, enjoined on the people of God? May our God imbue us all with a spirit of piety and reverent obedience, so that we shall never treat with the least indifference the most obscure passage we find in His Word. For as Agur says:" Every word of God is pure."

The man spake unto Athl. Athl. means, "God is existent," or " God is with me." " To this man will
I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word" (Isa. 66:2). How fittingly then Athl. follows Jake. Let this have a voice to us to-day, dear brethren. Being in the assembly (of the wise), piety and obedience should go hand in hand with glad heart and willing step wherever that He may lead; and thus God will with us and be a Father unto us.

Agur spake to Athl. and Uca. Uca means, "I am able," hence, prevail, or overcome. Now, it one sense, all the Lord's people will prevail through the Captain of their salvation, for He has overcome death and judgment and their great adversary; but is there not and practical overcoming of evil in the professing Church ? Surely there must be. Who can read carefully the second and third chapters of Revelation and not think so. All Christians are not practically men of God, but a " man of God " practically, is one who stands before God awaiting His commands. Such an one is sure to prevail, for; as Caleb said long ago, "We are well able"-his faith counting upon God who would give them strength May the Lord teach us to meditate on these in His presence, that the fruits thereof may be manifest in our daily lives.

In the few following verses we get vividly ex-pressed the spirit of self-judgment-a very whole-some thing for the people of God at all times. In ver. 4 Agur turns from wretched self and inquires after God. All these questions are now clearly answered in Him who has come from the Father's bosom and made Him known to us.

I trust in these last days the Lord will make His Word inexpressibly precious to His people, so that
as the horizon darkens, the path-the narrow path may become brighter and brighter till grace is crowned with glory. Amen. E. H. Van. L.

"The Lord is at hand! " Just as when you look at a light on a perfectly dark night; though it may be two miles off, it appears quite close. So, the more we prove the darkness of the world, whilst enjoying the love of Christ, the nearer the hope will appear.

(John 14:1-3; John 17:24.)

Just for a moment or two I would draw your attention, beloved brethren, to these two precious scriptures. The hearts of the disciples were filled with sorrow, for the Master had just been telling them He was going away. And the Lord knew this. He said, "Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart" (John 16:6). They were so occupied with the thought of losing Him that they never even thought of saying, "Whither goest Thou ? "

And wouldn't we, beloved, have felt the same had we known Christ on earth as they did ? Think of what He was to them !-of what He had done, and was still doing, for them! Think, too, of what they were expecting Him to do (Luke 24:21)! And then suddenly to find He was going away! No wonder sorrow filled their hearts.

Then just think of the beautiful, blessed way the Lord took to comfort them. One can almost fancy one hears Him saying the words; and remember, "never man spake like this Man "! Not merely was it what He said, but the way He said it was worth while hearing-"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me." They were not going to lose Him altogether, but they were to know Him in a new way. Hitherto they had known Him as a Messiah on earth, now they were to know Him as a glorified Saviour in heaven, as One whom they could not see any longer as they had seen Him, but who would be as real to their faith as He had been to their sight. He was going away, and He was seeking to take their hearts up to the new place He was going to; and then by and by He would come and take their bodies where their hearts were.

Now is not that wonderful and blessed, beloved brethren ? Is it not marvelous love on His part ? It was them He was caring for. It was them He was seeking to comfort. His whole heart was going out to them. His own sorrow was deep and great. The cross was looming up dark before Him with all its unutterable woe; yet He had leisure to think of them at such a moment, even as He could do it for a penitent thief by His side when He was suffering on the cross. Blessed, precious, loving Lord!

'' In My Father's house are many mansions (abodes); if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you," He said. Had there been no room for them in the Father's house He would have told them. His heart would not have allowed Him to keep it from them. But there were many abodes. There were abodes for all the different families of heaven (Eph. 3:15)-angelic hosts and families of whatever grade. And now He was going to prepare a place for them. What place was it to be ? Ah, What place could it be ? It could only be the place that was worthy of Himself. "That where I am, there ye may be also." It was to be the best place in heaven. The love that had brought Him down to seek us and fit us could not be satisfied with anything less than having us with Himself, in suitability to Himself, and in His Father's house forever. Wondrous love!

And what, then, is there for their hearts till that intakes place ? Oh, just think! There is the knowledge of the very best place in heaven, and the enjoyment of the very best company on the way to it. Notice ver. 16 ; then ver. 23-the presence of the Holy Ghost, and the presence of the Father and the Son. Could better company than that be found ?
Not only so, there is His own promise to cheer them while they wait. " I will come again,:and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Was not that something for their hearts for yours and mine to-day ? "I will come again," He says. . O beloved brethren, do our hearts miss Him ? Do we feel His absence ? Do we look up and on to the time when He will fulfil His promise ? Is it a reality in our souls ? Do we really feel He is a long time in coming ? and say, as it were, " Why is His chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of His chariots ?"

Let us keep before our souls it is Himself who is coming. It is His own promise, " I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." It is not "the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof;" it is "this same Jesus "-the One our hearts know and love, who died for us, who lives for us, who is coming Himself for us. Oh, it is true affection of heart for Himself alone that can make us sing,

Come, Lord, come !"We wait for Thee;
We listen still for Thy returning ;
Thy loveliness we long to see,
For Thee the lamp of hope is burning.
Come, Lord, come!

But I must not dwell on this any longer, precious as it is. One can only hope and pray that the Lord will make it more real in all our hearts, and give us more and more to enjoy the company while we wait to be taken into the place.

Then there is that other beautiful passage, "Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me; for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world."

What can there be more wonderful than this, dear brethren ? We need to have our shoes off; it is holy ground. What grace, to allow us to hear the prayer of the Lord for His own. He had just been pouring out His heart to His Father for His own which are in the world; for their preservation and blessing while left in it:but He did not intend that they should always remain in it; His promise to them is not forgotten, and becomes a prayer to His Father that it may be accomplished; and accomplished it will be-yea, it must be. The prayer of the Beloved Son must be answered.

Then there is another reason why it should be answered.

'' The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). And, beloved brethren, is not the Lord Jesus the righteous Man, as well as the dependent Man, as set before us so beautifully in psalms 16:and 17:? Is not His prayer the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man? Surely! surely! And the Holy Spirit says "it availeth much." A man of like passions with ourselves could pray earnestly and stay the bottles of heaven from emptying themselves on the earth. But Jesus, God's beloved Son, has prayed as the righteous Man, and that prayer will be fulfilled-it must be fulfilled.

He has asked that we should be with Him where He is But why ? Is it merely that we should be in the Father's house instead of here on earth ? Oh no It is "that we might behold His glory-a. given glory and a glory given to Him who was the object of the Father's love before the foundation of the world, but who came into this world and by His obedience unto death furnished the Father with a fresh motive to love Him (Jno. 10:17), and to glorify Him with Himself. And we are going to see that! To behold His glory! A glory we can never share; but a glory we can behold, and find our joy in beholding it, while our hearts delight themselves in the thought that it is His and that He is worthy of it.

He has promised and. prayed. His promise cheers much, and His prayer avails much. Do our hearts say, " Lord, what wait I for ?" Himself! Himself! Nothing more, and nothing less. "Jesus, Thou art enough." We draw our comfort from His promise, and bow and worship as we listen to His prayer. There is the double reason why it should be fulfilled. It is the prayer of the beloved Son; and it is "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man, and avails much." Blessed be His holy name forever and for evermore!

The Lord, beloved brethren, make it all real in our souls and create a deeper affection in our hearts, and give us a deep and profound enjoyment of it here and now, for His name's sake. Wm. Easton.

New Zealand

There are three theories of probation after I death. One maintains that the first 1000 years of the lake of fire will be a probationary period, ending in the release of many from that place. Another view is, that at the second coming of Christ the impenitent of all time will be raised from the dead, and that the purified of all ages, who will be raised some time before them, will preach Christ to them; the vast majority of whom will believe and be saved. The third theory contends that Christ is preached to the dead. Its advocates hold that the disembodied spirit will have the offer of salvation through Christ; that this offer will be made to all who have died unsaved; that the millions of the heathen who have died without hearing of Christ, during the time they are in the disembodied condition will hear of Him and will repent and believe. Some say that the great majority, at least, will do so.

Are these views in accord with Scripture ? Does the word of God teach there will be a probationary period for men after they have died ? A brief examination of a few scriptures will be sufficient to answer these questions.

The first view, the one which maintains that the first 1000 years of the lake of fire will be a time of probation, we may dismiss at once as not needing any discussion. We have already seen in our article on Universalism that the word of God does not teach that any one who goes into the lake of fire will ever get out of it. So any theory of probation for men after they are sent to the lake of fire is without foundation in the word of God. It cannot have any Scriptural basis.

We will, then, turn to the second view. The advocates of this tell us that the wicked will be raised at the second coming of Christ. But Scripture does not place their resurrection at that time. It does speak of the resurrection of two classes-the just and the unjust. According to John 5:, the resurrection of the first class is one to life; while the resurrection of the other class is to judgment. It is plain, then, there are to be two resurrections; the one differing in character from the other. But, further, Rev. 20:shows that there will be a thousand years between the two. Now, it is the first resurrection that is connected with the second coming of Christ-not the second:the resurrection of the just, not the resurrection of the unjust.

The adherents of this view tell us that the tried and purified of all previous ages will indeed be raised
first; and that, after the wicked have been raised, the former class will preach Christ, to the latter. Scripture, on the contrary, tells us that those who belong to the first resurrection will reign with Christ during the thousand years that will intervene between the two resurrections, 1:e., the raised saints will reign over living men-men who have not died. It does not say that they will preach the gospel. They certainly cannot preach the gospel to the wicked, for they will still be in the death state.

Scripture, then, holds out no hope of a man who dies in his sins hearing and believing the gospel after his resurrection. What it says is, "Now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). Now, 1:e., this present life, not after resurrection. The idea of the raised just preaching to the raised unjust is nowhere found in the word of God. It is a fiction, a false doctrine. Let men beware how they listen to it!

It remains to examine the third view of probation after death, 1:e., the view of some who, while they deny the other two views, hold that between death and resurrection there will be a chance for those who have not heard and believed the gospel in this life to hear it and be saved. In defense of this view i Peter 3:18-20 is usually quoted:"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing:wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water." It is contended that this passage means that when Christ died He went as a disembodied spirit among disembodied spirits and preached the gospel to them. But is that what the passage says ? Let us look carefully at it and see.

Notice that it reads, " By which also He went and preached." Now it is clear that Christ went and preached by the same Spirit by which His body was quickened after He died. It was the Holy Spirit who raised up the body of Jesus. It was by the Holy Spirit that He went and preached. Christ, then, did not personally go and preach to these spirits in prison. He did go personally among the disembodied spirits, but His personal going among the disembodied spirits cannot be the going to them that is referred to here in i Peter 3:It is of great importance to keep this in mind in reading the whole passage. It will help to elucidate it. Christ went and preached to the spirits in prison, but He did not go personally. He did not preach personally. He both went and preached by the Holy Spirit. The preaching, then, was not done while Christ was personally as a disembodied spirit among the spirits of the departed.

We may ask now, When did Christ go and preach to the spirits in prison ? As it was by the Holy Spirit, it must have been some time when the Holy Spirit was testifying to them. We may also inquire, When did the Spirit testify to these spirits ? Was it before they got into prison ? or was it after ? Now there is no record of the Holy Spirit testifying to departed spirits. Not a single instance can be cited of the Spirit preaching to dead people. There is not so much as one illustration of the Spirit's witnessing to a disembodied spirit. This fact alone is enough to cause us to be suspicious of the teaching that makes the preaching of i Peter 3:19 a preaching to dead people-to departed spirits.

But further, it is plain that the preaching here is to a certain class of the dead-not all the dead. It is to the spirits of men of the days of Noah. If it is said this preaching was to people actually in the death state, we may ask why was it only to the spirits of men who lived in the days of Noah ? Why was it not to all the dead ? So, again, we are led to question the interpretation that makes this preaching to people after they are in the death condition.

But if we turn to Gen. 6:we find that there was a testimony of the Spirit to living men in the days of Noah. The Spirit was striving with them then, and, further, a limit was put to the time during which He would strive with them. "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh:yet his clays shall be a hundred and twenty years" (ver. 3). Here we have the Spirit witnessing to living men for one hundred and twenty years before the flood. To this testimony of the Spirit they were disobedient. By the Spirit Noah was a preacher, but the men of his day disobeyed his preaching. It was Christ preaching to them, not personally, but by the Spirit, through Noah.

We have, then, in Gen. 6:the fact referred to in i Peter 3:19-a preaching of Christ by the Spirit to living men who disobeyed the preaching, and are now in prison, 1:e., in the death state. The preaching was done while they were alive; and so, too, was the disobedience. Both were during the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah.

1 Peter 3:19, then, cannot be used to support a theory of probation for men after death; and the prevalent idea that Christ, during the three days in which He was in the disembodied state, was preaching the gospel to the dead has no scriptural basis.

But there are scriptures which very plainly contradict such a thought as an offer of mercy to the impenitent dead. The one we have already quoted to show there will be no preaching of mercy to men after their resurrection, equally shows there will be none to men while in the disembodied state:"Behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2)- now, not after death. Then, too, our Lord, in John 8:21, said, " I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins:whither I go, ye cannot come." If they died in their sins, death would hand them over to the judgment of the great white throne, and the great white throne would send them to the lake of fire. There is here no hope of mercy held out for those who die in their sins.

Let us look now at Luke 16:19-31. We have already used this passage in a previous paper to show that the dead will not be unconscious. We will look at it now to see what light it sheds on the question of probation after death. We call special attention to verse 26:"And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed:so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." In verse 24 we have a man in the death state. He is not a living man on the earth, but a disembodied spirit in the spirit-world-a clear case of one who has died, has passed from among the living, and is now among the dead. There he is in "torments," and desires "mercy." He says, "Have mercy on me." But no mercy is granted him. Not only is there no offer of mercy made him, but his desire for mercy is denied. But more:he is told that "there is a great gulf fixed," separating the dead into two classes. There is a great moral gulf now, in this life, between the believer and the unbeliever, but it is not a fixed gulf in the sense that it cannot be crossed. Grace, the grace of God, has provided a bridge on which the unbeliever may pass to the side of the believer. But after death no such bridge is provided. In the death state the gulf is fixed, and there is no passing from the one side to the other. This makes it plain that eternal issues are settled in this life, and not in the death state.

There is, then, no gospel to be preached to men after they die. Probation for the dead is without foundation in the word of God. Scripture holds out no hope to a man that, if he neglects the salvation God has provided for him in this life, he will have an opportunity to be saved in the life beyond.

Those who are promulgating the doctrine of probation after death are doing man a serious moral wrong. They are deluding them with a false hope. Those who receive the teaching are deceived. A sad present result of embracing the doctrine of a chance for salvation in the life to come is indifference to sin. Men will indulge more freely in what they are persuaded they have a chance of escaping the consequences of hereafter.

We have seen that the doctrine of probation after death, in the various forms in which it is held, is un-scriptural; it has no support in the word of God. We have also pointed out the pernicious character of the doctrine, not only as offering false and delusive hopes to men, but also as tending to make men careless about sin in this present life. We close our brief comments not only with an appeal to men to listen to the voice of the God of truth in the written revelation He has given to us, but with an earnest exhortation to those who believe in the Scriptures of truth to be diligent in protesting against this and other errors so harmful to our fellow-men. Let our voices be heard in the defense of the truth, in maintaining the teaching of the word of God, and in warning men against prevalent doctrines that set false and delusive hopes before them and leave them free to continue on in the service of sin in defiance of God's warning to flee from the wrath to come. C. Crain

QUES. 27.-" And to-morrow shall thou and thy sons be with me" (1 Sam. 28:19). Was this the place where all the dead rest? or did the prophet mean that Saul and his sons were going to be cut off from the earth simply ? From this passage, can we say that both the saved and the unsaved are together ?

ANS.-We believe that the expression simply means that Saul and his sons would on the morrow be killed in battle and be among the dead, as Samuel was-among the dead as in contrast with those living on the earth.

It in nowise defines the place they occupy among the dead. Lazarus and the rich man, in Luke 16:, are both among the dead as contrasted with those who are still living upon the earth, but they are in very different places there. One is in the place of bliss, the other of torment, with "a great gulf fixed " between the two.

QUES. 28.-Is the word wine used in Scripture the real fermented juice of the vine, or simple grape juice? Did the Lord use grape juice, or what we call "wine," at the Supper? And what was it at the wedding at Cana ?

ANS.-You will ever find in Scripture that drunkenness is attached to wine; that " much wine" is not good; that "a little wine" was commended to a sickly man; that to be "given to wine" unfits one for holy duties, etc., etc.;-thus showing that what is called "wine" is not "grape juice," which cannot make one drunk, but the fermented juice of the grape, which does make drunk.

Let us remind you, and all, that wine, from which many make themselves drunk, and which it were far better for many to abstain from, is by no means the only test God has put before man in creation. Fornication, adultery, do not argue that woman is an evil. Covetousness does not argue that gold is an evil. Murder does not argue that a knife or a weapon is evil. Let sin be hateful to us, and we can then thank God for everything He has made.

QUES. 29.-In the book of Genesis I have been able to trace the years from Adam to Isaac, which are 2206 years ; or, when Isaac begot Jacob it was 1798 years B. C. But I have been unable to keep up the chain. Where, and in what books of the Bible, will I find the rest, to the birth of the Savior? In Luke we find the natural genealogy from Adam to Christ, but not the years. Is there not some other book-traditions, perhaps ?

ANS.-There are too many difficult questions to be considered to make it possible to give a satisfactory answer. 1st. Is the present Hebrew text in Gen. 5:and 11:the correct text? There is good evidence, yet perhaps not decisive, that at one time the text in these chapters was very different. 2d. Were the children of Israel 215, or 430, years in Egypt? Authorities are divided. The latter term suits best with the computation of the age of Amraphel, a contemporary of Abraham, based on statements found in recovered Babylonian inscriptions. There are, however, one or two doubtful elements in the computation, so that it is still uncertain. 3d. How far can we trust the traditions? They are very conflicting. By comparing the Scriptures with well-founded dates in contemporary history, a continuous chronology may be traced back from the crucifixion of Christ to the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, 1444 b. o. Of course many details can be only approximately placed. Further back we cannot claim accuracy, in the present state of our knowledge. C. C.

ANS. 30.-Will you kindly explain in help and food Matt. 26:6-13, and Luke 7:36-39? Is the Mary mentioned in both the same person ? There is much that is different in both incidents, and would lead one to think the Mary in Luke was not the Mary of Bethany; but one lately expressed the thought that the story in all four Gospels was one and the same.

Ans.-The incident narrated in Luke 7:36-49 occurred some time during our Lord's Galilean journey, at the beginning of His ministry. The incident narrated in Matt. 26:6-3 occurred just at the close, only a few days before the crucifixion. Simon was a very common name; so, too, was Mary. The Simon at whose house Mary anointed the Lord had been a leper. As having been healed, he would be one of those who "loved much." John 12:2 would give us to think that it was as "loving much" that he took part in the supper they made the Lord at Bethany. The Simon of Luke 7:was not one of those who "loved much." It is plainly a mistake to identify the Simon of the one account with the Simon of the other. There is no proof that the " woman who was a sinner" of the one was the same as the Mary of the other. Nor can we identify the Mary of Bethany with the Mary of Magdala. C. C.

QUES. 31.-Is the gift of healing in the Church now as in the time of the apostles ?

ANS.-If it is, let it be seen, for miracles are for sight, not for faith. We have seen, as faith has ever seen and will ever see, prayers answered and sick people made well, whether with or without medical aid. But this is a very different thing from the gift of healing. A man with such a gift can, in the name of Jesus, say to a sick man, Walk, and he walks; to a dead man, Arise, and he comes forth. We have neither seen nor heard of such in our times, though we know well our Lord is able now, as in former days, and indeed may yet, in heathen countries especially, accompany His gospel with remarkable signs of power.

Various questions remain over for our next issue. Here we close with this, the last one of the present year, thanking God heartily for His many mercies in this service, and for His forgiving grace in all the failings which He has seen in it. How sweet to serve Him, and all His saints because they belong to Him! Sweeter, too, as the end draws near, grows the fellowship of one's fellow-servants in this '' work of faith and labor of love.'' Editor.

QUES. 1.-Is Phil. 3:10, 11 moral? or does Paul really desire go through death and resurrection?

ANS.-To properly grasp this passage we "believe it is of primary importance to understand the character of the Epistle. Philippians is the epistle of the Christian race. But a race exists only by virtue of on object to be reached at the end.

On his way to Damascus, Saul the proud Jew, the zealous keeper of the law, and therefore the persecutor of Christ ("for I Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" Rom. 10:4), had evidently been arrested by a wonderful vision. Jesus Himself, from the glory where He was, had appeared to him. Then He had revealed to him, as never before to any man, the wonders of the grace that had come by Him. This captivated his heart, and henceforth made his adorable Saviour in glory the sole Object to run after and to win. He had a glimpse of Him in glory, exalted there in the power resurrection, and this glimpse had set him longing for the full know-ledge of Him, and for that perfect likeness to Him which can only be reached there, at the end of the race.

Morally, in his soul, he of course already knows the power of this, for it is the power of it in his soul which urges him on in the race at the end of which the desired Object is to be had. And if in running after that Object-true to it in all his practical life he must needs suffer, pass through death even in violence, as his Master had, it matters not. Christ Himself won, and perfect like ness to Him reached, he would then be satisfied. Until then he could not, would not be satisfied. No matter how much of the race had been run, and no matter how well, he could not stop there in self-complacency, but must run onto the end, when he would reach the Object of his heart. So may we run in company with that beloved man, our pattern as to object, even as Christ is our pattern as to character.

QUES. 2.-What is the interpretation of Phil. 1:28?

ANS.-To be" adversaries" to those who hold, and preach, and practice "the faith of the gospel" is sufficient evidence, already here, of the righteous doom which awaits such adversaries. For, what but good accompanies that precious faith? and what but God's love to man is manifested in it? To be adversaries to it therefore is proof positive of being enemies of God and lovers of sin, the end of which is eternal judgment. On the other hand, to suffer for Christ's sake and the gospel's is proof of being on God's side, objects of His love and partakers of His salvation. The sufferings of Christ and His people, inflicted by the world, is like a black cloud hanging over it. What terrors will be theirs when it bursts upon them! What mercy it is to be of the world no more!

QUES. 3.-Is Eph. 4:13 present or future?

ANS.-It is both. The gifts of ver. 11 are for the perfecting of individual members of the body, that they may in turn fulfil their own proper functions toward their fellow-members of the and thus perfect it in the knowledge of Christ until it reaches the perfect man-Christ with His Church seen as one in glory.

A FEW LINES ON A PASSAGE FOUND IN HEBREWS II. IO.

" For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."-Heb. 2:10.

Here we have One who is made perfect through sufferings. Some may ask, Was He not, then, perfect before ? The answer is, that personally He was perfect; officially He was not, till He had finished His work. It refers to Christ as our great sacrifice and High Priest. The same expression is used in Heb. 5:9:"And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." Again, in chapter 7:28:"For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore." Here "consecrated" is, as the margin reads, perfected. It was the official perfecting, which could only be acquired by His sufferings. Thus He suffered in life, endured temptations, proved Himself the perfect One in a scene of evil which brought out His perfectness, yet also gave Him the practical acquaintance with the difficulties of the path, that He might sympathize with His people in the trials of :he way, and administer timely help when called upon. But there is no divine sympathy for sin. The word of God everywhere judges it. Even the thoughts and intents of the heart are exposed for judgment by the Word.

The sympathy of Christ is for those who are striving against sin, and whose weakness claims from Him the well-timed succor He is competent and ready to afford. For this His life down here gave Him practical acquaintance-a precious truth for the believer who is seeking to walk with God.
R. T. G.

The gospel itself must be our object. May the Lord keep that fresh and immediate upon our hearts continually! It is the gospel itself, the tale of God's unmeasured love, and which heaven calls the earth to listen to, that bears with it the real and abiding blessing to our souls. It is the entrance Of the living God-God of all grace as He is, through the testimony of the Son of His love-into our hearts that sheds abroad the light, the liberty, the victory there, and is the seed in us of eternal life. As one has said:. . . " There is much in Christianity that may take a strong hold of the imaginative faculties, and give a high species of enjoyment to the mind; but the most important part of religion in relation to sinners is its necessity. The gospel has not been revealed that we may have the pleasure of feeling or expressing fine sentiments, but that we may be saved; the taste may receive the impression of the beauty and sublimity of the Bible, and the nervous system may have received the impression of the tenderness of its tone, and yet its meaning, its deliverance, its mystery of holy love, may remain unknown." J. G. B.

The remark is often made by those who desire a wider path, "We must go back to the beginning; to the original ground that brethren took:they received all godly souls that came; we have become too narrow and exclusive, etc., etc." Now the question really is, Can we go back to the beginning ? If we think or speak of the person of Christ, we can, and indeed must go back to "that which is from the beginning," and refuse all "development," as we are taught in John's epistles. The blessed person of the Lord Jesus stands "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever" (Heb. 13:8), and knows no change or development. We cannot be too clear, or insist too strongly on that.

Then there can be no question we are bound to go back to Scripture and "hold fast" all the truth as taught therein:it never alters. But the point is, can we go back to the beginning of the Church's history and act only on that today ? Or can we even go back to the early days of "brethren" and act as they did, in the midst of the present changed circumstances, and with the fuller light of the written Word which God has so blessedly unfolded to us in His grace through those beloved brethren, and which they had to learn gradually themselves ? Impossible! We cannot put the hands of the clock back; nor can we ignore the past, or undo what has been done. But let us look at this a little.

When the Church was formed by the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:), we read of three thousand souls who gladly received the Word through Peter's preaching, and were "added" to the already formed Assembly. Up to that time there were only the two classes in the world, Jews and Gentiles, out of which the Church was to be formed, and the door had not yet been opened for the Gentiles to come in; neither was there any corrupt Christianity as in later days, from which souls might come, calling for care and discrimination in their reception. At the start they evidently received all who came; and it is certain that none came who were not prepared, professedly at least, to renounce Judaism and be henceforth known as disciples of the rejected and crucified Jesus.

Of these it is said, " They continued steadfastly in. the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). Now what did that doctrine or teaching embrace at that time ? It could set forth the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, and also the descent of the Holy Ghost; but it certainly could not take in the Church as the body of Christ, or the House of God, with all the distinctive teaching set forth in the Pauline epistles, for of these there had been no revelation as yet. Could we then, in this day, limit ourselves to the apostles' doctrine as known in those days, and ignore the further, fuller, and final light and teaching revealed to the apostle of the Gentiles by the Holy Ghost to " complete the word of God" ? (Col. 1:25.) Surely not!

Acts 2:was the dawning of the light of Christianity. An advance certainly upon what they knew or experienced during the Lord's life on earth:but not yet the clear shining of the full light and teaching about the Church as the body of Christ, or the House, or dwelling-place of God by His Spirit (Eph. 1:22, 23; and 2:22).

It was blessedly true, of course, that those at Pentecost formed the Church; it existed then; but they knew it not. That it was not Judaism, they were well aware; but what it was they could not then have said. All they could know was, there was a new thing in existence, formed by the presence of the Holy Ghost, and into which all who severed themselves from Judaism by baptism were received. And we read "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine." They had received it and it formed them as a distinct company. Their fellowship was based on it. The breaking of bread was the out-ward expression of that fellowship, while prayer was the expression of their dependence on God to sustain them in it; three very important things surely.

With the conversion and commission of Paul however, the sun rises higher in the heavens and the light of divine truth waxes brighter. That which existed in Acts 2:becomes definitely known as the Church, the body of Christ, united to Him by the Holy Ghost:as also the house of God, the dwelling-place of God by His Spirit; while His "within " and "without"are clearly defined, and saints exhorted to keep the Spirit's unity in the bond of peace. Discipline, too, is insisted on in accordance with the holiness which becomes God's house forever, and the presence of the Lord in the midst. In fact the full revelation of the mind of God as to the mystery which had been hidden in Himself was now made known and the word of God completed (Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:25). In the light of this, then, we cannot act on a partial revelation of truth, but must take in the complete revelation, and the just proportions and relations of one truth to another. It is one perfect and complete whole, and must be treated as such.

Today we are living in the midst of the ruin of the Church. We cannot restore it. We cannot even aim at being an expression of it. We are only witnesses to its ruin. God's Word however is not ruined. The principles of the Church therein revealed are the same today, and imperatively binding on all saints as much as when they were first revealed. Do the Lord's people grasp this great fact ? and are we to believe it and act upon it? Or must we believe that those principles were only meant for the bright and palmy apostolic days before the ruin had set in ?

The excuses and the excuses of today practically say this latter is so, and that those principles cannot be carried out any longer, and therefore we must give up our exclusive practice, and receive all true Christians irrespective of where they come from, provided they are personally godly; and thus by so doing get back to the beginning again. That the where they come from has been unduly pressed, and the state of the person ought to be considered more than their associations etc., etc. Alas, what a manifestation of the blinding influence and delusions of the last days, and what utter indifference all this displays to the claims of Christ and the teachings of Scripture in order to escape difficulties and obtain an easier path.

We are being constantly reminded that brethren did this at the start when God recovered the truth to them, and they received all the godly who came irrespective of the places from which they came, and without requiring their disassociation from them, and that we have got away from their simplicity, and become too exclusive, and we ought to get back to. the principles and practice which obtained amongst them at the first. This certainly sounds very plausible; but the question again arises, Can we do this any more than we can go back to the state of things in Acts 2:? Certainly not! We cannot put the hands of the clock back, as I have before remarked. A state of things has come in since then and exists, and cannot be ignored in that easy fashion.

We must remember that when God began again to gather saints together unto the Name of the Lord Jesus by once more unfolding truths that had been buried for centuries, the truth did not burst forth in all its fulness and clearness at once. It shone gradually, as it had been revealed gradually at the first. Brethren learned it little by little, and in some cases by painful experience.

It would appear that at the start, when godly souls got exercised in the different denominations here and there, they simply saw that it was their privilege to meet together as Christians to remember the Lord in the breaking of bread; and this was done without any thought, on the part of many at least, of separation from those systems as denying the truth of the one body and one Spirit. Moreover, the bulk of those systems, if not all of them, were, at that time at least, what might be termed orthodox. The ritualism, rationalism, and open infidelity which honeycombs them to-day was certainly not so advanced then, if it really existed at all. God, however, did not leave His saints with the mere glimmerings of light. He increased it and led them on step by step, (mainly through the instrumentality of one man, the late J. N. Darby) until Paul's doctrine became fully known, and the principles of the Church of God were apprehended and acted on, though, like all truth, it had to be bought, and, alas, bought dearly too!

The proper relation of saint to saint, and assemblies to assemblies, amid the general ruin of the Church as a whole, became more clearly apprehended and acted on; while the Lord's presence in the midst of His gathered saints as the "Holy and the True," with the personality, presence, and power of the Holy Ghost in the assembly as guiding and controlling, whether in worship, service, or discipline, became an acknowledged fact and power in their lives, and separated them from all that would not bear the searchlight of God's holy Word.

The truth of the "one body and one Spirit" (Eph. 4:), became to them something more than a mere expression – it was a fact – a truth to be acted on. They knew that the body of Christ was composed of all true Christians, but that it was through man's failure invisible. That the Church as a visible testimony on the earth was a wreck. They had learned that. But they knew likewise that the truth was not a wreck, it still remains, and holds good for faith to act on at all times till the Lord comes to take the saints to be with Himself, and therefore they acted on the truth. They made no attempt to restore the Church. They did not even profess to be a testimony to the truth of it. They simply acknowledged the ruin, but acted on the divinely given principles of Scripture, in the power of a divinely given faith, and found the Lord's presence and blessing in the path of obedience and separation to Himself according to His Word (Matt, 18:20).

Today, the reception of saints from the systems around, owing to the prevalence of so much evil doctrine in them, calls for far greater care than would have been necessary in earlier days, and for greater exercise of soul and dependence on God for guidance; so that the question of " association " becomes a very prominent and important one, yea, more important than ever.

The danger, however, to which we are most exposed today, and which the enemy is most active in using, is not the reception of saints from the systems ; few, if any, are likely to come, or want to come; but it is the effort of some within to break down the barriers which a scriptural discipline has erected, and which bars numbers of saints from our fellowship through this very question of association. They would compel us to receive from places, without any acknowledgment, on the part of these, of wrong done to the Lord and His people (even though in ignorance), so that communion might be restored in a righteous and godly way. In fact, an effort, and that of a very determined character, has been made to force on us intercommunion with companies from which we were compelled to separate; and that spite of our conscience, our protests, and our repudiation of such principles and practices; and under the plea of getting back to the beginning. This is Satan's present effort, and must be resisted. It is unrighteous and therefore unscriptural.

We cannot ignore this serious question of association, and treat those desirous of coming from assemblies from which we were compelled to separate because of unfaithfulness to Christ, in the same way as we might treat other Christians who occupy an altogether different position. " Of some making a difference " (Jude 22) is a seasonable word in this connection.

We live in the midst of the light of the full revelation of God; and, alas, in the midst of the ruin of the Church, and must act accordingly. We cannot ignore what exists, nor can we go back. If the path has been left, there must be confession and return; and if there is wilful association with such companies it must be owned and given up. No success in service will compensate for lack of obedience in this. God is sovereign and can act and bless where and when He pleases. Our path is the path of obedience; and "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams"may well sound in our ears and hearts today in the midst of the increasing apostasy. The Lord keep all our hearts and minds and make us true to Himself till the end. Wm. Easton

(Phil. 1:10.)

Occasionally the full force and beauty of a passage is lost in transference from the inspired original into a foreign language, although it should not be surmised that the whole truth is obscured. The substance of a passage is in no case disturbed in translation, but a fuller sense and richer thought is what is often obtained by referring to the original of any writing, and especially the Holy Scriptures. And we are loth to miss anything that the word of God contains; for we know it is ours, and that the Holy Spirit will encourage and reward every effort to better understand His Word. Especially if our hearts are hungry for Christ, and we are seeking grace for a life of holiness, will He make God's word precious to our hearts.

The word in the tenth verse of the first chapter of Philippians that we have in mind is "sincere." This is a compound word in the original, composed of "sunlight" and "judge," and means that a thing has been examined in the sunlight and found pure. Judged in the sunlight ! How suggestive! The force of the idea rests on the fact that for an object to be seen in its true color and correctly discerned, it is necessary to make the examination in the direct sunlight, the only pure, white light of nature. Thus also, spiritually, the word of God is the only true light morally, and the examination of our hearts and lives must be in its direct rays.

It is, first, the Christian's privilege to know that as far as his standing in the presence of God is concerned nothing can be discovered against him, though examined by the searching eye of God in the light of His holiness. This is so because the blood of Christ cleanses perfectly from all sin. Christ's death on ;he cross so perfectly glorified God about sin, and answered every demand of His nature against sin, that He can not only clear the guilty, but He can also make the sinner fit for His very presence. In Christ, therefore, a child of God is found by God to be perfectly pure when judged in the sunlight of divine truth.

This being so, we are encouraged to seek to have our ways pure and holy also, as far as possible. And indeed the verse before us is for the practical life. We are encouraged to seek grace that our lives may be such, that, when viewed in God's "sunlight," they may be found pure, to the glory and praise of Christ. This is the desire of God for us, though we may fall short of it. Judged in the sunlight and found pure in our ways! What child of God is there that does not find this to be his heart's prayer ? May we all realize more deeply the importance of this little com-pound word! Judged in the sunlight, and found pure! F. H. J.
'THE WAY OF CAIN."

MAN UPON HIS TRIAL TO SEE WHETHER HE HAS ANY. RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR GOD.

(Concluded from page 98.)

God next resumes His dealings with the earth ; and time, according to His computation of it, begins again to run, and the last week of Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks, (sixty-nine of which were fulfilled when Messiah was cut off and had nothing, 1:e., did not receive His kingdom-Dan. 9:26-margin), will find its accomplishment. The Holy Ghost, who now indwells the Church as the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16), will have departed-the Church being caught up to meet the Lord; and "He that now letteth" (1:e., the Holy Ghost, who hinders the manifestation of Antichrist) "will be taken out of the way:then shall that ' wicked one' be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth." Christ-rejecters and Christ-neglecters will be given to strong delusion that they should believe in Antichrist; that they all might be judged that, believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess. 2:7,12). This will be the time of unparalleled judgment when God's wrath is poured out on a guilty world (Rev. 5:-16:). But even then God gives a testimony, sending forth the " everlasting gospel" (not as now, the gospel of the grace of God), saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him . . . and worship Him that made heaven and earth and the sea and fountains of waters" (Rev. 14:6, 7). Then, too, there will be a testimony from the Jewish remnant to the fact that the King is coming-the "gospel of the kingdom" according to Matt. 24:14; and, (as the Lord expressly says in answer to the disciples' questions, "When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the age?") "then shall the end come."

Then shall appear the King of kings and Lord of lords, while Satan instigates the kings of the earth to resist His claims at the great battle of Armageddon, but only for their destruction (Rev. 19:11, 21). Then, too, shall be the national judgment foretold, in Matt. 25:32, when the King shall judge the quick-the living nations (the dead are judged after the millennial reign, at the great white throne, Rev. 20:12), according as they have accepted or rejected the gospel of the coming King preached by the Jewish remnant, whom the Lord hence calls His "brethren."

Then shall Satan be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, and Christ shall reign over the earth a thousand years while we shall reign aver it with Him (Rev. 20:1-6).

MAN IN THE KINGDOM. THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF CHRIST

This is spoken of as the "age to come" in Heb. 6:, 5; Heb. 2:5 ; and Matt. 12:32, but in each case is in our English version wrongly translated "world." It is marked by God's renewal of His dealings with His earthly people Israel after the removal of the heavenly people, the Church, and is characterized by the presence of Christ on earth, whereas as we have seen, the present period is characterized by the absence of Christ and the presence of the Holy Ghost. It is in this age that all the promises made by God to Abraham and David (which Israel had forfeited on the ground of responsibility, shall be fulfilled according, not to responsibility, but sovereign grace. The middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, which had been broken down by God, (both in this present age being baptized into one body, Eph. 2:14), will also be restored; and all the Gentiles will flock to Jerusalem, which will again become God's center of worship, where Christ the Son of David the true Solomon, will reign with undisputed sway, Satan being bound in the bottomless pit (Isa. 60:, 61:, 62:). The earth shall enjoy universal blessing then; "there shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days . . . the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord" (Isa. 65:20, 25).

MAN'S LAST TEST.

But man is to be subjected to yet one final test. Will his heart be changed after one thousand years of Christ's personal rule, during which Satan has been bound, and powerless to tempt? Scripture answers No ; for the moment that Christ's millennial reign is over and Satan loosed (Rev. 20:7-10), he gathers together the nations from the four quarters of the earth to battle, and their animosity is directed against the earthly saints, those who have been truly regenerate during Christ's reign. But directly they have compassed the saints about, and these last have proved their saintship by standing this separating test, God intervenes, and Divine judgment overtakes Satan and his votaries. He is then cast into the lake of fire, to be tormented forever; the great white throne is set up, and the wicked dead (all that have had no part in the first resurrection, or have not been regenerated during Christ's reign, verse 6), stand before it to be judged according to their works, and all whose names are not written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire.

THE ETERNAL STATE.

" Then the end, when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule and authority and power. For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet; . . . and when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." This done, the eternal state commences; there are new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, and John beholds the Church, the heavenly saints, the holy Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb, descending out of heaven from God, having His glory. Meanwhile the nations of those that are saved on earth walk in the light of it, and there enters not into it aught that defileth-for there God is all in all.

" He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus."

John Fort.

We append a few lines from two servants of Christ -both now "present with the Lord"-as a further testimony on these lines of study :

" It is also clear that the teaching looks forward through the whole vista of time, even to the eternal future of bright glory, the never-ending Sabbath of the blessed God.

" That glorious time is briefly spoken of in Rev. 21:1-8, where it is written, God will make all things new, and the tabernacle of God shall dwell with men; death, pain and sorrow shall be no more, and God Himself shall wipe away all tears. Then will He rest in His love, and His people share the rest of God through an unclouded eternity. Bright indeed the present prospect to energize the Christian's daily labor, and to calm amid the conflict, as the Holy Ghost leads into the realities of the rest secured by Jesus for the people of God."-W. K., "Notes on Sabbath, Lev. 23:," Bible Treasury, New Series, Vol. 5, No. 1:

From"The Present Testimony," "Speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15). It is no mean victory over oneself to have learned to open our lips only for the good of others. It costs much to withhold that which, while it may be pleasing to ourselves, is unprofitable, or worse, to others. Oh for more in us of that love which does no harm to the neighbor, but only good!

Nor does this mean that our words must be of that sort which pleases everybody. Far be it from us to seek to be men-pleasers. This is not love. But it is love, whatever the words may have to be, when the burden of the heart is the blessing of our fellows. Scripture uses strong words sometimes, but its mind is ever the good of the hearers.

"Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers." A Lady married and unbelieving husband-in the face of 2 Cor 6:14, which was pointed out to her at the time. The result was severe trials, as only she and her God know. At the same time, the Father's loving hand has been realized through it all, and it is comforting to know that she is able to thus view it, and reap, as a consequence, the peaceable fruits of righteousness (Heb. 12:ii). Here is an extract from one of her letters :

" No, I'm not out of trouble yet, but it has brought a lesson that I probably never would have learned under happier circumstances. So many things are clear to me now that I never had any conception of before. It has strengthened me just where I was weakest; so I do not feel like complaining. Oh, I have been wonderfully blest in numberless ways-far beyond anything I deserve!

" This little home was not begun according to God s plan so how could I expect it to stand? You warned me once; but I thought he was so near the fold. What a foolish mistake ! He wasn't in it, and I was only trying to deceive myself, because I was thinking of self instead of the Master-of what I wanted to do, instead of what He would have me do. Now I am willing to walk in His way, whatever it is, no matter what privations or struggle it may mean. I am His to use just where and how He will."

Oh, may our gracious God speak to some of His dear children when about to enter into a union of any kind whatsoever, and bring them to complete, happy obedience to His holy Word. Truly "the way of the transgressor is hard," whether it be an unforgiven sinner or a child of God. And surely "the ways of the Lord are right."

Happy they who know the will of the Father, and do it. F. H. J.

2 Tim. 4:1, 2.

May He who formed the earth and skies.
In His own wisdom make you wise
And give that blessing which implies
For highest service fitness;
May He to you Himself reveal,
Refresh, uphold, defend, and heal,
And give you strength and grace and zeal
To be His faithful witness.

T. Watson

Keady, Ont., 1905

On the idea that Christ on the cross was forsaken of God, but not of the Father.

Dear Brother;

It is said that a judge passing sentence on a boy- his own son, gave him the severest sentence that was possible under the law-a heavy fine. Having passed the sentence, he left the bench and paid the fine. On the bench he could not act as father, though the boy was as much his son then as when he was not on the bench.

During the forsaking on the cross, when bearing the awful wrath of God, God was not acting as the Father. Though He was the Father of the Son at that crucial moment, He was dealing with sin according to the claims of His nature, and so forsook His Son, acting in a capacity which demanded treating as sin the One who took the place of sin, though it was His own Son. While withdrawing from Him as having taken the place of sin, the Father found delight in Him, though for the moment that delight could not be expressed to Him. Hence the Son could not say,'' Father," during the forsaking, but He could say, " My God."The interruption of the communion did not destroy the relationship. What must it have been to the Son during that awful time to be denied the privilege of saying, Father! To say the Father did not forsake His Son is really to deny the true character of the atoning work-though, of course, this is not intended.

To separate the personality of the Father from the personality of God is very serious error. While we need to be preserved from a caviling spirit that leads us to make people offenders for a word, it is also important to guard the truth of the blessed work of the Cross from what destroys its real nature and character. The Lord keep us in the truth.

Yours in Him,

C. Crain

The necessity of being born again or from above, or, as it is commonly expressed, of regeneration, is well understood and most surely allowed among the saints. But is there not a more simple and distinct character in the new birth than is generally apprehended ? I judge there is. For the doctrine commonly raises in the mind a sense of something strange and indefinite. But this need not be.

Nicodemus had come as a pupil to Jesus. "We know that Thou art a teacher come from God," he says ; upon which the Lord tells him at once that he must be born again. But He does not end His words with him till He directs him to the brazen serpent, teaching him that it is there he must go in order, as it were, to gather up the seed of this needed new life.

In what character, then, must he take his place there, and look at the Son of Man lifted up on the cross ? Simply as a sinner, a conscious sinner, carrying, like the bitten Israelite, the sentence of death in himself. Such an one Nicodemus had still to know himself to be, for as such an one he had not now come to Jesus ; and therefore he must begin his journey afresh, he "must be born again," he must reach Jesus by a new path, and in a new character. He judged himself to be a pupil, and Jesus a teacher come from God ; but himself as a dead sinner, or as a man bitten by the old Serpent, and the Son of God as a quickening Spirit, a justifying Redeemer, he did not yet understand ; and so the ground of his heart had never yet received the seed of life.

The character of this life, this eternal life, this divine nature in us, is thus as simply defined as its necessity. The secret of it lies in learning Jesus the Son of God as a Saviour, in coming to Him as a poor convicted sinner, looking at Him in that virtue which the brazen serpent carried for the bitten Israelite. And, as suggested by other parts of this Gospel, it is very sweet to trace the onward path of Nicodemus from this stage of it. He had, as we have seen, hitherto mistaken his road; but though that may give him a longer journey, it proves in the end, from the direction which Jesus here gives him, a right and a safe one. For in the next stage of it we see him standing for Jesus in the presence of the council, and meeting something of the reproach of the rejected Galilean (chap. 7:). And at the close he stands where the Lord at this outset directed him, at the place of this brazen serpent. He looks at the Son of Man lifted upon the cross. He goes to Jesus, not as a pupil to a teacher; but he goes to Him, and owns Him, and honors Him, no longer by night, nor in the presence of the council merely, but in the broad daylight, and in the presence of the world, as the wounded, smitten and bruised Lamb of God (chap. 19:). He was slow-hearted, perhaps. But the serpent is still on the pole even for such. It hangs there still, waiting to be gracious.

Thus we discern the character as simply as we learn the need of this new life. We find out the seed that produces it. The divine power, the Holy Ghost, who presides over all this in His own energy, works after a manner beyond our thoughts. Whether the wind or the Spirit, we know not the path thereof. But the nature of the seed He uses, and of the soil in which He casts it, are thus made known to us. The one is the word of salvation; the other, the soul of a poor convicted sinner.

And this life which flows through the family of God is spirit-because Jesus, the Second Man, the head of it, is "a quickening Spirit; " and "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," as our Lord here teaches. This is our new life. It is eternal, infallible life; standing, whether in the head or members of the body where it moves, in victory over all the power of death. And our divine Teacher further says, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." There is no entrance there for any but new-born ones, and such new-born ones, as we have seen, sinners quickened and justified by the word of salvation. There are no righteous ones, no wise or rich ones, in that kingdom-none who stand in such-like confidence in the flesh. This truth is thus established. Blessedly, for our joy and stability of heart. For while this is very decisive, it is very comforting. It is very comforting to see that the Word, which says, "Except ye be born again ye cannot see the kingdom," thereby clearly lets us know that if we be born again we shall see it-no fraud or force of men or devils shall prevail to keep us outside of it:If we will take (drawn, doubtless, by the drawing of the Father, in the secret power of the Holy Ghost) the place of poor convicted sinners, and receive the word of salvation from the Son of God,-if we but look as the bitten Israelites to the uplifted serpent,-then the kingdom is already entered, life is now enjoyed, and glory shall be. The song that we then sing is but echoed" through the eternity of heaven. The sight that we then get of Jesus and His salvation is but enlarged in the sphere of coming glory. We have eternal life, and the principles of heaven in us.

But to return for another moment to Nicodemus, I may say that, when the Lord had thus disclosed the seed of this new life to him, He seeks to sow it in him, to sow it (where it ever must be sowed, if unto fruit) in the conscience; for Nicodemus had come to the Lord by night, as though his deeds could not bear the light; and the Lord, aiming, as it would seem, to reach his conscience, just on their parting, says, "Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."

Thus our Lord teaches the need of the new birth, through the word of salvation. Without it, man cannot be trusted of God; and without it the kingdom of God could not, as our Lord here further teaches us, be either seen or entered. What association, for instance, had the elder brother with that which was the characteristic joy of the father's house ? None! He never had so much as a kid to make merry with his friends :none but a returned prodigal could draw forth the ring, the best robe, and the fatted calf. And so the kingdom is such a kingdom as none but redeemed sinners can apprehend its joys, or have any place in it. All there are "new creatures," persons of an order not found in the first creation. Adam was made upright; but all in the kingdom are blood-bought sinners. Everything in it is reconciled by blood; as it is written-"And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether things on earth, or things in heaven." J. G. Bellett

" Swift to bear, slow to speak."

Conversation often illustrates how little we I, know of true culture-of carefully cultivated good habits, of love, of self-denial, of godly wisdom. Is it proper conversation where-to use the terms of the Legislature-one "gets the floor," and another "gets the floor," each evidently asserting himself ?

We may easily, without knowing it, only weary one another, or waste our time, and so injure instead of edify one another, by our words. " People must take me as I am," one says; but has any one a right to claim that ? "As we are " may be everything that is injurious and painful to one another. We have a right to expect of one another the fruits of the Spirit, and we have a right to expect that Christians should aim to edify one another, and not to please themselves.

To be truly Christian in life and habits, one needs to be under training and cultivation constantly, according to the Word, " swift to hear, slow to speak." If our habit of conversation is defective, regularly calling for forbearance and patience in others, how much are we really gaining of the knowledge of Christ ? There is some serious lack of self-judgment and of prayer, of reality, of heart-work, of walking before God. "That which is good, … to the use of edifying," will "minister grace to the hearer."

A little silence, sometimes, in conversation, might lead to what would be manifestly for good, when an effort to sustain the conversation, or thoughtless remarks, may leave the heart vacant and defiled.

There is no such training, education, cultivation, wisdom, and true refinement, as that which true Christianity gives:but it must be true Christianity- the Word governing the heart and the conscience- not merely the head. " Death worketh in us," Paul said, "but life in you" (2 Cor. 4:.). As he faced that which demanded the denial of self, he ministered life and edification to others. But if a self-indulged mind is working in us, however little aware this way how much evil may we do, blindly and ignorantly!

According to Rom. 8:, we know there are but the two sources of that which comes forth from us in our daily life-either the flesh, or the Spirit. There is no middle ground. May we lay it to heart, and seek grace to glorify God and edify one another; and the Lord will give help.

" Death and life are in the power of the tongue" Prov. 18:21). ."The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook " (18:4).

" Understanding is a well-spring of life unto him that hath it:but the instruction of fools is folly." " The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips."

"Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones " (16:22-24). "The wise in heart shall be called prudent" (their reputation is good).

" And the sweetness of the lips increaseth learn-'" (16:21). E. S. L.

(Continued from page 138.)

Viewed thus, these seven days all drop into line from Genesis to Revelation, as the parts of a perfect whole, with no clash or discord.

By a careful reference to 2 Peter 3:7, 10. 12, 18, with the aid of the R. V. (or J. N. D. trans.), the two points are strikingly put before us :-

First, " The day of the Lord" verse 10; this is " the day of judgment" of verse 8, and lasts for 1000 years. It is " the day of judgment" because it begins with the judgment of the quick, and closes with a judgment of the dead; and all through there will be cases of judgment or punishment, if evil rises- righteousness will reign.

The last part of that day, "the day of the Lord" (the nightfall of the dispensation) "the heavens shall pass away, and the earth shall be burned up " (compare verse 10 and Rev. 20:ii). Everything will pass under the judgment, and all evil cleansed away to give place to eternity-to new heavens and a new earth. This shows us how that "the day of the Lord " will be one of preparation for a grander and more glorious one beyond.

The New Translation will help in verse 12:" Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God," because, or "by reason of which, the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements, burning with heat, shall melt." This judgment, then, will take place at the close of the day of the Lord for a special reason-to clear the way for the day of God. In this day of God (eternity), all being then perfect, God's rest will also be reached:this is what the Christian looks for. In the New Translation, verse 18 closes with "to the day of eternity"-the last word of the epistle. To this the seventh day of Gen. 2:points, and is the subject of Heb. 4:4-11.

Fourth.-Another point needs examination now. It has been urged that the "eighth day,"and not the seventh, gives us the thought of eternity. No part of Scripture need be kept in the background, or hidden, while giving another a place. As we have said, all forms part of a perfect whole, and all are but different touches on the same canvas and by the same Hand. The whole is perfect, and each part only brings out the whole more perfectly.

In examining the " eighth day," it will be well to observe, at the outset, that there is no eighth day in Gen. 1:and 2:None is needed there. The Millennial age and the eternal state are perfectly set before us in the sixth and seventh days, completing the cycle of God's labor and final rest. But the "eighth day " appears further on in the Scriptures, and we will examine each place, and see what they point to.

Abraham circumcised Isaac on the eighth day, and the eighth day became the day of circumcision (Gen. 21:4).

The lesson here is moral rather than dispensational. Circumcision kept in view the work of the Cross (Col. 2:ii); and at the Cross circumcision has its fulfilment. Seven days passed over the history of every male child before circumcision; and we believe that seven days fairly set forth the whole period of man's history, from the time sin entered by Adam until Christ came and was "cut off out of the land of the living"-"the circumcision of Christ."

The trial of man for 4000 years (forty centuries) is full proof of his depravity and corruption; and so, in the cross of Christ the first man passes under the judgment of God and is set aside. In Col. 2:ii we have the effect of this judgment for the children of God-" the putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Here we learn the lesson of the "seven days." That Cross, which was the end in judgment of sinful man and his corrupt flesh, lays the basis for a new creation, a new race, a new family; and Christ rises the eighth day, the Head of the new creation, the beginning, the first-born from the dead. Here we get the lessons of Gen. 17:and 21:-the lessons of circumcision, the eighth day, and the seven days previous.

We now pass on to Lev. 8:and 9:, and we read of another "eighth day;" but the lessons are far different to Gen. 21::a proof that the Scriptures are not like cast iron, which can bear no change.
Nay, Scripture is perfect; it is, in the master Hand, to serve His perfect will at every step; yet never a clash, never a flaw.

Here, in Lev. 8:and 9:, Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the priest's office-a type of Christ and His Church. Their consecration lasted seven whole days, and during this time they were shut inside the sacred enclosure-the fine-twined linen court-and feasted in all this period upon "the things wherewith the atonement was made " (see also Exodus 29:).What a lovely sight as we view them in that sacred enclosure; what a beautiful picture spreads before us on the can was for seven whole days! What a contrast to the previous seven days before circumcision! The lesson there was man's trial and what it brings out; here, in Aaron and his sons, we believe the seven days are this whole present period, while Christ is "hidden."And we, who belong to the same sphere, are shut in with Him; and our food, meat and drink are the things wherewith the atonement was made. But this period ended, as our present period shall also :Aaron and Moses reappeared that eighth day, and "the glory of the Lord appeared also" (Lev. 9:i, 22, 23).This eighth day points to the time when our Lord shall return as the King-priest with uplifted hands to bless-the Millennial glory. Here we are on dispensational lines; the previous seven days answer more to the whole period of our dispensation, and our happy occupation. The eighth day, therefore, is the Millennium, as in this connection the eighth does not apply to the eternal state, but rather to the 1000 years, if we allow it, as all Scripture, to fill its proper place. In Gen. 21:the eighth day answered well in type to the beginning of the new creation; here, in Lev. 9:to the beginning of a new day, or era, for Israel and the earth-the "regeneration" of Matt. 19:28.

Another application of the "eighth day" is quite parallel-in Mark 9:and Luke 9:28, where the transfiguration is spoken of as "about an eight days after " -which none can doubt to be a Millennial picture. Seven days had preceded this, as in Gen. 21:and Lev. 9:The Lord had announced to them His sufferings-the cross; then seven days run their course, and then we see His Millennial glory upon an eighth. In these last two cases the "eighth " is uniform, and fits well with the subject.

Next, we will see another "eighth day "in Lev. 23:33-43, where we get the Jewish calendar for the whole year, describing the appointed feasts, or "seasons " of Jehovah in order.
The seventh, and last of all, in the Autumn, was the "Feast of Tabernacles;" in which they were to build booths (tents), and rejoice seven days before the Lord:the season was ending, and the harvest was past; and they rejoice in God's goodness seven whole days. We believe this points to the whole period of Millennial joy, the last of the dispensations, which will eclipse all the previous ones ; and the seven days represent the whole period.

The first seven (in Genesis), before circumcision, represents the trial of man-the whole trial (past). The next seven (in Lev. 9:and Luke 9:) foreshadow the present period, of Christ on high, and our association with Him, etc. But in Lev. 23:it is a future period that is before us-a Millennial picture of Israel in fulness of joy. Here, one might think, all was complete; but Jehovah adds another day to the list, and says there was to be an eighth day, and this eighth was also to be a Sabbath (vers. 36, 39).

Now the question fairly rises, To what can the eighth day here refer ? None could say that it was the same as Lev. 9:or Luke 9:In those places it suited well as a type of the Millennium; but here, in Lev. 23:, the seven days, clearly, are a beautiful Millennial type; and the " eighth " points to the new age, " the age of the ages "-eternity. Here it suits eternity well, as a new scene-new heavens and a new earth. But it is a Sabbath also, and foreshadows the same period as the Sabbath itself in Gen. 2:Thus, instead of a clash, it gives added luster to the truth that it is meant to teach and illustrate. Thus we see the largeness and freeness of the ways of God in using days as types to serve His pleasure and purpose. What a mine of wealth here lies open before us, and each added thought only enhances the beauty and perfection of the word of our God from beginning to end!

Oh that "critics" would only open their eyes to see these perfections and beauties! and that Christians also, who believe God's word, would be free from that narrow prejudice that hinders the soul enjoying the whole scope of Divine Truth!

In Gen. 1:and 2:we see that the sixth day is a grand Millennial picture, and the Sabbath almost a perfect type of eternity.

In Lev. 9:and Luke 9:the eighth is a passing picture of the Millennium.

In Lev. 23:an eighth day is also a picture of eternity, as well as the seventh in Gen. 2:; and the two are joined together in Leviticus by the eighth day, itself being there a special Sabbath.

These beautiful lessons concerning the days of Scripture touch a subject precious to every child of God:may the reader follow on further in this mine of wealth!

Lev. 23:begins with the Sabbath as a theme (ver. 3); and the Feast of Tabernacles, of seven days' duration, closes with an eighth day, which is also a Sabbath (ver. 39). The theme kept before the mind at the beginning and the close of the year, in their "set seasons," is the Sabbath. Rest-the rest of God-is His thought. The Israelite saw but little of those typical lessons; perhaps scarce a ray of light beyond the yearly feasts. But the Spirit has added . further light and truth, enabling us to see in those Scriptures the shadows of good things to come. Hence Lev. 23:, beginning with rest and closing with the same, gives us God's thought, and His appointed "seasons," from eternity to eternity. A. E. B.

" Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth " (i John 3:18).

There is a vast difference between preaching love and living it. It is easy to preach it, for it is claiming it from others for our own ease. But living it is quite another tiling, for in a scene such as we are going through, in which every expression of the God of love finds opposition, there can be no practice of what is really love save in self-denial and suffering.

My trust is in Jesus who died on the tree;
He now is in glory and pleading for me;
He is coming again, I know not how soon,
To give me a place with Himself and His own.

My boast is in Him with whom none can compare,
God sees me in Him, and He is all fair:
In myself worse than nought,-in Him I'm complete,
Through free grace alone for glory made meet.

In a sense of this grace, I'm pressing along,
Being consciously weak I lean on the Strong:
'Tis just for to day, till the conflict is o'er;
Then I leave the dark vale, and reach the bright shore.

No praise due to me, for all is of God-
All is through Jesus, by His precious blood.
Yes, He's coming again to take up His own
To be with Himself, we know not how soon.

He may come to-day, or He may come tonight;
It behooves us to have our lamps burning bright.
We know He'll come soon, this we know by the Word:
Oh, may we in heart truly wait for the Lord.

R. H.

All the witnesses for God spoken of in Heb. are for our encouragement in the path of faith; but then there is a difference between them and Jesus. Accordingly the apostle here singles Him out of all.

If I see Abraham, who by faith sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country; or Isaac, who blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come; or Jacob on his dying bed of blessing and worship, they have all run their race before; but in Jesus we have a far higher witness. Besides, in Him is the grace to sustain us in the race. Therefore in looking unto Jesus we get a motive and an unfailing source of strength. We see in Jesus the love which led Him to take this place for us, who, " when He put teth forth His own sheep, goeth before them." For, if a race is to be run, we need a fore-runner. And in Jesus we have One who did run before us, and has become the Captain and Completer of faith; in looking to whom we draw strength into our souls. While Abraham and the rest filled up in their little measure their several places, Christ has filled up the whole course of faith. There is no position that I can be in, no trial whatever, that I can endure, but Christ has passed through all and overcome. Thus I have in Him One who presents Himself in that character which I need; and I find in Him One who knows what grace is wanted, and will supply it; for He has overcome, and says to me,"Be of good cheer:I have overcome the world"-not, you shall overcome;
blind man (John 9:31, & 100:) who was cast out of the synagogue; and why ?Because Jesus had been cast out before him. And now we learn that, however rough the storm may be, it does but throw us the more thoroughly on Christ, and thus that which would have been a sore trial does but chase us closer to Him.

Whatever turns our eye away from Christ is but a hindrance to our running the race that is set before us. If Christ has become the object of the soul, let us lay aside every weight. If I am running a race, a cloak however comfortable, would only hinder and must be got rid of:it is a weight, and would prevent my running. I do not want anything to entangle my feet. If I am looking to Jesus in the appointed race, I must throw the cloak aside:otherwise it would seem strange to throw away so useful a garment. Nay, more; however much encouragement the history of antecedent faithful witnesses in Heb. 11:may give, our eye must be fixed on Jesus, the true and faithful One. There is not a trial or difficulty that He has not passed through before me, and found His resources in God the Father. He will supply the needed grace to my heart.

There were these two features in the life of Christ down here. First, He exercised constant dependence on His Father:as He said, "I live by the Father." So the new man is ever a dependent man. The moment we get out of dependence, we walk in the flesh. It is not through our own life (for, indeed, we have but death) that we really live, but by Christ, through feeding on Him. In the highest possible sense He walked in dependence on the Father, and for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Secondly, His affections were undivided. You never find Christ having any new object revealed to Him so as to induce Him to go on in His path of faithfulness. Paul and Stephen, on the other hand, had the glory revealed to them, which enabled them to endure. For when heaven has opened to Stephen, the Lord appeared in glory to him, as afterwards to Saul of Tarsus. But when the heavens opened on Jesus, there was no object presented to Him, but, on the contrary, He was the object of heaven ; the Holy Ghost descends upon Him; and the voice of the Father declares, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Thus, the divine person of the Lord is always being witnessed to. The apostle here lays hold of the preciousness of Christ in the lowliness into which He has come; but he never loses sight of the glory of Him who has come there. So when I get Christ at the baptism of John, I see Him at the lowest point (save in another way on the cross); and finding Him there, I find all the divine compassion of His heart.

6. I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.

(Continued from page 331-Dec., 1905.)

I am the Resurrection and the Life, he that believeth on Me, though he have died, shall live; and every one who liveth and believeth on Me shall never die." In this we have expressed the blessed condition of believers in the eternal abiding of resurrection-life.

The words of the Lord in reference to His Shepherd character and the life He laid down are a preparation for this blessed title. He lays it down to take it again. He becomes the glorious Firstborn from the dead. He alone can of Himself pass through death and take up life in resurrection. In Him only has been manifested the power of resurrection:and that because what He was and what He had done required this glorious answer from the Father.

The verse before us is evidently formed of three distinct parts. First it is the title the Lord gives Himself; and then in two brief but comprehensive sentences He comments on the two parts of this title, – "the Resurrection"-"the Life." From this we may gather the beautiful and blessed meaning of this double expression.

In the first place Christ declares, "I am the Resurrection." That which connects itself with this is, "he that believeth on Me, though he have died, shall live." Christ passed under judgment and through death as the Sin-bearer. In infinite love He had be-come the Representative of, and bore in this position the full penalty the sinner deserved. But then, to deliver the sheep from the position they were in, it was necessary that they be taken entirely out of it. The meeting of the penalty which hung over them did not do this, though it implied the purpose to do it. The fulfilment of what was implied found accomplishment in resurrection-in Christ raised from the dead. He becomes, therefore, "the Resurrection" to us. The power active and which finds manifestation in Him is resurrection. In this power He has taken up the life He laid down. This gives Him title to communicate life to others-life which is truly that-being beyond the reach of death or judgment. He thus stands forth, amid the ruins of the old, the glorious Beginning of the new. Here we see the Second Man, peerless in His unique glory, standing alone.

But now listen to His gracious words, "He that believeth on Me, though he have died, shall live." He stands among the dead-for all have died, are "dead in trespasses and sins" – and speaks His quickening words. "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." He who believes on Him lives. For having been planted in the likeness of His death, we are also raised in the likeness of His resurrection. The life Christ speaks of here is the result of being quickened and raised up together with Him. Thus He is "the Resurrection " with whom we are raised up into life, apart from whom there is no life. Here we see Him portrayed in these precious words as the "Last Adam " gathering around Himself the new race of which He is Head-the creation of God of which He is the glorious beginning. In Him there can be no shadow of turning, but the new creation has been made perfect for eternity by its Establisher and Builder.

In the second place Christ declares, " I am . . . the Life." The corollary of this is, "and every one who liveth and believeth on Me shall never die." Notice that now He speaks of the "one who liveth," instead of one who if he believes, though dead, shall live. He speaks of one who has believed in this way and who, therefore, "liveth and believeth." He is no longer the dead one called to believe and thus obtain life. This has been done and now He lives. This is connected with Christ as "the Life," while the other finds its place with Him as " the Resurrection." How precious in this way to see the divine accuracy of the words of Scripture. Its minutiae constitute one of the strongest evidences of inspiration.

Christ being "the Life" is of course a step beyond, being "the Resurrection" though it be inseparably connected with it. By right, resurrection comes first and the kind and manner of life to which it introduces fills the second place. The first is positional, it is the beginning, cause, source of life; the second is relational, indicating the kind and manner of life connected with the first. In this is shown the difference of the life to the old, and also its relation to God now entirely changed. Thus even here numeric symbolism governs the meaning. Christ as the Life makes plain that we possess nothing less than the same that He possesses through whom we have resurrection. This resurrection which He is to us has not introduced to a life lower in order than that which He has, but to the same. The life we obtain is the life which He is,-the eternal,-communicated to us. Apart from Him, therefore, life cannot be:"I am the Life."

The one spiritually dead, but believing on Him, finds life. The blessed truth added to this in the second part of the title before us is that the life is eternal, unchangeable. The one thus living and believing shall never die, because to him Christ is "the Life." We "shall in no wise be injured of the second death" (Rev. 2:ii, J. N. D.). Death is swallowed up in victory, our blessed Representative has triumphed gloriously, and now (precious grace) God gives to us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Are we enjoying the spoils of this blood-bought victory as we ought ? Surely we should press forward till the whole land be in our possession -Christ our life. It pleased the fulness of the Godhead to dwell in Him. Then it is to nothing less than this we have been introduced. " 'For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are filled full in Him.' The fulness or completeness of the Godhead is in Christ, as toward us; and we, as toward God are complete in Him" (Col. 2:9, 10, J. N. D., foot note). This is the fulness which characterizes the life which Christ is to us. Resurrection brings forth from death a Lazarus, bound in the habiliments of death; brought forth to life, it is true, but still fettered with the bands of death. But the life thus obtained is not to be under the power of these bands; it cannot be so with God's work. It is not resurrection to the old life or its position for a new beginning or trial, but it is to new life, new creation, for which old things have passed away; all is new, no more under trial, no more possibility of failure and consequent judgment, but there is to be perfect freedom from all that is of our. previous dead condition. Our life is eternal, we "shall never die," in contrast to the old in which all must die. Now there can be no longer any bondage, but the blessed delivering word of power which resurrection brings us to is, "Loose him and let him go." No checks and bounds any more to this life-it is eternal life in all its free and gracious activity in fellowship and communion with the Eternal. This is the essence of the life we have in Christ.

We may add a thought from the practical side which naturally flows from all this. If Christ is our life, our lives should manifest our Life, in other words, show forth Christ. How much this means in relation to the scene around us. "If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above where the Christ is sitting at the right hand of God:have your mind on the things which are above, not on things which are on the earth ; for ye have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Col. 3:1-3, J.N.D.) This is plainly and simply what should govern. Christ is our Forerunner, and where He is our life is. Heaven then is the place in which it is to be lived, but while here on earth it cannot be hid, spite the opposition it meets in the world. From this will flow the manifestation of heavenly character as a witness before men. Heaven, likewise, will be our home
in reality at the appointed time; and this bright and blessed prospect, so sure on the authority of God's word, should only the more draw out our hearts while here to faithfulness and devotion to oar blessed Lord. Through His grace may it be so with us. J. B. Jr.

Man Upon His Trial to See Whether He Has Any Righteousness Foe God.

1st TEST- MAN IN INNOCENCE IN EDEN.

2nd TEST-MAN UNDER CONSCIENCE.

3RD TEST-MAN UNDER LAW.

4TH TEST-MAN IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

Result.-Man is disobedient in Eden and loses innocence; every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually under the conscience he acquired at the Fall; he breaks the Law; and finally crucifies the Son of God. Henceforth he is not on his trial, but under judgment (Jno. 12:31), and must take his place as Lost; hence a Saviour is provided, who comes to seek and save that which was lost.

5. MAN UNDER GRACE.

6. MAN IN THE KINGDOM.

7. THE ETERNAL STATE.

MAN IN INNOCENCE.

Man is first tested in innocence in the Garden of Eden, under one known command, "of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it" (Gen. 2:17). He listens, however, to Satan's suggestion that God is not as good as He would appear to be, but is withholding some good thing from" him, and takes Satan as his guide, and falls.

MAN UNDER CONSCIENCE.

We next find man, who had acquired conscience by his fall, tested under it simply, with no direct revelation from God. In result, God sees the wickedness of man great upon the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually; and the earth is cleared of its pollutions by the Flood; Noah and his household, taking refuge in the ark (type of God's salvation in Christ), alone being saved. Afterwards, idolatry is instituted (Josh. 24:2), and God, now that all have departed from Him, brings in the great principle of election, by calling out Abraham from idolatry to Himself, and making him the father of a specimen people, if we may so say, upon whom God might confer every advantage which " man in the flesh" can enjoy, so as to test thoroughly what is in his heart, and see whether, under the most favorable circumstances, he has any righteousness for God.

MAN UNDER LAW.
Next, the law is given, being a direct revelation from God of what the measure of righteousness is which God demands from man. It tests man to find out whether he has any righteousness for God. It proves him to be a sinner, and, when rightly applied, convicts him of his inability to keep it, and at the same time condemns him, so proving that it is impossible for him to stand before God on the ground of works at all. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10). It was indeed a schoolmaster until Christ the Saviour came (ver. 24). But the specimen people broke the law, and slew the prophets whom God sent to recall them to it, effectually proving that man is ungodly and hopeless on the ground of responsibility.

MAN IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD'S SON.

The next and final test of man in responsibility (and hence this is called the " consummation of the ages," for so it should be translated-Heb. 9:26), is the presence of God Himself come in flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But man hates both Him and His Father, and ends his mad wickedness by thrusting off the earth the One whom he cannot convict of sin (John 8:46); Jew and Gentile, in the persons of the chief priests and Herod and Pilate, alike agreeing to effect His death (Luke 22:66; 23:12). And now, man having failed when innocent, when under conscience, when under law, and when in the presence of God manifest in flesh, he is no longer upon his trial to see whether he has any righteousness for God for he has conclusively proved that he has none, and must take his place as lost. "Now," says the Lord Jesus Christ in view of the cross, "is the judgment (not trial) of this world" (John 12:31). Hence-forth with man it is the lost sheep, the lost silver, and the lost sou (Luke 15:).

MAN UNDER GRACE. THE CHURCH.

(The present interval between the ages, or God's dispensational dealings with the earth.)

Christ having come in humiliation, and being rejected by man, God brings to light how utterly man and He were at variance, by raising from the tomb and setting at His right hand the One whom man had crucified ; as Peter declares to the Jews, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ "(Acts 2:36). Now Peter had already by a revelation from the Father discerned that Jesus was the Christ, and the Lord had declared that "upon this rock" (1:e., the confession of Himself as Christ, the Son of the living God) " I will build My Church ; " (the Lord thus plainly showing by His use of the word "will build" that the' existence of the Church was a future thing; see, too, Eph. 3:3, 8; Col. 1:24, 27). "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;" – keys which Peter subsequently used to unlock the door of the kingdom to the Jews in Acts 2:, and to the Gentiles in Acts 10:, the Holy Ghost on each occasion ratifying what he had loosed or unlocked on earth, for we read on each occasion that He was poured out (Acts 2:18, 33 ; 10:45), God thus formally doing away with the natural distinctions between Jew and Gentile (distinctions formed by God Himself, and in the Millennium to be re-established) – a fact which Peter was quick to recognize (Acts 11:17). Both Jew and Gentile are now baptized into one Body, the mystic Body of Christ, the Church; " For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles" (1 Cor. 12:13); and this Body, consisting of all true believers in this interval, is united to Christ the Head in heaven by the Holy Ghost (Col. 1:18). " He is the Head of the Body, the Church ; " and the expression of the Church in any place is, according to Christ's own definition, where two or three are gathered together unto His name.

Peter then, having performed his allotted task in opening the door of the kingdom to Jew and Gentile, retires as it were into the background, and henceforth Paul, the vessel chosen by God to be the minister of the Church, is brought to the front (Col. 1:24, 26; Eph. 3:1, 11). To him was revealed, as he informs us in each passage, the mystery, hitherto hidden in God Himself, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs with the Jews, and of the same Body, and that Christ should be in them. God thus contradicts the errors of the Romish Church, for it is Christ, not Peter, who builds His Church; nor do men build with keys, but unlock doors with them, while the ministry of the Church was entrusted not to Peter, but to Paul.

The Church, then, is characterized by the Holy Ghost being sent down to earth, consequent on Christ having gone up to heaven, to unite believers to one another and to Christ the Head where He is. "It is expedient for you that I go away ; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will send Him unto you " (John 16:7). She was formed at Pentecost at the coming of the Holy Ghost, and will remain till the Holy Ghost departs (2 Thess. ii, 7), when the dead and living saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, before the vials of God's wrath are poured out on a guilty world. She fears no judgment, for her judgment has been borne by Christ (John 5:24), but Enoch-like, before her rapture, speaks of it to a guilty world (Jude 14, 15). Chosen, as the individuals composing her were, in Christ before ever Adam sinned or a world was (Eph. 1:4), and blessed, not as the earthly people, Israel, will yet be with all material blessings in earthly places, but with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3), and to be caught up at any moment out of this scene as the Bride to meet her Lord (1 Thess. 1:10 ; 4:15-18 ; 1 Cor. 15:51-
57 ; Rev. 22:17); the Church's privileges and portion are peculiar and heavenly; and God's dealings with the earth are therefore during this present period in suspense, though directly the Church is removed they are again resumed.

(To be concluded in our next.)

QUES. 21.-What is the location of the " tree of life " mentioned in Rev. 22:2? Are there two trees?

ANS.-There is but one tree of life, and (hat is in "the city of God," in the "midst" of its "street," and on "either side" of its "pure river of water of life." But it must be remembered that all these terms are symbols. In God's dwelling-place we shall have eternal life as surely as we have it now; and, as now, it will be in Christ, and hence life in dependence. The "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb," speaks of the fulness of the Spirit as being still the power of the life. We shall be forever secure against any independence of Christ and the Spirit. C. C.

QUES. 22.-Please explain Matt. 12:40. In a small book by Dr. E. A. Torrey, speaking of Matt. 12:40, he says :The first day of the Passover week was always a Sabbath-no matter what day it came on ; that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday (the preparation of the Passover Sabbath, which came that year on a Thursday); and just as the first day of the week drew on, at sunset Saturday, Jesus arose.

I am not satisfied, and would like to be clear as to it.

ANS -The day of the week on which our Lord was crucified has been made to be Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, by different writers. Luke xxiv 21 would seen) to settle it definitely that the crucifixion could not have been on cither Wednesday or Thursday. The two disciples on their way to Emmaus say, "Today is the third day since these things were done." Had the crucifixion been on Wednesday, that Sunday would have been the fifth day; and if on Thursday, it would have been the fourth day. This compels us, then, to adopt Friday as the day of the week on which our Lord was crucified.

But Matt. 12:40, at first sight, seems to be as definite a statement as Luke 24:21:"So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But it must be remembered that " a day and a night" is a Hebraism. It is a figure of speech called , synecdoche, by which a part is taken as a whole. Examples are found in Jewish writings. In the Jerusalem Talmud there is an explanation of this figure of speech. "A day and a night together make up a night-day," and "any part of such a period is counted as the whole." Another instance of such a use of this figure of speech will be found in 1 Sam. 30:12 :"For he had eaten no bread, nor drunk water, three days and three nights." According to the Hebrew way of counting, the "three days agone" (ver. 13) would make that day on which David's men found the Egyptian the third day of his sickness. We cannot, then, use Matt. 12:40 as conflicting with Luke 24:21. C. C.

QUES. 23,-In Num. 3:15 God commands Moses to number the Levites, that He may take them instead of the first-born among the children of Israel (ver. 12), the result being-"Gershon, 7,500; Kohath, 8,600; and Mi-ran, 6,200. Total, 22,300." Comparing this with the total number given in ver. 39, viz., 22,000, we find an excess of 300.

That 22,000 is the exact number is borne out by vers. 43 and 46. Can the excess be accounted for?
ANS.-I think a possible explanation of the difference in the numbers maybe in supposing that first-born of the tribe of Levi must be deducted from the total number of the males of the tribe (22, 300). At least it is evident that if there were at the time of the Exodus 300 first-born of the tribe of Levi, they would already belong to the Lord, according to His claim made in Exodus 13:, and so would not be available for an exchange. They could not be substituted for the first-born of any of the tribes. This implies that the tribe of Levi was numerically the smallest of the tribes, which seems to be the fact. C. C.

QUES. 24.-In 1 Chron. 4:-7:the genealogies of the children of Israel are given, the tribe of Dan being omitted, although we get the statement in chap. 9:1, "So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies." Why the omission?

ANS.-The principle used by Pauliu Rom. 9:6, "For they are not all Israel which are of Israel," will explain the omission of Dan in these genealogies of the sons of Israel. (See, also, Gal. 3:7.) Dan, according to Gen. 49:16-18, represents Israel in a character in which, and at a time when, Israel is not really Israel. 1 Chron. 2:1-9:1 gives the genealogy of the sons of Israel as being truly such. In type it is Israel according to faith, not after the flesh. Hence Dan's name is fittingly omitted, save in one verse, chap. 2:2. Ezek. 48:1, 2, shows that the tribe of Dan will have its inheritance in the land along with the other tribes in the Millennium. Dan is omitted also in Rev. 7:It is clear, if Dan represents Israel as an apostate generation, no apostates will be sealed for earthly millennial blessing. They will receive the mark of the beast-the seal of the Antichrist-not the seal of God. (See chap, 13:15, 17.) C. C.

QUES. 25.-In 2 Chron. 28:19 we find the statement, "For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel." Why is he here called king of Israel, being, properly, king of Judah?

ANS.-" Israel " is here probably a copyist's error. Several attempts have been made to defend it, but they seem far-fetched. A copyist might easily substitute "Israel" for "Judah." The Septuagint has " Judah," which would suggest the error has been introduced into the Hebrew text since this version was made. C. C.

QUES. 26.-In 2 Sam. 24:and 1 Chron. 21:David numbers the children of Israel by the hand of Joab, the result being given in vers. 9 and 5 respectively. In the former, Israel, 800,000, and Judah, 500,000 ; and in the latter, Israel, 1,100,000, and Judah, 470,000. Why the difference ?

ANS.-The only way to account for the difference is to suppose a copyist's error in one place, perhaps in both. Josephus says 900,000 for Israel, and 400,000 for Judah. The text he had apparently differed both from our present Hebrew text and from the one the Septuagint translators had. C. C.

A good many people say they are, and think they are, but they are looking in an entirely wrong direction to find the truth. They are searching in systems of human philosophy, reading what men have written, looking to man for guidance. Think how foolish that is. Mere human speculation cannot be the truth, for man cannot find out the truth of God by any manner of searching. Truth belongs to God; only One who trod the earth as man could say, " I am the truth."If you are seeking truth with your face turned away from Him, you will never find it. For He is the Truth; He is that which man needs; He makes known to the heart of man all it needs to know of God and His ways with man. Why is not the truth to be found in the great professing Church ?Because it has largely lost sight of the real Christ. It has become a stranger to Him; and so far as it has lost the knowledge of Him, it has lost the truth. Remember that the truth as to man, the truth as to God and our relations to Him, the truth as to man's future, and in fact all the truths we need to know or can know here, are to be found in Christ, and nowhere else. To learn of Him, we have to take the place He makes known in those sweet words, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

The truth we need, the truth that satisfies and gives rest to the soul, can be learned nowhere else, and from no other person. If any one has ever found the truth, has ever found real rest of soul, it has been learned from the Son of God. Men change, but He changes not. Men die and pass away, but He died and lives again, and He is alive forever-more. And there is one fact which He Himself most solemnly affirmed, and which is affirmed by His apostles, which is one of the greatest claims ever made by any one:it is, that He is now sitting on the throne of God in heaven! Now either that is most awful presumption, or else it is most wonderful truth. But it is the truth; and He who sits on the throne of God must be God, yet as really and truly Son of man. Thus He is the truth, He can teach you the truth, if you will but come to Him in the way of a learner, in the words quoted above from Matt. 11:28-30.

Is it not a most wonderful thought that One who was once a Man on earth is now on the throne of God in heaven, and is just as ready to teach you and every one who will come to Him as He was to teach all who came to Him on earth ? Learn of Him, if you want to know the truth. He speaks in His Word, in Scripture. To those who desire to hear, the words of Scripture come from Him with living power-"they are spirit and they are life." For all Scripture is His Word, it is "living and effectual, and sharper than any two-edged sword." Listening to that Word, you will learn the truth.

J. W. Newton