MAN AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

As lord over creation, man is physically upright. Circus animals are taught to stand up on their hind legs; but the expression shows that it is in contrast with their usual position-down, on all four. Even though an elephant is much higher than a man, the latter stands up, and the former stands down. The difference between this normal up and down is plainly parallel with the fact that one is above, and the other is below, in the scale of creation; and we instinctively recognize the propriety of the one who is lord standing upright.

So God originally made man upright physically, as, well as morally.

There, is a marked difference between the back-bone of man and that of all other vertebrates. It has a hollow or reverse curve just above the hips, While in all others the backbone is a bone without the hollow. This hollow is evidently intended to act as a spring to relieve the brain of the shock in walking, for which there is no mechanical necessity when the backbone is more or less horizontal; the neck takes the entire shock. There is a hollow in the back of many animals-in the horse, for instance -.behind the withers, which are formed by a series of vertical bones above the vertebra; but there is 110 corresponding hollow in the vertebra, as a skeleton shows very plainly.

The anthropoid apes come nearest to man in having a suggestion of it. If the skeleton of an ancient ape could be found having one, it would be accepted by many evolutionists as one of the long-sought missing links between man and animals. This hollow is a proof that man was intended to walk upright, and that the animal, lacking it, was not.

The Animal Kingdom Bowed Down.

In contrast with man's vertical attitude, and just as suitable, all animals are bowed down; the body is more or less horizontal-all four-footed animals, birds when they fly, fishes, and worms. Even a caterpillar, when it crawls up a tree, is parallel with it, and even thus is horizontal, or bowed down. If a penguin sits upright on land, when it is in its natural element, water, it is horizontal. Though monkeys approach nearest to the vertical position of man, even the child of a savage would instantly decide between them, as far off as he could see, by this difference of attitude.

The bowed-down position is evidently a mark of subjection, and is generally so recognized. In the records of ancient Egypt (copies of which may be found in the back of a Teachers' Bible) it is plain that those men who are bowed down are taking the place of subjection. When Robinson Crusoe's man Friday wished to indicate his subjection, he bowed with his face on the ground, and put his master's foot upon his neck. This is fiction, but it shows that the writer recognized such an act as universal sign-language. When two friends meet and exchange a bow or nod of the head, it unconsciously means that each yields a deference to the other; each takes the second or lower place, giving the other the first place:it is really an act of worship in miniature. Worship, reverence, deference, subjection, service, obedience, etc., are all kindred thoughts; and bowing down is the natural expression of them.

The first and second commandments forbid worship or service to any but God; but even without the command, in view of the above considerations, every right-minded man must instinctively feel the impropriety of bowing down to an animal, much more, to the image of one.* *Rom. 1:23; 2:14, 15.* The first instance of deference, and one which ended in subjection, was in Eden. God's purpose as to man was,'' Let Us make man in Our image (or, our likeness); and let them hold in subjection the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the heaven, and the cattle, and all the earth, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. . . . And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and hold in subjection the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens, and every living thing that moveth on the earth " (Gen. 1:26- Num. Bible).

The serpent (of all animals the one most plainly marked as horizontal) approached Eve with suggestions of independence of and insubjection to God. She should have rebuked him for stepping out of the place of subjection in which God had distinctly told them to hold him (ver. 28). It is plainly out of place for a servant, especially an animal, to assume to teach or offer suggestions to his master; it does not require much intelligence to know this. But she listened, and yielded deference, at least. One of the questions raised, really, was whether man was to defer to, or be subject to an animal, or the animal to him. The special attention called to the subtilty of the serpent is evidently intended as a hint for us to look for the principles involved.

As man is necessarily a dependent being, he cannot be without a master, nor have two masters (Matt. 6:24). Insubjection to God involves subjection to some one else. That one proved to be not a serpent, as Eve no doubt thought, but Satan hidden within it (Luke 8 :30-32). She gained not the promised independence, '' Ye shall be as God:" she but exchanged masters-Satan, instead of God.

When God allowed Satan to tempt man, He allowed him to present himself not in his angelic form (2 Cor. 11:14), above man; nor in human form, his equal; nor even in the form of a high-grade animal, just below him, but in the lowest, the most pronounced horizontal form-the farthest from the vertical form of man that could be:for a snake is always described by its length and thickness; never by its height.* *There is an impression abroad that, previous to the curse, the serpent's, form was different, remarkably beautiful, and that it walked upright, and that evolution accounts for its present form. This is the common explanation of the words " On thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat." But a previous life among trees would equally well explain the difficulty. Neither does the skeleton of a snake show any rudiments of legs, though other animals have such rudiments with no outward sign of them. But the subject invites further study.* It has greater length in proportion to its thickness than any other animal. On the other hand, man is always described in terms of height, not length.

Thus, in God's wisdom and solicitude for man, the temptation was allowed to be presented only in its weakest form. Contrast this with the Lord's temptation in the wilderness. Thus sin entered into the world; and since then every man has been in subjection to Satan until redeemed by another Master, and at the price of blood.

In large measure, Adam lost his mastery over creation ; still his vertical position remains a witness of God's original purpose to put all things in subjection under man:it is the burden of the 8th psalm; and the horizontal attitude of the whole animal creation is the expression of it in Nature's language.

The 8th psalm is millennial, and shows it to be still future. In Heb. 2:5 we learn that it is future; in ver. 9, that it is to Jesus, the Second Man, it refers; then, that the first parts of the prophecy, "Thou madest Him a little lower than the angels, Thou crownedst Him with honor and glory," has been fulfilled, and implies, by the word "yet," that of course the remainder shall be fulfilled.

We may wonder why God should care to have the whole animal kingdom brought into subjection, in a way that it is not now. Even though animals can never know God, creation will not be right nor perfect according to His mind until, not only men, an-gels, and all infernal spirits bow the knee, but all animate and inanimate nature is brought into subjection to Christ and speak His praise (Phil. 2:5-11; Psa. 148:). Not till then shall we know, in any ad-equate measure, the infinite satisfaction and delight of the Father in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. He deserves all the glory, because He voluntarily took the lowest place of subjection, and glorified God just where Adam dishonored Him.

How beautifully fitting it is, then, that the visible expression of God's purpose has all along been stamped on the bodies of all creatures in language not to be mistaken when once our attention has been called to it! And how blessed that the Holy Spirit thus takes us into His confidence in the deep things of God -His counsels as to the glory of Christ and the blessing for the world that awaits His advent!

Every time we see an animal it should be a fresh reminder of it. The world is blind to all this, and it awakens no response in the heart where Christ has no place. To them, all these things are done in parables. But blessed are our eyes, for they see; and our ears, for they hear.* *Psalms 24:and cxlviii; Phil. 2:5-11; Rev. 5:13; Matt. 13:10-17.* T. M.

A Letter by Lady Powerscourt to —–

My Very Dear —;

After the encouragement which your letter, received last night, gives, I lose not another day in writing. The reasons which have kept me hitherto from doing so are various; but the reason which weighed heaviest with" me was a fear of making you unhappy without being of any use. But now you give me liberty to say what I think; and as I think much on it, I fear my letter will not be very short.

I was indeed astonished at your reasoning, and much more at –'s, but not the least astonished at the engagement of your affections, for this, I often told you, I expected; but I am not going to laugh at you. No, dear —, I feel most sincerely for you. It is the fashion to laugh at and ridicule love; but when disappointed, I do think it among the most painful of the Lord's dispensations to sinners. To be the means of crushing one who loves you-for the happiness or misery of one dear to you to hang upon your yes or no, and yet to have to pronounce " No," and thus leave an impression of ingratitude and unkindness-to know there is one in this wilderness whose every thought is yours, miserable on your account, and yet not able even to attempt to administer comfort-it is very painful, especially when to this is added a long "Never" I am a very hard-hearted creature, but there are some cases in which I can in some degree understand the command, " Weep with those who weep;" and your case borders too much on my own not to sympathize with you-I mean, when I speak of your giving it up:therefore do not think what I may say unkind.

I am not ignorant what it is to give up an object tenderly beloved, but I can only say, I am not ignorant of the peace which follows when the lacerated soul is at length able to surrender itself, with a subdued and unruffled heart, into the arms of everlasting Love, saying, " Undertake for me " This I say believing what you have declared, for few have much affection. But however painful the struggle, it is short and light compared with what you, in the other case, will be entailing on yourself and him. Is it happiness to disappoint the high expectations he has built upon in his union with you? or do you expect to be more amiable than our Jesus, and think you will succeed in walking consistently and yet pleasing the world? Or, is the carnal mind to be expected to endure it better?

Do not be angry at my speaking of him as an unbeliever; for if not now a believer, it is presumption in you to build upon his seeming anxiety on the "one thing needful." If the Bible is true, there is a rooted enemy within ; and though he may admire the religion of Jesus at a distance, he cannot love to come in contact with it in every turn of life-to have it the subject of conversation, the end to which every thought, word and action tends. I say this not only from seeing it around, but the word of God has said it; and truly I can say from what I see, dear —, that love-conversions are not to be trusted. I do not say it is hypocrisy in Mr. —, or in many others I could name; but love for the individual really deceives them into love of what is dear to that individual.

It was not hypocrisy, I say, in — to admire — because she did not join in the dance, which, joined with his being so well inclined, induced her to see no harm in following the desires of her own heart. Has he helped her on ? When such uneven weights are put into the scale of the affections, one must ascend just in proportion as the other descends. It was not hypocrisy in another in my eye, to drive with his now wife's relations constantly to town on purpose to talk of those subjects- to come to this house and show such anxiety as to sit up nights with dear —, inquiring into the truth. Alas! you could hardly now distinguish if she is a Christian or not, after holding out against the reproach of it for many years. I could mention one who spoke at all the Dublin meetings, so zealous was he for the truth; yet, when the prize was obtained, he opposed and put a stop to her visiting the poor, or having schools-put an extinguisher over the Lord's bright light. I could mention another, whose prayers deceived even the very elect, now contending for balls, plays, reading novels!

Passing over many others, I could come nearer home, and remember letters full of the one subject, by one who never meant to deceive or could bend to deceive in his life; the glory of whose character is, and was, openness to an extreme. It was not hypocrisy; he really admired and joined in it; and continued long to join in every way religious society, church-going, reading with and arguing with his wife, even attending the catechizing of the poor; and though his kindness, and love and affection are as devoted as ever, is it happiness not to be able to speak of your Beloved, who occupies, or should occupy, your every thought, without exciting the strongest expressions of disapprobation ? Is it happiness to have no communication with one always with you-he despising your pursuits, you not relishing his? Is it happiness, while rejoicing in the glorious promises yourself, to feel your
very joy your greatest grief, in being reminded that he who is dearer to you than your own soul has no part or lot in the matter-fearful every time he goes out, knowing he is without God, and consequently without hope, in such a world ?

Is this a highly colored picture ? Alas ! no. How far short of what most endure! How often is it persecution! how often separation from every means of grace, every exertion ; a drawing and quartering of affection ; duties spiritual drawing one way, duties earthly the other; till, from necessarily opposing the will of him who expects to be obeyed, the affections of the idol loosen, and all the etc., etc., miseries ensue! If this were to be from an enemy, you might bear it; but how will you from your companion, your guide, your own familiar friend, with whom you hoped to have taken sweet counsel, and to have walked to the house of God as friends? Is it fair of you, knowing this, thus to deceive, and ruin the happiness of Mr. — ? Is it not better to cut it in a vein that can be healed?

You will say, "Oh, you do not know Mr. —, or you would not so speak; he could not deceive, he is so natural." I believe it; and remember, I said it was not hypocrisy. From what I have heard, I believe him to be thoroughly amiable, and, I dare say, well inclined. But if you have waited for an earthly father's consent, why not for a heavenly Father's ?-why not till his good inclination end in conversion ; till his seeking end" in belief ? Because you are sure it is God's intention to bring him to Himself, and that by your means. Really, my dear –, what is become of your reasoning faculties? Have you been let into God's counsels ? and even if you have, are you to disobey His will in order to bring them to pass ? Do you remember whose work conversion is ? and does He require you to do evil that He may do good ? Were you to have given yourself to him before you knew the Lord, and then expected that He would hear your prayers for him, it would be expecting abounding grace; but is it less than presumption with open eyes to unite yourself to him now, and then expect that, since you have not fitted yourself to God, He will fit Himself to you ? I should fear you were leaving yourself without an argument to plead with Him. Would it be excusable to run away with Mr. — and marry him at Gretna Green because you feel so certain your father intends to give his consent ?

But perhaps you will say, "The Lord has not forbidden it."I have again considered the chapter in Corinthians. I am still of opinion that it is exactly in point. Keep in mind there is no middle state. Read Rom. 8, and see that those who are in the flesh are not in the Spirit; those in the Spirit are not in the flesh. If the evidences given of. those in the Spirit (to whom alone the promises belong) are not seen in him, he is in the flesh, and he is to be considered by the Christian in the same light as an infidel, as to " evil communications corrupting good manners."Surely, if the Israelites are so repeatedly urged not to mingle with the heathen, lest they learn their works, and are so often chastened for this sin, are we in no danger in taking such as guide, counselor, companion-the repository of our every care, joy and sorrow, the one we vow to obey ? Believe me, a man will not learn from his wife. Why are the Lord's people kept so separate ?-a peculiar people-throughout the Bible ? and what was the effect of their intermarriages ? See both Ezra and Nehemiah. Did Solomon, with all his wisdom, lead his ungodly wives the good way ? or did they lead him the bad? Is human nature changed? Why did David so repeatedly say he would not know, or even have to dwell in his house, one that is not the Lord's that he looks upon such as his enemy, and even that his companions shall be those who fear the Lord ? Is not still the path of the just a shining light? Is the way of the ungodly less darkness ? Have light and darkness more communion than they had ? Why does St. Paul bid us marry only in the Lord? Is it that you shall have more advantages than at home? The Lord has settled the one, and can glorify Himself in you, who are His property, bought, paid for. He has forbidden the other. "

I do not expect you in the least to mind what I say, and I fear all this will be seen some day by Mr. —; but I have said nothing against him, except that he is not now one of God's children, which I gather from yourself. I deny not but some day he may turn out a brilliant light; but whether or not, I must think it the greatest presumption for you, in his present state, to marry him.

As for his being afflicted, do you mean to say none are afflicted except the Lord's children ? I wish I could think the same, and that all I have seen under stripe upon stripe, or even those who have been at the time softened by it, consequently must be safe. Alas, alas, no.

When I found writing was useless, I prayed often; but your reasoning on this also is strange. You determine, if you can, to walk into the fire, yet you tell me to pray that you may not be burned! Would you think it reasonable for me, were I to yield myself to the dissipations of the world, and tell you to pray that I should not be led into temptation ?

As to God making it out by His providences, I have answered to –. If I were asked what I saw in His providences, I should be inclined to answer, He is emphatically asking, "Lovest thou Me more than these?" You answer in words,

"Give what Thou canst, without Thee I am poor ;
With Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away,"

-but you as plainly deny it in action. He says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." It is painful to flesh and blood to cut off a right hand, to pluck out a right eye; yet it is expected; and those were not worthy of Him who are not willing to give up all, to "take up their cross and follow Him." Abraham's was a painful trial of faith, when called to offer up his Isaac. Would it have proved his love if he had said, " I cannot do that; but if the Lord takes him from me, I shall be resigned ?" The trial of your faith must be more precious than gold, must be tried in fire, and will prove itself by giving up the idol; not in being resigned should it be denied by your Father; not by determining, if you can, to do evil that good may come.

As to saying you have consented-that I consider as the world's snare. You made a promise you had no right to make, and therefore you have no right to keep. The Lord says, " Give Me thy heart." Mr. — says, "Give me thy heart." The Lord says, "If you give me all-time, talents, everything-without the heart, they will be nothing." Mr. — says the same. You answer, " I will give it to both." But stop, and remember who it is says, "How can two walk together, except they be agreed ?" Remember who says He will not divide the heart with Belial. Choose, then, whom you will serve. Oh, may you be able to answer in action, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee."

Oh, well He knew our frame who appointed that our heaven should consist of love. It is a dangerous feeling to be trifled with-there is something so sweet in loving and being loved. All in Christ Jesus shall drink together of the draft of everlasting love, when at length we reach that ocean of love without bottom or shore; when He shall Himself show us, in the map of time, the line of love which has traced out our every step through this dark, howling wilderness. There we shall wonder at ourselves for ever hesitating whether He, that spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us, will not with Him give us all good things.

'' Above the rest this note shall swell-
My Jesus hath done all things well."

Hoping and praying for your eternal good, whatever may happen-that the evil as well as the good may work for it,

I am, dear —, as ever,

Your very sincerely affectionate.

T. A. P.

*The author of this article, knowing that other views are held on the subject, writes thus to the Editor:"What I send you has been seen by several here who are readers of your magazine, and they expressed the desire that it should appear in its pages. I do not seek, nor invite, discussion, but want the Lord's people to see that there is something to be said different from what has been taught."

To this the Editor can only reply, in the language of Scripture, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge" (1 Cor. 14:29).*

It seems to me that the seven days of creating and making (Gen. 2:3) are connected entirely with earth, and therefore the typical teaching must be connected with this earth likewise. If the seven days typify seven dispensations, then the whole seven must have their fulfilment on this earth-not on another, a new earth, which the eternal state introduces. We cannot make the six days typify what is fulfilled on this earth, and then relegate the seventh day to a new earth in the eternal state for its fulfilment. We must make the teaching consistent, and fill in the week on this earth, or abandon the thought of its typical teaching on these lines.

That God intends to have a rest, surrounded by a saved, happy and contented people on this earth, there can be no question with Psalm 132, and other prophetical scriptures, before us; and also that the seventh or sabbath day pointed towards this, and only to this. Moreover, that God has a heavenly rest before Him as the portion of His beloved and heavenly saints when all their spiritual labor and
toil is ended and they are caught up to be forever with the Lord, no one can surely deny with Heb. 4 before him. But this latter, is set forth, not by the seventh day, but by the eighth day. And these two rests-heavenly and earthly-must never be confounded, nor the days which typify each.

In Gen. i and 2 there could not possibly be any thought of either a heavenly rest or rest on a new earth, not even in type. It was this earth, and God's rest on this earth after all His work on and for this earth. And though spoiled meanwhile through the entrance of sin, and man now unable to enter into and enjoy rest with and according to God because of his fallen and sinful state, yet "there remaineth a rest, or keeping of a sabbath, for the people of God " (Heb. 4:9)-that is, for those who are His people on earth at the time when it will be kept in order to complete earth's week, and who will be in a moral condition to keep and enjoy it. " All Israel will then be saved." They will be truly converted, and the law written in their hearts (Jer. 31:31-34). Thus they will be fitted to enjoy the rest of earth's seventh or last day before the final outburst of sin which follows it, and which makes way for the bringing in of an entirely new scene, which commences an eighth day, which can never be spoiled, and in which both heavenly and earthly saints will live in their different spheres, perfect and happy forever :the week fulfilled, and a new order and scene begun, never to be disturbed.

Heb. 4 gives us a twofold idea of rest. It is God's rest for the Christian; but the door is left open for Israel, whose rest likewise remains, but on earth-the Millennium. Israel never reached their rest because of their state. We too have not reached ours, and are still laboring on the way to it. Israel did not enter theirs because of unbelief. We too must take heed lest we come short of ours. Rest remains for both-"for the people of God." Both they and we are that. Their rest remains for them on earth. God will surround Himself on earth with His saved and happy people. It will be their seventh, or sabbath day:the last day of their national existence on earth. In the eternal state all nationalities will cease. Israel will then cease to exist as a distinct nation, and the tabernacle of God will be with men -men as such-no longer Jews as contrasted with Gentiles:so that if Israel as a nation is to have a sabbath, it must be during the Millennium, since their national existence ceases in the eternal state.

On the other hand, our rest is in glory. No seventh day ever typified what is true of us as Christians, and only fulfilled in glory when the Lord comes and takes us in. We then enter into the new and eternal state-the rest which remains for us. We have entered it already as to our souls-we are new creation in Christ now. We belong to eternity (Eph. i), but are not in it yet as to our bodies. We will be then. But of that, and blessing which remains for us, the seventh day is not a type. We belong to the eighth day. It is the commencement of a new order of things-a new start, and there is no ninth day-and cannot be. The eighth is the eternal state, when we think of typical days-a day after the seventh; but there is no ninth to follow the eighth.

The great mistake made by many is, it seems to me, seeing only the rest of God which Christians
look forward to in glory, and in the eternal state; and applying that to Israel and earth, thus make the seventh and eighth days typify the same thing. A confounding of the seventh or sabbath day with a sabbath. In fact, it really shifts Israel's hope from the millennial blessing on this earth to the new earth and the eternal state as the fulfilment of their seventh day, or day of rest, which remains for them.

It has been remarked that there is no eighth day mentioned in Gen. 1 and 2. Of course not! None was needed. It was earth, and a complete picture (seven days) of earth's history. Had man not fallen, he would have continued his history in blissful innocence, and the seventh day would have been an eternal one on this earth. But having sinned and broken God's rest, God had to work again in order to fit some for His rest on high, as well as to fit a company on earth to enjoy His rest on earth, and thus let them have their seventh and last day of this earth's history.* *It has also been remarked and emphasized that there is no evening and morning mentioned in connection with the seventh day in Gen. 2:1-3. Surely not! It would have supposed that there was another day to come after God's rest, and before sin had entered. Had man not sinned, he would have enjoyed God's rest forever on earth. No doubt there would have been literal cycles of day and night, but all would have been characterized as "the seventh day "-the day of God's rest on earth. As it is, the seventh day must have continued for some time, at least, beyond the mere literal twenty-four hours which limited the previous six. We can hardly suppose that innocence was limited to a period of less than twenty-four hours. Seeing Adam was formed last on the sixth day, and then Eve created after that, and the animals all brought to him and named, etc., still it was God's rest, therefore the seventh day, however long it continued, and only ceased when man sinned.*

At the same time we can see from Lev. 23:39, and various scriptures, that God had another day, beyond that week, an eighth day-a day beyond the seventh, and for a gathered out and heavenly people who do not belong to this earth. Into that eighth day He will likewise transfer and introduce His earthly people, setting them down on the new earth, in earthly blessing still, when their seventh day has ended; so that both they and us, each in our different spheres, shall enjoy together God's eighth day- His new day-a day which has a morning, but no evening-a day which knows no sin, therefore no sorrow or death. It is God's rest, in God's eternal day.

The seventh or sabbath day is connected only with Israel, and given them as a commandment, and a type of what only belongs to them and has its fulfilment on this earth. The first sabbath was God's rest after His work was ended.

The next time it is mentioned is in Exod. 16, and would rather tend to show that man had kept the seventh day, and recognized it as a day of rest:but needed instruction as to how to act in connection with the daily manna which God was giving them from heaven.

Next we find it incorporated in the law as the fourth commandment (Ex. 20 ; 8-11). Then it is given as a sign that the people were sanctified, or set apart for Jehovah (Ex. 31:12-17; Ezek. 20:12).

Again, it is connected with their deliverance from Egypt. "Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm :therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" (Deut. 5:15).

Then, we have various judgments executed upon them because of their neglecting to keep it, as set forth in various scriptures.

Then, again, we find in Ezek. 46 that it will be kept in the Millennium. It will no doubt bear a commemorative character then, as will those of their feasts which they will keep at that time. They will then remember that they were in bondage, not only in Egypt, but "in all lands," from whence Jehovah had gathered them out, and sanctified them, and blessed them, bringing them into their own land, to enjoy His deliverance and rest (Psa. 107). All these passages and instructions show us it was given to and meant for an earthly people only, and never goes beyond this earth and the thought of earthly blessing and rest.

When we look at the eighth day, we open up on something further, something beyond what is taught in and by the seventh day. It does not necessarily confine itself to time, but is connected with what is new, in contrast to what is old; whether it be time, place, or service, the context will decide ; but it is always something new.

Take circumcision :it was to take place on the eighth day. The seven days (a perfect period of the child's life) counted, as it were, for nothing, and it was reckoned as one of the congregation only on the eighth day, when it was circumcised. If that rite were omitted, the child had to be "cut off." It was therefore a new start. The teaching for us is simple enough without my enlarging on it. The whole of our history as sinners is "put off" in the circumcision, or death, of Christ (Col. 2); and we commence a new history as risen with Him. The eighth day is therefore a new start for us. We are new creation in Christ.

Lev. 9 gives us an interesting eighth day. It was the commencement of a new order of things-the first day of the exercise of Israel's priesthood-a thing which never existed before. For seven days Aaron and his sons were shut inside the tabernacle courtyard until their consecration was ended and they were able to commence their public service on behalf of others. They could not officiate for others till they were consecrated into office. So that seven days does not typify the present period during which we are identified with Christ inside. If so, to be consistent with the type and its teaching, there can be no exercise of priesthood either for Israel or for us until Christ appears. That perfect period of consecration (seven days), with its various sacrifices offered each day, sets forth the perfection of the sacrifice of Christ, and the perfect fitness it gives to us to act in our priestly service, as it denotes His personal fitness and entrance on His priestly work.

But there is more set forth there. After Aaron had done everything for Israel on that day, he lifted up his hands and blessed them; and all that was now required was for God to show His acceptance of this their first national sacrifice offered by their priest on their behalf. But that acceptance was not given then. Their subsequent history gives us to see the reason why. Aaron and Moses together entered into the tabernacle, and it was only when they came out together that the fire came down and consumed the sacrifice and the people shouted and fell on their faces. In other words, it is only when Israel shall see the Lord Jesus appearing in His double character as King and Priest by and by, that they will know God's acceptance of Christ's sacrifice, and their own acceptance of blessing on the ground of that.

Thus we see a sort of break in Israel's history occur here. And it is at this point, in the action of Aaron and Moses going inside, that we see the picture of our present position-not in the seven days of consecration. Christ is at present inside as King and Priest-Israel is outside-in fact, rejected just now. The Holy Ghost has come out, and tells us of our identification with Christ inside, and of God's acceptance of that perfect sacrifice offered outside on the altar-Calvary. By and by Israel will see the Lord appear, as I have already said, and then, and only then, will they know their acceptance, as we already know ours. Then they will get the full value on the eighth day of the priestly service of the true Aaron.

In Lev. 23 we have set forth the feasts which filled up the year for Israel. I need not enlarge on them. After the passover, and feast of unleavened bread, we come to the wave sheaf. It was to be waved on the eighth day-the first day of the week-"the morrow after the Sabbath," setting forth the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, who rose on the first day of the week-the eighth day. A new start surely.

Then the feast of Pentecost was on the fiftieth day, not on the forty-ninth. This set forth the descent of the Holy Ghost consequent on Christ being exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2). And surely this was something new. It was the commencement of Christianity-the Church's birthday.

The Jubilee year, too, was to be the fiftieth year, not the forty-ninth, when every one and every thing returned to their original order and ownership, and a new start was again made (Lev, 25).

The feast of tabernacles, Israel's last and best feast of the year, lasted seven days (Lev. 23 :34), when they both rested and rejoiced before Jehovah. But verse 39 speaks of them keeping an eighth day -a day beyond their feast-as a sabbath:but it was not the Sabbath, for that was never anything else than the seventh day. This was an eighth day.

And what can that speak of but a new start for Israel, in a new scene, where there can be no sin and failure-the eternal state. If the seventh day typifies the eternal state, then there can be no eighth day! But Israel's seven days will be fulfilled; in other words, the Millennium will end; and then, on the eighth day, when the new heavens and earth appear, God will transfer them to the new earth, as He will have placed us in the new heavens, for eternal blessing. Thus they will have their sabbath day, and then, with us, enter upon the eternal eighth.

The teaching is consistent and harmonious throughout the Word if the two peoples-earthly and heavenly-with their different days and blessings, are kept distinct. Wm. Easton

New Zealand

QUES. 28.-2 John 10, "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine" (the doctrine of the Christ?), What would this embrace? Would it be limited to fundamentally false doctrine as to His person or work?

ANS.-Yes ; the doctrine concerning both the person and work of Christ-the great foundations which constitute Christianity.

You would not close your door against a person who thought that a sheep of Christ might yet perish. You would pity his being a stranger to the grace of God, and seek to lead him into the sense of his need of it. But if a "Higher Critic," or a Millennial Dawnist, and others of the same sort, came to your door, denying the inspiration of the Scriptures, the eternal deity of our Saviour, the only way of salvation through the blood of Jesus, etc., then "receive him not into your house" would be your plain duty.

QUES. 29.- Does 1 Tim. 2 :15 refer to the birth of the Saviour? The Revised Version gives "through the childbearing. " If not, how can the proviso in the latter clause of the verse be applied?

ANS. – There is, we believe, no thought whatever of our Saviour's birth in the passage. The apostle has referred to the woman's place in the house of God. She is not to teach, nor to rule. he toes back to the Fall to show reasons for this. It naturally bring-go remembrance woman's part in the penalty, under the government of God (Gen. 3:16); for God cannot allow the man or the woman to forget ever an act whose consequences were so appalling ; and to this day the penalty abides, as all know too well. But grace delights to come in when the government is felt ; therefore the proviso at the end of the verse. God's preserving care will be over women of such a character, through the dangers and pains of childbearing.

QUES. 30. – Would the Hiram mentioned in 1 Kings 7 :14 be the same as in 2 Chron. 2 :14? If so, why is he in one place said to be the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan ; and, in the other, of the tribe of Naphtali ?

ANS. – We have no doubt whatever that it is the same person mentioned in both scriptures. The discrepancy in his mother's identity arises from this :that in 1 Kings it is the gives her history, whilst in 2 Chron. it is the kin narration in 2 Chron. is the Holy Spirit's as well and therefore, being truth, He narrates truthfully king of Tyre to King Solomon, which contains this easy for the king to make, seeing how nearly the identified with each other.

QUES. 31.-What explanation would you give of the seeming contradictions of Gen. 7:2; 6 :18, 19 ; 7:15 :also, of 7:4, 12, 17, 24 ; 8 :3, 5, 6-14 ? In the first case, it is the number of each kind taken into the ark ; in the second, it is the number of days the flood prevailed, that is in question. In a theological college it is taught that the reason is, that the accounts of events were written on tablets, and that these became mixed, and were put together in the wrong order, probably by Moses when compiling the five books.

ANS.-A comparison of the various passages referred to in the questions, if the preaching of the Cross is believed, will show there are not even any seeming contradictions. When the record speaks of animals going into the ark in pairs, or by twos, it is plain the question is one of their salvation from the flood-"to keep them alive" (chap. 6 :20). It is equally plain that when "clean animals " are spoken of as going in, it is a question of perpetuating on the new earth the life that is to be saved from the flood. Noah evidently understood it so, for by his sacrifice "of every clean beast and of every clean fowl" he was saying, The life that has been saved from the flood has no title to be perpetuated on the new earth apart from the value of a sacrifice that is acceptable to God. The acceptability of Noah's sacrifice is clearly the ground on which God pledged Himself to "smite" not again "every living thing," and to continue uninterruptedly, "while the earth remains," the succession of the seasons. See 8 :21, 22.

Both questions find their real answer in the cross of Christ. Christ is the true Ark, by means of which we are saved from the flood of the wrath of God-the due of our sins. But being thus saved, the acceptability of the sacrifice of Christ is our title to eternal life; we abide perpetually before the face of God in the fragrance of the work of the Cross. These statements, then, looked at in the light of Calvary, are not contradictions.

The same is also true with regard to the various statements concerning the number of days the flood prevailed. The "forty days and forty nights" (chap. 7:4, 12, 17) are the time of the rain-pour, and typify the time during which Christ was enduring the forsaking of God on the cross. What an awful rain-pour it was! In verse 24 we are not told that the rain-pour, but " the waters," prevailed on the earth " a hundred and fifty days." Now it is evident these 150 days began with the commencement of the rain pour. These days speak of the time of the reign of death. The application is simple. If "one died for all, then all have died" (2 Cor. 5:14). See New Version. When Christ was forsaken of God, and until He rose from among the dead, all men were as dead in God's sight-lying under the judgment of death. So, then, the 110 days after the rain-pour ended-during which the waters still prevailed upon the earth-typify the time our Lord was in death.

In chapter 8 we read that after the 150 days, on the seventeenth day of the seventh mouth, the ark rested on Ararat. Here we have the type of resurrection-the resurrection of Christ. But believers are viewed by God as risen with Him. See Eph. 2 :i; Col. 2:12; 3 :1. Everywhere, except on resurrection ground, the waters of the flood prevail. Christ risen, and those risen with Him, are not under judgment; but the wrath of God-the wrath of the cross- abides on those who do not believe (John 3:36).

Verse 5 tells us that "in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen." Christ has not only been raised from among the dead, but He has been exalted to heaven. Believers-those who are in the ark, 1:e., in Christ-by the revelation of the heavenly things which God has made over to them, have learned to look there. The blessed scene on which they thus look is not under the judgment of God, though everywhere else the waters prevail. The dove does not find, in a world to which the cross of Christ applies, any place of rest except in the risen Christ.

In the "olive leaf" we may see, I think, a type of the national revival of the nation of Israel, through whom the Gentile nations of the world are to be blessed in millennial times. But even then the waters of judgment will not be altogether dried off. It is not until the first heavens and earth pass away, and the great white-throne judgment takes place, that the new earth appears, where there are no waters of wrath.

The story of the flood, as we possess it in our Bibles, looked at in the light of the Cross, is not a narrative made up of various records, badly patched together, but a story marked by unity, in which all the parts fit together harmoniously, and gives us, what unbelief stumbles at, a " preaching of the Cross " that, to faith, is " the wisdom of God." In the light of this wisdom, how foolish is the learned criticism that sees nothing but inconsistency and conflicting statements ! C. C.

Not alone in the lives of men of God, as recorded in the Scriptures, are there important lessons "written for our admonition" ; but in the annals of those whose ways were often far from pleasing to the Lord there are searching messages for us today.

Some time since, we sought to point out how Joab might warn us of the danger of an unbroken and in-subject spirit. In Abner's history, likewise, there is much to instruct and help. Little is related of him during the lifetime of his master Saul. Unlike Joab, who, with his brother, drew forth the complaint from David, "Ye sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me," Abner seems to have been a pliable instrument in the hands of the king whose captain he was.

The first mention of him is in i Sam. 14:50, where we learn that he was a near relative of Saul, his father being Ner, uncle to the newly-anointed king. This doubtless explains his allegiance to the house of Saul, both during that monarch's checkered life and after his death. The tie that bound him to the king was a natural one. Links like this are often great snares. Many a one who would have no difficulty in discerning the mind of God in the case of a person to whom he was not bound by fleshly links will be found to fail utterly when relationship is in question. This will come out clearly in Abner's case as we proceed with our study.

On the day of David's victory over the giant Goliath, – typical of the hour when the true "Beloved" (as "David " signifies) destroyed "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,"-we find Abner standing by, and to him Saul addresses the question, " Whose son is this youth ?" but the stripling from Bethlehem was at that time unknown to him (i Sam. 17:55).

Energy of a marked character for either good or evil never seems to have characterized him to any great degree. When, years afterwards, that same David, now rejected and hated, came with Abishai into the camp of Saul by night, and carried away his spear and cruse of water, Abner was sound asleep. In the morning he had to endure David's taunt, '' Art not thou a valiant man, and who is like to thee in Israel ? Wherefore, then, hast thou not kept thy lord the king ? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord." But it is Saul, not Abner, who replies. The chief captain was evidently bewildered and ashamed (i Sam. 26:7-17).

These are the only instances in Saul's lifetime that Abner is mentioned. He was in no sense a true leader. Had he been so, we should have heard more of his exploits; but there is really nothing recorded to his credit, and only one incident to his discredit. He was supine and easy-going during his master's reign, though he comes to the front in an unhappy way after Saul passes off the scene, as we find when we turn to the opening chapters of the second book of Samuel.

The previous book closes with the melancholy record of the defeat of Israel upon mount Gilboa, where Saul and his sons met a dishonored death. Jonathan, the lover of David, who yet failed to identify himself fully with the rejected one, fell "slain in [his] high places" (2 Sam. i :25). His body, together with those of the fallen king and his other two sons, was found by the victorious Philistines; and apparently all four were nailed to the wall of Beth-shan, though it is only specifically stated that the body of Saul was beheaded (i Sam. 31 :7-10). The action of the men of Jabesh-gilead is the only praiseworthy thing recorded in this sorrowful history. They "went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there;" afterwards burying their bones under a tree, and fasting seven days (vers. 11-13).

To David the news was carried by a wandering Amalekite adventurer, who gloatingly related his discovery of the transfixed king and princes, and (whether truthfully or not) added the information that his own hand had struck the final blow that took the life of the wretched monarch. True type of the hateful lusts of the flesh, he rejoiced in iniquity, and knowing not the spirit of the son of Jesse, counted on his approbation. Judgment unsparing was dealt out to him instead; thus expressing the horror of David's righteous soul when he heard the dreadful tale of blood and strife.

Unspeakably touching is the psalmist's dirge as he took up his lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, closing with the expressive stanzas:

" Distressed am I for thee, my brother Jonathan:
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me;
Thy love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!"

There was on his part no disposition to feel elated over the misfortunes of others-no disposition to build his fortunes on the ruins of theirs. He was a humble, broken man-one to whom all Israel was dear; whatever his failings in the days when, discouraged, he was found with the host of the Philistines.

The first seven verses of 2 Sam., chap. 2, relate the account of his elevation to the throne. He made no move until he had the mind of the Lord. At His direction, he went up to Hebron, the city that speaks of fellowship, or communion. There he was anointed as king over the house of Judah. His first manifesto was one of grace to the men of Jabesh-gilead, wishing them the blessing of Jehovah, and assuring them of his approval of their action, and declaring his accession to the vacant throne.

The first jarring note is struck in ver. 8. Abner, ambitious for the honor of Saul's house, disregarding the word of the Lord given long since through Samuel the prophet, took Ish-bosheth, a son of Saul, and crowned him king over eleven of the tribes ; for, though all are not distinctly specified, we are told that only "the house of Judah followed David" (ver. 10).

Civil war-always to be dreaded-was the outcome. Abner himself was the aggressor. Joab and David's servants went out to meet him. " The field of the sharp knives," which the revisers give as the meaning of Helkath-hazzurim, was the awful result! How dreadful to contemplate when we remember that not against a common foe, but against each other, had those sharp knives been drawn! Surely the parallel has often been seen since. And, as is generally the case in times of strife between brethren, there may have been grievous faults on both sides. Joab was a hard, unbroken man; Abner, an independent, proud spirit, despite his easy-going disposition. They have had many successors, and these among all parties of Christians.

To go into the details of the conflict would require more space than we can use here-suffice it to say that it was altogether a shameful chapter in Israel's history. A truce is finally agreed upon between the two master-spirits, though only for a time, as the next chapter shows; for Abner, though beaten, was not disposed to own himself conquered.

To some questions found in ver. 26 we would direct the reader's attention. "Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour forever ? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end ? how long shall it be, then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?"

Solemn and serious questions are these, and well worthy of consideration. But who was the asker of them ? One is almost astonished to realize that they actually came from the lips of the very man who had himself been the chief fomenter of strife and division, and was still bent upon maintaining his independent course! Imagine the effrontery displayed in the question. "Shall the sword devour forever ?" when asked by the one who first drew the sword, and who at that very moment was bent upon the overthrow of David-and, with David, the testimony of God!

Unquestionably Abner was a man in whom there were some pleasing traits. He displayed a kindliness and moderation at times most commendable. But he could be cold as his own steel at others, as when, upon Asahel's persistence in pursuing him, he turned about and with all his strength smote him under the fifth rib with the hinder end of his spear, so that the spear came out behind him. It was but shortly after this deed of blood that in professed regard for the unity of Israel he calmly asked, " Shall the sword devour forever ?" and pointed out the unhappy consequences of further strife. Joab, though in the full flush of victory, felt the force of the words, and, doubtless counting on Abner's submission to David, blew the trumpet of peace. It was a manifestation of grace on his part seldom seen.

But what was the result ? Did Abner own in contrition of heart the sin of the part he had taken in setting up Ish-bosheth, "the man of shame," in the place of David, "the beloved"? Not at all. His question savored of real love and concern for all Israel. His actions before and after evidenced his chief concern was to maintain a place for himself, and afterwards for the house of Saul.

Such is the deceitfulness of the human heart. Abner's words sounded well. His ways belied them. How soon would the strife have ceased had he owned the evil of his course and judged his unholy ways! If, instead of seeking to get the people to rally round the symbol of the kingdom rent from Saul, he had devoted his energies towards gathering them to David, type of God's beloved Son, how much happier might the outcome have been! Alas, when too late, he did indeed undertake this, but only then when he had quarreled with Ish-bosheth and his own character was touched (2 Sam. 3:6-21). Even then, gladly would David have forgiven him and received his allegiance; but the heart of Joab was filled with vengeance for the slaying of his brother. In the same spot that his spear had pierced Asahel, Joab's dagger found a sheath, and Abner died as a result of treachery. David ever regretted Joab's precipitate action, but after all Abner was reaping as he had sown.

Sad and solemn are the lessons his last days teach. It is so easy to begin strife ; so hard to end it. " The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water." What the result will be none can say. The danger is in departing in the slightest degree from God's revealed truth. He would gather His saints to the peerless name of Jesus. He would have every heart subject to Him. This leaves no room for the working of the human will and the independency of the human heart. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." To walk softly, in subjection to God, is the suited path for each saint. Thus shall we be kept from ought that savors of man's pride and folly.

Abner failed because led by natural feelings, in place of seeking the mind of God. Be it ours to learn thereby the importance of walking in the truth. H. A. I.

(Concluded.)

I have said that Mr. Russell teaches that our Lord has passed through two forms of being. I have noticed his conception of His person in the first form. I shall now give his conception of His person in the second form. We have seen what kind of a being He is considered to have been before He became incarnate; we shall now see what kind of a being He is thought to have been during the time of His tabernacling among men. It will be made clear by our quotations from Mr. Russell's writings that he teaches that our Lord, on becoming incarnate, ceased to be the kind of being He was before, became a being of another order, and that the change from the one to the other was so complete that in the new order He ceased entirely to have the nature He had in the old. Strange doctrine this! It is not the doctrine of a divine person humbling Himself, with which Scripture has familiarized us, but that of a being really ceasing to be; and a different, a new being, being formed. One wonders how identity is maintained, for of this no explanation is given.

On page 179 he says:"When Jesus was in the flesh, he was a perfect human being; previous to that, he was a perfect spiritual being; and since his resurrection, he is a perfect spiritual being of the highest, or divine, order." On page 180 we read:" Thus we see that in Jesus there was no mixture of natures, but that twice he experienced a change of nature ; first, from spiritual to human ;afterward, from human to the highest order of spiritual nature, the divine; and in each case the one was given up for the other."So, then, when the Son of God became incarnate, He ceased to be the being He was before. He was no longer of the same order of being (a spiritual being), but only a human being! On page 179 he says:'' Neither was Jesus a combination of the two natures, human and spiritual."Then He was not what Scripture calls Him, "Emmanuel"- God with us; and Jesus Himself must have borne false testimony when He said, '' Before Abraham was, I am."He claims to be the same person, the same being, since assuming humanity, as before. If the Lord ceased to be what He was before He was born into the world, then He did not come into the world as coming from God, as He represents He did. He says:"For I proceeded forth and came from God " (John 8:42).If He ceased to be what He was before incarnation, a new being was formed who was only a human creature. How our adorable Lord is blasphemed how shockingly degraded!

Mr. Russell quotes, or rather refers to, Heb. 2:16 in support of his view. He says of this text:" And Paul tells us that he took not the nature of angels, one step lower than his own, but that he came down two steps and took the nature of men-he became a man; he was 'made flesh'" (page 178).But the passage really says nothing about one nature being exchanged for another. Mr. Russell often talks about Hebrew and Greek. Does he not know that the words in italics in this verse, "the nature of," have nothing to represent them in the Greek ? The Revised Version puts it:" For verily, not of angels doth He take hold, but He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham." It was not the need of angels He undertook to meet, but the need of men. True, to meet the need of men, He assumed manhood-became man; but He could do that without ceasing to be God. He was both God and man-"Emmanuel -God with us."

But according to Mr. Russell's view of the atonement, it required only a perfect man to pay "the ransom, or corresponding price," needed for the redemption of men. If an angel paid it, it would be overpayment. If a divine person paid it, it would be more than a " corresponding price." Justice required only the death of a perfect man. Hence the Redeemer must be only a man. With Mr. Russell the penalty of sin, as we have seen in a previous paper, is merely physical death; and this, again, is extinction of being. The Redeemer-the One who pays the "corresponding price," must be one capable of extinction. The exigencies of his view of atonement require this degradation of the person of the Son of God. The invention of his idea of the person of Christ is the natural outgrowth of his understanding of the work of the Cross. But real atonement and a true Redeemer are both lost.

But we must follow him a little further. We have seen that he brings down the Son of God from a rank of being higher than the angels, yet lower than God, to the rank of men. We have seen, too, that when He was in the rank of men He is regarded as not having the spiritual nature; 1:e., He was only human. Now, in resurrection, according to this teaching, He is exalted not only to be in a rank above the angels, but to a higher rank than the one He was in before He became incarnate. He becomes a spiritual being again; and, in addition to this, He is given to have the divine nature; and thus He has become immortal, since Mr. Russell says that "immortality may be used as a synonym for divinity" (page 208).Consistently with this, he says, on page 211, "We learn that Jehovah, who alone possessed immortality originally, has highly exalted his Son, our Lord Jesus, to the same divine, immortal nature; hence he is now the express image of the Father's person (Heb. i:3).So we read, ' As the Father hath life in himself [God's definition of immortality-life in himself-not drawn from other sources, nor dependent on circumstances, but independent, inherent life], so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself ' (John 5 :26).Since the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, then, two beings are immortal."But this is a misapplication of John 5:26. The Lord is there claiming to have life in Himself as a man on earth. He had it then. He is not speaking about getting it in resurrection.

Again, this exalted rank in which Mr. Russell places the risen Lord is not a rank to which He has a right by virtue of what He is in His person, but it is a reward for His faithfulness and obedience, and is of the favor of God. On page 189 he says:" It is purely of God's favor that angels are by nature a little higher than men; and it is also of God's favor that the Lord Jesus and his bride become partakers of the divine nature."Then the Lord Jesus is still a mere creature, a creature who once occupied an exalted rank, above the angels, but lower than God; who gave up that rank, ceased to be what He was when He was in it, and became a mere man, though a perfect man; and now has been finally exalted, ceasing to be a man and becoming a spiritual being again, and occupying a rank higher than His original rank, where He has the divine nature, not essentially, but as conferred upon Him; where He has immortality, not intrinsically, but as a gift from God.

On page 179 we read:" The human nature had to be consecrated to death before he could receive even the pledge of the divine nature " (and this, he tells us just above, was at His baptism).He goes on to say:"And not until that consecration was actually carried out and he had actually sacrificed the human nature, even unto death, did our Lord Jesus become a full partaker of the divine nature."Hence His exaltation was not the exaltation of His manhood, as Scripture represents it to be, but the changing of a human being or person into a divine being-the conferring of divinity as a reward for His fidelity to His consecration vows. Were such an exaltation possible, how far short of the glory that essentially belongs to our Lord! When our Lord says,"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone " (John 12:24), is He not claiming that in virtue of the rights of His own person He was entitled to be exalted without dying ? Being still as a man on earth the divine person He was before He came into the world, He had a right to go back where He was before. When He did go back, after He had accomplished His sacrificial work, it was not any exaltation of His divinity, though it was of His humanity. It was no conferring upon Him of the divine nature.

In the second volume of " Millennial Dawn " (50th thousand, but year not given), on page 107, Mr. Russell says, speaking of our Lord as in His present exalted position:'' We must bear in mind also that our Lord is no longer a human being." Again, in the same paragraph:"He is no longer human in any sense or degree." Clearly, we have not misrepresented him in saying that he teaches that our Lord is not now a man. But Scripture says positively that He is a man now. " But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55, 56). Did the Holy Spirit in Stephen deceive him ? If not, he saw a man. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (i Tim. 2:5). Here, again, Jesus our Lord, exalted in heaven, is declared to be a man.

In denying that since His resurrection the Lord is a human being, Mr. Russell naturally also denies the resurrection of our Lord's body. On page 129 of the above volume quoted from, he says, "We have no more reason to suppose that our Lord's spirit-body since His resurrection is a human body than we have for supposing that His spirit-body prior to His incarnation was human." Then in the next paragraph he writes, '' Our Lord's human body was, however, supernaturally removed from the tomb; because had it remained there it would have been an insurmountable obstacle to the faith of the disciples, who were not yet instructed in spiritual things-for 'the Spirit was not yet given' (John 7 :39). We know nothing about what became of it, except that it did not decay or corrupt. (Acts 2:27, 31). Whether it was dissolved into gases or whether it is still preserved somewhere as the grand memorial of God's love, of Christ's obedience, and of our redemption, no one knows."

All this flatly contradicts the Lord's own words to Thomas in John 20:27, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side:and be not faithless, but believing." Here the Lord is proving to Thomas that He stands there before him with the same body that had been in the grave, and pierced upon the cross. He is actually asserting the identity of the body He has in resurrection with the body that laid in the tomb. Further it was with that body -the body that came out of the grave-that He ascended to heaven; and it will be with that identical body He will return, as it is written, "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts i:9, 11). Mr. Russell's denial of the resurrection of the Lord's body is not the truth of Scripture, and is therefore invalid as proof that the Lord does not now have a human body-is not now a veritable man.

Mr. Russell's Christ is not the Christ of God-not the Christ of the Scriptures. The Christ of Mr. Russell is an imaginary Christ. All who trust him have not a true Saviour. No doubt hundreds have been ensnared, and by "enticing words of man's wisdom " have been led to believe in a system that is blasphemous in its character and destructive of the foundations on which Christianity, as revealed of God, rests. For the deluded, one may pray that may be undeceived and delivered from the blindness that keeps them under the power of a system so derogatory to God's blessed Son; but for the system itself there can be nothing but holy abhorrence on the part of those who know the Christ of God. C. Crain

QUES. 1.-Does not Gal. 3:28 put woman on the level with man?-meaning that they can do the same things that man does, as to preaching, ruling, etc. ? Have there not been noble examples of women taking part both in Church and State?

ANS.-Not at all. Gal. 3:is not occupied with the order of God in Church or State, but with a new creation out of the old-how natural men become children of God. How we become children of God from our fallen, natural condition, is a vastly different thing from the government of God in His family.

As lorn of God, and belonging thus to the New Creation, there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female ; for we are all one in Christ Jesus. We belong no more to earth, where such distinctions exist, but to heaven, where they exist no more.

We are yet on earth, however, and we are God's house on the earth, in which He has His own government, to suit Himself, to display His character, and to test our obedience, which is more grateful to Him than anything else. See 1 Sam. 15:22.

In that government of His house here on earth He still recognizes bond and free (1 Tim. 6:1), male and female (1 Tim. 2:8-10); and He plainly denies the woman the place of public teacher or ruler in it (1 Tim. 2:11, 12). We have nothing here to do with the State ; but in the Church, if any woman has ever acquired a place of teacher or ruler, it has been in disobedience to God.

This forbidden place does not, of course, shut out woman from service in the house of God, as other scriptures abundantly show; but no true service of hers will ever trespass against the plain in-junction cited.

QUES. 2.-Explain Gen. 3:22.

ANS.-Man, through the fall, having now acquired the knowledge of good and evil,-and in that respect become like God, who, of course, knows all,-is in another respect utterly unlike Him :he is unable now to do the good and to refuse the evil. That knowledge has made him the slave of sin. Partaking of the tree of life in this condition would have made redemption impossible. He would have had to live for ever in that fallen state; for the tree of life would have imparted perpetual life to his body.

This tree of life is, however, we doubt not, the figure also of our Lord Jesus Christ, seen again in Rev. 22:2. He has died for our sins, has been raised again for our justification; and eating of Him therefore gives as eternal life now, and the redemption of our body when He returns from heaven.

QUES. 3.-Are "the children of the Kingdom" in Matt. 8:12 the same as the unbelieving world?

ANS.-No. They get the same end as the world, but much more severe; for they are those who have had divine privileges and have not valued them. They have never judged sin in themselves, though they may have judged it severely enough in others. They have never, therefore, appropriated God's remedy. They have known all about it, but have never possessed it-never really known Him, who came to seek and to save that which was lost. What a multitude are in this condition now! May God yet arouse them out of their slumbers.

QUES. 4.-Does the "gospel of the Kingdom" in Matt. 24:14 belong to our dispensation, or to the next?

ANS.-To the next, as nearly the whole of this chapter is alone applicable. It is the preparation of a people for the Lord Jesus to rule over, here on the earth, when He returns; even as Paul's gospel (Rom. 16:25, 26) is, in the present time, the preparation of a people for the Lord in heaven.

(Genesis, chap. 17.)

The narrative of the preceding chapter is but a paren-thesis in the unrepenting ways of God's grace; for God will make good His promise, and manifest that what is too great a good for Abram to think, is not too great for Him to give. He therefore reveals Himself as the Almighty God-the One whose power is absolute. Abram is to walk before Him, not looking upon himself, or upon his circumstances, but upon One who never has forfeited His precious promise, and who never will. Well may Abram prostrate himself before the Almighty (ver 3).

But in what grace does the Almighty God speak to His servant! He does not even reproach him for his failure, and for the feebleness of his faith, but rather urges him to be perfect, or whole-hearted in his walk before Him. He is worthy, not of part of our trust, but of all; the whole heart responding to His unmerited grace.

Therefore, instead of curtailing His promises, as though Abram was unworthy of them, He enlarges them still further, and establishes His covenant with the man of faith. And has this not been His way through all His dealings in the dispensations ?Failures on the part of His people have but furnished the occasion of fresh promises and revelations. Thus, the deliverance of the Red Sea came after the murmuring and unbelief that preceded it. Alter the golden calf, the tabernacle was set up; after Saul, David was established as king; after all the ruin of the nation as a mass, Christ came; and after that blessed One was cast out, the full gospel of the grace of God was proclaimed, and the truth of a heavenly people, the Church, was made known.

Unquestionably deep and bitter fruits resulted from the failure of the people, and God has let them see it is an evil and bitter thing to depart from Him. He has also thus manifested those who are really His, and such as are merely outwardly connected with Him by profession only. But His purpose and grace will not be thwarted, and He will show it is not a vain thing to trust in Him.

In token of this unfailing promise, God gives Abram a new name, Abraham. He is not to be alone-a "great father," but " the father of a multitude." His seed are to be multiplied exceedingly; kings are to come from him. The land of Canaan is again promised for a perpetual possession ; and, best of all, God will be their God. As a sign of this covenant, God gives Abraham-for so is he hereafter always called-the seal of circumcision. This was to be administered to every male in his household all who were to be responsible heads of households. This was now to be begun, and hereafter every male of eight days was to be marked with this outward seal of the covenant of God.

Later on, circumcision was made by the Jews a badge of the excellence of the flesh, as they did with all the favors of God. For this reason the apostle speaks so strongly about it in the epistles to the Romans and Galatians. (See Rom. 2 :28, 29 ; 4:10, 11 ; Gal. 5 :3-6.) They put the sign in place of the thing signified, and thus made it an idol. The brazen serpent was worshiped by Israel, and Hezekiah therefore burned it as a mere piece of brass (2 Kings 18:4).

But while we are never to turn God's signs into idols, we are not to despise them, but examine their spiritual significance. Circumcision, from a root meaning to " cut," is in itself a sign of judgment upon nature. It is also used in even a stronger way in the epistle to the Colossians (chap. 2 :n), where the true circumcision, "made without hands," is contrasted with the mere outward sign. This true circumcision is called " the circumcision of Christ," by which " the body of the flesh " is put off. The flesh cannot be trusted; and not only its works, but itself, must be set aside. This is done through the cross of our Lord Jesus. The true circumcision of Christ, therefore, is His death, in which also the believer is "crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). This death with Christ is also death to the world (Gal. 6 :14), and to the law (Rom. 7:4).

In the passage in Galatians (chap. 6:14, 15), we have an application of the eighth day. " Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." The eighth day was the beginning of a new series of time, a new beginning, and may well suggest that new life which has its abiding source in Him who is "the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14). For every true believer in the Lord Jesus it is also true that there is a new creation:" old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5 :17). This is the true circumcision-we "worship God in the power of the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh " (Phil. 3 :3).

Abraham is to put this sign of the covenant upon all for whom he was responsible. And so faith is taught to claim for those dear in the flesh the blessings of God's grace, which, while only given to faith, is for " whosoever will," and is specially offered to the household of the believer.

But, as we have already seen, grace can never be given through the law. Therefore God promises the heir-through Sarah, and her name also is changed. This, again, seems too much for the faith of Abraham. But God's gifts begin where nature's power ends; and Abraham's circumcision is but the typical preparation for the birth of Isaac through Sarah.

Isaac means " laughter." True and lasting joy are the fruit of Christ's grace alone. Abraham pleads for Ishmael, but in these things God's promises can only come through the free woman. Ishmael's seed will have its place in the government of God, but "in Isaac shall thy seed be called."

Here, then, is the blessed issue absolutely laid down- " all things are of God." Abraham's faith is to be in Him alone:what blessed results followed!

(S. R. in "Sunday School Visitor.")

QUES. 21.-What do you think about this speaking in different tongues, which started in Los Angeles, and is now going on in different places in the world ?

ANS.-The movement referred to had its origin, not in California but in Kansas, among a small and fanatical sect of so-called holiness people. They claim a "Pentecostal baptism " evidenced by the gift of tongues. Under some strange influence they begin to talk a weird gibberish which so far as known bears no relation to any language spoken anywhere in the world. Great excitement pervades their meetings, and false doctrines of every kind find a congenial soil among them. Annihilationism, soul-sleeping, sinless-perfectionism, the denial of the believer's eternal security, and the teaching that they are the elect 144,000 of Rev. 7 and 14 are widely disseminated in their meetings. Women take a leading part in avowed and unblushing defiance of God's order as set forth in 1 Cor. 11 and 1 Tim. 2. The whole movement is stamped with the denial of the all-sufficiency of Scripture to guide the believer through this scene.

The tongues are clearly of the same nature as the rapt utterances of early Irvingites and present-day Mormons, and indicate rather Satanic possession than divine power, after allowing much that is simply an aggravated form of hysteria.

It is clearly another of Satan's efforts to delude and ruin poor ignorant people, who are uninstructed in the ways of God.

QUES. 22.-Please give explanation of 1 Cor. 2 :6, and especially of the word "perfect." To whom does it apply, and in what way?

ANS.-The "perfect" are evidently those referred to in vers. 9, 10,12; also, in chap. 1:24,30, 31; who are put in contrast with " the wise," " the princes of this world "-they who rejected and crucified the One in whom believers are " perfect" in God's sight.

It is not here, as in Phil. 3 :15, a question of apprehending that for which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus, which is a matter of spiritual growth-a contrast between those saints who have the apostle's mind and those who yet need to acquire it. In Corinthians, to be perfect is to fall in with God's mind about Christ- that which marks all His people.

In Heb. 10 :1, to be perfect is to have so realized the eternal value of the one sacrifice of our Lord that we have "no more conscience of sins. "

How beautiful and varied are the lessons of Scripture !

QUES. 23. – In considering Gen. 37, vers. 25, 28, 36 ; also, chap. 39, ver. 1, I would like to know which of these two classes of people, Midianites and Ishmaelites, sold Joseph to Potiphar.

ANS.- The Midianites (descendants of Abraham, Gen. 25 :2, 4) and the Ishmaelites (descendants of Ishmael, also son of Abraham, Gen. 25 :12) are distinguished, yet intimately associated, and are called now by one name, and now by the other (Gen. 37 :25, 28, 36, and 39 :1). Those children of Abraham by Hagar and Keturah more or less blended together (see Judges 7 :12 and 8 :22, 24), and therefore are called now by one, and now by another of their names.

The Arabian geographers place the land "Madian " (Acts 7 :29) on the Elamitic or east branch of the Red Sea.

We would take this occasion to say that much information of this kind might be had ready at hand by our brethren if they would supply themselves with a good Bible dictionary, which costs only $1.50. How often we have been in the houses of God's people where scarcely a thing was to be found to help search and enjoy the vast fields of Scripture ! We have longed at such times to suggest that an investment of a few dollars might be a greater boon to themselves and their families than much beside. For the guidance of any one desirous to possess such a library, but who find a difficulty in making the selection, we publish on our cover this month three different selections, and their respective cost.

(John 3:27-35.)

The energy of the Holy Spirit is visibly associated with God's presence. To be a prophet of God, one must come from the presence of God. The prophet will never receive a divine message away, or at a distance, from God. The secret of God's mind is had in the sanctuary-nowhere else.

Christ, as God's true Prophet, the One by whom He was to speak in these last times, is borne witness to by John when he declared that '' He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." Christ came from the Father's bosom, from God's presence. He is the One whom God sent; therefore He speaketh the words of God. Uniting with this is the energy of the Holy Spirit which marked His life here in the world:"For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto to Him." Blessed truth!

This is a needed truth for us now. We need prophets-those who can speak the suited words of God. But those words must be first obtained direct from God, in communion with Him. The natural man "darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge," but the prophet, walking in the energy of the Spirit, speaks words that are spirit and life. To contemplate our blessed Lord in this light is indeed helpful. F. H. J.

There is a well known terrible disease-not I very common, through the mercy of God- called "hydrophobia," which comes from the bite of a dog, directly or indirectly. The first sym-tom is merely slight indisposition. It often shows no symptoms for months after the bite. It may be prevented if promptly treated before the disease develops, but when once the acute symptoms appear cures are extremely rare. The characteristic symptom is the fear of water. While the whole system is suffering from thirst, every painful effort to drink fails; then the touch, sight or sound of it brings on convulsions which increase in violence and frequency until death, which is reached in a few days. The patient must be bound to prevent him from injuring himself; agonized friends are helpless to relieve, and few can endure the sight of the suffering.

Why has God allowed such a terrible disease among men, if not that in mercy He is in picture lifting the veil of the next world, showing the condition of those who have been bitten by a dog (imbibed the doctrines of a false teacher) and thereby contracted an aversion to the water of life, and pass into the unseen world where they can never taste it. What strange mental disease is this that men should have an aversion to the word of God! How very strange that they should hate and turn away from the Lord Jesus!-that poor, needy sinners should neglect and refuse such gracious offers as we find in Prov. i :20-23; Isa. 55:1-3; Matt. ii:28; Jno. 5:24, and Rev. 22:17! No doubt angels wonder at it. There can be but one explanation:they have listened to false teachers, the agents of Satan who "blind the minds of those that believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ should shine unto them" 2 Cor. 4:3-4,-these are the early symptoms of the spiritual disease-of which the dreaded hydrophobia is but a shadow.

When one is bitten by a mad dog, no one takes chances or waits for symptoms, but goes at once to a physician. Thank God that for the spiritual disease there is a remedy. The Great Physician has never lost a case when applied to while it is called "today," (2 Cor. 6:2), and before the acute symptoms are developed on the other side of the veil. In Luke 16:24, the Lord lifts this veil for us. The rich man prayed for one drop of water to cool his tongue- some solace for his torment. But such as Isa. 55:i and Matt. 11:28 which here fill the thirsty soul with delight and refreshment are not for those in hell; so it was refused. Being a Jew, how often had he heard the precious offer in Prov. 1:23, that now he thirsted for ? But then he must certainly have heard, and now remembered, verses 24 to 33. He could not drink these in now ; on the contrary they must have thrown him into convulsions of agony, so that he prayed that his brethren might be warned not to come into that place of torment. This is the spiritual counterpart of hydrophobia, as his prayer for water is of thirst.

If the rich man, being a Jew and having known the law and the warnings of the Old Testament, suffered thus, what will be the torment of those who in this time of noonday light and privilege neglect the word of God ? Heb. 10:28-31.

There is a strange spiritual lack of thirst for the water of life at the present time, very common even among real Christians, and which is very difficult to distinguish from the symptoms of spiritual hydrophobia. True, it is not fatal with true Christians, but the man of the world is not slow in using it to deceive himself as to the seriousness of his own aversion for the word of God. The normal condition of one who has drunk (not merely tasted) of that Word, is a continuous delight in it. All blessing flows from it. Jno. 4:13-15.
The danger of hydrophobia from the bite of a wolf is even greater than from the bite of a dog. The wolf according to Matt. 7:15 is a type of a false prophet who, under cover of the name of sheep, steals in among them only to prey upon them. Examples of such are abundant all about us; and, as a result, spiritual hydrophobia is equally common.

The dog is a type of the false teacher who claims to have charge of the sheep. The Good Shepherd does not hire such. Satan is his master; and, as if to emphasize this point, God has made the dog the only animal who will be faithful to a bad master. It is a well known fact that the worse he is treated and beaten and ill fed, the more he cringes and faithfully serves such a master. Even if "Old Dog Tray's" master were a good one, the dog would have been still more subject to a bad one. The dog is thus a strikingly true picture of Satan's teachers:however poor the fare he gives them now in the empty wealth, honors, pleasures, and flatteries of this vain world (Jno. 12:42, 43)-with ruin at the end (Rev. 22:15) yet do they serve their hard master.

To the sheep they plead Matt. 7:1,-"You must not judge that we are dogs and wolves," forgetting the instructions to the sheep that follow in verses 15-20. Naturally they object to being recognized and disturbed. How solemn are the warnings against such in the following scriptures:Deut. 13:1-3; Jer. 23:16; Mark 13:22; Rom. 16:17, 18; Eph. 5:6; Col. 2:8; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; i Jno. 4:1-6; Acts 20:28-32; i Tim. 4:1-4; Phil. 3:2; Jer. 5:30, 31. Note this last quotation, " What will ye do in the end thereof."

As in Natural History the dog and the wolf belong to the same group, so the false teachers and the false prophets are spiritual kinsmen. Wherever they are tolerated, there we find the natural terrible effects -spiritual hydrophobia.

One remarkable feature of the disease is that the period of incubation varies from a few days to about a year, (which is more than in any other disease) while the victim suffers no pain or inconvenience until the fatal hopeless symptoms appear. Just so the spiritually poisonous germs of false teaching as to the word of God may remain dormant and cause no suffering or inconvenience possibly through a long life, until the case has become hopeless; but, thank God, that is not in this world. Here, the worst can be cured.

Another fact is that only the brain (the seat of the mind) is affected; especially that part called the medulla oblongata, with the nerves, which are but the telegraph lines to the parts of the body. Postmortem examinations show that all other parts of the body are normal. This is so strange that many authorities still deny there is any such disease as hydrophobia. They claim that it is only an illusion of the mind, in spite of the fact that children too young to have any such illusions die from it. Physicians always forbid all reference to the subject lest the fears of the victim should bring on this "imaginary " disease.

All this bears out the antitype, and is nature's advertisement of the fact that it is the mind which has been affected by the insidious germ of evil doctrine-a poison easily conveyed from one victim to another. It is the mind that is blinded by the god of this world. Marvelous blindness! Blind to the glory and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Such a strange and terrible spiritual disease can end only in unspeakable anguish, when they will be unable to appropriate "one drop "of the water of life which they so often despised and refused here. Instead of blaming our importunity (we who know the terror of the Lord) they will wonder that we ever spoke of anything else. Rejecters of Christ are compelled to own He was by far the best man that ever lived, and a worthy model for all; but if His praises were spoken at some social or political gathering, it would cause the greatest unpleasantness to host and guests. The praises of Queen Victoria, or President McKinley, or President Roosevelt, would be quite in order; but the servant of Christ who would venture to introduce the Lord Jesus as the Saviour of sinners at some social function, would hardly be forgiven. It must be a deadly germ that can cause such antipathy to the word of God.

All dogs and wolves are born blind and only get their eyes opened on the 9th day. Nine is 3 x 3, the number of resurrection intensified, the number of reality and realization. At the resurrection of the unjust before the great white throne, all false teachers and false prophets will at last, but too late, fully realize the true character and awful results of their blindness and teaching which ruins themselves and their dupes.

Other animals besides dogs are born blind, just as others besides false teachers are spiritually blind.
T. M.

It is a great thing to have thorough separateness of walk in the narrow path, and a large heart for Christ's saints and poor sinners too. I do look for devotedness and seeking the souls of the poor. '' The poor have the gospel preached unto them;" they should be sought out and cared for too. There
is a largeness, not of heart, but of way, which is dis-liking the narrow way for one's conscience-for one's feet:Christ does not suffice us, and we want something to fill up a void. I admit the danger in defending one's walking in the narrow way-to be occupied with the evil we cannot walk in, and so judge, and get shut up. But a deep sense of the evil is very important; but then that is always felt with Christ, which makes the heart tender and large for those dear to Him, even if going wrong. The eager condemnation of others in what is wrong may be connected with vexation at their not going with us. So perhaps they ought–surely if they have light; but the heart will grieve over the persons as dear to Christ, if walking with Him, and not merely judge the path as unfaithfulness, or their unfaithfulness in walking in it.

Everywhere the manifest work of the Spirit of God is seen, and the violent efforts of the enemy. What we have to do is to persevere quietly, but with redoubled devotedness, in the Lord's work. This is a time in which faith is manifested by that quietness of soul which flows from confidence in God, and that devotedness which shows that one has the consciousness that everything traditional, everything external (evil excepted) is crumbling to pieces. The way is a very simple one, if the heart is simple; a very peaceful one, if the heart enjoys communion with God; happy there, we peacefully discern what will be most for His glory. J. N. D.

A CONTRAST.

When reading the epistles to the Corinthians, one cannot fail to remark the great contrast between the Corinthian converts and their spiritual father, the apostle Paul; showing clearly that the possession of gifts is no safeguard against error, and that those who most abound in them may be those who, through unwatchfulness, fall into grave evils. . . . What a picture have we in Corinth of the depths to which saints could fall. For, saints they were, but placed in circumstances widely differing from any in which a Christian assembly, in Christendom at least, could in these days be found:being surrounded with vices openly and unblushingly practiced by the heathen, which the influence of Christianity has driven into the shade. And then the different parties among them hindered common action in dealing with any of these evils.

But in the apostle we see how high a sinner saved by grace could rise. Were the Corinthians glorying in their teachers, glorying in men, he gloried only in the Lord They were captivated by the natural gifts of their teachers. He had learnt the lesson, that all human teachers to whom were entrusted gifts of ministry were but earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of man (2 Cor. 4:7). The apostle came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom; and was determined to know nothing among them, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that their faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:i, 2).. They were self-sufficient-"full"(i Cor. 4:8). He was not sufficient of himself to think anything as of himself, but his sufficiency was of God (2 Cor. 3:5)-as an apostle he thus spoke of himself. Then they were reigning without him. He would be glad to connect himself humbly with them -reign with them (i Cor. 4. 8)-were the time for that really come. Then he could say, "Now He that establisheth us with you in Christ." "Helpers of your joy" (2 Cor. i:21, 24). Again, "Ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake " (2 Cor. 4:5). "Shall present us with you " (2 Cor. 4:14). Not a word in all this of his superiority. He classes himself with them, and makes himself their servant.

Did they stand up for their liberty ? So could he. But how different was the case with him! Would he indulge his palate at the expense of a weak brother's faith? Nay; " I will eat no flesh," he said, "while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend" (i Cor. 8:13). What, then, was the liberty he claimed for himself ? Simply this, that he might preach the gospel to them without charge! What could prompt him to such labor without temporal reward? Was it the hope that they would value such disinterested-ness? He had already felt, that after all his labors on them and affection for them, they had not valued the one nor requited the other. How, then, did this affect him? We see in 2 Cor. 12:14, 15:"Behold, this third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome:for I seek not your's, but you. . . . And I will gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."

What grace was here! The divine nature in him showing itself; love working for its own sake, laying objects unworthy of its love. And who was this who thus wrote? Was it one who felt his deficiency in gifts when in such an assembly as that of Corinth, and wished to make up for that deficiency by an assiduous attention to their wants? Far from it. He was not behind the very chiefest apostle. He might, indeed, be rude in speech, but not in knowledge. He had a power-the apostolic power-which he could have used, but he did not. What a contrast between the Apostle and the Corinthians!

What caused it ? Whence came it ? Both he and they were children of Adam, descended after the flesh from the same corrupt stock. Both he and they were subjects of the same divine mercy, and objects of the same divine grace. But he had learnt a lesson which they had not. He had learned of the crucifixion of the old man with Christ, hence he was not looking at the outward appearance; he looked far higher. He lived, as it were, on the other side of death; they on this side. All that was of nature he estimated at its true value. For him, self was nothing; Christ and God were everything. That was the secret of the difference. What teaching there is in all this. He had '' the sentence of death in himself, that he should not trust in himself, but in God who raiseth the dead" (2 Cor. 1:9).

Throughout the first five chapters of the second epistle we see this brought out. His sufficiency was of God (iii). If the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ had shone into his heart, it was God who had commanded it (iv). And the excellency of the power of ministry was of God. And all that he suffered was for the glory of God. With him, God in Christ was everything. And now, as in Christ, he knew no man after the flesh. All this the Corinthians had forgotten, or could have never learnt. So, in the first three chapters of the first epistle we have a continual contrast between man and God, to recall them to their true position as Christians. God had called them to the fellowship of His Son. The calling was of God, not of man. It was God's Church he addressed. God was pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe:and the object preached was Christ, the power and the wisdom of God. Was Paul chosen for the work? God had done that. And God had made Christ "unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. " It was God's testimony he declared, that their " faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." And he spoke wisdom, but it was the wisdom of God; and he spoke of things which the natural man could not receive, but God had revealed them by the Spirit. And the Corinthians were God's husbandry, God's building. He recognized these things, as the second epistle shows. They had forgotten them, as the first epistle teaches. Hence the difference.

What a lesson, then, for us. If the eye looks away from God to man, into what may we not fall-what evils may not come in ! But, on the other hand, the true remedy for decline of spirituality in the assembly, when man is exalted and self reigns, is to recall it to a right sense about God. It is God's work that goes forward. The instruments are God's The increase is God's. The building and temple are God's. This truth, brought out in i Cor. i:4. forms the groundwork of the apostle's directions. Christian liberty is to be permitted, but only to the glory of God (i Cor. 10:31). Spiritual gifts are to be exercised, but in an orderly manner. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (i Cor. 14). Man may be followed, but only as he follows Christ (i Cor. ii:i).

When God gets His place in the assembly and in the hearts of His children, all will go well. But if not, the capacity to judge and deal with moral evil may be weakened; meetings for worship be made opportunities for the display of gifts, as the vanity of the possessor may dictate, and even the Lord's table become a scene of dreadful confusion. How needful, then, to watch against the first departure from the simplicity that is in Christ But as evil in the assembly is generally the result of evil unchecked in individuals, what need of watchfulness to keep the eye fixed on the true Center. When looking at God, and remembering that we have died and are risen with Christ, the Lord will have His place, and man his; conscience will be alive; evil if it comes in will be judged; and the assembly be in practice the temple of the Holy Ghost. C. E. S.

" The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:but while men
slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way" (Matt. 13 :24, 25)."He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are the angels" (vers. 37-39).

Christians generally do not realize that behind all the down-grade teaching of these days, with its tremendous and persistent energy, is the enemy of Christ as well as of His people. Note it is " His (that is, Christ's) enemy came and sowed tares." He who is the enemy, the foe of our Lord Jesus Christ, must be the foe of His people. For His people represent Him now in this world, out of which He has been cast, and their place in it is set by their identification with Him as rejected. We have plenty of warning as to this in the word of God, and the conflict would be too much for us were it not that we have the Holy Spirit given to us, who turns our eyes to Christ through the Word, so that by dependence on Him we should be overcomers. But if Satan fails in one way, he quickly tries another. If as a roaring lion he cannot overcome the people of God, he can become an angel of light. " For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

" While men slept! " Who are the men ? Are they not the responsible people of God, whom He has placed here to care for His interests; to watch, and wait, and serve His will? And how many still sleep in the midst of the dead world of human beings, already under the judgment of God (John 3:18), and going on to the hour of the execution of that judgment!

At the last meeting of the Pan-Presbyterian Council at Liverpool, Dr. John Watson (" Ian McLaren") was moderator, A reporter says he "appeared on the platform robed and gowned and 'banned,' and proceeded with the services. . . . The leading thought running through his whole discourse was that the final test of everything must be its reasonableness. 'Reason,' he said, 'traveling through the Scriptures, and through history, must be allowed to leave the chaff and keep the wheat.'"

This address was delivered before three thousand people, and among them delegates from all quarters of the earth, representing (the secretary said) twenty-five millions of people.

Here is the root of the " new " gospel. Human reason is above the word of God. This is rationalism. It is what has been always advocated by pronounced infidels; and when maintained by the elected popular leader of a great church system, before the delegates of that church from every part of the earth, what does it mean ? It means that at last the enemy, as an angel of light, has gotten a strong foothold in professors' chairs and pulpits, and his ministers, as professed ministers of righteousness, are doing his work. What awful progress has been made by this down-grade school in all the church systems in the last fifteen years!-since C. H. Spurgeon broke with the Baptist Union because of it. It is now enthroned, and bold, and energetic.

But " let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober.""We are fighting for our all," cried Athanasius long ago ; and let us remember that " all" is in question to-day. The living Word and the written Word stand and fall together, and this is what is in question when its complete verbal inspiration is denied. The Lord stir up His dear people in these last days! W. B.

"Lay not up for your yourselves treasures upon earth … but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Matt. 6:19, 20.

We are living in a day of unparalleled covetousness. Never, perhaps, in the history of man has there been seen such a love of money, and such frantic efforts to obtain it.

The love of it has become such that it matters not how it is gotten-he who gets it is in high honor. Crime of every description may have been resorted to, it matters not. Character, conscience, the lives of men, the welfare of multitudes, eternal doom-all is laid on the altar of this dreadful and relentless god by its numberless worshipers.

And would to God that this great scourge were confined to the open enemies of Him whose words are quoted above. If it were, we would not pen these lines, except to bring before them another passage for their warning:"Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasures together for the last days." James 5 :1-3.

But, alas, the plague reaches God's people too, and many who, a few years ago, would have shrunk from such ways, and means, and associations most questionable, to say the least; things which, Delilah-like, dull the conscience, stupefy the spiritual senses, and cut off the locks of our heavenly Nazariteship and strength, are now found in them for. the sake of making money. This is dreadful to think of.

Let the great fortunes which men have made, or are making, be traced to their origin, and, we fear, but few will be found, at some point of which an awful deed or a series of deeds was not committed, that will haunt the soul of the perpetrator throughout eternity. So with the people of God, we believe few will be found among those who seek riches, who have not here or there compromised their Christian conscience.

In contrast with all this what exquisite beauty shines out in the Scripture which heads these lines. Let the reader carefully go over Matt. 6:19-34, and see for himself. The Lord loves His own, and He seeks their profit, not profit for this brief life merely, but for eternity as well.

He wants them to be rich with riches that do not vanish. But for this the present has to be sacrificed. It must be used as the farmer uses his seed. He scatters it. It looks like waste. No, not to him, for he has his eye on the harvest.

Does the enemy suggest that we shall come to want some day? Ah, says our real Friend, "Behold, the fowls of the air; " "Consider the lilies of the field." If your heavenly Father deals so with them, do you think He will neglect you, if you tread the path He loves ?

Brethren, what a privilege is ours to use this present life with its present goods, in view of the coming harvest, whose fruit shall eternally abide. May we not fritter away such privileges for the gratification of earth-born desires.

The Christian’s Joy.

There is nothing in common between the life heaven and that of the world.

It is not a question of prohibitions as to using this or that, but of having altogether other tastes, desires, joys; and it is on that account people imagine Christians are sad, as if they were absorbed by only one thought. It is that our joys are altogether different from those of the world.

No unrenewed person can comprehend what renders the Christian happy. J. N. D.

Submission.

I was struck to-day with Gen. 22:9, with Isaac's side of it. What submission! What obedience! No resistance, no seeking to escape-allowing Abraham to do just what he would! Ver. 6, Isaac carried the wood; Abraham-the father-carried the knife and the fire! John's gospel, the gospel of the Father and the Son, is the only one which gives us Jesus carrying His cross-the wood. How beautifully and blessedly perfect is God's book! W. E.

"Absent from the body; present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8).
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Psa. 116:15).

"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord" (Rev. 14:13).
"The memory of the just is blessed" (Prov. 10:7).

By P. J. L.

I.

Our first meeting on this subject, my dear friends, will be devoted chiefly to the fact itself that our Lord Jesus Christ is to return to this earth. The most of what I may say in these addresses will be familiar to some of you; but many, I believe, are much in the fog on the subject. Leaving aside the deadly "New Theology," which is deifying man and to which, of course, all that clusters around our Lord's coming again is but foolishness, such of the Lord's people as have accepted the theology of orthodox Christendom as a full exponent of the teaching of the word of God are not only ignorant on the subject, but are even prejudiced against it. They have learned that the triumphs of the gospel are to go on till they renovate the earth, and bring in the promised bliss and peace of the millennial reign.

And as the triumphs of the gospel are through the labors of Christians, what human machinery for Christian work has risen up to bring about such a desired end! The teaching of Scripture concerning the return of our Lord-its necessity, its object, its end-disturbs all this, and it is no wonder if it meets with opposition.

Then, as if Satan were especially angry with this blessed part of the truth, he has set up advocates for it such as Seventh-day Adventists, Millennial Dawnists, etc., whose absurd and blasphemous doctrines cover it with reproach. Thus, as some parts of the land of Canaan required hard fighting for Israel to get possession, we Christians have also to fight to dispossess the enemy and enjoy this part of our inheritance.

But, before we engage in it, let me say that the second coming of our Lord suggests at once His having already come once. We all believe this, of course, or we are no Christians at all. But while we all believe this, we may not all be clear as to just what He came for, and the results of it toward us who believe. As none can find unclouded delight in the Second Coming who have not been set free by His first coming, we will say a few words as to it. As before stated, what we will say may not be new to many here, yet the truth, in a certain sense, is ever new to the heaven-born soul. It is ever the fresh water coming out of the old well.

One of the special objects in our Lord's first coming was '' to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." There, upon the cross, He accomplished the most stupendous work which can ever be told in the ears of man. Our transgressions, our sins, our indwelling sin-all was judged there on His holy Person by the righteous God Himself, that all who come to Him in a repenting mind may be cleared of everything, and be absolutely and continuously free to the bosom of God the Father. It is a wonderful salvation. We receive eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, justification from every stain. So truly are we saved by it, that God can say to us that as Christ is, so are we in this world (i Jno. 4:17). Think of it, beloved friends; just think of it, that by the work accomplished by Christ on that dreadful cross, we are now as free from all guilt and stain of sin before God, as Christ Himself is. It is not a question of our feelings. It is a fact which God states to us. It is not an experience, but a fact, a blessed fact for your soul and mine. In it God's perfect love is so manifested that it casts all fear out of our bosoms. This, indeed, is blessed experience-fear has given place to love. We love Him now, we long to see His face, to see Him as He is, and to be like Him.

But this brings us to His second coming, for it is only at His second coming that this is accomplished.

Let us, then, read a few scriptures in proof that He is coming again. Acts i:9-11 is a very plain one:'' When He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."

Could words be plainer ? Could any possible interpretation make them say that when a saint dies the promise that is in them has been fulfilled? If so, words would cease to be of any use as a vehicle of thoughts and facts. But as any sincere and upright person means what he says, and says what he means, so does God in all His Word. All that is required to understand Him is childlike faith.

Another scripture is in John 14:2, 3:"In My Father's house are many mansions:if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

Let any little child or unprejudiced person read this promise of the Lord to His disciples, beloved friends, and then read of the Lord's death, of His resurrection, of His abiding still forty days, then of His ascension and promise of return as we read before in the first of Acts, and He cannot escape the conviction of His personal, bodily return. It is a real man, flesh and bones, who is presented to us there. God indeed He was too, ever was, and ever will be, but become man as well-a Man who rejoiced, who sorrowed, who sympathized with men, who drew near to them and drew them near to Him;-a Man who died, who came to life again; who rose out of His grave, who talked and walked with His disciples afterward for forty days; who ate in their presence, who gave them His final instructions upon earth, and then who, from their very midst, as they all stood upon the mount of Olives, overlooking on the east side the city of Jerusalem, was suddenly caught up to heaven on a cloud, in the sight of them all;-it is this Man-Jesus-who has promised to return; the very same Man we have been following up in these familiar human scenes, who is now seated on the throne of God in heaven; who still loves us, makes intercession for us, cares for us, and cannot rest till He has fulfilled every word of His to us. O friends, how intensely sweet all this is! How very near it makes us to that blessed Man-the Man at whose feet we can fall and worship without idolatry.

For the return of that Man from heaven, then, we are taught to look. The Thessalonians were taught to look for it. Hear the two last verses of chap. i of the first epistle:" For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

James exhorted his brethren who were suffering oppression thus:"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts:for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (chap. 5:7, 8).

We might greatly multiply quotations, but a single apple on a tree is as good evidence as a thousand of its being an apple-tree. The return of our dear Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ is then presented to us in Scripture as our hope-the object in front of us. Let me make this as clear as I can. A hope is that which is given as the comfort and object of the heart, which largely influences our daily life, and brings sunshine into it, though it may produce sorrows too. For instance:A man, by the nobleness and devoted-ness of his character, has won the heart of one of the gentle and tender daughters of the land. She clings to him now as a vine to a tree. But he must go to prepare a home in more friendly climes, in a better country, where all is suited to what his love would provide for her. He leaves with her this word:" My beloved one, I am going to prepare thee a place, and as soon as I can return to take thee with me there, I will come." What is now the hope of that maiden's heart? Is it not the return of her beloved? She may busy herself much while he is gone, she may weep sometimes because he is so long away, but all she does has reference to this one hope of her heart -he is coming for me. There is no time set. No one knows when he is coming. But his return is the hope of her heart, be it near or be it far.

Beloved friends, such is the hope of our Lord's return, to a true-hearted, Scripture-instructed Christian. And this hope is what will mold his everyday life, form his habits, govern his links with the scene in which he waits, produce the motives for his actions, and make him refuse what others lay greedily hold of.

Friends! are you waiting, really waiting, for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ ? Is it truly the hope of your-your own-heart ? If so, you cannot love the world, neither the things which are in the world. If so, you shrink from grieving Him:you cannot live for yourself any more, but for Him who died for you and rose again, and has gone back to heaven, and is coming back at any moment to take you there with Him. P. J. L.

Another error peculiar to the teaching of "Millennial Dawn" is its view of the person of Christ; at least, the form given to the error is peculiar. There are many who deny the deity of Christ, but I do not know of any writings in which the denial is given the same development as in "Millennial Dawn." Briefly stated, the conception of the person of Christ which we find in this system is that He is a creature, who has passed through two forms of creature-being, and is now in His third and final form. In the first two forms of His existence He was not a partaker of the divine nature, did not share in the essence of divine being. In the last- the form in which He now exists-He has been exalted to the order of divine being. All this will be made abundantly clear by the quotations that I shall insert in the present article. To show how unscriptural this conception of the person of Christ is, I shall appeal to Scripture itself.

I will notice first Mr. Russell's view of what the person of Christ was before He became incarnate. In chapter X. of "Millennial Dawn" (Vol. I., 740th thousand, published in 1898), on page 177, he says:"We are told that our Lord, before he left his glory to become man, was in a form of God-a spiritual form, a spirit-being; but since, to be a ransom for mankind, he had to be a man, of the same nature as the sinner whose substitute he was to become, it was necessary that his nature be changed. And Paul tells us that he took not the nature of angels, one step lower than his own, but that he came down two steps and took the nature of men-he became a man; he was 'made flesh ' (Heb. 2:16; Phil. 2:7,8; John i :14)." Now here we have proclaimed the strange doctrine of a change of nature. It is evident Mr. Russell teaches that our Lord exchanged the spirit nature He had before His incarnation for a human nature-gave up the one for the other. That this is contrary to Scripture is plain, for it says:"And they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us " (Matt. i:23). If He had given up the nature He had before He was born into the world, had exchanged that nature for a human nature, then it was not true that as a man in the world He was "Emmanuel-God with us;" He was not divine, but only human.

But Mr. Russell does not believe that our Lord had the divine nature before He became incarnate, for he goes on to say:"Notice that this teaches not only that angelic nature is not the only order of spirit being, but that it is a lower nature than that of our Lord before he became a man; and that he was not then so high as he is now, for ' God hath highly exalted him,' because of his obedience in becoming man's willing ransom (Phil. 2:8, 9). He is now of the highest order of spirit being, a partaker of the divine (Jehovah's) nature." It is impossible to misunderstand what is here meant. Our Lord is clearly looked upon as being, before His incarnation, a being higher in rank than the angels, but lower than God. If, then, He was lower in rank than God, had not the nature of the Creator God, He must have been a creature. Even though exalted to be in a rank above all other creatures, as being in a rank below the Creator God, He is degraded from being a Divine person to be merely in the chiefest rank among the creatures of God.

Now John i:i, 2 very simply declares that our Lord was a partaker of the divine nature before His incarnation. "In the beginning was the Word" expresses the eternity of His being; " and the Word was with God " affirms His distinct personality; '' and the Word was God " asserts His deity-His partaking of the divine nature and essence. " The same was in the beginning with God " declares that He subsisted as the eternal, personal, divine Word in the beginning with God. Mr. Russell admits He was indeed a being of a higher rank than the angels, but it is shocking blasphemy to say, '' He was not then so high as He is now." That in manhood He has been exalted to sit on the throne of God is no exaltation of His eternal, essential deity, nor does it imply that He was not eternally and essentially a partaker of the divine nature.

I must now call attention to the misquotation of Phil. 2 :6, "in a form of God."I am aware, of course, that Mr. Russell can plead that there is no article in the Greek before the word for "form;" nevertheless his insertion of the English indefinite article "a" before "form" is in violation of the rules of Greek grammar. The definite article in Greek indicates that the thing mentioned is the definite object that is before the mind; but when the article is wanting, it shows that what is mentioned is characteristic. Now, to be a good translator one needs to understand the spirit of both languages. "In a form of God" does violence to the spirit of the Greek. Instead of its being "a form of God," as if there were more than one form "of God,"i tis really "in divine form," and hence a very strong way of asserting that our Lord partook of the divine nature, or shared in the essence of divine being. Before His incarnation He "subsisted in divine form." "In the form of God" does not misrepresent the original in the least.

Another very serious matter is the implication that the Son of God, before incarnation, was mortal. It is true Mr. Russell does not say so in words, but he certainly implies it. He teaches that the angels are mortal (page 187), and this in the face of our Lord's assertion that they are immortal (Luke 20:36). While he grants that our Lord was in a higher rank than angels, yet he clearly denies Him immortality when he says, "Nowhere in the Scriptures is it stated that angels are immortal, nor that mankind, restored, will be immortal. On the contrary, immortality is ascribed only to the divine nature-originally, to Jehovah; subsequently, to our Lord Jesus in his present highly exalted condition; and finally, by promise, to the Church, the body of Christ, when glorified " (page 186). On page 211, he said,"Since the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, then, two beings are immortal." If "immortality is ascribed only to the divine nature," and our Lord did not have the divine nature, then it is clear He must have been mortal. If it is correct to say that "since the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, then, two beings are immortal," the implication is plain that the Lord was not immortal before His resurrection; 1:e., He did not have an immortal nature, not only during the time of His manifestation in human form, but also before that. However exalted a being Mr. Russell allows the Son of God to have been before His incarnation, he degrades Him to a rank inferior to God. What a revolting degradation it is of the Son of God of the Scriptures!

The word of God, instead of teaching that the Son of God was mortal, teaches that He had to assume humanity in order to pass through the experience of death. Heb. 2 :9 definitely states this. "But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, who was made a little lower than the angels on account of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for all." (See Numerical Bible, Hebrews to Revelation, page 20). He had to become incarnate in order to die. Scripture never speaks of the spirit of man even as dying, or as being capable of dying, much less of angels, and surely not of the Son of God before becoming man. How thoroughly antagonistic to Scripture is this Christ-dishonoring doctrine! How it destroys the foundation on which Christianity rests, the truth of the person of the Christ! C. C.

(To be concluded, D. V., in our next issue.)

A tender and sad interest attaches to the Scripture-history of Abraham's first son. The typical import of what is recorded, the Holy Spirit has unfolded for our edification in the fourth of Galatians. Hagar answers to Jerusalem under the Sinaitic covenant, which gendereth to bondage. Ishmael is the man born after the flesh, who cannot be heir with the child of pure grace, born after the Spirit, the son of the free woman. Therefore the word came, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son." Christians are children born after the Spirit. With such the children of the flesh have no portion.

But it is not in his typical, but his moral character that I desire to draw attention to Ishmael. Undoubtedly there is much about him that appeals to the natural mind-much to admire and praise, if looked at from a merely human standpoint. In fact, Isaac was in no sense the brave, heroic character that his half-brother became. The same is true of Jacob in contrast with Esau. There is, however, one great lack evident in the case of both these elder brothers. They were men in whom nature was strong-men who seem never to have taken God into account.

Isaac, whatever his weakness and supineness at times, was one who, in the main, walked with God. Jacob, despite his crookedness, ever confessed that the hand of the Lord was upon him. As one has well remarked, he was under Divine discipline practically all his life, but he knew it. This is an immense thing. In neither Ishmael nor Esau do we see anything like it. Brave and determined men they were; generous-hearted, too, was the latter, and able magnanimously to overlook injuries done to him. But they did not take God into account.

In Ishmael's case two sentences practically give his entire biography. To Hagar the angel of the Lord said, "Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael" (1:e., God will hear); "because the Lord hath heard thine affliction. And he shall be a wild (untameable) man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren" (Gen. 16:11, 12).

These words were spoken prophetically ere the child was born. In the twenty-fifth chapter of the same book we get "the generations of Ishmael," commencing at verse 12. In verse 18 we are told that his children "dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria:" and then of himself we read, "and he died in the presence of all his brethren."

The two passages give his whole history. He lived and died in the presence of all his brethren. Nowhere is he said to have been in the presence of God. This was something he never knew, so far as we have any record in Scripture.

He was a man to be admired; and admiration he courted. Seeking the honor that cometh from man,
he cared not for the honor that cometh from God only." Men will praise thee when thou doest well
to thyself."This Ishmael proved. He made a name for himself in the earth. His life was passed in mighty exploits, and in deeds of prowess; but he knew not what it was to humble himself under the mighty hand of God, who, in a later book, says, '' Them that honor Me, I will honor; and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed."

Forgetting God that made him, he lived in the presence of all his brethren. Without the peace of communion with God at last, he died as he had lived-in the presence of his brethren still.

Surely there are solemn and searching lessons for us all in this brief sketch of one of the great men of the ancient world. Ishmael's snare is a danger to which not only worldlings, but Christians likewise, are exposed. Paul saw it, and by grace sought to shun it in preaching the gospel. It would have been easy for him to set forth the message of grace in wisdom of words. To have so done would have won the admiration of the carnal Corinthians. Therefore he refuses so to do, and is determined to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. To the Galatians he writes:"For do I now conciliate men, or God ? or do I seek to please men ? for if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (chap. 1:10). He is thus the very opposite of Ishmael. He lived and died in the presence of God. His life was a sweet savor of Christ unto God. His death was as a fragrant burnt sacrifice.

Oh, to be in all this an imitator, or follower, of him as he followed Christ! So shall we be kept from living in the presence of our brethren, and find our joy in living in the presence of God. H. A. I.

QUES. 18.-What is meant by being "crucified to the world "? Does that state begin at conversion? Though I know I am saved, there are many temporal things that I enjoy much. But doesn't that verse, "Every creature of God is good, and to be received with thanksgiving," imply that we are permitted to enjoy these things, though of course to a much less degree than formerly ? Then, what is meant by being "crucified"?

ANS.-Your difficulty comes from confounding " the world " with created things. Everything that God has made is good. We may therefore freely enjoy all of it in subjection and thankfulness to God, acknowledging His kindness in all-our food, raiment and many comforts of life, and health and surroundings. But even in this, let us never forget that our real portion is in heaven, not here-that whatever be our circumstances here, pleasant or sorrowful, they are all of a quickly passing nature. We live not for this life, but for the coming one. Foolish indeed is the Christian who sets his heart on anything here. If right in heart and knowledge, he is a man who is waiting for the Lord from heaven to come and take him there.

"The world," however, is a very different thing. It is that great fabric which has grown out of man's revolt against God, and his consequent alienation from Him ; which seeks its enjoyment apart from God ; which has its religion, its society, its culture, its music, its politics, its hopes, and what not, but all apart from, and outside of, God's revealed purpose and holiness. So truly is it alienated from Him that when He came into it in the person of Jesus, it could not bear His presence, nor His words, nor His character. It crucified Him.

The moment, then, you have received Him as your Saviour, your Lord, your God, you have taken the side of the Cross, opposite to the world. They are on one side, mocking Him ; yon on the other, worshiping Him. You have parted company with them forever. You are crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to you. You are done with it-no more a friend of it, by reason of your being now identified with Christ, whom they have rejected. And if you let your colors be plainly seen, you will be crucified to them too; they will care no more for the companionship of one who is faithful to Christ.

When all who were not Christians were only either Jews or heathen, the line of separation was easily seen. But "the world " has invaded Christendom too; and even among professing Christians Christ has no lack of enemies. Satan-Christ's great enemy-has woven "the world" in with Christianity with such consummate skill that it is hard sometimes to tell where the one begins and the other ends. But if the word of God is fed upon, and the heart devoted to Christ, the Spirit of God, who dwells in us, being un-grieved, will guide our feet aright.

To "love the world" is an end to all spirituality, growth in Christ, and fruitfulness to God. May God, in His great mercy, keep you from it. A life unreservedly devoted to Christ is the only one worthy in those who know at what cost their salvation was obtained.

QUES. 19.-What is meant by the words "the like figure," in 1 Pet, 3 :21 ?

ANS.-They refer to baptism. The deluge was a figure of the awful baptism through which Christ must pass to remove our sins and minister to us "a good conscience." Christian baptism is a like figure. It points to the same thing.

(Concluded from page 269.)

I am sometimes asked,"What do you consider the secret of successful training ?" I answer, "beginning soon enough-not letting Satan get the advantage of us at the start."That is the secret of success."Well, but," mothers say, "it is so hard to chastise an infant." There is seldom need for chastisement where mothers begin early and wisely. There is a way of speaking to and handling an infant compatible with the utmost love and tenderness, which teaches it that mother is not to be trifled with ; that, although she loves and caresses, she is to be obeyed, and will be obeyed; and a child that is trained in this way, will not, as a rule, attempt to resist. In exceptional cases it may be tempted to become obstreperous, and the mother must show her authority.

Take an illustration. We will suppose your son of six months old is in a fractious mood, and indisposed to take his morning nap ; his nurse has put him in his cot and struggled till she is tired, and the child is tired too. At last you come and take the baby, after he has been rolling and tumbling about, and lay him down with a firm hand, saying with a firm voice, "Baby must lie still and go to sleep," putting your hand on him at the same time to prevent his rising in the cot or turning over after you have spoken. Now, if this child for the previous three months has been trained in this line, if this is not the beginning, he will, as a natural consequence, lie still and go to sleep; but if he has not been accustomed to this kind of handling, he will perhaps become boisterous, and resist you; if so, you must persevere. You must on no account give up; no, not if you stop till night. If he conquers you this time he will try harder next, and it will get more and more difficult. Almost all mothers mistake here; they give up because they will not inflict on themselves the pain of a struggle, forgetting that defeat now only ensures endless battles in the future.

Remember, you must conquer in the first battle, whatever it may be about, or you are undone. "Ah, but what time and patience this requires !" Yes, but it is only for once or twice; and what is that compared with the time and toil of conquering further on ? But you say, " It is so hard." Not half so hard as the other way; for when the child finds the mother is not to be got over, he will yield as a matter of course. I have proved it, I think, with some strong-willed children as ever came into this world. I conquered them six and ten months old, and seldom had to contend with any direct opposition after. I have a son who is now preaching the gospel, and a great joy to my heart. The only decided battle I ever fought with him was at ten months old. I do not say that he never disobeyed me afterwards-he sometimes forgot himself, and was disobedient-but I do say that I never remember him setting his will in direct antagonism to mine in all the succeeding years of his childhood. It was a painful struggle- that first contest, but has not the result paid for it a thousand times ?

O mothers, if you love your children, begin early to exact obedience. If chastisement be necessary, inflict it; and for every pang you suffer, every tear you shed, you shall reap comfort, honor, and glory.

But, perhaps there are some mothers who are saying, "Ah, I see it now; but it is too late; my children are too old." I say, Better late than never. Begin and do all you can. Perhaps you can never undo all the mischief, but you may part of it. Call your children around you; confess your past unfaithfulness in your dealings with them, fall on your knees before the Lord with them, and tell Him of your failure to train them for Him, and ask His help to enable you to do it in the future. Begin at once to exact obedience. Be judicious and forbearing, remembering that your children's habits of disobedience are the results of your own folly, and deal as gently as the case will permit; but, at all costs, secure obedience, and never more allow your commands to be trifled with. Now is your only chance; a few more years, and it is too late.

Do not be afraid to use your authority. One would think, to hear some parents talk of their relations with their children, that they did not possess an iota of power over them. All they dare to do seems to be to reason, to persuade, to coax. There is no command, no firmness, no decision, no authority, and the child knows it by its instincts just as an animal would. Men are much wiser in breaking in and training their horses than their sons, hence they generally get much better served by the former than the latter!

What a contrast the conduct and fate of Eli present in this respect to the conduct of Abraham! "I know him," said Jehovah, "that he will command his children and his household after him." Not merely remonstrate, persuade, and threaten, as Eli did, but "command"-he will use his authority on My side; and as a consequence, the Lord promised that "they should keep the way of the Lord."

Another important point in training a child in the way it should go is to train it in the practice of truth and integrity. Human nature is said to go "astray from the birth-speaking lies! " and, doubtless, untruthfulness is one of the most easily besetting and prevalent sins of our race. To counteract this tendency, and to establish the soul in habits of truth and sincerity, must be one of the first objects of right training. In order to do this, parents should beware of palliating or excusing the tendency to falsehood in their children. In nothing have I been more amazed than in this. I have actually seen mothers smile at, and almost extol, the little artifices of their children in their attempts to deceive them, and to hide some childish delinquency. No wonder that such parents fail to inspire their offspring with that wholesome dread of falseness which is one of the safeguards to virtue in after-life.

No mother will succeed in begetting in her child a greater antipathy towards any sin than she feels for it herself. Children are the quickest of all analysts, and instinctively detect in a moment all affectation of goodness. They judge not so much from what we say as how we feel. Take an illustration. A person calls to see you whose society your child knows that you neither esteem nor desire, but you are all smiles and gracious words as if her visit has given you very great pleasure. What more effectual lesson could you give your wondering little one in deception and double dealing than this ? And yet how common is this kind of thing in many households! A child hurts himself against the table:the mother strikes it, and says, "Oh! naughty table! you have hurt baby;" but the child soon learns that the table was not to blame, and at the same time learns to distrust his mother, who said it was.

Again, Charlie is ill, and it is needful for him to take a dose of unpleasant medicine; but he has been so badly trained that his mother knows he will not take it if she tells him it is nasty. So she resorts to stratagem, and tells him that she has got something good, and thus coaxes him to take it into his mouth, but before it is swallowed he detects the cheat, and medicine and mother's veracity are spit out together. In this way thousands of children are taught deception and untruth, and you may labor in vain in after-years to make them truthful and sincere-the soil has been ruined by early abuse.

Mother, if you want your child to be truthful and sincere, you must not only teach it to be so, you must be so yourself, and see that your child practices what you teach. You must not wink at, or cover up any falseness or deception in him, because he is yours. Sin should be the more awful to you because you see it in those so dear, and those for whom you are responsible.

Oh mothers, don't be deceived if you want your children to be the Lord's when they grow up; if you want your boy to withstand the unknown temptations of the future-if you want him to come out a man of righteous principle, integrity, and honor- superior to all the doubleness, chicanery, and devilry of the world, you must train him to look upon everything as dross compared with the joy of a pure conscience and Gad's approval. If you want your daughter to be a true woman, willing to sacrifice and to suffer in the interest of humanity and truth, you must inspire her now with a contempt for the baubles for which so many women barter their lives and their souls-you must teach her that she must live for Eternity. Day by day, as it flies, you must labor to wake up your children's souls to the realization of the fact that they belong to God, and that He has sent them into the world, not to look after their own little petty, personal interests, but to devote themselves to the promotion of His; and that in doing this, they will find happiness, usefulness, and glory. – The Message.

We may observe that some souls are more occupied with the word of God, and others with their experiences of Him and His presence.

Without in the least depreciating the latter, I should say that the former is safer and surer; because, when the soul loses the sense of His presence, as it often does, it falls into darkness and depression; whereas, when it is kept before the Lord by His Word, it is always conscious of the support of it.

" Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy Name."* *A better rendering of Psa. 138:2 is, "Thou bast magnified Thy saying in accordance with all Thy Name:" every word and promise He has spoken holds good like Himself.-ED.* The Word, if truly engaging my soul, would always introduce me into the path of Christ's sympathies ; and thus, Himself would be revealed to me. It conducts me to His side, and then I ascend from the wilderness, leaning on my Beloved. I may have very true feelings, but feelings are not the material for conflict or growth, though they are the consequences of progress and victory. They are unreliable for a moment beyond the present, and a change in circumstances would soon affect my feelings.

Faith, even, is not a sword, though it is a shield, and therefore we shall find that faith without the Word to sustain it will not be sufficient to support the soul on trial. My feelings may be quite genuine, and honoring to the Lord, but they belong more to the banqueting-house than to the soldier, or to the one who needs to have his feet like hinds' feet, that he may walk on high places. We sometimes seek the cheer of the banqueting-house without seeing that we are provided not only with entire title to enter, which the wedding garment expresses, but that we are invested with the panoply of God, so as neither to be prevented nor dislodged. I must see that I am suited to the Host; I must wear costume which He has provided, viz., the enjoyable apprehension of how He accepts, " accepted in the Beloved;" but if I am in an enemy's country (as we are while left below), I must also see that the Host's enemy may be powerless in his attacks on me. Though, in a hostile country, the army of occupation may be feasting with the general, that is no reason that the guard should not be mounted. On the contrary, the guard should be all the more careful and watchful at such a time, lest there should be any surprisal. In other words, though I may be prepared to enjoy my Lord in the condition worthy of Himself, I must also be provided and armed against all the attacks of Satan, who would try to disturb my happiness; and this can only be by the Word, which, dwelling in us richly, will in the end make melody in our hearts.

The study of Scripture, which is really invigorating, is that which does not dwell with abstractions, but with a Person. The enunciation of a precept or an idea by a Person, Himself the witness of it, not only enforces conviction, but communicates power to retain it.

The soul feels the gradual adoption of the truth in power, not so much from the conclusiveness or the authority with which it has been propounded, as from the imprinting on it by the personal application. You cannot abide (mentally and morally abide) with a greater without adopting his likeness.

A glass which has covered an engraving for a certain time will often show the outlines of the picture for a day or two, after which it will fade away, the similitude only depending on the association with the original, which must ever be kept up. This is a faint illustration of what association with the Person in the study of the Word would produce on us.

Some of our friends have been sending us a number of things relative to the hastening apostasy of Christendom-all showing the drift of that great body of men who, while fond of clerical titles and honors, are fast developing the Judas character, and bringing themselves under the awful denunciation of Jude 11, " Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core."

One of the selections sent us is from an issue of the New York Press of March 11. It reports a sermon by the Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst in the Madison Square Presbyterian Church on the previous day. It reports him as saying,

" The kingdom of God is the world's hope, and its only hope. It is the center from which are emanating the influences that make life worth living. You are not asked to subscribe to any scheme-we have too many schemes ; nor to kneel down and burn incense to any memory or antiquity-we have too much museum. If you do not relish the gospel miracles or credentials of the Man of Nazareth, count them out and frame your thoughts and your passion of wonderment to the incomparably vaster miracle of the present and increasing intellectual moral and spiritual bloom. That is miracle enough to win you to the kingdom of God if you are willing to be won.

" The Holy Scriptures are an attempt to give us a partial history of the current of divine influence as it flowed through centuries. They show the movings of God along the track of time, and the slow, irregular, but nevertheless actual, inclination of human thought and purpose into the confluence with those movings, till eventually perhaps the stream of human purpose and life shall become perfectly merged in the current of divine thought and ambition,

"The Bible interprets for us, by a few scattered illustrations, the way in which divine impulses are operating in the direction of their ultimate end, and the kind of response those impulses elicit from human hearts.

"That is what gives the Bible its value as a history. It may not be any more accurate as a record of events than are some histories. It specially consists in this, that it is written from a different viewpoint from that of the average historian, and by men more fully endowed with the ability to distinguish the divine ingredients of historic events.

"Without impugning the significance or denying the interest of anything contained in the past chapters of the world's religious history, and without belittling the record that is left to us of the relation in which in times past God has stood to men through the agency of law-givers and prophets, and, above all, through the person of Christ, the thing we are called on to believe in to'-day is the God of today; not the topography of old Jerusalem, not the form of belief with which others have believed in Him-Abraham, Isaiah, Paul, Luther, or Wesley-no scene of conviction wrought out either in the councils of the church or in the strivings of our own individual brains, but in God as we have by the divinely-quickened intuitions of our hearts come to know Him and to trust Him."

Here, then, is the measure of the value which is set upon the word of God, and upon the Lord Jesus Christ, by this professed defender of the faith, in a so-called Orthodox pulpit. And in his congregation there seems to be not a single protesting voice-not one who, roused to indignation, stands up to denounce such traitorous words. All are dumb; and while a few, perhaps, fear there is
something wrong, and go away feeling some dread in their inmost soul at this wholesale removal of the dividing lines, the many probably call it a fine sermon. What a triumph of Satan! what a fulfilment of the prophecies of Scripture!

"In union there is strength" is the principle of this world, and these men of the world think the Kingdom of God has nearly come because they see signs of union in a divided Christendom. It makes little difference to them if that united Christendom of their delighted vision worships stocks and stones, wax figures and St. Peter's bones, the Virgin Mary and Mrs. Eddy, whether Christ is what He claims to be or whether it is all false-all these are trivial matters with these great and large-hearted men.

Not so with God, and not so with faith. God has set Christ as Center and Object of His affections and purposes. The least claim of that Christ is of more importance to God and to faith than all the doing and writing of men. All combinations of men where the claims of Christ are disregarded are but confederacies to be driven to the winds before the Kingdom of God can come.

Nay, more :" God requireth that which is past." The crime committed against His Son at Calvary is yet an unsettled controversy between Him and the world. The world has not yet repented of it, and both Jew and Gentile must yet face it before that Kingdom, so desirable indeed, can appear.

Until then it is but the kingdom of banded men, of Socialism, whose issues are yet to be in rivers of blood and judgments of God. " For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matt. 24:7,8.)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; … the Lord is the strength of my life " must still be the heart
language of all who cherish anything for God on the earth-who still love that unity and the testimony which pleases God, and which carries on the "Philadelphia" state to the end.

By A. E. B. (Colossians i was read.)

Chapters 1 and 2 of this epistle give us in the main its doctrinal part, while in chaps. 3 and 4, we get the practical, as based upon the lessons of chaps 1:and 2. This is the way the Holy Spirit presents things in the Epistles-first the doctrine, then the practice which suits it.

In verses i and 2 we get the salutation of the apostle. It is two-fold, " grace and peace."

When our Lord was upon earth He instructed His disciples, in going from place to place and entering a house, to say, Peace be to this house. That was the usual salutation of the East, and His servants were not to be less courteous than others. Indeed whilst the usual salutation might be but courtesy, and only human, theirs was to be real, as became this heavenly errand.

But there is more in this salutation. The work of the Cross has brought in grace. Our Christian dispensation has come in now, fully, and God has unfolded the whole truth. Peace has been made by the Cross, and our glorified Lord sits upon the throne of grace. Our dispensation is characterized by grace; and the inspired salutation is therefore, grace and peace. Grace first, for apart from it there could be no peace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We are justified by His grace-one side of justification. We are justified by faith-the other side. The result is peace-wonderful blessing, and precious. But God's desires for us, after we are justified continue in the same order, though to meet another form of need. We are saints now, and according to our needs as such He still extends grace and peace to us as we go through life.

Before Christ came, the manifestation of grace was hindered and limited. It was like the droppings before the shower. Now it flows as a river from God and His throne-through Jesus Christ. Now that redemption is accomplished and our Lord is upon the throne by His Father's side, the Man in His Godhead glory, this salutation comes from both the Father and the Son. In the individual believer's life, as well as in our assemblies, to enjoy this blessing of peace we must first be in the enjoyment of grace. The reason of the many difficulties at times among us, and jarring notes, instead of the peace that the apostle so much desired, is because we are so little in the sense and enjoyment of grace. We use the throne of grace so seldom. The power of that truth molds and influences us so feebly. Peace, we cannot enjoy rightly apart from grace. Further, we could have neither grace nor peace apart from the. work of the cross. He suffered upon the cross that grace and peace might be extended to us as sinners, and then still to us as His redeemed and justified people. When addressed to a person, mercy is added to grace and peace, in the salutation of the Epistles. See i and 2 Tim. and Titus. Grace is God's favor extended to the undeserving. But there is more than favor extended to us. There is pity and compassion in view of weakness and failure; and " mercy " is this pity and compassion of our Saviour-God.

Verses 3 to 8 follow as an introduction. Paul had not labored at Colosse, (2:i). Epaphras was the servant God had used there. At the time of writing this epistle, he was with the apostle-his fellow-servant (vers. 7 and 8). He had given the apostle information concerning them, and especially, concerning their "love in the Spirit." A very beautiful thing to be able to relate then or now. The information thus furnished to the apostle led to thanksgiving on his part, as those verses show; and it served as an introduction to the teaching and exhortations in the body of the epistle.

Next we have the apostle's prayer. There is much in those three verses, as in everything indited by the Holy Spirit. One thought we would especially notice. "Growing by the true knowledge of God." This is very important. It is not simply a knowledge of the Bible, important and valuable as that is in itself. The object in all Bible study is to gain a better and truer knowledge of God. The Word, when studied by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with prayer, brings the soul into God's presence, and we get the true knowledge of God. This is true sanctification by the Word.

Paul knew the Lord well-perhaps as none since; yet he again and again longed to know Him better. "That I may know Him "(Phil. 3:10). This is the true exemplary spirit of a child of God. There is not the desire for Bible study now that there was years ago. This speaks for itself. Hence, in our gatherings, addresses largely take the place of what was once true Bible study. We must not give this up, or we will suffer serious loss. There have been also abuses in Bible readings; for it has its dangers, if grace does not control the hearts of those who sit together; if the Holy Spirit is grieved and guides not, debates and disputes may arise, and this withers up everything. May the Lord deliver us from these abuses everywhere. We say again, if the Bible is studied by individuals or companies under the Holy Spirit's guidance, we will gather from it a true knowledge of God, and also of Christ. And a right view of Christ will produce small thoughts of self and proper thoughts of others.

In ver. 12 he gives thanks for certain things. The first in order is that we, believers, are made fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light. (This is the true reading of the text by the valuable version of J. N. D.) It spreads before us what we may enjoy now, as well as in the day of coming glory. Our "portion "-see such scriptures as Psa. 119:57; Psa. 16:5. We are saints by God's call and in the light, and in that place God has a portion for us to enjoy. Of course we can only' enjoy it partially here; but by-and-by in all its fulness. We might illustrate it by the grapes, figs and pomegranates, which were brought down from the land, that lay before them as their future inheritance. Thus in the wilderness, they enjoyed a foretaste of their future blessings. (Num. 13:21-25).

Next we see more fully what has been done for us. We have been delivered from the authority of darkness. That is of course where we were, in darkness; and where the world yet is. This authority is Satan's rule. It is the Father who has delivered us; and we who were once under the authority of darkness are now His dear children. Further we are translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, or Son of His love. We have escaped the darkness, and the slavish rule of Satan. We are now in a new
kingdom, one characterized by light, and where the Son of God's love is owned by right the sovereign ruler. This is not Church truth; it is the Kingdom, but none the less an important truth, and one perhaps too much overlooked by us in the past.

Redemption is the next blessing for which the apostle gives thanks. In 5:14 the words, "through His blood," ought to be committed, (see J. N. D.'s version). The thought is quite correct however, and in place in reading Ephesians i:7.The blood is the basis, the foundation of redemption, as well as of all our blessings. Here, in Colossians, the thought is rather that of redemption by power, 1:e., the Lord setting the soul free, liberating it on the ground of the blood. This setting free is by the power of the Holy Spirit and is dependent upon the first, yet it is not the same. One is the basis, the other is what follows. Then there is another redemption yet future. It is by power also. The redemption of our bodies, (Rom. 8:23-25). But the truth of redemption by power in Col. i and Rom. 8 are both on the basis of Eph. i-"redemption through His blood."

It is the Father who delivers (ver. 12) but through the Son (vers. 13, 14 and 15). The remainder of the epistle is strikingly in fulfillment of John 16:13-15. The Spirit has come to glorify Christ, to make known to us His fulness and His glories. In Ephesians it is not so. After it has given the Father's purposes, the Son's glories, it opens up the Holy Spirit's place and work, throughout the epistle.

Verse 15 of our chapter gives us a rich unfolding of the glories of our blessed Lord. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, (J. N. D.'s version). We ought to read with our chapter the first of John and the first of Hebrews. In these three chapters the Holy Spirit gives beautiful teaching concerning the Godhead glories of our Lord. He is the image of the invisible God. This is not likeness. Image is the true representation, and Jesus was that. He was God manifest in the flesh. Adam was made in God's likeness because he was but a creature, but the Son of God was the Creator. By Him all things were created, by Him all things subsist; that is, He upholds all things by the word of His power The smallest insect, the mere blade of grass, are all sustained by Him, who superintends His own creation. Prom creation, the end-eternity itself-was Kept in view as a place for the display of His divine glory. Hence all things were created for Him, for His pleasure, and for His glory.

(To be concluded, D. V., in our next.)

Sin is an awful thing. It leads to the lake of fire, which is the only place where it can harm and spread no more. It is the workings of the will of man in opposition to the will of God. Men active in sin instinctively turn from the Scriptures, for they are the revealed will of God. If they have some selfish interest in connection with the Scriptures, and cannot therefore utterly ignore or deny them, they twist and turn them to their own liking.

The man who truly hates sin in his own self, loves the Scriptures. There alone does he and can he find what his sin-sick soul needs.

Blessed Lord, deepen in us all the spirit of self-abhorrence, and of confidence in Thee.
"THE TEACHING OP MILLENNIAL DAWN" ON THE ATONEMENT.

Luke 22:32.

In view of the great sin into which Peter was so soon to fall (spite of his protestations,) and of what would follow, the Lord tells him He has already prayed for him. This ministry of our Lord carries Peter safely through the dark valley – the result of his sin.

But why this " I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not" and not, I have prayed for thee that thou shouldst not sin f Is it not more to the glory of God that we should not sin than that we should be sustained through the results of sinning? And would we not be much happier if we were kept from sinning from the very moment of our becoming children of God ?

To these questions one has the simple answer, God gets His glory in the way He takes with us, and it will shine out in due time; and our present happiness is not God's highest aim. If we were kept from sinning while in a condition of soul displeasing to God, how could we learn ourselves and increase in the knowledge of God ? Our bad condition of soul breaking out in sin reveals us to ourselves more fully, humbles us and brings us face to face with the riches of the grace of God, not merely in salvation, but also in restoration. We thus learn the value of Christ's ministry, not only in obtaining salvation for us, but also in His present, incessant ministry toward our daily needs in relation to the infinitely holy God to whom we have been brought. Blessed acquaintance with God is thus produced, whose full results are yet to come.

Is it necessary then that we should sin to reach blessed ends ? Surely not. Did we in the power of the Holy Spirit reckon ourselves "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:11) we would acquire the same end in a quicker and happier way. Ever judging indwelling sin at the root, we would not need to judge its outbreaks. It would be uninterrupted growth.

Be it the easier way, or the more painful one, be we Jacobs or Abrahams, we are moving onward to the time when we shall prove that eternal bliss is but another name for the knowledge of God.

My God, Thy name is love;
A Father's hand is Thine.
With tearful eyes, I look above,
And cry,-Thy will be mine!

I know Thy will is right,
Though it may seem severe:
Thy path is still unsullied light,
Though dark it may appear.

Jesus for me hath died;
Thy Son Thou didst not spare;
His pierced hands, His bleeding side,
Thy love for me declare.

Here my poor heart can rest;
My God, it cleaves to Thee.
Thy will is love, Thine end is blest,
All work for good to me.

J. N. D.

Great eternal One in Three,
All praise we render now to Thee!
Help us to come with love sincere,
Help us to feel that Thou art near.

To Thee, the Father, praise we give;
Through Thee, the Son, we rise and live;
From Thee, the Holy Spirit, we
Derive all joy while time shall be.

Father, to us Thy love make known ;
Saviour, in us Thyself enthrone;
Eternal Spirit, with us be:
All praise be Thine, great One in Three.

T. Watson

QUES. 16.-Please explain 1 Pet. 4 :1. Does the suffering in the flesh and ceasing from sin refer to our accepting Christ's death judicially for us, as in Romans ; or to our accepting a path of suffering in the world, necessitated by the presence of sin and resisting it ?-a path to which we are sanctified by His having trodden it first.

ANS.-It is the latter. Peter does not give us position before God in Christ. He gives us the practical effects of the path with Christ through the wilderness journey. " He that hath suffered in the flesh " is the man who has cast in his lot with Christ. It is henceforth being on God's side concerning sin in every form, especially in myself. Hence it is suffering. Worthy sufferings, whose end is eternal glory!

QUES. 17.-Are there not two sides to sanctification taught in the word of God-one, absolute and unchangeable; the other, changeable and progressive ?

ANS.-Yes. The first is by what Christ is for us before God and what we are in the eye of God as linked with Christ by the Spirit:it is the purpose of God according to His own will, through redemption.

The other is our gradual and growing conformity to Christ, which, though still the work of grace, as all that is of God must be, has to do with our responsibilities and daily walk with God.

1 Cor. 1:30 is a plain statement of the first. It declares Christ to be our sanctification as well as our righteousness. Of course, if Christ is made that to us, it is absolute and unchangeable. Heb. 10 :10 is another plain passage. It is evident that it cannot be applied to the work of the Spirit in us, but only to the work of Christ for us. By that work, accomplished once for all, every believer is sanctified-set apart to God-once for all, and forever. 'In six days God made all the creation, then He sanctified-set apart-the seventh to rest. It is not because that day is different from other days, but because God gives it that place among the other days. The same with Matt. 23:17:"Ye fools and blind:for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold ? " That gold, fastened upon the walls of the temple, was not " sanctified " because of any superiority to other gold, but because of the place and use grace had given to it, separating it from all the other gold in that glorious calling.

In the same sense, you will find God's people usually called His "saints." It is not because of their holy ways He calls them by that name, but because, like the gold of the temple, of the place "in Christ" His grace has given them. In John 17:19 Christ says, "For their sakes I sanctify myself" :it is riot, we surely believe, a holier state, but a new place. Many other scriptures might be adduced, but these will suffice to make the matter plain.

Now, as to the other side,-the progressive sanctification,- Scripture is equally clear. 2 Cor. 3 :18 is a striking passage. The first stroke of the work of the Spirit in us is a work of " glory "; and this goes on "from glory to glory" to the end. It changes the man day by day. It transforms him. The apostle knew well the lascivious character of the Greeks. He writes, therefore, to the Thessalonians thus:" For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." But mark what follows, and see that this sanctification is not the eradication of sin from man's nature, but "that every one of yon should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God" (1 Thess. 4:3-5).

At the end of his epistle he desires they should be wholly sanctified, 1:e., that the motions of the spirit, the outgoings of the soul, and the activities of the body, should be such that the Lord may be able to commend all at His coming. Oh that this may be the burning desire of every one of His people!

No Christian who concerns himself at all with the condition of things in Christendom can fail to notice the movement active everywhere under such names as " Higher Criticism," " The New Theology," etc. It began by casting a slight upon certain books of Scripture, such as the book of the prophet Jonah. How could a fish hold a man alive three days in its belly ? How could it swallow him at all ?

Then it discovered great errors in other parts. How could one and the same writer call God Jehovah and Elohim at the same time, as Moses does ? Impossible! The books ascribed to Moses, even by the Lord Himself, could not have been written by Moses, but by various men at different times.

Then, how could Daniel describe with such absolute accuracy events which happened a long, long time after he had passed away ? Surely this was a great mistake. The book ascribed to him must have been written by some one much later on, for how can a man foretell events far ahead in such a fashion ?

Mixed with all this blind unbelief which, to deify man, would abase the Creator to the level of the creature, came the discovery of " science, falsely so called," that, spite of Genesis i, man was not an essential, particular creation, but only an evolution from something inferior; an evolution which, having raised him already much higher than he formerly was, would, as time went on, produce something still higher. The hope presented to man in Gen. 3 :5, "Ye shall be as gods," was going to be realized. To suit this " new theology," the deity of Christ must, of course, be set aside; for, if He were God, how could He have made the mistakes which these learned Professors and Doctors and Scientists discover in Him ? Or, if He be allowed to be divine, then we too are all divine; and if He be allowed to have been superior to the men of His time, He would certainly not be allowed to be superior to the learned men of this time, for they are all able to freely criticize Him.

Moreover, if man is a rising being instead of a fallen one, what need can there be of an atoning sacrifice to save him from the coining judgment and wrath from the God against whom he has revolted ? It is all useless and absurd to teach that " Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."

Thus, piece by piece, Christianity disappears; and what wonder if the anomalous thing which remains under that name be of a nature to be put alongside with Buddhism, Mohammedanism, of any other religion ?

All this has been introduced into the schools, and little children are made to learn that they are descendants of monkeys and beetles. The higher the schools, the bolder the teaching. The late Professor Harper, one of the foremost in this "Higher Criticism," turned the University of Chicago into an infidel institution ; and well-nigh all the great institutions of learning are following on, filling the so-called Christian pulpit with ministers of infidelity.

Look at the progress of this "New Theology." In the Montreal Daily Star, Dec. 29th, 1906, is a long article headed, "Lodge's Union of Science and Faith." It begins as follows :" Sir Oliver Lodge, principal of the University of Birmingham and one of the leading physicists of the day, has prepared a 'catechism,' which is designed for the use of teachers and others interested in the education of the young. In a preface to the document, Sir Oliver says:'From the point of view of a teacher, or trainer of teachers, the following clauses have been drafted by me as affording a partially scientific basis for future religious education':

" ' Question 1:-What are you ?

"'Answer.-I am a being alive and conscious upon this earth; my ancestors having ascended by gradual processes from lower forms of animal life, and with struggle and suffering become man.

"'Question 2.-What, then, is meant by the Fall of man ?

"'Answer.-At a certain stage of development man became conscious of a difference between right and wrong, so that thereafter, when his actions fell below a normal standard of conduct, he felt ashamed and sinful, " etc., etc.

One would suppose that such utterances as this would arouse indignation among the men who are supposed to be preachers of the word of God, but see :" To an intensely interested audience at the Memorial Hall, London, Sir Oliver Lodge gave an address on ' The First Principles of Faith.' The address was delivered to the Congregational Board of Ministers, who invited their brethren of the Baptist and Presbyterian Boards to be present. Sir Oliver, who was warmly welcomed, said that while undergoing a rest cure in Italy he had formulated a catechism of religion grafted on science" (!!), etc., etc.

Following such lines, another, the Rev. R. J. Campbell, occupying no less a pulpit than that of the City Temple, London, says:" The lines of divergence between the old and the new theology go down deep, and there is great cleavage. The starting-point of the New Theology is belief in the immanence of God and the essential oneness of God and man. . . . We believe there is no real distinction between humanity and deity. Our being is the same as God's, although our consciousness of it is limited;" and much more of the same sort.

It is from such men we learn that " the world is growing better, and growing better faster than ever before."

Christian men and women, do you believe this in the face of such blasphemous teaching ? Do you believe that because man has well-nigh reached the climax of arrogance and pride he has thereby improved ? That because he is presumptuous enough to deny the self-evident statements of the word of God, and substitute for them statements for which they have not yet given one single proof, he has made true progress ? Rebels cling to straws which may favor their rebellion, but straws cannot deliver when the Power comes.

But why do we bring up such matters ? Because they are prophesied in the word of God, and the deniers or falsifiers of that unerring, infallible Word are shown in it to be but the ministers of Satan, fulfilling its predictions.

When Israel had arrived at the border of the Land, Moses received the sad message that instead of their heeding the voice of God who had wrought wonder upon wonder in their favor for forty years, they would apostatize from Him, and despise His Word, and turn to idols (Deut. 31 :16) He would therefore cast them off, make their good land desolate and barren, scatter them over all the earth, and bring them through great distresses till they repented and He took them up again in grace. All this has been fulfilled, save their repentance and restoration, which are yet to come (Deut. 32 :1-43).

As with Israel, so with Christendom. It too had its beginnings in mighty wonders, accompanied with the revelation of another and far better land than that of Israel. But the Spirit of God foresaw the downfall of that too, and in many parts of the Scriptures prophesied its degeneracy and final apostasy. The parables of Matt. 13 show this. Rom. 12, 2 Timothy; 2 Thessalonians, with a host more, testify to the same. So complete is the apostasy of Christendom to be, that 2 Thess. 2 declares it will end in a man " exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (ver. 4). And the only hindrance to the full development of this is the presence of the Holy Spirit on the earth (vers. 6, 7). The moment the Holy Spirit, with the people of God, are removed from the earth (i Thess, 4 :16, 17), Christendom will be apostate and idolatrous. Who that has eyes to see, and ears to hear, can fail to recognize in the " New Theology," or " Higher Criticism," the very foundations of that apostasy?

Beloved brethren, all you who have been washed from your sins in the blood of the Lamb, beware of all this. " In the last days perilous times shall come." They have come. We are at the end. They prophesy Peace, Peace, whilst sudden destruction is about to fall upon them. We soon shall hear " the last trump," telling that our warfare is over, that grace has ended in glory. But let us not be cowards. Let us "preach the Word" more earnestly than ever, holding up the " unsearchable riches of Christ" everywhere-in city, town, village, country schoolhouse, the wayside, and from house to house; spreading on all sides the pure and precious literature which God in His grace has so richly produced.

Let us invest for heaven in that way. Soon we shall find it again.