1 Cor. 15 :48.

Salvation is a deliverance wrought by divine power, so as to bring us out of one condition into another.

It is true we are morally changed by new birth; but we want more than that; though whoever has that, will surely have all the rest. But having the new nature, with its desires after holiness, what is the effect ? It gives me the consciousness of all the sin that is in me. I want to be righteous, but I see that I am not righteous, and I bow under the power of sin, and of the knowledge of such holiness, which I have learnt to desire, only to find out that I have not got it. Where can I find a resting-place for my spirit in such a state as this ? It is impossible; and the very effect of having this new nature, with all its holy affections and desires after Christ, brings me to the discovery of the lack of what this new nature cannot of itself impart. I have the cravings of the new nature-all its holy and righteous desires; but the thing craved for I have not. I say, " Oh that I could be righteous!" but then I am not righteous; "Oh that I could be holy! " but I am not holy.

I hate sin; but the sin that I hate is in me. I long to be with God, to be forever in the light of His countenance; but then I have sin, and know that the light of His countenance cannot shine upon my sin. It is then God meets our need, in the cross. In Christ, He gives us not only the nature, but the perfect Object that nature needs, and that in power.

We get, as the expression of this, a remarkable thing in this chapter:" As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy:and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." It is not, there, what we shall be in point of glory; for afterwards he adds, "and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. " We have borne the image of the first Adam, in all the consequences of his sin and ruin; and we shall bear the image of the second Adam in glory. But he lays down first this great truth for our hearts, "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." It is what we are now. Righteous in Christ now. Holy in Christ now. Seen by the eye of God now in all the perfection of what Christ has done by the cross, and of what He is before Him in resurrection; for Christ is there, the accepted Man for us all, He of whom alone God could say, '' Sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."

It is this with which God satisfies our longings and cravings. He puts us into a new position before Himself, and then makes us judge all that is inconsistent with that. Then, besides that, power is given; not a new nature merely, with cravings after what we have not got, but a new position, with power to judge practically all that is inconsistent with it. There will be that which will have to be judged within me, but I shall judge it in the consciousness of what God has given me in Christ.

There is the first Adam, of the earth, with those that pertain to him-earthy; and there is the second Man, the Lord from heaven. There are these two Adams, and I get in both the pattern and model of all other men that are after their image. I get the first Adam, fallen, wretched, corrupt; then I get the other Adam, that becomes, in a spiritual sense, the head of a race, as having taken that place in glory, according to God's counsels. I say, there is the pattern, and model, and head of that race. It is not merely a truth that the atonement has been made for us, in respect of what we were as belonging to the first Adam; but God has been glorified in respect of our sins; and having been glorified, He takes His great power to Himself, raises Christ out of the depths of death, and sets Him at His own right hand in heaven; and all His own are linked with Him there. Here, then, I have found a positive, actual deliverance; and so truly was this the case, that Christ can celebrate the name of God in association with others. "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren:in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee."

He can celebrate that name, in the presence of God His Father, in all the full blessedness of the light of His countenance, after He had taken the full weight of sin upon Him. Power had come in, as is said in Psalm 16:"Thou wilt not suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption." And He did not see corruption.

True, He had there to say, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" But He trusts Himself to God His Father, and God puts His seal upon Him by raising Him from the dead. Then I get in the resurrection of Christ the coming in of divine power in the very place where we were lying in ruin and helplessness, and where Christ was in grace for us; and it takes Him entirely out of it, and all His own with Him. Now I have the Man Christ Jesus in heaven, after atonement has been made, and after the question of sin has been settled in virtue of His having glorified God about it. I get Him now, in the place of power, as the object of God's counsels. For it is in Christ that all things are to be gathered together in one; and even now God has set Him head over all things to the Church.

The whole question of sin is thus settled in the resurrection of Christ. " If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins; but now is Christ risen from the dead"; and we are not in our sins. There I find the heavenly Man that has been down here and borne my sins, in power of resurrection in the presence of God. He is " the Lord from heaven" too. Mark this. Afterwards the apostle says, in the .Ephesians, that the very same power that wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead, is exercised in every one that believes. He desires that they may know "what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." Exactly the same power that wrought when God took Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand, has already wrought in you that believe, and you have a place with Him there; and therefore, "as is the heavenly, such also are they that are heavenly." We are in Christ in the presence of God. Now I get not desires only, but the answers to them. I have not merely a new nature, but I have what the new nature wants, because I have Christ. I want righteousness and holiness, and that is what I have, because I am in Christ. I want to be without fear in the presence of God, and I am in it because I am in Christ. God has taken me out of the place in which I was in misery and helplessness in the first Adam, and has put me in the place of the second Adam, before Himself, without a sin upon me, because all was judged in the person of Christ. Such is the condition into which Christ has brought us. The old Adam condition has been judged and set aside, and in the new Adam God has given us a place before Him.

I shall still feel the workings of the old nature, and have to judge it, but I see Christ taking it for me, and judgment executed upon it in His person on the cross; and now He is out of it all and alive for evermore, and so am I, for I am "in Him." Abridged from J. N. D.

THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK. (CHAPTER THREE.)

(Continued from Jan., 1908.)

The proper effect of divine ministry is to abase the soul in the presence of God, and to draw out the heart to Him in worship and adoration. It was so in the case of Habakkuk. He had been admitted into the secret counsels of Jehovah. His word had been brought home in power to his soul. The result is that he prostrates himself before Him in the attitude of prayer and worship. His prayer-poem is one of the sublimest portions of the Old Testament. While he is, as it were, overpowered by the sense of the majesty and omnipotence of God so that he trembles before Him, nevertheless he looks up with confidence to the only One who can bring revival and blessing to His chastened people, so rightfully under His rod because of their sins.

The term Shigionoth in the introductory line indicates that it was set to music. Blessed is it when all our prayers and supplications are thus made to partake of the character of praise. "Be careful for nothing," we are told, "but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God:and the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7). Praise well befits the lips of sinners saved by sovereign grace, however trying and perplexing their circumstances at times may be. David could compose a psalm to the same measure when in deep affliction. Psalm 7 is inscribed as " Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite." Cush is generally supposed to be another name for Shimei, who cursed him as he fled from Absalom his son. Shiggaion is the singular of Shigionoth. The actual meaning is not known with certainty; it is supposed to be "a wandering ode." In this measure, the prophet pours out his heart to the all-glorious One, who from of old had been the deliverer and the support of His redeemed people.

"O Jehovah, I have heard Thy speech," he says, " and I was afraid.

O Jehovah, revive Thy work in the midst of the years,

In the midst of the years make known;

In wrath remember mercy " (ver. 2).

The word of the Lord filled him with fear, as he realized something of the depravity of his own heart and the state of his people. Like Isaiah he could cry, "Woe is me for I am undone:because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." On the ground of merit he has nothing to plead. But as he remembers who it is with whom he has to do, he can supplicate, with confidence and assurance, for revival and blessing.

Because a people are under the hand of God for their failure to carry out His revealed will, is no reason to sink down in despair and conclude that the candlestick has been removed and all corporate testimony is gone. It is unbelief, not godly subjection, that leads saints to take ground like this. In so writing one thinks of that movement which in these last days resulted from the recovery of much precious truth, which had been treated as a dead letter for centuries. In the practical carrying out of that truth there has been undoubted failure of the most humiliating kind. As a result God has permitted division and strife to take the place of happy unity and holy fellowship. All this is cause for brokenness and humiliation on our part, but not for utter discouragement. Whatever failure may have ensued, God and His truth abide. "That which was from the beginning" is still with us, that we may order our ways thereby. To make failure a reason for further unfaithfulness is to walk in self-will, and to lose the force of the very lesson that our God would have us learn. Like Habakkuk, we have reason to take a very low place indeed; but like him, too, we can count upon God to be with us in that low place.

For revival he pleads; revival which we know God was pleased to grant when the chastisement had exercised His people. The remnant, delivered from Babylon, own the grace of the Lord in giving "a little reviving" in their bondage (Ezra 9:8). So, may we be assured, will our God delight to give revival now, though the hour be late, if He discerns among us that same spirit of lowly subjection to His will that we see here.

The wondrous way in which Jehovah of old had led Jacob like a flock through the wilderness, when He came from Teman and shined forth from mount Paran, when His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise is what the prophet contemplates as he pleads for present mercy. Vividly does he describe the march of the Mighty One of Israel through the desert, spreading terror and consternation among the heathen and filling His redeemed with exultation and rejoicing (vers. 3-6). He who had thus cared for His people before, would care for them still, however the enemy might rage.

Like a glorious panorama the marvelous scene is unfolded before his eyes. He sees the fiery pillar going before to drive out the hostile nations and to find out a path for the armies of the Lord. He beholds the floods rolling back to permit His chosen to pass through their beds. He notes the mystic river rolling from the smitten rock. He takes up the song of the book of Jasher as the sun and the moon obey the word of a man and stand still in their habitation. He hears the shout of the victor and the wail of the vanquished. And as he realizes that the Shepherd of Israel still abideth faithful, though so dreadfully dishonored, his inward parts tremble and his lips quiver at the voice of the divine Majesty. Rottenness enters, into his bones, all self-confidence is gone and he trembles in himself, that he may quietly rest in the day of trouble that is so soon to come upon the land; yea, that has already begun, for the invader had even then come up with his troops (vers. 7-16).

All this is but the proof that in Habakkuk's soul at least, revival had already taken place. Oh, to enter more fully into the same spirit!

The last three verses are the expression of a truly revived man who has learned to find all his springs in God. The apostle speaks in a similar strain in the 4th chapter of Philippians. In fact so closely are his words allied to what we have here that, as noted in the introduction, it would seem that he had this very scripture in mind when writing his epistle.

" Although the fig-tree shall not blossom,

Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labor of the olive shall fail,

And the fields shall yield no meat;

The flock shall be cut off from the fold,

And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength,

And He will make my feet like hinds' feet,

And He will make me to walk upon my high places. Unto the chief singer on my stringed instruments."

How great the difference in the opening and the closing of the burden of Habakkuk. He begins as a man bewildered and confused, who is filled with questions and perplexities. He closes as one who has found the answer to all his questions, and the satisfying portion of his soul in God Himself. This is most blessed. As we thus are permitted to enter into the varied experiences that this man of like passions with ourselves passed through, till the Lord alone filled the vision of his soul and satisfied his every longing, likewise resolving all his doubts and difficulties, we get some little sense of what may be the sustaining portion of our own hearts if He be but permitted to have His own way with us in all things. Crops might fail, flocks might be destroyed, fields might be barren, and cattle be cut off ; but God would abide, and in Him was abundant supply to meet every need. He is the God of our salvation. He is the strength of our hearts. What more can we crave ?

Happy in this glorious consciousness, Habakkuk, and we too, can walk, in faith, on our high places, far above the mists and snares of earth. Like the goats of the 104th psalm (ver. 18), we will be enabled to mount up to the top of the rocks and dwell in the high hills. Surely if a child of God in the twilight of a past dispensation could so exult and triumph over all circumstances, we who live in the full blaze of the day of grace may well be stirred up to a holy jealousy, that continually dwelling "in the heavenlies," we may daily be found overcoming through the power of faith!

The closing line is the dedication, and is unspeakably precious. The Chief Singer on the stringed instruments is, for us, none other than our Lord Jesus Christ; who, as the risen One now leads the praises of His redeemed. As His hand sweeps the wonderful strings of the hearts of His people, what strains of heavenly melody greet the ear of our God and Father, and salute angelic hosts unnumbered who are to learn through the Church the manifold wisdom of God.

Alas that so many of our hearts are so often out of tune! Only by constant self-judgment and careful walking in the Spirit shall we be maintained in suited condition to add to the sweetness of the great orchestra of the Chief Singer! H. A. I.

Although the poor thief had no longer the use of his hands and his feet-so indispensable to a religion of works-his heart and his tongue were free; and these are the very things that are called into exercise in a religion of faith, as we read in that lovely tenth of Romans, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Precious words! How suited to the thief on the cross! How suited and seasonable for every poor helpless, hopeless, self-destroyed sinner! And we must all be saved in like manner as the thief on the cross. There are no two ways to heaven. There is not one way for the religionist, the moralist, the Pharisee, and another way for the malefactor. There is but one way, and that way is marked from the very throne of God down to where the guilty sinner lies, dead in trespasses and sins, with the footprints of redeeming love; and from thence back to the throne by the precious atoning blood of Christ. This is the way to heaven – a way paved with love, sprinkled with blood, and trodden by a happy holy band of redeemed worshipers gathered from all the ends of the earth, to chant the heavenly anthem, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain."

We have said that the heart of the thief was free; yes, free under the mighty action of the Holy Ghost, to turn toward that blessed One who hung beside him-that One whom he had just been reviling, but on whom he could now fix his repentant gaze, and to whom he could now bear the noblest testimony ever uttered by men or angels.

But it is most instructive and interesting to mark the progress of the work of God in the soul of the dying thief. Indeed the work of God in any soul is ever of the deepest possible interest. The operations of the Holy Spirit in us must never be separated from the work of Christ for us ; and, we may add, both the one and the other are founded upon, and inseparably linked with the eternal counsels of God with respect to us. This is what makes it all so real, so solid, so entirely divine. It is not of man. It is all of God, from first to last-from the first dawning of conviction in the soul until it is introduced into the full-orbed light of the glorious gospel of the grace of God. The Lord be praised that it is so! Were it otherwise-were there a single atom of the creature in it, from beginning to end, that one atom would neutralize and destroy the whole, and render it not worth having.

Now in the case of the penitent thief, we discern the first touch of the Eternal Spirit-the very earliest fruit of His sanctifying work, in the words addressed to his fellow, "Dost thou not fear God?" He does not say, " Dost thou not fear punishment ?" The sanctification of the Spirit, in every case, is evidenced by the fear of the Lord, and a holy abhorrence of evil for its own sake. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." There may be a fear of judgment, a fear of hell, a fear of the consequences of sin, without the smallest particle of hatred of sin itself. But where the Spirit of God is really at work in the heart, He produces the real sense of sin and the judgment thereof in the sight of God.

This is repentance; let the reader ponder it deeply. It is a grand reality; an essential element, in every case. " God commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent" (Acts 17:30). There is no getting over this-no setting it aside. Some may seek to do away with man's responsibility on the plea of his inability to do anything right or good. They may seek to persuade us that it is useless, yea unsound, to call upon men to repent and believe, seeing that men can do nothing of themselves. But the question is, what is the meaning of the words which we have just culled from the apostle's address at Athens ? Did Paul preach the truth? Was he sound in the faith? Was he sufficiently high in doctrine ? Well then Paul declares, in the clearest and most emphatic manner, that "God commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent." Will any turn round and say they cannot? Will any venture to deny man's responsibility to obey a divine command ? If so, where are they ? On very dangerous ground. If God commands all men to repent, woe be to those who refuse to do so; and woe be to those who teach that they are not responsible to do so.

But let us devote a few moments to the examination of this great practical question in the light of the New Testament. Let us see whether our Lord and His apostles called upon men-"all men, everywhere, to repent."

In the third chapter of Matthew's Gospel, we read, "In these days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye:for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

It will, perhaps, be said that John addressed himself specially to Israel-a people in recognized relationship with Jehovah-and hence this passage cannot be adduced in proof of the universal and abiding necessity of repentance. Well, we merely quote it here in order to show that man, whether Jew or Gentile, is responsible to repent, and that the very first voice which falls upon the ear, in the time of the New Testament, is heard calling sinners to repentance. Was the Baptist right or wrong? Was he trespassing upon the domain of sound doctrine when he summoned men to repent? Would some of our modern theologians have called him aside, after he was done preaching, and taken him to task for deceiving men by leading them to suppose that they could repent? We should like to have heard the Baptist's reply.

But we have the example of a greater than John the Baptist, as our warrant for preaching repentance, for in Matthew 4:we read, "From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Dare any one turn round and say to the divine Preacher, "We cannot repent. We have no power. We are not responsible!" Ah, no! men may argue and reason, and talk theology; but there stands the living record before us-Jesus called upon men to repent, and that, too, without entering, in any way, upon the question of man's ability here or there. He addressed man as a responsible being, as one who was imperatively called to judge himself and his ways, to confess his sins, and repent in dust and ashes. The only true place for a sinner is the place of repentance; and if he refuses to take that place in the presence of divine grace, he will be compelled to take it in the presence of divine judgment, when repentance will be too late. "God commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent."

Passing on to the opening of the Acts of the Apostles, we are privileged to hearken to Peter's address on the day of Pentecost-the most fruitful sermon ever preached in this world – crowned with the glorious result of three thousand souls! And what did Peter preach ? He preached Christ, and he called upon men to repent. Yes, the great apostle of the circumcision insisted upon repentance- self – judgment – true contrition of heart before God. "Then said Peter unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38). And, again, "Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Chap. 3:19).
Was Peter right in calling upon men to repent and be converted ? Would any one be justified in saying to him, at the close of his preaching, " How can men repent ? How can they be converted ? They can do nothing." We should vastly like to hear Peter's reply. One thing is certain, the power of the Holy Ghost accompanied the preaching. He set His seal to it, and that is enough. "God commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent." Woe to all who refuse.

We have already referred to the preaching of the blessed apostle of the Gentiles, and the great teacher of the Church of God. He himself, referring to his ministry at Ephesus, declares in the audience of the elders, "I kept back nothing that was profitable, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:20, 21). So also, in his pungent address to Agrippa, he says, " I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision; but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." C. H. M.

Thus we have a body of evidence, drawn from Scripture, such as cannot be gainsaid, proving the universal and abiding necessity of repentance. " God commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent." There is no avoiding this. Let men beware how they set it aside. No system of theology can be sound that denies the responsibility of the sinner to repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

Dear Brother:

I have read "The Gates of Jerusalem," by Mr. E. I think the fundamental error of the tract is the expression quoted from another:"The idea creates the organization, the organization destroys the idea." I think also that probably the author of the expression used it in a sense quite different from that given to it in this tract. The truth is, that, failing to realize the unity of the Spirit, organization has been resorted to as a means of securing unity, the result being an outward unity-a human form of unity-not the unity of the Spirit. No human organization is needful to maintain the truth that all saints possess a common life. And to make that fact the principle of practical communion is unholy. To refuse practical fellowship to a brother who in practice is attaching an unholy character to the common life is a holy necessity, if practical fellowship is to be maintained consistently with the character of the fact of a common life. Exclusion from, practical fellowship of those who falsify the character of a common life is not a denial of the possession of a common life.

The reasoning of the tract on the difference between Paul and John is simply giving up "the form of sound words " as given by the Spirit through Paul. Is it true that there are to be no Timothy’s now to hold and maintain Paul's teaching and practice ? The point in Mr. Darby's advice, "Let not John's writings be forgotten while insisting on Paul's," is missed altogether. He did not advise to give up Paul for a misunderstood John. Mr. Darby's thought was that occupation with "the display" (Paul), unbalanced by occupation with "the thing displayed" (John), tended to pride and self-importance. It is one thing to glory in what we are through grace, quite another to glory in God Himself. It is one thing to have ourselves and our wonderful blessing before us, quite another to be unconscious of ourselves in the sense of what God is. C. Crain

"One Anna." Luke 2 :36-38.

Why so many details about a lone woman, of whom we hear no more ? The reason is simple. God was the center of all the aspirations of her soul so she abode where He dwelt. God therefore takes marked interest in everything which concerns her.

Would that it were so with us all! that as she "departed not from the temple," so we might live more constantly in the word of God, where we imbibe His mind, learn in our own souls what He is, what we are, and the true judgment of everything. This is not looking after new things, though we shall ever find enough to draw our souls along; it is dwelling in the atmosphere of His presence, instead of that of this world; our minds being formed by His thoughts instead of the thoughts of man-man in ourselves or in others.

Here in a fallen, revolted world whose mind is ever against God's, we have need of that walled protection which shuts us off from the one and shuts us in with the other.

"Christ loved the Church." Eph. 5:25.

Nowhere in Scripture does divine love express itself with such pathos as in relation to the Church. It is evident it has made a nest for itself there above every other. The plain teaching of the epistles, especially that to the Ephesians, as well as the various types of the Old Testament which refer to it, plainly show this.

What a loss, therefore, to the people of God it must be to miss the apprehension of it, with its sanctifying effect! What a loss to limit the gospel to the salvation of the individual, as is so largely done, and pass by lightly, if not wholly, that precious part of it which shows what the Spirit is forming with the individuals that are saved!

The holy joy of this made Paul most solicitous for the welfare of the assemblies of Christ, for in each one of these assemblies he saw an expression of "the Church, which is His body," and their first and chief object is for Christ's own delight. With such a thought in mind, what care would he not bestow upon them-what labor, what trials, would he not endure ? It secured the blessing of the saints too, for the greater ever includes the less.

None could be a more earnest evangelist than he, none more self-denying in fishing after the souls of men; but Christ's delights had the uppermost place in his soul; therefore he did not shrink from declaring all the counsel of God-whatever be the responsibilities involved-whatever be the forsaking of men, even from among the brethren.

Rest of the saints above, Jerusalem of God;
Who, in thy palaces of love,
Thy golden streets have trod

To me thy joy to tell ?
Those courts secure from ill,
Where God Himself vouchsafes to dwell,
And every bosom fill!

Who shall to me that joy
Of saint-thronged courts declare-
Tell of that constant, sweet employ,
My spirit longs to share ?

That rest, secure from ill,
No cloud of grief e'er stains;
Unfailing praise each heart doth fill,
And love eternal reigns.

The Lamb is there, my soul!
There God Himself doth rest
In love divine-diffused through all
With Him supremely blest.

God and the Lamb!'Tis well;
I know that source divine
Of joy and love no tongue can tell,
Yet know that all is mine!

Jonah was a proud man, a selfish man, an impatient man. What numbers of Jonahs there are among the saints of God to-day, alas! He could not bear to have his reputation touched. If he prophesied the overthrow of the city, it must take place, so that his reputation should stand. What mattered it to Jonah that one hundred and twenty thousand irresponsible lives would have to be sacrificed to please him! (chap. 4:11.) The people must not be allowed to repent, and God must not allow Himself the joy of pardoning them and withholding the threatened judgment, in order that Jonah's character should stand! It is really an awful picture as one looks at it.

Then, again, Jonah was a Jew, and a proud one, and he could not bear the thought of mercy being shown to the Gentiles of Nineveh. Were not they (the Jews) the chosen people ? Why then should mercy be shown to those heathen ? Moreover, he knew that if he carried the message and they believed it, God would not do it, and thus his reputation would suffer ; he would therefore run away, rather than carry the message to them. Poor, proud, foolish, self-willed Jonah! Fortune too seemed to favor him; there was a ship all ready, just about to sail to Tarshish; he would book a passage in her and flee there!

Moreover, he was independent; he could pay his fare! Why should he not go ? He would do it, rather than carry that message for God and imperil his character as a prophet; so "he fled from the presence of the Lord," and went down to Joppa. What a striking word that is, dear brethren, "he went down"/ The start was easy enough, but the end was sorrow and disaster. He went down to Joppa (ver. 3, chap. i). He went down into the ship (ver. 3). He went down into the sides of the ship to sleep (ver. 5). He was cast forth over the side of the ship and went down to the bottoms of the mountains (chap. 2 :6). Jonah was running away, and God was running after him. Ah, brethren, in such a case it is always "down."

What folly to try and flee from God! Far better do His bidding, whatever the consequences. How infinitely better to "serve the Lord with gladness," assured that His service is wisest and best, and brings "great reward." If otherwise, then, like Jonah, we find the path is "down" and it ends in humiliation and sorrow of heart. See Jer. 2:17-19.

It was only when Jonah had reaped the sad fruits of his own self-will and tasted death and resurrection, at least in figure, that he was "prepared and fit for the Master's use." Then it is we again hear the command, "Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee" (chap. 3:2). And "Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord."

It takes some of us a long time to reach the point where the Lord can be with us and bless us, and use us in His service. It is sometimes a long road down to death. Yet it is the saint who has accepted death, and seen the end of self in the death of the Lord Jesus, who rejoices in the joy of a new life, energized by the Holy Ghost dwelling in him-in a word, who has learnt deliverance in a practical way- that can serve the Lord "with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart" (Deut. 28:47). It is one thing to speak about it; it is quite another to have traveled the road in our own experience, and reached it. It brings all our pride and selfishness and impatience into the dust of death. It molds and mellows the heart and affections after a divine pattern, and enables us not only to show grace, but rejoice in every display of it, whenever and however seen.

This murmuring and grumbling at the Lord showing grace to outsiders reminds us of that New Testament Jonah in Luke 15 – the prodigal's elder brother. He too could not bear the thought of the Father's heart going out to his prodigal brother. He would limit the affections of his Father to the miserable and narrowed extent of his own; while his pure, unadulterated pharisaism would claim blessing on the ground of human merit, and refuse it to those who, as he thought, could not advance such claim. Ah, the absence of grace within our own hearts soon displays itself in the refusal of it to others. The heart must be "established in grace" to rejoice in its display to others.

The photograph of these twin brothers, if we might so call them, is certainly not an inviting one, and may well exercise our hearts and preserve us from following in their steps. There is another view of them, however, which puts them before us in a different light, and shows what a change grace can work. The action of these two men, Jonah and the elder brother, is simply the characteristic conduct of the Jews as such, who cannot bear the idea of grace going out to Gentiles. But in psalm 67 how great the change! Grace is at work. Hear it! "God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us," they say. But why? Is this the miserable, selfish prayer of those who have made self their center? Far from it. It is the prayer of those whose hearts go out for the blessing of others, but who know that the others cannot get that blessing till they have got theirs :hence their prayer in verse i, and the reason given, in verse 2-"that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations."

How delightful to hear them asking the Lord to " Let the people praise Thee, O God. . . . O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; " and " Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him." What a contrast is this-praying for their own blessing, but in order that others may get theirs ! The Jew must be blessed first; then it will be, "Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people." May we each and all cultivate more the spirit of the Master, and have our affections constantly going out for the blessing of others, till we reach our journey's end, and find ourselves at home forever. Wm. Easton
New Zealand

If we are not of necessity moving on to some particular end in life which must be realized; if the measure of our responsibility is only here; if we are not to be concerned about the future-that which is after death; then may we be contented with the conclusions of science. I say not her facts, but her conclusions. The facts of science ever remain, but not so the often unsound conclusions of her advocates.

If what conduces to comfort and success here is the chief aim; if we are not required to arrive at certainties in matters of another scene; if we need not be troubled with doubts of the correctness of many theories and conclusions, then we need not refuse the wisdom of this world:we can enjoy it or not as it suits our pleasure or profit. If there are no eternal realities, we need not be disturbed by fears of evil consequences, lest, peradventure, their conclusions be false. What matters it if the conclusions of the wise men of the earth are false, if we are nothing more than creatures of time ? seeing that neither they nor we are any the worse for the error, since our practical lives are affected neither for the better nor for the worse thereby. Let the nebular hypothesis be true, if it be so that man has no account to render to God. Let evolution be true and the Bible false, if it be that we are not subject to authority. If man does not fear an eternal destiny, and has no account to give of his sins, what matters it what the Bible says, or what the philosophers say ? In that case, it matters little indeed.

But suppose we must know about eternity, about the consequences of our sins, how to get right with God ? Then we feel that it does matter what men say. Then we fear to trust the conclusions of science. Then we have no confidence in the wise men of the earth. When we seek knowledge that will leave us with a sense of having arrived at certainties, we no longer look to science. We need a voice higher than science, a voice from God Himself. If I must rest upon something certain for truth of eternity, of my responsibility to God, I find no resting-place outside of God. Himself has spoken. And there I find all that my mind and soul require for perfect rest and peace. In the Bible I find what carries conviction with it, and leaves me with a feeling of having found that which deals with certainties, and tells me infallibly of God and my responsibility. The conclusions of science leave no convictions on the mind about the very things that are of chief importance to me. But the Bible leaves nothing to be desired. When Paul says he was made "a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth" we are convinced that it is so. The conclusions of science foster distrust and doubt:the Bible produces faith-trust- confidence. Science fosters errors about eternal things-things beyond its ken:the Bible presents truth. I cannot rest in peace on what the wise men say, but I find perfect peace in resting on the truth of Scripture. The Bible tells me I am a sinner in God's sight; but it also tells me that Jesus died for sinners. It tells me that I am lost if left to myself; but it also tells me that by simply trusting in Jesus I am eternally saved. It tells me that I am a child of wrath by nature; it also tells me that by believing on God's beloved Son I am born again and made a child of God, and the Spirit of adoption in me makes me cry, Abba, Father. Let men "rest" in the uncertainties of scientific conclusions if they will; but faith shall go on meanwhile, resting in the precious assurances of Scripture. Let unbelief drift on-it matters not where. Faith knows that we are facing a future of tremendous importance, that we must be prepared for it, and that only the Bible gives us the infallible information required, and hence that we are not free to choose as it may please us, but that it is a matter of being guided by God's word to life and bliss above; or, refusing its light, to spending eternity in darkness and woe. Solemn things, these! F. H. J.

"Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord."-Deut. 8 :3.

While reading "Christ and the Scriptures," by the late Adolph Saphir, blessed thoughts came to mind, how in our Lord's entire earthly life, and even in His dying agonies, His never-failing thought was to honor the Scriptures, and that His every act bore on this as well. How often does the Lord, in His teachings and interviews with all classes, raise the question, "What saith the Scripture ?" " How readest thou ?" Or He states, " It is written," etc. Then His acts are constantly referred to as in fulfilment of Scripture. Let us look a little at a few of these instances, and notice His love and reverence for them.

At the early age of twelve He would impress upon His mother the one purpose of His life:"Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business ?" (Luke 2:49). Can there be a doubt of its being the Scriptures which were the subject of questions and answers with the doctors of the law in the temple? (Luke 2:46, 47).

He meets and binds Satan in the wilderness solely by Scripture, three times quoted (Luke 4:1-13).

In the early part of His ministry we find Him in the synagogue of Nazareth on the Sabbath-day, standing up to read from the book of the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4:16-21). He finds the place where it is written, " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord " (Isa. 61:i, 2). He closes the book, saying, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

When His disciples inquire as to His speaking to the people in parables (Matt. 13 :10), He replies that He speaks in parables in order that may be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet:" Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not," etc. (Isa. 6:9, 10.)

He appeals to the multitude (Matt, 11:10) for recognition of John the Baptist's mission, claiming, "This is He of whom it is written " (Mal. 3:i).

How did He vindicate His disciples (Matt. 12:3, 4) as they plucked the ears of corn to satisfy their hunger on the Sabbath-day ? By the Word, recalling to them David's conduct (i Sam. 21:1-6).

In Matt. 12:16 He charges the people Whom He has healed "that they should not make Him known:that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold My Servant, whom I have chosen; My Beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased:I will put My Spirit upon Him" (Isa. 42:i).

Concerning His ride into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:4-9) we are told, "All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass" (Zech. 9:9).
In John 12:37 and 15:24, 25 we are told that, "though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him, that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled; '' Lord, who hath believed our report?" etc. (Isa. 53:1.) The Lord speaks of their hatred and rejection of Him, adding, "But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated Me without a cause "(Ps. 69:4). In John 17:14 the Lord mentions the Father's word as the great legacy He has given His disciples.

He enters the temple at Jerusalem (Matt. 21:12), and casts out the traffickers there, saying, "It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people" (Isa. 56:7).

He corrects the Sadducees who come to Him, tempting Him as to the one true husband out of seven which a certain woman had, saying that they do err, ''not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God" (Matt. 22:23-29). Then He adds, in ver. 31, "As touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living " (Ex. 3:6).

To the Pharisees, who could not endure the affirmation of His deity, He quotes Ps. 110:1, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool"; and asks them how it was that Christ is David's Son, since David in spirit calls Him Lord. By this question He completely silences them (Matt. 22:41-46).

How carefully He distinguishes between the teachings and the lives of the scribes and Pharisees, as those who "sit in Moses' seat"; telling the people, "Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works:for they say, and do not" (Matt. 23:3). Their works were evil, but the word of God which they taught was good.

To the lawyer who, tempting Him, asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus replied (taking him on his own ground of works), " What is written in the law ?" To the lawyer's scriptural answer Jesus replies, " This do, and thou shalt live" (Luke 10:25-28).

In His narration of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man entreats Abraham to send Lazarus to his brethren on the earth, "that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment"; but Abraham replies, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them … if they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead " (Luke 16:27-31).

When he warns the people (Luke 20:16, 17) that the Lord of the vineyard, whose husbandmen have been unfaithful, will come to destroy them, they reply, "God forbid." He then immediately asks, "What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner ?" (Psalm 118:22.)

At His betrayal He saith, "The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him " (Matt. 26:24).

With the eleven, on the mount of Olives (Matt. 26:31), He declares, "All ye shall be offended because of Me this night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd" (Zech. 13:7); and when Peter would smite with the sword, the Lord prevents him by saying, " How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be " (Matt. 26:54).

Just before Peter's denial and Judas' betrayal (Luke 22:37), He tells His disciples that "this that is written must yet be accomplished in Me :He was numbered with the transgressors " (Isa. 53; 12); "for the things concerning Me have an end"-soon all that was written in the Scriptures concerning His humiliation and sufferings would be finished.

In the distribution of His raiment (John 19:23, 24) Scripture must be fulfilled (Ps. 22:18).

In Jno. 19:28, "Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst" (Ps. 69:21).

A soldier must pierce His side (John 19 :34) to fulfil Scripture-"They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10).

To the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, whom after His resurrection He met, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).

Then Jesus comes into their midst at Jerusalem, and tells them, " These are the words which I spake unto you . . . that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me "(Luke 24; 44-46). May the Lord bless this brief survey of our Lord's mind in relation to the Holy Scriptures, that His dear people may live of and in them more! They vivify; they sanctify; they link us with Him, and with our home above.

Let us who believe cleave with full purpose of heart to the whole word of God in this evil day, when Higher Critics are all agreed to undermine and destroy, so far as in them lies, the "Book of books."
L.

QUES. 24.-Rom. 1 :18, the last part, "Who hold the truth in unrighteousness." What class of people are these?

ANS.-They are the people whose practical life is in opposition to the light which they possess. Such were the Gentiles under the light of creation, as seen in what follows the verse from which you quote. The works of God all about them proclaimed, in the heavens above, the glory of God, and in the earth beneath, His goodness and benevolence and marvelous wisdom. They turned their backs to all this, and betook themselves to the worship of creatures lower than themselves, and objects carved or cast by their own hands. They sinned against their light. Their philosophers could write finely on virtuous living while deep moral degradation marked their ways.

The Jews had more. They had a revelation added to the light of creation, and their practical ways were so bad that it is said of them (chap. 2 :24), "For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you." Their scribes and Pharisees and doctors could preach well to the people, but "they say, and do not," said the Saviour of them.

And yet worse of Christians who, to, the light of creation and of the revelation which God had given to the Jews, have the added light of the New Testament-a light that shines as the noonday sun ! So contrary to that light has the general practice of Christendom become, that its final character is described as "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth " (Rev. 17 :5), and its doom exhibited in Rev. 18.

It is a deadly thing to walk behind one's light, in whatever degree it may be done, and in whatever relations toward God.

This psalm sets forth the true condition of soul in which the believer should be found-the state which the blessed God would have all His people in-"Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him:God is a refuge for us "-a condition of soul we may well earnestly covet to be in. Consider it, my soul, and seek to have something like a due sense of its importance, and of its blessedness-of the joy and blessing flowing from it to the soul; and how God Himself finds occasion, when the soul is waiting only on Him, to manifest Himself in delivering grace. Thus God is known through practical experience, and thus the saint grows in the knowledge of God Himself.

Waiting upon God is the subject of the psalm. Now there cannot be waiting upon God apart from subjection of will to the will of God, dependence on Him, and confidence in Him. Saul in i Sam. 13 is a striking and instructive instance of self-will at work, recorded for our instruction, and as a beacon, warning us of the danger and sad consequences of acting in independence. Samuel had pledged his word in chapter 10 that he would come down to Gil-gal, and, as the prophet of the Lord, would offer burnt-offerings and sacrifices-sacrifices of peace-offerings-giving Saul the injunction that he was to tarry seven days till he (Samuel) should come down and show him what to do. Now this was a commandment of the Lord-"Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord, which He commanded thee" (ver. 13). Saul had gained a glorious victory over the Ammonites, recorded in chapter 11. He had been anointed to be captain over the Lord's inheritance, and, now the testing time had come, he could not wait.

This is the first crisis in Saul's history, and what clearly indicates the absence of faith. He blew a trumpet throughout the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." But though the Spirit of God records the word used by Saul, not so does He call them, but according to their distinctive name which He has given them-"and all Israel heard." Saul looks at them as his people, and fails to recognize the relationship into which God had brought them as His people Israel.

How instructive it is to note the names in Scripture. We read, "Some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead." As Hebrews they had crossed over; for that is the meaning of the word Hebrew-"crossed over"; and they were now Israel-the people of the Lord; but having abandoned that ground, they forfeited that precious name. What a solemn lesson for our souls! How it shows the deep need of having the sense sustained in our souls of the new names that we bear- saints by calling; children of God by new-birth tie! We can only answer to the relationship in which, in infinite grace, God has placed us, according to the measure of our enjoyment of it.

The sad consequence of Saul's failure is recorded in i Sam. 13:14:"But now thy kingdom shall not continue:the Lord hath sought (margin, found) Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over His people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee." Such is the result of acting in independence of God, in insubjection of will! How solemn to think that one wrong step may cripple any child of God for life! How true that word, "Happy is the man that feareth always " !

And now, what is implied in "waiting upon God " ? And how does the Holy Ghost produce this blessed and much-to-be-coveted condition, and the blessing flowing from it ? First, there must be subjection of will-a broken will. How slow we are to learn the force of that word, '' He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" ! and, failing in having a sense of this, our will acts, and there is but a feeble, or it may be a total, absence of exercise about or reference to the will of God. What a striking instance of subjection to the will of God we see in the case of Job! The blessed God, in His purpose of infinite love, permitted Satan, though carried out by others, to bring about that dire disaster when Job not only lost his asses, oxen, sheep, camels, and property, but his sons and daughters as well; yet he fell on his face and worshiped, saying, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Other instances might be cited; but what eclipses them all is found in the Lord Jesus Himself, who came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him, yet at the same time keenly susceptible and sensitive to the rejection He experienced from those among whom He had performed His mighty works. How one covets more of His spirit in that way! See Him in that 11th of Matthew, feeling, as it were, " I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain "; yet He could utter those precious words, " Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight." How beautiful! how precious!

Then Gethsemane ! What absolute subjection ! far beyond our comprehension-feeling so intensely, though only in anticipation, what it would be to take our place and bear the penalty due to our sins -to take Calvary's cup and drink it! Well may we sing:

"Death and the curse were in our cap-
O Christ, 'twas full for Thee !
But Thou hast drained the last dark drop,
'Tis empty now for me."

Yet even then He said, " Thy will be .done."

Then, connected with this subjection to God's will, there will be dependence upon God-" Trust in Him at all times." The constant tendency of our hearts is to go down to Egypt for help instead of depending on God:like Abraham when he went there; or Isaac during the second famine, when he went to Gerar. On the other hand, just notice what a precious unfolding there is of blessings which flow to those who depend on God, set forth in Jer. 17:7 -9 !

How well may we trust our Father and God who spared not His own Son, and who will, with Him, also freely give us all things!-whose observant and minute care over us is taught us in those precious words of Jesus that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, and we are of more value than many sparrows. What an example of unwavering dependence is seen in the Saviour Himself in the wilderness! Though sensitive to and feeling the pangs of hunger after forty days' fasting, yet He would not be tempted to act in independence of God. How perfect, and how beautiful!

Then the third element implied in all true waiting upon God is surely confidence in God.

The above is an unfinished article found among the papers of our dearly beloved brother John Graham, of Masterton, New Zealand, who went home to be with the Lord on July 7, 1908, aged 71 years. W. Easton.

(John 20 :19.)

What a suited, solid word for trembling, fearful hearts! A word coming from the lips of the blessed Son of God, who has been down into death, and under the judgment of God against sin, but who now, being risen, is triumphant on the other side of death. He imparts to His own who believe in Him the virtue of His victory over Satan, death, judgment, and the grave. He introduces them into a new order of things-into a new sphere (John 20:19); brings them into complete oneness with Himself in resurrection in every way, making them to be sharers in all that He is brought into Himself (chap. 17).

While the precious blood of Christ is the basis and foundation of the believer's peace and joy, God would not that we should stop short of resurrection-life being known as a blessed reality, and as a divine fact in the soul. Christ having made peace by the blood of His cross (Col. i:20), God directs us to that cross as the ground of our peace, that cross where all our responsibilities as sinners were met, and where every claim that a holy and righteous God had against us was satisfied. Faith owns and accepts this; and looking up, sees on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens the Vindicator of God's righteousness and the Purger of our sins (Heb. i:3)-the One who "was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 4:25; 5:1); more than this, we have the consciousness of present divine favor (ver. 2). What a wonderful thing! not only peace of conscience about our sins, but peace with God as God is, and where Christ is.

How blessed the portion of those who have received Jesus the Son of God as their Saviour! They have passed from death unto life. He is their righteousness, their life, their redemption, their present and future portion.

'' To you therefore which believe He is precious " (1 Peter 2:7). Wr.

CHAPTER TWO (Verses 9-20).

(Continued from Dec., 1907.)

The woes that follow have their application not only to the king of Babylon, and his cruel, relentless armies, but they declare the mind of God regarding any who are in the same unholy ways.

"Woe to him that coveteth! " The sentence, uncompleted, causes the special sin to which attention is drawn to stand out all the clearer. It was covetousness that drew the hordes of Chaldea to the gates of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar would add "an evil gain to his house " (literal rendering), that he might magnify himself and "set his nest on high." But though he might build a costly and magnificent palace by means of the spoils he should take, the very stones would cry out of the wall, and the beam of the timber would answer, exclaiming, "Woe unto him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity" (vers. 9-12).

Covetousness is unquestionably the crying sin of the present day. Insidiously it creeps in and lays hold of the people of God as well as of men of the world. Yet it is a sin against which the word of God warns with fearful solemnity. It has proven the undoing of many an otherwise valiant man, and has destroyed the pilgrim character of thousands.

What, then, is covetousness ?And how is it to be distinguished from honorable thrift and a proper use of opportunities whereby to provide things honest in the sight of all men ? In our English Bibles four words are used to express the one sin-"covetous-ness," "concupiscence," "lust," "desire."

The believer is exhorted to be content;" as we read, "having food and raiment, let us be therewith content."Covetousness is the very opposite of this. It is the unsatisfied craving of the heart for more than God has been pleased to give."Covetous-ness," we are told, "is idolatry"!Then it is plain that the covetous man is the one who puts gain between his soul and God. Anything that turns us from heart-occupation with Him is an idol. By this we may readily test ourselves as to where we stand. The sluggard and the shiftless are not commended by the word of God, but rigorously condemned, and exhorted to thrift and energy. But to run to the other extreme, and to set the heart upon business and the accumulation of wealth, is equally fatal to spirituality. The happy medium is that laid down by the Holy Ghost, who bids us be "not remiss in zeal, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."When He is served all else will fall into place. I shall then use this world "not disposing of it as my own," but shall hold all committed to me as His steward.

One cannot but feel that, had we a single eye as to this, we should hear less of pilgrims embarking in doubtful (not to say shady) business schemes and speculations, because of possible large profits; the failure of which ofttimes brings grave dishonor on that holy name by which we are called. It may be laid down as an axiom, that no saint should be in way connected with any business, however profitable, that could not bear the searching inspection of Him "whose eyes are as a flame of fire."

If it be otherwise, there may seem to be present success and assured prosperity, but it shall turn out at last as Habakkuk has written, " Behold, is it not of the Lord of Hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity ?" (ver. 13). Another passage says:" Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks:walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of My hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow" (Isa. 50:n). How many, alas, have had to prove this to the full! Laboring in the very fire, they have wearied themselves in the search for vanity; kindling their own fire, and walking in the light of its sparks, they have had to lie down in sorrow, because of their neglect of the word of the Lord.

But however great the apparent triumph of sin in the present time, the outlook is all bright for the man of faith. When the present evil age is passed away, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (ver. 14). Who that has part in the coming day of glory but would gladly surrender all present gain, were it his to live once more a life of faith during the rejection of his Lord and Redeemer! But it will then be too late to be faithful. For all self-seeking we shall "suffer loss" in the time when those who have held all here in view of the coming of the Lord shall have an entrance ministered unto them abundantly into His everlasting kingdom.

The next woe is pronounced upon him that giveth his neighbor drink in order to encompass his destruction and manifest his shame. It is that wretched hypocrisy that speaks fair, while hatred fills the heart; that unholy dissimulation which leads one to proffer a soothing but brain-intoxicating drought to another in order to accomplish his ruin (vers. 15-17). Terrible shall be the recompense of Jehovah when He makes inquisition for blood! To put an occasion of stumbling in the way of another is to draw down judgment on one's own head. He who causes one of Christ's little ones to fall, might better have had a millstone tied to his neck, and be thrown into the depths of the sea!

The final woe is against idolatry, the making and worshiping of the idols in which Babylon boasted. But the idol and its worshiper shall perish together in the hour of Jehovah's fury (vers. 18, 19). He alone is God over all, blessed forever, now manifested in flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ.

" The Lord is in His holy temple:let all the earth keep silence before Him" (ver. 20). When He speaks, it is for man to hear, and to bow in subjection to His word. Thus has Habakkuk heard His voice, and His anxious questionings vanish. His heart is at rest and his soul awed before the majesty of Jehovah's glory. May we too be of the same chastened and humbled spirit. H. A. I.

(To be continued, D. V.)

Behold, a sower went forth to sow."This is the first, the fundamental parable which furnishes the key to the right understanding of all the rest:"Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables ?" (Mark 4:13).The use of parables is to convey what is spiritual by the ordinary things of this life.

The parable of the sower carries us back to the beginning of life. Just as in nature it is by the sowing of seed that life is first introduced into a barren soil, so it is by the infusion of truth that life eternal is formed in the human soul. In the natural world, sowing is not the first process. The ground in its natural state is not adapted to the reception and growth of seed. It may be covered with a dense forest, or with tangled growth, which has to be cut down or rooted out. Stones may cover its surface, needing to be cleared away. Marshes may be there, requiring to be drained away. Then the plow must follow, making deep its furrows, and breaking up the soil in which the seed sown may send its root downward and its stem upward for a harvest. But it is a significant circumstance that our Lord does not begin His parabolic teaching with any of these preparatory processes. The ax of all the holy prophets and godly men of old had done that, and the last of them, the Forerunner, had by his baptism completed the work. The time of grace had come now. " The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; . . . the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land" (Cant. 2:11, 12).

It is in these circumstances that the sower goes forth to sow; and most beautifully does our Saviour in this parable symbolize the character in which He Himself, the great Sower, appeared on earth. The function of the sower is not destructive, but constructive. His mission is not to remove anything from the soil, to destroy anything in it or on it, but to cast something into it that it does not in itself possess-something that has life and will impart life. And by the development of this seed in the soil the wilderness is converted into a garden, the barren soil yields a harvest, and the owner of the land has profit and delight.

Thus was it with our blessed Lord. The analogy applies to Him in the most perfect way. He came to impart that which would give life to any who received it. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). He came not to destroy men's lives, but to save; not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might have life. Men had become separated from their source of supply, and they must first become livingly connected with Him before they can yield any fruit acceptable to God or profitable to themselves. All man's cultivation of this barren soil, in the absence of truth, was as if the farmer should content himself by plowing and harrowing his field without putting seed into it. Our Saviour came to sow in the prepared, but barren soil of man's heart, the seed of holiness and truth, and it is yielding fruit which delights the heart of God, and will appear in all its beauty in the eternal day.

The function our Lord fulfilled and assigned to His apostles, He assigns to His servants still. They are sowers going forth to sow. To the kings and rulers He has committed the sword-the government of the world. But His people are to be sowers- ministers of salvation, not of destruction. They are to contend against evil, not by using the weapons of this world, nor of the cynic and the satirist, but by sowing the peaceable fruits of righteousness. If they confine themselves to protesting against the evil in the world, they will have no fruit. Thus it is always. The effect of destructive means for the accomplishment of good is usually startling, but it is not enduring. Such agencies do not supply anything to occupy the place of that which they take away; and, as nature abhors a vacuum, it hastens to fill up the unoccupied space with the old and habitual. We are told that the common clover of our fields, tender as it looks, is actually rooting out the New Zealand flax, with its strong, woody roots and fibrous leaves, which the ax and hoe of the settler have failed to do. And so the love of Christ alone, implanted in the soul of a once degraded and barren sinner, can displace the evil, and produce in him that godliness which has promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Oh that we may learn the intended lesson from this feature of Christ's parable, and that, instead of setting ourselves at destroying the tares-at pulling down evil-we may show a more excellent way! See Rom. 12:21. E. H. V.

(To be continued, D. V.)

QUES. 18.-What were the Nicolaitans, whose deeds and doctrines are referred to in Rev. 2:6, 15?

ANS.-There is nothing said about them in Scripture under that name, nor have we anything reliable in Church history concerning them as a people known by that name. But Scripture furnishes, we believe, the key to what they were in the name itself. Its meaning is, Conquerors of the people.

According to the teaching of the word of God, the whole Church is "a holy priesthood," and "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2 :5, 9); but as soon as the Church fell away from her first love and spirituality, it gave the opportunity to ambitions men to assume a place of spiritual superiority and greater nearness to God. By this they gradually conquered the people, and became their "clergy."

At first, as you see in verse 6, evil comes out only in deeds; but deeds unrebuked breed the doctrine that suits them; and in verse 15 it appears that in Pergamos the evil had gone further:it bad become a doctrine.

Thus "the clergy," which has no place in the Christianity of Scripture, has become a recognized institution in a corrupted Christianity. That which Christ had given to feed and serve His flock (Eph. 4 :11-16) has conquered that flock and made it to serve its own ends.

In Protestant circles and countries, the light from an open Bible has modified in a measure the evils of this institution ; but where Romanism rules without opposition one readily sees its true character, and why God hates both the deeds and the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes.

QUES. 19.-What is the meaning of 1 Cor. 15 :29, " Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? "

ANS.-The three verses following explain it largely. Some among the Corinthians, like professing Christians in our day, denied the resurrection of the dead. The apostle argues away their darkness. In verse 14 of the same chapter he tells them that if the dead rise not, then, of course, Christ Himself is not risen ; and if Christ is not risen, our faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins.

In the passage you quote, and the following verses, he argues further, What is the use of keeping up this great Christian conflict, in which many are constantly yielding their lives, if there is no resurrection of the dead ? My own life is in jeopardy day by day, he says, I stand ready to lay it down at any time for Christ's sake, in view of the resurrection ; and as fast as one soldier falls in the army of Christ He baptizes another in his place to keep up the conflict. What would be the use of all this if there is no resurrection? Why suffer so? Thus "baptized for (or instead of) the dead " has the sense of bringing in new recruits to fill up the depleted ranks.

QUES. 20.-Should believers baptize their children ?

ANS.-If they can believe in promises such as are found in Acts 2 :39 and 16 :31, about their children ; if they can bring them to the Lord as did the friends of the palsied man in Luke 5 :18-26, we most assuredly believe they are entitled by Scripture to baptize them.
It confers no inward grace, as all who truly know the grace of God are well aware ; but all through Scripture God shows His delight in linking with the men of faith what belongs to them, and putting His mark upon it.

"I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." 1 kings 17:4.

There is nothing which delights an upright mind like being trusted, and there is no greater reward for sincere love than unquestioning confidence. That is why faith has such an immense place in the Scriptures. It is what man owes to a God who has surrounded him with every proof of uprightness, of love, of wisdom, and of power equal to any emergency. In creation and in redemption, all this about Him, and much more, has been revealed. He therefore now looks for man's confidence in Him-for that faith which questions not one word of His lips.

Whoever looks to Him in that implicit confidence is blest of Him. Whoever gives Him that honor which exalts His judgment over any mind of our own, which closes our mouth and bows our heart the moment He speaks, cannot fail to experience that the pleasure of the Lord is with him.

But that confidence will be put to the test sometimes. Our text is one of those instances. Elijah, whose heart yearned for God's just claims in Israel, has just delivered a solemn message, and now God sends him in a desolate path away from all human succor. It is "there" God wants him, and there He will take care of him, even if it is the ravens who are to be His ministers.

Thus the man who seeks to restore God's rights among His people acknowledges those rights first upon himself. He obeys, he is cared for, he glorifies God. " Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:for when he is tried (has been found true by trial) he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him " (James 1:12)

Sanctification.

Sanctification is twofold. It is first positional, and then practical. God's people are called saints, not because of the degree of practical holiness which they have reached, but because of the holy place and relationship in which they stand in Christ Jesus. Had God but forgiven us our sins, it would be great mercy indeed, and it is great mercy; but He has done much more:He has set us in a new place before Him, just as the people of Israel were put in a new place by the crossing of the Red Sea and of Jordan. They were taken out of the old, and placed into the new. So we, by the death and resurrection of Jesus, with whom faith has identified us, have passed out of our old place, "in Adam," "in the flesh," and have been put into a new place, "in Christ," "in. the Spirit." It is a God-made and a God-given place, to which no sin, no guilt, no death, can ever attach. It is a holy place; and being put in that place, we are a sanctified people, separated to God, His sons and daughters.

Our being holy in practice springs from that. Since we are in a holy place, and in a holy relationship, let us be practically holy, according to what we are, and the place we are in. Since we are the sons and the daughters of God, let us be holy, as becomes the holiness of God our Father.

We are saints by virtue of being called of God ; we ought to be saintly in our daily life by virtue of what we are. Thus has sovereign grace its blessed place, with our responsibility flowing from it.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Eph. 3 :17.
It is evident from all Scripture that there is no place God delights in so much for His habitation as the human heart. He has by creation so constituted man that He can say, " My delights were with the sons of men" (Prov. 8; 31).Sin has alienated man from God, yet God yearns for his heart." My son, give Me thy heart," and to win it our Saviour came and suffered all.

As many as have received that blessed Saviour are reconciled to God. His precious blood has removed their sins. They love Him therefore. He dwells in their hearts.

But how slow we are to give Him the whole place there! How much of it is taken up by self and the things of self! Therefore is much discipline required to help us get rid of what hinders thus in us the object of the Holy Spirit. He (the Spirit) dwells in us to enthrone Christ in our hearts, and to form in us a character answering to that of Christ. He values our service for Him, but far, far more His image produced in us.

Let none therefore faint in the trials which beset their path. We are living in a day when men deny sin and its terrible effects in us; when they set aside the holiness of God and His great hatred of sin; when they would have it that all is lovely, and no discipline required anywhere; but the word of God changes not, nor His manner of forming His people for His own blessed ends. If He has called us to reign with Christ by and by, we must suffer with Christ now.

May we all be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and
long-suffering with joy fulness" (Col. i :ii).Thus shall we grow, and thus will our text be fulfilled.

"Behold I come quickly:hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown" (Rev. 3:11).

In a letter recently received from a young Christian I find the following paragraph, which, as I believe it expresses a difficulty felt by many, I reproduce here with the purpose of making it the text of a short paper on the question that perplexed the one referred to :

"The faith question is what troubles me. I have hardly any faith-I mean, in asking and receiving. The Lord saith that if we would ask in faith, believing, we should receive, and that whatever we should ask in prayer, believing, He would give. Now I believed in Jesus, and was saved, and I believe every word in the Bible:and yet, when it comes to praying for certain things, I don't seem to have faith that it will always be answered. This thought comes to me so often:'Well, if you don't believe, you doubt; and surely you can't doubt Christ. If you believe Him in regard to salvation, why can't you just take Him at His word, and pray, believing?'I pray for Sister — to be made well and strong, and then this comes up. I pray over it, and reason with myself. I don't doubt Christ, and yet why is it that I don't have more faith ?"

The difficulty here expressed is a very real one; and there are few, if any, Christians who do not at some time feel perplexed and troubled by it. Yet a careful attention to the very words of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, and of the Holy Spirit in the Epistles, ought to make all clear and simple.

The bald statement, apart from particular conditions, that we may ask the Lord for anything in faith and we will get it, is not found in Scripture. This is just what many fail to note. People go to God in prayer for all kinds of things, and in all kinds of condition of soul; and often they pray earnestly, and they try to exercise faith that they will receive what they ask; yet there is no answer visible to sight.

It is of all Importance that we realize the following three great principles in regard to prayer:

1st. None have a right to expect an answer to prayer who are conscious of any controversy with God, however slight, unjudged in their hearts.

2nd. No prayer is certain to be answered in the way we might desire unless it is indited by the Holy Spirit.

3rd. Prayer that springs from selfishness or covetousness will not be answered, unless it be to our sorrow.

Now the first of these propositions is often utterly overlooked. David said, " If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me " (Ps. 66:18). But how often do we go to God in prayer, hoping to receive from Him, when all the time there is some unjudged evil hidden away in our hearts ! I cannot pray "in faith, believing," if this is the case. To attempt to reach God while unconfessed sin is on my conscience, would be like trying to telephone without being connected with the party I desired to speak to. Sin instantly breaks the line of communication between my soul and God. I cannot pray, in the scriptural sense, if I am disobedient, or indifferent to evil. This is the secret of many of our unanswered petitions. God has never pledged Himself to hear the voice of those who do not hear His voice, nor to open the windows of heaven to those who refuse to bring all the tithes into the storehouse.

The second proposition is equally true, and it really involves the third; so they may be treated together. Jude exhorts the saints to pray "in the Holy Spirit." He is the source of all real prayer. When He indites my petition, it is certain to be answered. Now I cannot always pray for the healing of the sick in the energy of the Holy Spirit, for I cannot know certainly that it is the will of God to raise up the sick one. '' There is a sin unto death:I do not say that he shall pray for it," is a case in point. While " Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed," gives the other side. Sickness may be needed discipline which I cannot confidently ask God to remove. But if assured the healing of a sick one is in accordance with the mind of the Spirit, I can then pray in faith, nothing wavering.

Manifestly I cannot so pray if actuated by selfish or covetous motives. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts [or, pleasures]" (James 4:3). This one verse gives the secret of many of our unanswered prayers. We are thinking of our own comfort, fretting against discipline, trying to evade trial, and we get no relief, for God would teach us that it is better to be sustained by His grace in the path of affliction than to be delivered from it altogether. Paul prayed thrice to be freed from the thorn in the flesh. Instead of that, the Lord revealed Himself as able to sustain in the trial, saying, '' My grace is sufficient for thee." How much better for the apostle to enter into the blessedness of such abounding grace than to have had his prayer answered in the way he would have chosen !

Sometimes God gives people what they ask for, but gives it in judgment. Of Israel He says, "I gave them a king in Mine anger," and their king was but a troublers of the people. Likewise, when in the wilderness, He "gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls." Surely the example of our Lord Jesus may well be followed by us, who prayed, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."

Thus far we have been looking at our subject chiefly negatively. Ere closing this paper I wish to say a little on the positive side, as to prevailing prayer.

The believer is encouraged to "be careful (or anxious) for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Many times we may not be sure if it is His mind that certain things be given us, but that need not hinder our praying for them, always with the proviso, " Thy will be done."

When clear in conscience before Him, 1:e., possessing a good conscience and a heart that condemns us not, we may boldly bring our petitions to Him, assured that He delights to have us do so, and "if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us."

He has said, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart." This is the high ground on which prayer is treated in the Gospel of John. The communion of the soul with God is taken for granted, and hence He can say, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you" (John 16:23). To ask "in His name " implies that I am so truly in touch with Him that I can speak on His behalf, assured that my prayer is according to His mind. Thus He says in the previous chapter, verse 7, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

The very fact that we know so little of prevailing prayer is the indication that we are often strangers to that holy intimacy with the Lord which He desires we should enjoy, but which we can only enter into as we are walking before Him in the path of self-judgment and the Spirit's power. May reader and writer thus learn of Him how to pray ! H. A. I.

My Dear Brother:I received your letter this morning, and I will set down a few thoughts as to your question regarding the nature of our Lord's temptations, and His sufferings in connection with them. There are two kinds of temptation, both of which are spoken of in the first chapter of James-vers. 2, 14. The same word in the original is used for both, and for the reason that it is a test in both cases:in the first, the test is from without, and may be rejected; in the second, it is allurement from within, and shows a nature that is evil. That our Lord's temptation was only from without, is instantly seen if we quote James i:14- "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." What horrible blasphemy it would be to say this was true of Him !

This confines all His temptations to the trials from without, and which met with no response whatever from Him. The response they meet with from men's hearts is the "lust" of the 14th verse.

And yet He "suffered being tempted." What was the nature of the sufferings ?

(1) Was not the very presence of evil cause of acutest pain to a nature that had but one characteristic-the love of God. So, for Him, His being in a world away from God could only cause Him pain. Nothing here could give Him joy but faith, repentance and trust on the part of those who had been drawn by the grace of God.

(2) To be personally approached with suggestions that were not the will of God, would add to His suffering-just as, in a certain measure, a pure-minded person would recoil from the near approach of an evil person more than in contemplating him at a distance. The fresh ingredient in His sufferings, however, would be the attempt to get Him to depart from the path of God, the very thought of which would be abhorrent to Him. The evil in the world was ever present to His holy mind.

(3) To refuse the temptations offered meant, in a world like this, to go on in the path of suffering. Faithfulness, obedience to God, where everything was unfaithfulness and disobedience, could only mean suffering-deprivation, dishonor, sorrow. To refuse to turn the stone into bread meant, for the time, hunger,-and it was a sort of prophecy of His whole path,-poverty:"the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." To refuse to cast Himself down from the pinnacle meant to lose the eclat of popularity which such a miracle would have brought:not that such popularity had the slightest attraction for Him, but it meant, prophetically, the whole path of rejection, shame, scorn, which, for a nature that was love, would be suffering. He would not tempt God, as if He needed to prove His care. To refuse to worship the god of this world was to ensure the active enmity of the whole world, with the cross at the close. All this only shows that suffering was a necessity for Him in a world like this. The very refusal to be anything else than perfectly righteous involved Him in constant suffering, and this was because He was perfectly holy. The reason why there is so little suffering now is because there is so little of that which is like Him. Yet where there are true-hearted witnesses for Him, there will be the suffering which goes with it.

Every other temptation appeals to the flesh, or is the flesh enticing one into an easy path. Therefore the being " touched with the feeling of our infirmities " refers not to our failures, or sins, but to the trials of the way. Are we poor ? He was more so. Are we despised ? He was a reproach of men. Are we exposed to Satan's malice ? None was ever so much so as He was.

Patient holiness must suffer in the presence of sin. And whatever brought out that perfect holiness would bring out the suffering. For one to yield and go on with the evil, even in thought, is to prove himself unholy.

Of course we can enlarge upon such a theme, but I think we have the principles before us. Any suggestion that our Lord had an inclination to yield, is blasphemous.

But how feebly do some of us respond to all this, and thus show a nature unlike His, who endured the cross !Our Lord was not stoically indifferent to the suffering :it was real to Him. He was a Man.

Affectionately, in His grace.

S. R.

The first part of the epistle to the Galatians is occupied with the independence of Paul's ministry. It was neither of nor by man. From the apostles he received nothing. The revelations he received and his apostolic authority were immediately from the Lord. But on this part it is not my object now to dwell. At the end of chap. 2 the apostle gives, in earnest and burning words, the whole bearing of the law on the gospel, and how they were related one to another; but of this at the close. I will now show how he sets the law and the gospel over against one another.

Up to the flood, save by the testimony of godly men and prophets, God did not interfere, though the history of man's perverseness was complete in Adam and Cain. That issued in the judgment of the flood. After that, God began anew to deal with man, to unfold His ways to him in the state in which he was. And they were carried on till the full proof of man's irreclaimable state was given in the rejection of Christ. The first of these dealings, after scattering men into nations and tongues and languages, was His taking Abraham out of them all for Himself, and making him the stock and root of a new family on the earth, both the fleshly and the spiritual:the former, Israel; the latter, the one seed, Christ. Leaving aside for the moment Israel, the seed according to the flesh (to whom the promises will surely be accomplished in grace) we find the promise made to Abram in Gen. 12, and confirmed to the seed in chap. 22. This referred to all nations who were to be blessed in the Seed, the one Seed-typified by Isaac, offered up and raised in figure. On this the apostle insists. The blessing came by promise. This, confirmed as it was to Isaac, could not be disannulled, and (what is more directly to the point) could not be added to. The law could not be annexed to it as a condition. To that there were two parties; but God was only one. The accomplishment of this conditional promise depended on the fidelity of both, and hence had no stability. God's promise depended on Himself alone. His faithfulness was its security, and it could not fail. But the law, coming four hundred and thirty years after, could not invalidate or be added to the confirmed promise. The law is not against the promises of God, but merely came in by the by till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; it produced transgression-not righteousness. The law was not of faith; its blessing was for those who, being under it, practiced it-which they did not.

Promise and faith in" the promised One went together. The law brought a curse; Christ, the promised Seed, was made a curse for those under it, and when Christianity or faith came, they were no longer under it at all. The law was an intermediate, added thing, whose place ceased when the promised Seed came. The law is contrasted with grace, with the promise, with faith, and with the Seed, first for justification. A man under the law was a debtor himself to do the whole of it; and a Christian taking this ground was fallen from grace:Christ had become of none effect to him. A man who looked to the law frustrated the grace of God :if righteousness came by it, Christ was dead in vain.

But the contrast is applied to godly walk. The Spirit is opposed to the flesh. They are contrary one to the other in their nature. We are to walk after the Spirit, having the things of the Spirit before us, to do its works, to produce its fruits; but if we are led of the Spirit we are not under law. Life and power and a heavenly object characterize the Spirit, in contrast with the law which deals with flesh (and in vain) instead of taking us out of it. Thus, as to godly walk as well as for righteousness, the law is contrasted with grace. On one side are grace, promise, faith, Christ, and the Spirit, and, I may add, a righteous standing before God; on the other, the law claiming obedience from the flesh, which does not render it, and out of which the law cannot deliver us. It gives no life. If there had been a law which could have given life, then, indeed, righteousness should have been by the law. It is this full contrast which makes the Galatians so striking.

The result is this. Being led of the Spirit we are not under law. What then is our state ? We through the Spirit wait for the hope that belongs to it, that is, glory. How so ? Being righteous in Christ, we have received the Spirit, and in the power of that we wait for what it so richly reveals. The contrast of the flesh and Spirit, and the power of the latter, leaves the law functionless as to walk, whether in power or character. Law was a rule for flesh, a perfect one, but not for Spirit. The Spirit reveals heavenly things, Christ in glory, and changes us into His image. This was in no way the law's object.

How, then, is its real use and power stated in the epistle ? Peter, when certain came from James, would no longer eat with the Gentiles. Paul withstood him to the face-the weakness of one yielding to the presence of Jews; the energetic faith of the other holding fast the truth of the gospel. Peter had left the law as the way of obtaining righteousness, and he was going back to it, building again what he had destroyed; he was then a transgressor in destroying it. Christ had set him free from the law -was Christ, then, minister of sin? What was the effect of the law? Ah! we have, through grace, in the earnestness of a holy conscience, its true work- it wrought death. The law had killed Paul (that is, in his conscience before God). He had been alive without it once. But thereby he was dead to it, now; and this, that in another way, in another life, he might live to God, which the flesh could not do. Had the law been given effect to in himself, it had been curse and condemnation as well as death; but it was Christ who had died under its curse for him, and he was crucified with Christ – being thus dead, dead to law and to sin at the same time, having done with the old Adam, to which the law ap-lied; he was, nevertheless, now alive. Yet not he (which would have been the flesh) but Christ lived in him.

The law, and condemnation, and the flesh, were (so to speak) gone together as to Paul's position before God, and replaced by Christ and the Spirit, on which last he largely insists in what follows-chap. 3. But there is more; there is the object before the soul."The life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,* who loved me and gave Himself for me. *"The faith of the Son of God" is the character of that faith which makes Him (with all the blessed results of His work) the object of its confiding trust, Ed.* "This is the great point. That divine person, who has so loved us and given Himself for us (whom we thus know in perfect grace, in love even unto death)is the sanctifying object of the whole life. We live by Him. The law gave no object, any more than it gave life and strength. But grace, filling the heart with love to the blessed One, leads out the heart in confidence in an Object that conforms it to itself. The principle of dealing-grace, life, power, object, are all contrasted with law, which afforded none of these, and could therefore no more produce godliness than it could righteousness before God.

The epistle thus contrasts grace, promise, faith, Christ, the Spirit for righteousness and walk alike, with law and flesh. The law was useful as bringing death on us, that is, on the old man; condemnation being borne by Christ, in whom we have died (o law and to sin. A new place, and life, and righteousness, beyond the cross, is that into which we have entered, with Christ in heaven before us. J. N. D.

"Let your conversation be without COVETOUSNESS." Heb. 13:5.

The word translated "conversation" means behaviorour manner of life.

Our manner of life then is to be without covetousness. But what is covetousness ? Scripture characterizes it as idolatry (Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:5); and idolatry is an "abomination" in God's sight-one of the most heinous of the sins of men. How important therefore that we be clear as to what covetousness really is. Many limit it to the desire after what belongs to the neighbor. It is by no means its limit, though it surely ever trespasses against the neighbor in some form or other.

The clause which, in the same verse, follows the one we have quoted above, plainly defines covetousness by contrast:"Be content with such things as ye have." A man who is content with what he has is not covetous. It is the craving after more which is covetousness; and as money procures everything that human passion desires, money is the thing craved for until it becomes the god of the heart. Even under pretense of doing good with it, it absorbs the mind and takes place above God. So dangerous is this, and so ready to infect us, that we are warned against making it even a subject of talk. "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetous-ness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints " (Eph. 5:3).

Under the frightful development of covetousness of late years, earning an honest living is becoming
more and more difficult, which is liable to excite covetousness in God's people too. Our dear Saviour sought not after money, nor His followers, though they needed daily food as other people. Judas did, and we know his end. Let us choose to suffer rather than be found in any spirit or way of covetousness.

But what precious promises are throughout the Scriptures for those who seek not money, but God! Let such as truly trust Him, and are faithful in their appointed path, read what He says in Luke 12:22-31:they will feel safer with it alone than with a great bank account alone; and a bank account acquired in covetousness is alone indeed; it has not God with it.

To the world we leave its great money-makers and money-lovers to emulate their ambitions, and thus to gratify their love of power or of pleasure. We have, to emulate our ambition, the path our Saviour trod here, and the end He has reached up there. May we follow after that as earnestly as the men of this world follow after the other! Nor will this hinder in the least our faithful labor in every worthy and useful avocation, with the measure of success which accompanies faithfulness. Idleness and shiftlessness are no Christian virtues.

" If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." Ex. 33 :15.

In Luke 17 there are ten lepers cleansed by the Lord, but only one out of the ten "returned to give glory to God." The nine were satisfied with the blessing, and thought little of the Blesser; the tenth appreciated the grace of the blessing, and turned back to the Blesser, whose company was more to him now than all else. Such was Moses. God had threatened to leave the people because of their wilful ways, and to send His angel to guide them instead of His presence. Moses cannot endure this. To him, blessing without the company of the Blesser is nothing. He must have Jehovah Himself; he must be sure that His presence is there:without this, blessing is nothing, success has no charm, Canaan has no attraction, life is not worth having. What makes Israel the object of his affections is because they have been chosen by God, that they belong to God, that God is among them, and that what He is linked with their destiny.

Oh for more in our day of that single eye which can enjoy nothing apart from communion with God! which will not move without the assurance of His presence. What freedom it would give us from the sorrows, shame and toil caused by proud and restless men who ever seek something for themselves among the flock of Christ, and ever find a response in them who are like them.

The Scriptures.

Whence but from heaven could men unskilled in arts, In several ages born, in several parts, Weave such agreeing truths ? Or how, or why Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie ? Unasked their pains, ungrateful their advice, Starving their gain, and martyrdom their price. DRYDEN.

And now as to the word temptation. To be tempted is another thing from having a lust to sin-the carnal mind.

Temptation is used in Scripture not for internal sin at all, nor in connection with it, save when it is the actual giving way to the temptation by reason of the sin-"drawn away of our own lusts, and enticed." "Tempted" there is the giving way to the trial. But temptation otherwise is just the trial of what is in the person so tried; and this may be very various. God in this sense may be tempted. We
know from His very nature, and by the Word, that He cannot be tempted of evil; yet "they tempted God in the desert." They tempted, and were destroyed of the destroyer. God was put to trial as to what He was; and this was just their sin. In Him, it need not be said, absolute, essential perfection was found. Neither can God tempt any man in the way of evil, or lust. Yet God did tempt Abraham; He put Abraham to trial, and proved the grace which He had given him, saying thereon, "Now I know." Exhibition of grace was the result of the trial-of the temptation here.

So we pray, "Lead us not into temptation"- clearly, not into lust, or evil, but into a place of trial of what is in us, we knowing our weakness, and therefore adding, "but deliver us from evil," or the evil one. But the Spirit of God did lead Christ into temptation (Matt. 4; Luke 4); not, surely, into any exercise of an evil nature, but into Satan's trial of what He was. The first Adam, confessedly innocent, and having no sin, yet was tempted, and so tempted that he fell into sin; so that, clearly, here temptation does not imply existing evil, or a sinful nature; for there may be temptation so as to fall into sin where there was no evil nature at all. He was tried, and fell; weakness and fallibility being there, though not sin. We are tempted-what is in us is tried; and in our case evil continually is found. . . . The sinful nature is distinct from the temptation, though discovered by it. So Christ was tempted, tried in all points according to the likeness of His brethren; but the result was, there was nothing found in Him but perfectness.-Extract from J. N. D.

Deeply affecting is the scripture from which the above words are taken :"Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich " (2 Cor. 8:9). It is something the Christian knows, though the depths are beyond all human fathoming, and with spiritual delight he loves to trace this "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," as it is seen displayed in His wondrous pathway from the glory of God down to "Calvary's depth of woe." And with a heart filled with the sense of this blessed grace, he goes on his way, ever delighting in Him who was the rich and full display of it; for "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John i:17).

This grace of our Lord Jesus Christ did not come to make demands on the sinner, but to fully meet
his need and bring him into the place of everlasting nearness to God. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ":grace to meet man's need, and the truth about God and all else; for His coming into the world, being what He was, "God manifest in the flesh," revealed everything; as "the light of the world," there was, on the one hand, the exposure of what man was; and, on the other, the revelation of God:God in grace come down to espouse man's cause, and to deliver him from sin's thraldom and Satan's power. In coming He reveals God, accomplishes atonement, and becomes man's Deliverer.

But let us see how that grace was manifested.

" Though He was rich." How rich ? Rich as one with God, coequal and coeternal with God, and one with the Father in the unity of the Godhead. Godhead glory was His, not as acquired by acts after He became man, but what belonged to Him by right, and which He had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5). Nor was He a created spirit-being, as some* blasphemously teach, but "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. *The " Millennial Dawn " people.- [Ed.]* The same was in the beginning with God " (John i :i, 2). Nor was it grasping something that was not His, which it would have been had He been only a created spirit-being, but "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God " (Phil. 2 :6).

In the foregoing scriptures we have the eternity of His being :"In the beginning was the Word"- His distinct personality:"and the Word was with God"-His absolute deity:"and the Word was God"-His equality with God:"thought it not robbery to be equal with God "-sharing Godhead glory with the Father from all eternity :"'the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."

He was rich, then, in Godhead glory as one with the Father; as He Himself said, "I and My Father are one."

Again:How rich was He ?

He was rich as God's eternal Son, the only-begotten of the Father, the object of His supreme delight. Prov. 8 :22-31 gives us a view of Him as such. Also:"who is in the bosom of the Father" (John i:18). As another has said, " He is πρωτoκoς, or first-begotten, in several senses-and we have companionship with Him:πρωτoτoκoς or first-born among many brethren. But He is also the μovoγεvης, or only begotten; and there He is alone."
Rich indeed was He:rich in the enjoyment of divine affections, as the object of the Father's delight.

Again:How rich ?

He was the creator of the universe:'' All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made " (John i:3). This universe owes its existence and sustainment to the word of His power. '' By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:all things were created by Him, and for Him:and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist" (Col. i:16, 17).

Can we wonder at the seraphim covering their faces with their wings-holy beings as they were- in the presence of His creatorial glory ? But be it remembered that this glorious Being, whose holiness the seraphim proclaimed, was none other than the Jesus of John 12:35-41. In the one scripture we witness the homage and obedience of seraphic beings ; in the other, the blind unbelief of poor fallen man, who, while seeking his own glory and the praise of men, could not discern the moral glory of the person of Him who had come from Godhead's fullest glory to reveal God to man, and deliver him from Satan's power.

Thus we see how rich He was of whom our scripture speaks.

But mark:" Yet for your sakes He became poor."

" For your sakes." That was grace indeed! His glory was laid aside, or veiled behind the lowly form of the manhood He took, in order that the love of God might be manifested and expressed in and to a world that had lost the truth that "God is love."

Ah, but how poor did He become ?

So poor as to be born in a manger.

The Being upon whom we have just been gazing as God, as Son of God, and as Creator, now become man, commenced His career in a stable. From the eternal throne to the manger is a long distance-a great leap toward poverty. The virgin mother, a poor woman of Galilee who, when they "brought Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord" (Luke 2 :22-24), could only bring the offering that was prescribed for the poorest offerer (Lev. 12; 8)- His supposed father a poor carpenter.

Surely He made Himself of no reputation. Mark, He made Himself that. "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet made Himself of no reputation, and took upon
Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." Such was His self-abnegation, and such was His marvelous grace! From infinite riches to deepest poverty; from the position of upholding all things by the word of His power, to that of a lowly, dependent babe; from One who commanded the worship of heaven, to that of a servant of all; and all this without ceasing to be what He had been from all eternity. Such is the mystery of the incarnation! Hallowed ground indeed for us to tread; and with unshod feet should we tread it, with a becoming worshipful spirit.
Again:During the days of His ministry, how poor He was! No house or home did He possess. And when tribute was demanded of Him, He had naught to meet it with; but, as creation's Lord, He could command the fish of the deep to produce the needed money. "Give it to them for Me and for thee." Thus His poverty was the means of the outshining of His divine glory from behind the veil of His humanity. The creatures of His hand had resting-places:He, none. "And it came to pass, that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head " (Luke 9:57, 58).

Such was His grace, and it was for our sakes. May we never forget it; and may the constant remembrance of it endear Him to our hearts, and make us cleave to Him in devoted affection!

Would He ride into Jerusalem, in fulfilment of Zech. 9:9? He had no ass on which to ride; but as Lord of all He could, and did, send two of His disciples to fetch one from the appointed place; and if the owners objected, they were to say, "The Lord hath need of him " (Luke 19:31). He was Creator and Possessor of all, but for the present He must tread the path of deepest poverty, for He had been sent to fulfil a marvelous purpose of divine grace toward us, and no other path could lead to it.

And now the final scene closes in upon Him, telling of a poverty which has, and can have, no equal:Gethsemane, Gabbatha, Golgotha-scenes sacred to the memory of every Christian's heart. Gethsemane witnessed the conflict of the Saviour's soul as the hour had come to yield Himself to the dreadful work for our redemption. Gabbatha tells of the crushing unrighteousness of the rulers of this world in their judgment of this poor but righteous Man. What use is there in His answering more ? They will not do justice. At Calvary His life itself is given up. He is "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

On the cross He was not only the object of man's hatred, but also of God's wrath, as taking our place and bearing our sins ; and from His soul, now " made an offering for sin," came forth that awful cry, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" And yet, be it said, never was the Son more precious to the heart of God, or pleasing to the Father, than when He gave Himself up to the drinking of that bitter cup. By it all the holy attributes of God were preserved, and the blessing of His people secured.

The manger, the pathway, the cross, the tomb, tell forth alike the deep poverty of Him who became poor, though possessor of all, that He might make good His grace and enrich His people forever.

God has raised up and glorified His Son, who so fully glorified Him (John 13 :31, 32). Now, how blessedly true it is "that we through His poverty might be rich " ! How deep the poverty, and how unspeakable the riches !

We are made rich in divine forgiveness; rich, as being justified and having peace with God; rich, as having in Him redemption through His precious blood; rich, as being taken into favor in the Beloved; rich, as having life and righteousness in Him; rich, as being the objects of God's love; rich, as being His dear children; rich, as being the members of His body; rich, as having the " gift of grace," the "gift of righteousness," and "justification of life "; rich, as being made one with Christ in glory; rich, as having '' obtained the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory "; rich, as having received a kingdom which cannot be moved; rich, as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ; rich, as being among the many sons God is bringing to glory, as being "all of one" with the Sanctifier and those He is not ashamed to call His brethren; rich, as having died with Him, and now a new creation in Him; rich, as blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Him; rich, in the privilege of serving Him here, and in the prospect of being like Him at His coming; rich, too, in the prospect of reigning with Him as His companions in His kingdom and glory.

We are, praise His blessed name, enriched with His riches, and as the fruit of His unspeakable poverty.

With what moral beauty does this portion of God's word shine out! '' For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). And, as enriched through His becoming poor, what more proper than that we should abound in praise and thanksgiving to Him who loved us so well, and stooped so low, that we might be raised up from our degradation to a place so high, even to be associated with Him in His glory and glorious kingdom !

Then, how great the honor and privilege of serving Him here! It surely should not be thought a duty, but a privilege, to serve and represent Him in and to a world that would not have Him. Oh for greater zeal in His blessed service! E. A.

God's book is a wonderful book. It is a concentrated essence of divine and human wisdom. A little goes a long way. It only needs to be mixed with devout meditation to reap the full benefit of any little we take.'' Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in Thy Word " (Ps. 119 :148), said the Psalmist of old; and, " Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all" (i Tim. 4:15), was the advice of Paul the aged to the youthful Timothy. In this chapter before us (Eccles. 9 :13-18) we have a miniature picture of human wisdom, penciled in such a way as to enable us to see Him who is "the wisdom of God," as well as "the power of God " (i Cor. i:24), but penciled in such a manner as to leave the unfilled outline ready for us to fill in when we have found the poor wise man, and learned to spell in the depth of our moral being that mystic name, JESUS.

A little city, with few inhabitants, and a great king with a besieging army investing it, leaving no way of escape, so that either fight or flight is impossible. Then a poor wise man is found in it- probably unnoticed and unknown before; and he, by his wisdom, does what all of them put together could not do, either by strength or strategy-he delivered the city. Such is the picture. How he managed it we are not told. How he was treated after it we are not allowed to forget; for it is recorded, to the everlasting shame of that city, that '' no man remembered that same poor man." Alas!

One thing we cannot help seeing, however-the poor man loved the people among whom he dwelt. He realized their danger, and set himself to deliver them. He could not buy that deliverance, for he was poor; but his wisdom devised a way to effect it, and "he delivered the city." Love guided by wisdom can do wonders; and it did it there, for it delivered them. As I have already said, we are not told how he did it; but the outline is sketched in such a way that we can fill in the how when we have found out who the poor wise man is, that was found in that "city of destruction," and the love that brought him in to get us out.

Now turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 20.There we get another picture, penciled with more detail, of a similar nature to this. This time it is "a wise woman." Another city is besieged, and the army is battering down the walls to reach the man who has dared to "lift up his hand against the king" (ver. 21). The city is in danger, but it is only one man they seek to reach:they want the offender; the rebel must die. And the city that shelters a rebel must suffer the rebel's fate, or show their loyalty and give him up.

The question is, Can that fate be averted and the city saved ? Surely it can ; and the wise woman finds out the way. As soon as she knows the reason for the siege, she at once meets the difficulty by taking off the offender's head and throwing it over the wall to the besiegers. It was a swift way of ending their danger, and "short shrift" for him who was the cause of it; but it was effectual. There was no love seen, however, in that act. It was cold, hard, unbending righteousness, though wise and needful if the city was to be saved.

It was a serious matter to lift up the hand against the king! How much worse-infinitely worse-to set oneself against God. It might have been possible to escape the king's wrath, but it is utterly impossible to escape God's wrath, by either human wisdom or strength. Like the rebel Sheba the son of Bichri, shut in and surrounded in the city of Abel; so sinful men, guilty and rebellious, are hemmed in on every side in this doomed world. There is no escape from "the King of Terrors"-no breaking through that cordon-no bribing that officer, nor release from meeting that appointment (Heb. 9:27) which brings the sinner face to face with an insulted God and eternal judgment.

How easy would it have been for God to act in righteousness and sweep the guilty rebel, man, from off the scene! He did it once before, and saved only a few in the ark. He could easily do so again, and save none. Ah, but He would not be God if He did that! There would be no love in that, and God is a God of love, as well as a holy and a righteous God. There was no love seen in throwing Sheba's head over the wall, however wise and righteous it may have been. It is only Divine wisdom that can devise means to combine both love and righteousness, and save the guilty rebel. Blessed be God, He has done that! The glorious gospel of the blessed God declares to us how He has done it. He has displayed Himself in the activities of His grace towards poor, guilty sinners, and now '' grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 5:21).

As I before remarked, we are not told how the poor wise man delivered the city; but when we have found Him, we soon find out how He did it. And who can answer to such a character and description but "the man Christ Jesus, God over all, blessed for ever"-"the Son of Man," yet God's Son, "made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5); who, "though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich":so poor that while foxes had holes, and birds of the air had their nests, "the Son of Man had not where to lay His head." What deep, deep poverty was His !

But He was wise, if poor; and the officers sent to take Him said, " Never man spake like this Man."
And "they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth " (Luke 4). He was led as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so opened He not His mouth." He knew when to be silent, and when to speak. He knew the claims of God, and could meet them all. Is not this then the poor wise man ? Surely it is ! Well may we sing-

"Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree:
'Tis the Christ, by men rejected;
Yes, my soul, 'tis He, 'tis He."

How came He to be found in that city of destruction ? we might well ask. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," is the answer (Jno. 3:16). Wondrous grace indeed! Amazing love! The very God against whom we had sinned provided the substitute to bear the penalty which His righteousness demanded; and that substitute His own beloved Son become man. He was Divine, and could bear the judgment; He was human, and could die. Wonderful, divine and fathomless mystery! Jesus has died, "died for our sins according to the Scriptures " (i Cor. 15:3). " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends " (John 15:13); but Jesus died for His enemies, for sinners-not His friends.

Is it not wonderful ! Divine love provided the Substitute; divine righteousness meted out the penalty which the Substitute bore; and now that it has all been borne, and God is satisfied, He has raised His Son from among the dead, and taken Him up into glory, and is now proclaiming salvation full and free to any and all who will receive it. "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3 :16). This is God's wisdom, to save men by the cross of His Son. He will reject and judge every man who refuses His Son. Men must agree with God as to the person and value of the work of His beloved Son.

When Joseph interpreted the butler's dream in the prison in Egypt, he said to him, "Think on me when it shall be well with thee"; but the butler "forgot him" (Gen. 40). How sad and how ungrateful and like the men of the city who forgot the poor wise man, though they enjoyed his deliverance! Jesus has made it "well," and well forever, for all who believe, and His loving request is, "Do this in remembrance of Me" (i Cor. 11). Shall we be ungrateful, unthankful, and forgetful ? Rather let us feel, and say, and act it out in our lives, for

"Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands our soul, our life, our all."

Wm. Easton

In the midst of the gloom which is fast settling upon Christendom, and the rapid development of the apostasy foretold in Scripture, rays of light still flash here and there; for, thank God, the Holy Ghost is still here, hindering, through the testimony of those in whom He dwells, the full ripening of " the mystery of iniquity" (2 Thess. 2).

One marks with joy every struggle against the encroachments of the enemies of Christ-and of man; for if man had ever a friend, it is Christ. Whoever, therefore, opposes Christ, is an enemy of man-of his present and eternal good.

One instance of this comes up through a Prof. Workman, who occupied a chair in the Methodist Theological College of Montreal. He has been dismissed because of his " Higher Criticism." There are yet men, it seems, connected with that institution who value Christ and our inheritance in Him. God bless them, and their faithfulness. In their investigations they have had to meet the slippery character of these destroyers of Christianity, who, while they undermine with an energy worthy of a better cause all the foundations of the faith, would still pretend to be its friends. See an example of it in this Prof. Workman. He is indignant at being accused of denying the Atonement. He does believe in it, he declares. But what is atonement, with him ? Why, every one of us, he says, makes atonement as well as Christ; for do we not all suffer, more or less, from the sins of others ? Now multitudes may not be able to discern the Satanic craft of this, but Prof. Workman knows well that atonement, as taught in Scripture, and as believed by Christians, means the putting away of our sins from before God by the sufferings of Christ on the cross for us; whilst no amount of our suffering for the sins of others can effect this. The sufferings even of Christ from the sins of men during His daily ministry wrought no atonement, for they were inflicted only by man. They in nowise hindered His intercourse with His Father. It was on the cross, under the judgment of God which made Him cry out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" that alone atonement was made-and made, thank God, "once for all."

Another instance comes up from New York, where marked opposition is reported as being made to the Rev. Dr. R. S. McArthur by his congregation. He advocates the elimination of all reference to Christ and Christianity in the public schools. Some of his views, thus being opposed, are reported as follows:" I would favor a book made up of selections from the Bible, to be chosen by a committee consisting of Christians, Jews, and even atheists. I would also include extracts from the Koran, from Buddhistic writings, or any book of great religious creeds. These selections should teach moral truths, and should be read in the public schools instead of the Bible."

Thus is the Bible being treated by one who, above others, should set it up on high. Can it be to such a one the revelation of God to man ? Can Jesus be to him " the true God, and eternal life" ? Can he know that every blessing man enjoys, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, comes from His hand-the hand of Jesus Christ; of whom it is written, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever " ? (Heb. i:8.) If so, how can he advocate the thrusting Him out of the public schools, or of any other public or private place ? Dr. McArthur's servants might as well say to him, " We give you permission, sir, to go into the study, but not into the parlor of your house:you may pray and read the Bible there, but not in your dining-room." May the Spirit of God, whose great work is to uphold the interests of Christ here, give courage to the opposers of Dr. McArthur's principles, and of all who seek to blot out the mention of Christ's name from the land.

Again, an immense meeting took place in Brooklyn lately to oppose these Jewish-infidel attacks against the institutions of the land, and stirring words were uttered by the friends of our Lord. They may not be heeded. " The prince of this world" has the upper hand during this day of God's grace, and Christians must possess their souls in patience. But man's day is fast ebbing away, and the day of Christ is dawning. Then " the Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity ; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire :there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt. 13 :41-43).

"And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land."-Gen. 34:1.

An action simple enough, one might say; and no very great moral evil in that; but what awful consequences followed!

A daughter of Israel humbled; two sons of Israel lie and deceive in the name of their religion; murder of innocent people, and robbery and spoiling of those who had not injured them (vers. 2, 13, 25, 29). Surely an awful harvest to reap from the turning aside of one of a separated people to associate with those in the world!

When Eve left her place of dependence, and stopped to listen to the serpent, she never realized the flood of misery, and sin and wickedness which would overwhelm her posterity as a result of her accepting Satan's overtures. When Peter stopped to warm himself with the enemies of Jesus, he knew not of the oaths and cursing with which he would deny his beloved Lord. When Dinah "went out to see the daughters of the land," little did she think it would end in her defilement; in her brothers' deceiving Shechem and Hamor and the men of the land so they could murder them; or in the spoliation of the houses and families of the innocent. Little do the Lord's people realize, when they associate with worldly people, or have part in their enjoyments, or meet them on a social and friendly basis, that it means a denial, so far, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the betrayal of His cause into the hands of the enemy of our souls.

But so it is. The Hivites were characterized by their abominations and idolatry; they were descendants of Canaan, and, as such, under the curse of God (Gen. 9:25 and 10:17); and association with them meant not only a turning aside from the path of separation in which God always desired His people to be (Lev. 20:24), but would eventually lead to intermarriage and serving their gods, as we see actually occurred later in the history of the children of Israel and these same people (Judges 3:5-7).

And has it not been so in the history of the Church ? When persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, confronted the chosen people of God, their very sufferings but served to separate them from the evil and sin all about them, and turn them for refuge to their Head in heaven-turn them, indeed, from all that was opposed to God. But when the world grew friendly and companionable, and no longer persecuted the Lord's people, then were they overcome by Satan's device, and fell into his snares.

Friendship with the world is enmity with God:we cannot be friends with the world and at the same time walk in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This world cast out the Son of God, and put Him to death. This world hates and despises the Lord Jesus Christ as firmly as it did on the day it crucified Him. This world will have nothing to do with those who are His, except that it may wean them from love to Him and draw them to itself. What fellowship, then, hath light with darkness, or he that believeth with an unbeliever ?

Dearly beloved :for a little time, before Satan shall reveal himself in his true character as god of this world and the unrelenting, hating, bitter foe of God and His Christ, he is seeking by every device, and by soft, fair speeches, to draw the Lord's people into entangling alliances with his followers. The cry of this day is for liberality; that we should not judge too harshly, no matter how it differs from the word of God; that a man is all right, no matter what he believes, if only he be in earnest; that all mankind are brethren, and that we should therefore associate and affiliate with each other. The idea seems to be that Christians and worldlings can go on together, provided a bloody cross and a thorn-crowned Jesus are not brought too prominently forward by His followers. And alas! many are caught by the bait, and the professing Church is leavened by its association with an evil world, not realizing the awful consequences of such association. The end we find in Rev. 3 :16:"I will spew thee out of My mouth."

What, then, should be our course in it all ? "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (i John 1:3); and such being the case, we must absolutely reject any association which is not in keeping with such fellowship. " What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light with darkness ? And what concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ?" (2 Cor. 6:14-16). Searching questions these for our hearts to ponder, and see that we have no fellowship, communion, concord, part or agreement with that which is opposed to the despised and rejected Son of God.

Our course is to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove " (Eph. 5:11). We cannot reprove that with which we are going on in association and friendly intercourse. So that, knowing of the judgment of God soon to fall on this Christ-rejecting world, our only right path is to stand aside from its pleasures, its fashions, its ambitions and hopes, its society, its friendship and all its interests, warning it of judgment drawing near and of eternal perdition; while we walk in happy fellowship and communion with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May such be our portion till He come! F.

The Lord Jesus, in that greatest sermon that ever fell on mortal ears, enjoins, " Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; " and by His oft-repeated example enforces the admonition. Often were His footsteps traced to some secluded spot-the declivity of the mountain, the garden, the wilderness-for the purpose of private prayer. So Isaac was wont to retire to meditate in the field at eventide. David communed with his own heart, and his spirit made diligent search in the night; "seven times a day do I praise Thee." Daniel knelt three times a day in his private chamber. Peter retired to the housetop to be alone with God, about the sixth hour. Mark the lives of men of God, and you will find them often on their knees before their Maker in their closets.

The object of these stated seasons of retirement is communion with God, reading His Word, and self-judgment. Secluded from the world and its cares, with no eye upon us but that which seeth in secret, the inspired volume with the searchings of the Holy Spirit spread before us the secret sins of the heart, and the presumptuous faults of the life are brought to our view; we unburden our souls with supplications and tears, seeking forgiveness and grace with filial freeness and fulness, through the merits of our glorified Redeemer, saying, '' Search me, O God, and know my heart:try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Secret prayer should be attended at regular seasons. In maintaining a close walk with God, few will
be satisfied with less than two seasons of retirement for each day. Regularity in this duty is as necessary to the health of the soul as regularity in meals to that of the body. Let the habit become so fixed by custom that the consecrated hour cannot pass unimproved without awakening the deep-toned remonstrance of the conscience.

But the duty enjoined is strictly private, and therefore liable to be neglected. Provided you pay a decent regard to those religious observances which meet the eye of the world, you may not lose your reputation for piety, even though you should neglect your closet. Here is a temptation. Moreover, the active, bustling habits of this age are hostile to the meditative, unostentatious, retired exercises of the closet. Take care that you do not become so absorbed in any of the exciting enterprises of the day, however important they may be in themselves, as to neglect your own heart, and your communion with God. Be assured that such enterprises as have in view the advance of Christ's kingdom will, under the blessing of God, succeed in accomplishing their ends only as they are controlled and guided by such as seek for wisdom and grace daily in secret places.

Professed followers of Christ, to you let me say, the interest you feel in your secret devotions stands before you as the thermometer of your spiritual state. Other motives than the love of Christ may carry you abroad, and give you the tongue of an angel, or zeal to pour out your treasures like water for the relief of the poor or the spread of the gospel; but be assured that the seclusion of the closet is the last place where the applause of men or a lifeless formality will lead you. If you are found here statedly and punctually, what brighter evidence can you have that your heart thirsts for God, and that you are hastening to a more permanent communion with Him in heaven ? O ye who have opened your mouth unto the Lord, draw around the sanctuary of your secret devotions a barrier so strong that no vain pursuits, no secular cares, no social engagements, no business pressure, shall intrude themselves. As you go out to mingle in the busy scenes of the world, how can you keep a conscience void of offence towards God and man; how can you govern your temper, control your appetite, keep under your body, and have your conversation always "seasoned with salt," unless you go forth under the subduing fear of that all-seeing Eye before which you have just knelt in secret ?

(Gen. 24.)

Thine the beauty and the glory –
Heir of all things, Son of God,
Shining round me, and before me,
Lighting all the desert road.

Camels girded for the journey,
Kneeling, laden, set for home;
Ah ! my heart is gone already,
Centered there, no more to roam.

Roll afar, thou proud Euphrates!
Nought can hold me from my bourn,
Where my mighty Guardian came from,
There, with me, will He return.

Buried in Chaldea's city,
I had perished with my race :
But the Steward, sent to get me,
Met me in His Master's grace;

Asked me for "a little water,"
Let me quench His camels' thirst,
Saw in me Bethuel's daughter –
Her He prayed for at the first.

Oh, the errand that He told me,
Of the Living One who died !
Of the Father's love and counsel,
Taking unto Him a Bride!

Nothing, I remember nothing,
But that Sacrifice and choice:
Never music filled my spirit
Like that penetrating voice!

Could I hear Him that true Servant,
And for Isaac not be won?
Oh, the Father loved and sought me,
Sent and claimed me for His Son.

Let the token on my forehead,
Let the bracelets on my hands,
Prove me now the chosen daughter
Of the Lord of all the lands.

I will go-I would not tarry,
Object of that heart's delight!
He was unto death obedient,
I would walk with Him in white.

Jewels, raiment, gifts, the Servant
Brought for me from Isaac's hand,
Precious things that else had never
Shone in any foreign land.

I shall see Him in His beauty!
He Himself His bride will meet;
I shall be with Him for ever,
In companionship complete.

Thoughts of Him are strength and gladness
What man comes there forth our way ?
"'Tis my Master."'Tis the Bridegroom-
Veiled-the Bride is caught away . . .

And the Servant telleth Isaac
All the things that he hath done!
And Rebekah reigns in Hebron:
Wife of the once-offered One!

(Continued from page 993, and concluded.)

The Cross may be next viewed in its bearing on the great, the eternal future; and this both as to persons and things.

It is the basis of all that for which saints are hoping. The liberty of glory, as well as the liberty of grace, will be through the Cross. Says the apostle, "If we believe,"-seeing that-"we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (i Thess. 4:14). In the next chapter His death alone is presented as the basis of hope. He exhorts believers to "put on for a helmet the hope of salvation; for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." He has mentioned in the previous chapter those who sleep, or have died in the Lord, and also those who are awake, or alive, at His coming; and in the passage just given he teaches that Christ died for us, that whether awake of asleep -that is, whether found among the righteous dead or the righteous living when the Lord returns-we shall be raised or changed, and "so shall we ever be with the Lord."

But while the Cross is thus the basis of all blessedness forever to believers, it will be the very opposite to unbelievers. They will be held responsible for rejecting Christ, as well as for their other sins. "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace ? " Though this passage has a special application, yet it supplies us with the fact that the unsaved will have to give an account to God for despising and rejecting His Son; yea, even for neglecting the great salvation procured by the shedding of His precious blood. He will say, in effect, " I sent My Son into the world to seek and save the lost:how did you treat Him ?" They may say, "We kept His birthday :Christmas was a great day with us." The reply might be, "You thus own that He was born into the world; where is He ? What have you done with Him ? where is He ? " They will have to own that they killed Him and cast Him out of their world. We read that the blood of Jesus "speaketh better things than the blood of Abel." It does, for it was shed for the remission of sins. Peace with God is offered through that blood; but if it be slighted, then, in the end, it will speak the same thing as Abel's blood, only it will speak more loudly, and God will hear, and avenge the blood of His Son on His enemies. While the Cross will be the theme of praise and thanksgiving in the regions of bliss forever, it will be a dark fact forever in the regions of the lost. "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

The Cross not only affects persons, but things. The apostle informs us that "by Him (the Son) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth. . . . And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things, . . . whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven" (Col. r :16-20). Thus it would seem that the things to be reconciled through the blood of the Cross are coextensive with the things which were created. In writing to the Hebrews he says that the first testament, or covenant, was not dedicated without blood; that "Moses took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, . . . and sprinkled both the book and all the people. . . . Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these " (Heb. 9:18-23). Thus not only were the people sprinkled with blood, but the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. The tabernacle, with its accompaniments, formed "the patterns of things in the heavens," and these were purified by the blood of calves and goats; but "the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these"; that is, with the blood of the all-comprehensive sacrifice of Christ.

In the second chapter of the same epistle, where the writer is teaching that "all things" are to be put under Christ, we see that His death affects things as well as persons. In the 9th verse we have the words, in the Authorized Version, "That He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." But there is nothing in the original answering to the word "man."; and the word rendered "every" is in the neuter gender. So the word supplied might correctly be thing. While we are assured in Scripture that God laid on His blessed Son the iniquity of us all, yet, in the passage under consideration, that for which He tasted death is so stated as specially to embrace things. So that it might be correctly rendered, " So that by the grace of God He should taste death for every thing." Mr. Darby thus translates it. This accords with what we have already given from the epistle to the Colossians.

The same apostle, in his epistle to the Ephesians, tells us when all this will be carried out in power. In stating the divine purpose in the matter, he says, " That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ," that is, head up all things under Him, "both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; … in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. … in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession" (Eph. i :10-14). The purchase was made on the cross, the price paid, but redemption by power is yet to come, when the "joint-heirs with Christ" will "inherit all things."

Thus, in view of the Cross, God can not only take up us pour sinners, and present us faultless in His presence, but He can pick up the blighted creation, the heavens and the earth, and wipe away the curse, the sin, the stain, and restore all things to vastly more than their original beauty, glory, and blessedness, never more to be defaced by sin or visited by the powers of evil; for those powers will be in " everlasting fire prepared for them," and " God will be all in all." Who would not desire to have a part in this bright scene? "He that overcometh shall inherit all things."

Finally, the Cross may be looked at in the practical influence it should have on believers. One cannot read the New Testament, and especially the apostolic epistles, without seeing that the Cross, with its bright results, is the great incentive to holiness and devotedness of life. I give a sample or two. Says the apostle Paul, "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again." In another place, after treating of believers as being "dead to sin," through Christ having "died to sin," he says, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." The apostle Peter, writing to believers, says, "As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy . . . forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Much more might be given from the word of God, but this should suffice.

Yes, the Cross most loudly calls for holiness and devotedness. While it says, " Go in peace," it says, '' Sin no more." While it says, '' Be happy," it says, "Be holy." As we look to that blessed One who hung on the cross as our Saviour, so we are to be in submission to Him as our Lord and Master. Oh, who can think of Him in His dying agonies, and have one thought of going on in sin, or of withholding any part of the heart or life from Him ? Beloved, let us be out and out for Him. He is worthy. " He suffered without the gate" that He might sanctify us with His own blood. " Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach ; for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."

The Lord grant that we may enter so fully into the deep meaning of the Cross, or dying, of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body! waiting for the moment when He who is our life will come, and we shall be manifested with Him in glory. R. H .

Connect your service with nothing but God- not with any particular set of persons. You may be comforted by fellowship, and your heart refreshed; but you must work by your own individual faith and energy, without leaning on any one whatever; for if you do, you cannot be a faithful servant. Service must ever be measured by faith, and one's own communion with God. Saul even may be a prophet when he gets among the prophets; but David was always the same, in the cave or anywhere.
While the choicest blessings given me here are in fellowship, yet a man's service must flow from himself, else there will be weakness. If I have tho word of wisdom, I must use it for the saint who may seek my counsel. It is:" Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." But, also, "Let every one prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." There is no single place that grace brings us into but is a place of temptation, and that we cannot escape, though we shall be helped through. In every age the blessing has been from individual agency; and the moment it has ceased to be this, it has declined into the world. 'Tis humbling, but it makes us feel that all comes immediately from God. The tendency of association is to make us lean upon one another.

Where there are great arrangements for carrying on work, there is not the recognition of this inherent blessing which " tarrieth not for the sons of men." I don't tarry for man, if I have faith in God. I act upon the strength of that. Let a man act as the Lord leads him. The Spirit of God is not to be fettered by man.

All power arises from the direct authoritative energy of the Holy Ghost in the individual. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13) were sent forth by the Holy Ghost, recommended to the grace of God by the church at Antioch; but they had no communication with it till they returned; and then there was the joyful concurring of love in the service that had been performed. He that had talents went and traded. Paul says :'' Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Where there is a desire to
act, accompanied by real energy, a man will rise up and walk; but if he cannot do this, the energy is not there, and the attempt to move is only restlessness and weakness.

Love for souls sets one to work. I know no other way. J. N. D.