Truth can be held only in the path which is consistent with it. Let that path be abandoned, and truth slips away too.

"Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies" (Ps. 40:4).

"The Father seeketh such to worship Him" (John 4).

O Favored hour, the hour of praise !
By Thee foreknown, our God, when we
From gladdened hearts present our lays
And worship Thee.

For this He came, Thine own blest Son,
To lead our hearts to know Thy grace;
To bring us satisfied and won
Before Thy face.

Thus hast Thou sought us for Thyself,
A treasure for Thine own delight;
To manifest Thy glory's wealth,
Its depth and height.

And Thou hast found vis, made us rest
In the full joy of holy love;
Through Jesus, Thy Revealer blest,
Here and above.

How great the fulness which He brought,
What springs of grace, what truth declared!
Rich in that love, beyond all thought,
Now by us shared.

Our hearts are satisfied and won;
We bow in worship and we raise
To Thee, the Father, through the Son,
Our highest praise.

E. R.

(Luke 10:38-42.)

The little scene which closes this chapter is peculiar to Luke, serving his general purpose of instructing us in great principles of truth. The two sisters here introduced were differently minded; and being brought to the trial of the mind of Christ, we get the judgment of God on matter of much value to us.

The house which we now enter was Martha's. The Spirit of God tells us this, as being characteristic of Martha; and into her house, with all readiness of heart, she receives the Lord, and prepares for Him the very best provision it had. His labors and fatigue called for this. Martha well knew that His ways abroad were the ways of the good Samaritan, who would go on foot that others might ride, and she loves Him too well not to observe and provide for His weariness. But Mary had no house for Him. She was in spirit a stranger like Himself; but she opens a sanctuary for Him, and seats Him there, the Lord of her humble temple. She takes her place at His feet, and hears His words. She knows as well as Martha that He was wearied; but she knows, also, that there was a fulness in Him that could afford to be more wearied still. Her ear and her heart, therefore, still use Him, instead of her hand or her foot ministering to Him. And in these things lay the difference between the sisters. Martha's eye saw His weariness, and would give to Him; Mary's faith apprehended His fulness underneath His weariness, and would draw from Him.

This brings out the mind of the Son of God. The Lord accepts the care of Martha as long as it is simple care and diligence about His present need; but the moment she brings her mind into competition with Mary's she learns His judgment, and is taught to know that Mary by her faith was refreshing Him with a sweeter feast than all her care and the provision of her house could possibly have supplied. Mary's faith gave Jesus a sense of His own divine glory. It told Him that although He was the wearied One, He could still feed and refresh her. She was at His feet, hearing His words. There was no temple there, or light of the sun, but the Son of God was there, and He was everything to her. This was the honor He prized, and blessedly indeed was she in His secret. When He was thirsty and tired at Jacob's well, He forgot it all in giving out other waters which no pitcher could have held, or well beside His own supplied; and here Mary brings her soul to the same well, knowing that in spite of all His weariness it was as full as ever for her use.

And oh, dear brethren, what principles are here disclosed to us! Our God is asserting for Himself the place of supreme power and supreme goodness, and He will have us debtors to Him. Our sense of His fulness is more precious to Him than all the service we can render Him. Entitled as He is to more than all creation could give Him, yet above all things does He desire that we should use His love and draw from His treasures. The honor which our confidence puts upon Him is His highest honor; for it is the divine glory to be still giving, still blessing, still pouring forth from unexhausted fulness. Under the law He was to receive from us, but in the gospel He is giving to us; and the words of the Lord Jesus are these:" It is more blessed to give than to receive." And this place He will fill forever; for, '' without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better." Praise shall, it is true, arise to Him from everything that hath breath; but forth from Himself, and from the seat of His glory, shall go the constant flow of blessing, the light to cheer, the waters to refresh, and the leaves of the tree to heal; and our God shall taste His own joy, and display His own glory, in being a Giver forever.-"The Evangelists" by J. G. Bellett.

(Concluded from p. 54.)

As mentioned in my former paper, this, my last, will be to consider Mr. M.'s interpretation of 2 Tim. 20:2-22 in the light of the passage itself.

No one taught of God understands by the apostle's term, "a great house," that the house of God as fundamentally constructed is intended. There are no "vessels to dishonor " in the house of God as fundamentally constructed "and arranged. If we think of it as Christ's building ("I will build My Church," Matt. 16:18), we cannot conceive of His building with bad material. If we think of it as the "habitation of God by the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22), it is composed of saints alone. There may be believers from among Jews and believers from among Gentiles in this habitation, but only believers compose it. " A great house," containing both "vessels to honor" and "vessels to dishonor," is therefore not used by the apostle to illustrate, or symbolize, the house of God in its fundamental character.

A reference to i Cor. 3:9-15 will help to form a true idea of what the expression, "a great house," is intended to represent. The apostle, as having received from God a dispensation, or administration (Eph. 3:2), was constituted "master builder," 1:e., the authoritative establisher of the house of God in the outward form it was to have as an institution of God set up here on earth among men, and in the internal arrangement by which it was to be characterized. In this sense he laid the foundation of the house of God. He did it under the special guidance of the Spirit of God. The purpose of the Spirit in guiding the apostle in the work, (the administration given to him) was to set up and establish among men an institution to have the character of being the pillar and foundation of the truth (i Tim. 3:15). This I may express as follows:The house of God, fundamentally, is both the proclamation and the upholder of the truth-the truth of the great mystery of the person of the Christ. The apostle Paul, by the will of God, was the "master builder" of such an institution. He therefore says, in i Cor. 3:10, "I have laid the foundation." He had established its outward form and internal arrangement. In verse n he insists that this is the only thing that is the house of God fundamentally. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid " means, that any other construction is not the building of God's design:that it is not, and could not be, the pillar and foundation of the truth-the proclamation and upholder of the truth of Jesus Christ.

Other servants are solemnly warned as to their responsibility in regard to the character of this institution established by the apostle. "Let every man take heed how he builds." Each builder is responsible to carry on the apostolic building; to so build that his work will result only in what is the original character of the building-the reflection, or display, of the perfections of Christ. Any building resulting in what is the fruit of fallen, sinful man-the man who does not endure, whose glory passes away as the flower of grass, and who has become like stubble to be consumed by the fire of the judgment of God-is not maintaining and carrying on the apostolic foundation.

The idea of the Spirit, in Paul, was not a house containing a mixture of vessels of gold, silver and precious stones with vessels of wood, hay, and stubble- "vessels to honor" and "vessels to dishonor." Such a house is not the house of God according to its apostolic foundation. 2 Tim. 2 :20 does not therefore represent the house of God in its fundamental character, but as the result of not heeding his warning in i Cor. 3:10:it is that which has not maintained the fundamental character of the house of God. It has become such as admits mixture:a house so planned that "vessels to dishonor can come in with "vessels to honor."

In the house according to God's thought, of which Paul laid the foundation, there was no conception of a house in which there should be use for "vessels to dishonor." The Master of Paul's house has no dishonorable service. All His service is honorable. The plan of this house did not contemplate the mixing together of saved and unsaved. There was no provision in it for any service by the unregenerate.

In 2 Tim. 2:20 the house is not so. It is characterized by mixture-a house of unholy associations. There are "vessels to honor" in it, but associated, alas, with "vessels to dishonor." While so associated the "vessels to honor" are not "sanctified" vessels. They are '' vessels to honor " in unholy associations.* *Of course, the house of God, as founded by the apostle, abides, because the Spirit maintains what He Himself established by the apostle. What is called "a great bouse" is not a new foundation, but the perversion of that already laid. The perversion is not of the Spirit of God. The great need is to learn what is the authoritative apostolic foundation, so as to be able to distinguish it from its perversion by bad builders. The Spirit maintains the true, and all who build by the Spirit, build after that pattern :all else is of man, not of God.*

If, then, the "vessels to honor" are saved persons in association with "vessels to dishonor," or unsaved persons, what is the responsibility of the "vessels to honor ?" What ought saved persons in unholy associations to do ? Verse 21 gives us the answer. " If a man purge out himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." The meaning of this is perfectly plain; there is no excuse Whatever for misunderstanding it. A "vessel to honor "-a saved man-any child of God, in association with the unsaved-is in unholy associations, and is not a "sanctified" vessel to honor. He is not a vessel suited for the Master's use. He is not a vessel prepared for every good work. While he is a "vessel to honor" he needs to purge himself out from the unholy associations in which he is, in order to become a "vessel to honor, sanctified" and suited for "every good work" in the service of the Lord. And a Christian who argues not, but obeys, must of necessity find himself apart from true Christians who are in the unholy association, and are not obedient. "Stand away (or stand apart) from iniquity, everyone who names the name of the Lord " has already been the imperative demand of verse 19-on the Christian; and, responding to it, the "vessel to honor" purges himself out from the "vessels to dishonor." If " vessels to honor " do not obey, but still continue in the iniquitous association, they are responsible for the being away from their brethren, not the ones who obey. If the responsibility put upon those who name the name of the Lord is accepted and acted on, there is no escape from this.

I notice here a very shocking argument, professedly based on the force of the word for "purge" in the original Greek. I have usually found that a little parade of Greek is very unreliable. The word used here has the force of "purge out " ("expurge"). Its object is "himself." It is not purge out himself, but "purge out himself." From what ? From the other vessels. This is the only possible meaning the language of the apostle can have.

In the face of such plain language, Mr. M. says (P- 25) :

" But from what must he purge himself in order that he may be a vessel unto honor? From other vessels? That, I say again, is manifestly impossible. A vessel can be purged only from what it contains, or from what may adhere to it on the outside. The thought of separation from other vessels is as far as it is possible to get from the thought of this passage, for the passage directs attention to the condition of the vessel itself, not to that of other vessels. The aspirant for honorable service is admonished, not to look out and around for evil in his fellow-saints and to withdraw from their society, but to look within for evil in himself, and to purge himself from that."

This needs but to be quoted alongside the passage itself to manifest its opposition to Scripture. It is astonishing to find in a single paragraph such a collection of unwarrantable assertions. '' A vessel can be purged only from what it contains, or from what may adhere to it on the outside " (!) Where did Mr. M. learn that? "The thought of separation from other vessels is as far as it is possible to get from the thought of this passage" (!) A mere assertion, in opposition to the plain words of the apostle. "The passage directs attention to the condition of the vessel itself, not to that of other vessels." That is, from what Mr. M. says elsewhere, the vessel is to purge itself from its own filthiness! All this is mere assertion, very presumptuous assertion, in the face of the plain statements of the passage. This is not a reverent, but an unholy, handling of the word of God.

Mr. M. quotes other passages in which the word "purge" occurs, to try to prove his assertions. He omits to tell his readers that the construction of those passages is different. For instance, in speaking of the form of the verb "purge," he says, " It is found in Matt. 8:3 and Luke 4:27 to describe cleansing the leprosy from (out of) the leper." But in neither case is the construction the same as in 2 Tim. 2:21. "Him " in Matt. 8:3 is genitive, while " himself" in 2 Tim. 2:21 is accusative. Such mistreatment of the Word is very reprehensible.

But let us pass on. "Vessels to honor" should indeed "shun youthful lusts." But the purging lusts out of oneself is not all that God claims of us. He knows it is impossible to "follow righteousness, faith, love, peace," with a pure, or single, heart while associated with "vessels to dishonor." As long as we maintain the association our hearts are double-our eye is not single-our purposes, or motives, are mixed. To follow "righteousness, faith, love, peace," with a "pure heart," we must necessarily give up associations that enslave us to motives other than those the Lord forms in us. Bat in freeing ourselves from associations which put us in bondage to unholy motives, we find ourselves in the same path and position with others who have in like manner submitted to the Lord's claim. In this verse the apostle now directs us to continue in this path, pursuing together the things which we are now free to pursue with a pure heart. It puts a curb on the spirit of independency into which, in separating from others, we might easily fall. It is perhaps natural to us; but nature is not to control us. We are to be governed by the word of God. It is plain then that the word of God does have something to say to us about our associations. It tells us what associations to keep separate from, and what associations to go on with. It is plain that in the matter of our associations it is not a sufficient rule to insist merely on personal soundness in doctrine and godliness in individual walk. The word of God, as is plain, does require these things, but it imperatively demands more. It insists on holy associations; it forbids unholy ones.

Disobedience therefore in the matter of associations is sinful as surely as it is sinful in other matters. The prophet Samuel tells us, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (i Sam. 15:22, 23). Saul had not obeyed. He had set up his own reasons against the plain will of God. If we are indifferent to what God has made known of His will, no matter in what, we are not in a right state of soul, but wilfully disobedient.

If God has declared that His mind is that the vessels to be used in His service should be separated from unholy associations, it is a very poor thing in us to talk about " fellow-saints." Sanctioning and having fellowship with them in their unholy associations is not the way to show them our love. Another apostle tells us that loving God and keeping His commandments is the proof that we love the children of God (i John 5:2). This may cost us much; but love yields all to God. The Lord give us the spirit of obedience!

Let us follow Mr. M. a little further. He says:" It is perfectly clear that this scripture (2 Tim. 2) has no reference at all to the qualifications of a saint for companionship or personal association with other saints, either in the breaking of bread or anything else, but that it refers solely to his qualifications for high-grade service."

Indeed! Are these sober words, or the invention of the mind slipping away from the humility that is in Christ ? Where does Scripture ever speak of "high-grade service?" Not this passage, as any sober reading of it will show. It is foreign to the spirit and teaching of Scripture.

Again, of the same passage, he says:"Separation from one's own appetites is the only separation that is spoken of." Why, then, what immediately follows:" Flee also youthful lusts ?"

But Mr. M.'s teaching in page 25 becomes unholy, casting reproach upon God's holy character. He says:

" Nevertheless the vessels are all in the house, and are necessarily in company one with another.

Moreover, they are all needful for the service of the house, though there are various grades of service, some honorable, some dishonorable."

Dishonorable service in the house of God! Has the Master of the house of God dishonorable duties to assign to any one of His vessels ? Mr. M. is so affected by a false principle that he does not apprehend the difference between the house as established by God, and the perversion of it by bad men or careless brethren. Evidently there is yet "unlearned" teaching to "avoid."

Much more might be said to the same effect; but it is painful, and I cease. In conclusion, it is evident that Mr. M. has not apprehended the fundamental construction and arrangement of the house of God. Through the apostle Paul the Spirit has given the pattern which the saints are responsible to keep to and carry on. Through the apostle God has revealed the truth as to it, and it is to be received by faith as truly as any other revealed truth. Failing to apprehend the revealed mind and will of God as to this, Mr. M. has also failed to realize the true place of the breaking of bread in the fellowship which God's Son has set up on earth. In his scheme it loses entirely its character as to the expression of the fellowship of the whole Church. It becomes merely the expression of a local independent (meeting, and even then only of the fellowship of those "who happen to be gathered "at the time.

The representative character of the local assembly is not seen by him; therefore the relations which in Scripture the assemblies have to each other are not understood. Consequently the representative character of the local assembly, and its relation to the universal assembly, is unknown. In the apostolic Epistles the local meeting is not a mere local meeting, independent of the saints that elsewhere call upon the name of the Lord:it is their representative in the locality, expressing their fellowship in that place, and in full responsibility to them all.

The lack of this knowledge has led Mr. M. into what we have seen is nothing short of a delusion. I do not question his Christianity and endowment with rich gifts. The sorrow is to see this marred, and the vessel hindered from being "prepared unto every good work." May the Lord yet make our brother such a vessel! If we have spoken sharply at times, it has been from no personal animosity, but the sense of the deep wrong done to the truth and to God's people. C. CRAIN

QUES. 16.-In John 20:17 the Lord forbids Mary to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to His Father. In Matt. 28 :9 they "held Him by the feet," and He does not forbid them. Had He ascended to His Father between these two events?

Also, was His breathing upon His disciples and saying, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," the fulfilment of His promise in John 16 :7?

ANS.-There is not a hint in Scripture of the Lord having ascended to His Father before what is related in Acts 1. The Gospels of Mark and Luke speak of His ascension, and in each case the event referred to is the same as in Acts.

But all difficulty vanishes when it is seen that lack of knowledge in Mary leads her to think she is going to have the Lord back again as in the days before the cross. The Lord makes her realize she cannot have Him so now :He was going back to His Father, as He had said to them in John 14; and Mary, like the church of which the Lord makes her a type in this verse (17), must now know Him according to this heavenly relationship. The other women who are permitted to take Him by the feet (Matt. 28:9) are samples of those on Jewish ground.

The Church is altogether heavenly, being united by the Holy Spirit to Christ in heaven, and waiting to be taken by Him there. Notice the same thing taught in Gen. 24, when Abram pledges his servant to bring a wife to his son Isaac ; but bids him not to take his son there-the bride must go to him where he is. The Church's relation with Christ is a heavenly one. Not so with Israel. Christ must return to earth to fulfil His relation with them.

His breathing upon His disciples has the same typical character. We know from Acts 2 that it was not the fulfilment of John 16 :7, for that was not until after His ascension from the mount of Olives in the sight of His disciples. His breathing upon them is anticipative of, or points to that-not bestowing the Spirit at that moment. The Lord is^taking formally His place as declared in 1 Cor. 15:45. As Adam was the progenitor of the old-creation family, so is Christ of the new, of which He is now the risen Head.

All is divinely simple and instructive, and needs no introducing of events for which we have no scripture warrant.

QUES. 17.-Will all living infants at the Rapture be taken to glory ?

ANS.-We know of no scripture bearing directly upon this subject. "Thou shalt be saved, and thy house " (Acts 16 :31) settles the matter, we judge, as to all infants of believers-taken with the parents. God's general ways with man would indicate that the children of unbelievers would be left on earth with them. Multitudes of infants who may perish during the upheavals of those times would, like infants in all other times, be taken to heaven. The others will remain for millennial days. It must be borne in mind that of all those left upon earth after the rapture of the Church those alone have their doom sealed who during this present day of grace have known and refused the truth. To these only will God, in judgment, send a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie :" that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness " (2 Thess. 2 :8-12). The Lord's servants should press this now upon the souls of men.

QUES. 18.-I have met some who hold that the camp of the saints in Rev. 20:9 is composed partly of saints who have never died, and partly of those who have suffered martyrdom in the great tribulation, and have been resurrected. Are not all those who have part in the first resurrection among the heavenly company ?

ANS.-Surely they are. The heavenly saints, however, may have much to do with the earth during the millennial reign in various ministry and rule. We see the heavenly saints in Revelation, 19th chapter, accompanying the Lord in His return to the earth, when the enemies are put under His feet and His kingdom is established in Jerusalem over all the earth.

"The camp of the saints" might be the temporary place provided round about the city for those who will come there to seek the Lord from all parts of the earth (Zech. 8 :22, 23), or those who will attend the yearly feast of tabernacles to worship the King (Zech. 14 :16-20). Great multitudes will doubtless attend from all parts of the earth.

Tithing the Mint

" Ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God " (Luke 11:42).

As men generally do who walk at a distance from God, but who wish to be considered godly, the Pharisees to whom the Lord spoke the above words were exceedingly technical and careful of small things, while they left out the weighty matters of "judgment and the love of God."

There is no need of exercise of soul to " tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs." Moreover, it has the appearance of much conscience; and this satisfies pride. It gives a character of piety in the eyes of our fellows; and the flesh loves this. How frightfully subtle is the human heart! How, by trifles, and with Bible in hand perhaps, it can hide from itself the great and solemn matters of "judgment and the love of God " which reach out unto all eternity. This is what has built up the Romish system of religion into a gigantic fabric of trifles, forms, ceremonies, superstitions without end-a churchianity which is but a painful caricature of Christianity; and it is ready to build up in the same way any individual or company of individuals who yield themselves to it.

But oh, dreadful omission! it omits judgment and the love of God. It retains the chaff-the outside- and lets go the wheat-the real substance.

Where judgment and the love of God prevail, all minor details take their rightful place; but, once gone, the closer adherence to details, the deeper and more offensive the pharisaism which follows.

Judgment without the love would be hard and fruitless. Love without the judgment would end in corruption. Tithing mint without judgment and love is but legality and hypocrisy. The true path is narrow, but it ends in a large place.

David has only one book, the book of Psalms-the comfort of multitudes. Save one great fall, his heart was with God from end to end of his life. It was a life of one piece. Love marks him. He is Israel's shepherd as well as their king, and leader, of their praises.

His son Solomon has three books :1:Proverbs- his wisdom, which is the chief feature of his life. 2. Ecclesiastes-his sore disappointments and dejection. All that the wisdom of man can devise is insufficient to satisfy the heart. 3. The Song of songs -the expression in Old Testament imagery of repentance, faith, and love. He has found at the end of his life what his father had found at the beginning.

Happy are they who learn God's wisdom at their beginning.

The Kingdom and the Church.

It is not difficult to see a marked difference between the first seven chapters of Acts and the rest of the book. Those seven chapters are the final appeal of God in grace to the Jewish nation. Their Messiah had come; they had rejected Him, and God had taken Him back to heaven. On the cross He had yet prayed for them in most tender words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." His prayer, as ever, is granted, and the nation, forgiven this great crime for the time being, is yet given an opportunity for repentance and acknowledging Him as the Messiah, the King, which God had promised them in the Scriptures of their prophets. They are bidden to repent, to own themselves as His subjects by being baptized in His name, and their sins will be forgiven them, and He will return to them and set them up at the head of all nations, as promised in the Prophets.

For a moment their fate hangs in the balance. Thousands are convicted, baptized, and forgiven. But the same nation breaks out in fierce persecution imprisoned and beaten, and Stephen is stoned to death, though they had seen his the face of an angel."

Their doom is sealed now. A few more years of the patience of God, and the Romans raze Jerusalem to the ground and scatter the nation to the four winds of heaven, where it is to this day.

Saul is converted, chosen last of all as an apostle_ not to the Jews as were the Twelve-but to the Church. She is in the kingdom, but she is not the kingdom. She is the King's wife (Rev. 19:7), and is, with Him, to rule the kingdom when it is set up in power and glory.

Because Paul is the apostle of the Church, and the Church is a heavenly body, he was not sent, like the other apostles, to baptize (i Cor. i:17); for baptism is a kingdom, not a Church, ordinance. It has to do with the earth, not heaven; with time, not eternity; with subjection to the King, not life and union with the Head of the Church.

Paul recognized, of course, the truth of the kingdom, and, accordingly, he did baptize; but, as with the Twelve, whose mission was the kingdom and therefore still a Jewish and earthly order of things, baptism of water was in the front; so with Paul, whose mission was the Church and therefore no more a Jewish and earthly order of things, baptism of water was in the background. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper was given a new and prominent character by the revelation of the Church dispensation (i Cor. ii:23-34). On kingdom ground they broke bread at home, in theft own houses (Acts 2:46), each family separately, as loving subjects of their Saviour-King, and probably at the end of their meals. On Church ground they "came together on the first day of the week to break bread" (Acts 20:7).

They had learned that "by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles," and this necessitated a new and different order of things.

The Church dispensation as given to the apostle Paul is still the one we are in. His gospel, as he himself calls it (Rom. 16:25), is still the gospel to be presented to men. They who preach the gospel of the first seven chapters of Acts preach a Jewish gospel-the gospel of the kingdom-not the gospel of the Church dispensation. Is it a wonder, therefore, if the Christianity which prevails under that gospel is little else than a baptized Judaism ?

How unspeakably blessed to have learned Paul's gospel!-to know and enjoy the exceeding riches of God's grace as unfolded in the gospel of the present dispensation! Not a few think that the gospel which offers deliverance to the sinner from the wrath to come is all there is of the gospel. How great and serious a mistake! How dwarfed it leaves its converts! Indeed, deliverance from the wrath to come is but the blessed door into the further gospel of God's infinite grace in relation to the place we have in the Church, and the place the Church has in the .glorious counsels of God. May we learn this, and worship!

Editor of Help and Food,-

Dear Sir:Let me thank you for your timely leaflet, " The Sinking of the Titanic." Allow me to say Amen to its closing paragraph. Referring to your remark that the great ship " was the newest product of that glorious progress of man which was to end in his saying, ' I am God,'" I was, not so long ago, listening to an address by one of the learned professors of Columbia College before the parents, guardians and friends of graduates-relatives who had gathered at its closing exercises. Although not openly announced, his theme was, "The Deification of Man." Among other remarks, he affirmed that man was not now the poor, helpless, insignificant thing he once was. " You bring your sons, your daughters, to us comparatively powerless to battle with the powers around them-we turn them out something; fit them to master the problems by which they are confronted as they go forth to meet the world's necessities." Then, with emphasis, and almost satirical eloquence, he exclaimed, " Why, mark, as an illustration, we conquer now the ocean- not by prayer, but by steam and by steel!"* *Would God the folly of the learned professor were confined to Columbia College, and that his boastful pride might be brought to an end by the sad lesson of the Titanic! But, alas, it has become the characteristic of all the colleges, and they, as a whole, have become the hotbeds of infidelity. The tide has evidently set in for the final apostasy of Christendom. Except God, in infinite grace, should yet check it for a time by a mighty wave of blessing, all is now in full swing to bring about the awful end, "and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:3, 4).

A little while longer, and the dread hour will arrive when boastful men will "hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains ; and say to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand ? " (Rev. 6 :15-17.)-[Ed.*

Thus does so that man, in his insolent, boasting pride, throw down the gauntlet to God. Truly " He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh :the Lord shall have them in derision." Has the day passed for this poor world to heed the admonition, " Be still, and know that I am God ? " How blessed for the believer to know that " the night is far spent, the day is at hand!"

Chapter 2:11-17. (Continued from page 292.)

We have seen that the apostles of the circumcision had recognized, or expressed their hearty fellowship with, Paul's ministry as the apostle of the uncircumcision. It was incumbent upon him therefore that he should resist any attempt to undermine the true character of the grace of which he was the messenger. If such attempts developed among the believers, even if the apostles of the circumcision themselves should become implicated in practice not according to the truth of the gospel, it became him to withstand them.

Paul had been appointed by God to defend the gospel (Phil, i:17). As a faithful steward, he was to protect it against worldly wisdom, from admixture with human philosophies, and to maintain a walk and practice according to godliness. It was his prerogative and duty to withstand and rebuke any practice not according to the truth of the gospel.

It is evident the apostle is reminding the Galatian saints of this in chapter 2:11-17. They had been enticed into a practice which was not after godliness, but contrary to the truth of the gospel, and he would have them realize that his rebuke was by the authority of God. He desires also to deliver them from the troublers who had influenced them-who came under a judgment which he had authority to declare, and from which he would save the Galatians.

Earnest in his purpose to do this, he appeals to the fact that he had already had occasion to use the authority the Lord had given him to withstand and rebuke the very practice they had been influenced to turn to. Under Judaizing influences, they had yielded to the demands that had been pressed upon them, that Gentile believers must be circumcised before they could be allowed full Christian fellowship.

And this practice of denying to uncircumcised Gentiles, although believers, participation in all the privileges of Christian fellowship, seems to have developed very rapidly after the conference at Jerusalem. Paul's account of it we have already looked at. After that conference, he and Barnabas returned to Antioch, where for some time they continued as formerly to teach and preach the word of the Lord; many others also joining them in the work (Acts 15:35). While thus employed Peter visited Antioch. It is clear that at first he did not hesitate to mingle with and to recognize the uncircumcised Gentile believers as entitled to full Christian fellowship. Later, "certain came down from James." It may perhaps be going too far to say that James-the very apostle whom the Spirit of God used at the Jerusalem conference to express the will of God as to the Gentile believers-had so soon weakened and made concessions to those who were insistent on Judaizing Christianity; yet the fact that Paul says, "Certain came from James" (ver. 12), suggests the possibility that to some extent he had yielded to a movement that manifestly was gathering strength.

It is evident that Peter weakened before men come from James. He well knew the natural prejudices
of the circumcision. He yielded to what he realized was a strong Jewish sentiment and opinion. Through weakness, he dissembled. While not giving up the truth of the gospel, either his own or Paul's, he undertook to conciliate the well-developed Jewish sentiment. He sought to make it appear to those who were of the circumcision that he shared in their thoughts in not allowing Gentile converts equal privilege of full Christian fellowship. He was willing to hide his real sentiments as to the truth he held from God behind a practice in conformity with the Judaizers. It was not uprightness, but dissimulation. It was not faithfulness to the truth as he himself had preached it, and as, no doubt, he really held it in his heart.

Through Peter's dissembling, the other Jews were emboldened to submit to the growing influence of the men from James. Even Barnabas, seeing the extent to which the movement was spreading, gave in to it, thus lending his influence on the side of the Judaizers.

Now Paul, seeing the real significance of all this, and how thoroughly wanting in uprightness it was, boldly withstood the movement. He felt the responsibility of the deposit of truth entrusted to him. His apostleship gave him the prerogative of declaring the mind and will of God. As set by God for the defense of the gospel, he must rebuke the inconsistent practice-a practice not according to the truth of the gospel. The fact that one of the twelve apostles was involved in the Judaizing movement did not exempt him from the rebuke of Paul.

Paul then used the rod of his authority by openly and publicly withstanding Peter. He unmasked the
dissimulation, exposing its inconsistency with the truth as known and held by Peter. The rebuke thus administered by Paul stood. Peter, though one of the twelve, had to submit to it. Truth must stand, even against an apostle, if he violates it.

The condition of affairs in Galatia was such, at the time the apostle was writing this epistle, that they needed forceful words, and the apostle's courage in the use of the rod of correction is marked. So he narrates the circumstances of the failure, and the rebuke administered to the most distinguished of the Twelve. And as the arguments he had used to convict Peter applied with full force to the case of the Galatians, he also tells them what those arguments were. Let us now consider them.

First, if Peter associated with uncircumcised Gentiles on terms of equality, on the principle that "circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing "-a course of conduct which Peter himself had followed, as well known to all, it was a great wrong to take part in a movement whose object was to compel the Gentiles to Judaize. If he allowed, as his practice hitherto showed, that Gentile believers, though uncircumcised, were entitled to full Christian fellowship, then, consistently, he should not now link himself with a movement that was being carried on with a view to make circumcision the condition of equal fellowship. If it is of God that Gentile believers are of the household of faith, then to deny them practical participation in the privileges of His house is a glaring wrong.

The apostle thus is convicting the Galatians of their serious error in yielding, as Peter had done, to the claims and demands of the Judaizers. If compelling the Gentiles to be circumcised was on Peter's part inconsistent and, so, wrong, how plain a violation of the truth of the gospel it was for Gentile believers themselves to aid a movement which denied them the full blessing which the grace of God had brought them into! But let us follow the apostle's arguments with Peter further.

Secondly, he goes on to say:The believing Jews themselves know that no man, Jew or Gentile, is justified by works of law; that justification is by the faith which lays hold on Jesus Christ. This is one of the great lessons which God had taught by the law. In giving the law to the children of Israel, God set them at the task of working out a righteousness of their own. They did not succeed in doing it, as all knew. God Himself has declared the results of their seeking to make out a righteousness of their own. He proclaims their failure to be a clear and fair demonstration of the fact that no man-not merely the Jew, but the Gentile also-can establish his own righteousness in the presence of God. Now this, as plainly taught in the Old Testament Scriptures, was a part of the faith of God's true children. Those who, like Abraham, believed the testimony of God, knew that no man is justified by works of law. To this knowledge, which is the possession of faith, Paul here appeals in reasoning with Peter. Having done so, he goes on to say, Even we Jews have given up seeking justification by law-works. As those who have learned the lesson the law teaches, we have sought and found justification in the way the law has shown to be the only possible way. It has abundantly pointed out, in type and prophecy, that justification must be by Jesus Christ, to whom all the sacrifices in the law pointed. He tells Peter here that, as knowing all this, "we Jews" have believed in Jesus Christ, the One to whom the law has led us in order to be justified.

The plain force of the argument is:If we Jews are not justified by law-works, we have no ground to press it upon Gentiles. If we are justified by the faith that lays hold of Christ, how can we object to a Gentile being justified in the same way ? Is it right to hold and teach the doctrine (forced upon us by the law itself) that justification is not by law-works, but by faith in Christ, and then turn and say to the Gentiles, You must, by keeping the law, work out a righteousness of your own ?

It Peter's preaching had been in agreement with the lesson taught by the law. The gospel he preached was consistent with the law's declaration that "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified;" but his joining in with those who would deny to the believing Gentiles full Christian fellowship unless they accepted circumcision and the yoke of the law, was contrary to his doctrine. Before certain came from James he had acted consistently with the gospel he had preached; but after their arrival he weakly yielded to the Judaizing influence. It was double-mindedness. It was throwing the weight of his influence against the truth revealed of God. He thus rightly came under rebuke.

Thirdly, there was yet another argument used by Paul in his public exposure of Peter's blameworthy course. He says, in verse 17, Your present course implies that we Jews have sinned in seeking justification through Christ; but if it be so that we have sinned, then our sin is chargeable to Christ. It is through Christ we have ceased to go about to establish our own righteousness. Does not, then, your present course imply that Christ is the minister of sin ? Does it not involve believing that Christ has wrongly brought to an end the order of things under which we were specifically required to work out a righteousness of our own ?-in establishing another order of things under which righteousness is imputed to those who believe in Christ ?

The epistle concludes his appeal to Peter by saying, "God forbid!" or, rather, Far away be such a revolting thought! C. Crain

(To be continued.)

" I know that my Redeemer liveth."-Job 19:25.

" Their Redeemer is strong."-Jer. 50 :34.

I know that my Redeemer lives
To intercede for me:
The strength that this assurance gives
Confirms the feeble knee:
My Redeemer
Pities my infirmity.

The weak and foolish of this world
He makes His special choice,
Showing the mysteries of grace
To those who know His voice:
Strong Redeemer!
'Neath Thy shadow we rejoice.

His promises, forever true,
Like open portals stand,
Where faith may enter, and receive
Her bounty from His hand:
My Redeemer
Meets the hungry soul's demand.

And oh, how tenderly He bends
To hear a contrite cry!
Interpreting the tale untold
That hangs upon a sigh:
My Redeemer,
As the sinner's Friend, draws nigh.

"The everlasting covenant,"
Sealed with His blood, I see!
How full the pardon, and how deep
The peace He made for me!
My Redeemer
Gave His life to set me free.

And while on every cloud of care
His bow of peace appears,
The brightness of this "blessed hope"
The dim horizon clears-
My Redeemer
Soon shall wipe away all tears!

Oh then shall rise the glad "new song,"
From hearts attuned aright,
When all Thou hast "redeemed to God"
Shall walk with Thee in white!
Blest Redeemer!
Haste that day which knows no night.

J. M. G.

(John 14.)

"Let not your heart be troubled;"
What tender words of grace!
They were spoken by the Saviour
In the appointed place,
When He and His disciples
Were in that "upper room."
'Twas just before He entered
The depths of Calvary's gloom.

" Let not your heart be troubled;"
In My Father's house on high
Are bright and blissful mansions
And courts of endless joy. "
Let not your heart be troubled,"
For I am going there, That a place in fadeless glory
For you I may prepare.

" Let not your heart be troubled; "
Although I go away,
I'll come again, and take you
To those bright realms of day.
Now though our Lord is absent,
We hear these words of love,
"Let not your heart be troubled,"
Still ringing from above.

And though the night be dreary,
And long may seem His stay,
" Let not your heart be troubled,"
He'll come without delay.
" Let not your heart be troubled "
Is a balm for every wound;
Our darkest hours of sorrow
With gladness may be tuned.

The shades of night will vanish,
And every sorrow flee,
When with resplendent glory
We rise His face to see.
" Let not your heart be troubled;"
Consoling words of love!
They'll never more be needed
When with Himself above.

C. C. Crowston

"My Time is not yet full come" John 7 :8

What exquisite obedience in our adorable Lord! His own brothers themselves did not believe on Him. They taunt Him therefore with the very common taunt, " If you have such better things than the rest of us, why hide yourself ? Mingle with the world, and show yourself."

To this He replies, " My time is not yet come; but your time is alway ready; " that is, "You, being of the world, have always ready access to the world; but I come from another world, whose things are not welcome in this one. So I must wait for the opportunity made for Me from above. You go on to the feast at your chosen time; but I must wait till My full time is come." Lovely dependence! lovely obedience! Holy aggressiveness too, when He goes; an aggressiveness which, while it makes Him hated by the world, and stirs strife and division in it, draws to Him, unto eternal bliss, all who are sin-sick and weary.

We can do no better than to follow our Master.

The going down of the Titanic.

If ever a calamity had a lesson in it, the going down of this floating palace assuredly has it. That it is the hand of God laid upon the boastful pride of man is evident to any thoughtful mind who is not in the vortex of that pride. Commanded by one of the most able, experienced, careful and conscientious captains of the sea ; a masterpiece of mechanism; warned of danger ahead; a clear night; a quiet sea; she yet plunged headlong into death as if He before whom not even a sparrow is forgotten had withdrawn His protecting hand:as if He had said, "You are the product, not of man's need (in which I am always concerned), but of man's pride, and independence of Me, and voluptuousness, and I deliver you up to death. As, because of sin, 'it is appointed unto men once to die," so I appoint you to die."

May the two great nations especially concerned in such causes of calamity give ear to the voice that speaks here! If not, more and worse will surely follow.

As to eternal things, what a lesson too! Twice the Lord uses calamities which had come upon the Jews to warn the rest that, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Shall we then, we Christians, who know and have escaped "the wrath to come," be idle while yet the patient grace of God lingers over a world which is hastening to its doom, and not press upon them to repent ? Prophets of Baal abound on every hand who lull the masses to sleep. Shall we let them sleep ? Shall we seek our ease too ? Shall we live in pride and luxuriousness too, and drift with the tide ? Shall we spend upon ourselves to gratify our senses, or shall we lay up treasures in heaven while opportunity is ours to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, and in every possible manner ?

Beloved children of God, the Voice that speaks here speaks to us also. Why is there so much wreckage on our pathway behind ? Because of the same things as in the Titanic's wreckage, however modified they may be by the light that shines, upon us. If we repent not, but go on in pride still, there is worse ahead for us too.
Thanks be to God, we are not in the desperate situation of those responsible toward the multitude on the Titanic. When they awoke to the danger, they could offer no adequate provision for them to escape. The life-boats could carry but a few away. There was nothing for the multitude left. We who preach Christ to a perishing world can assure them that there is the fullest provision in Him for every one of them; that " He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world;" that if they will but repent and take refuge in Him, all is well.

As for ourselves, if we have lost our first love, grown cold, proud, worldly, able to walk with evil, we need but repent, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and, having Jesus Christ for our advocate, we will find abundant pardon and renewed spiritual energies.

Thank God, there are yet those in the world who suffer with Christ in His rejection; who, though faint, are yet pursuing; who keep His word;-who hold fast what they have received from Him. Their Lord, coming quickly, will fail in none of His promises to them. May the burning passion of our hearts be to be found of their number when the Lord arrives !

(Chap. 1:6-10.)

(Continued from page 185.)

The apostle had visited Galatia twice before he wrote this epistle. The record of his first visit is in Acts 16:6, which was early in his second missionary journey, when Christianity was first introduced in the province of Galatia. It was probably on the occasion of that visit that the greater part of the believers there, who were now the objects of so much solicitude and concern to Paul, were called into the grace of Christ. This was by the means of the gospel he had preached among them.

We know what that gospel was (i Cor. 15:3, 4). It proclaimed a work undertaken and accomplished by Jesus Christ in order to establish His righteous title to deliver guilty sinners from the age that is characterized by evil, upon their repentance. Having heard and believed the gospel that the apostle preached, they became participants in the deliverance it announced. They realized and enjoyed it.

His second visit is recorded in Acts 18:23. This was at the beginning of his third journey-probably not more than three or four years after the first visit. The apparent object of this second visit was to strengthen and confirm in the truth of Christianity the churches formed during his former one. How their souls must have been enlarged in the salvation by grace through faith of which they were partakers, as he, with apostolic authority, unfolded it to them!

It was probably not more than three or four years after the second visit that this epistle was written. In this short interval of time a very serious defection from the gospel they had received from him had taken place. A gospel of a different type, of a different character altogether, had been introduced among them. It was the gospel of the legalist. It was not the gospel of grace, but of works. It is needful that we should realize the difference between the gospel the apostle preached and the gospel proclaimed by those who had risen up among the Galatians, if indeed they had not come to them from elsewhere.

The two gospels are mutually antagonistic. The gospel which Paul authoritatively proclaimed, of which he was the exponent, was a plan of salvation in which there was no allowance whatever of the principle of self-help. It addressed itself to men as being victims of sin, as being in a bondage out of which deliverance is absolutely impossible by self-effort. The new gospel that had come among the Galatians since the apostle's last visit was in contrast with this. It was a gospel of works. It insisted on self-help and the value and merit of human effort.

The Galatians, in giving their adherence to this gospel, were accepting as truth a system of salvation that God had exposed as false. He had shown by the law of Moses that any system whose underlying principle is self-help is weak through the flesh (Rom. 8:3); that every such system is devised by fallen, sinful man; and that it cannot secure deliverance out of the age of evil. It was the fundamental element in the system of Cain. It is the fundamental element in every plan man has ever devised by which to effect his redemption.

Self-effort therefore is a human principle-a principle of the world; a principle common to all classes of men. It is the principle on which all men act wherever they do not abandon themselves to the bondage of sin or to despair as to escaping it. Now God Himself has in the law of Moses taken up this fundamental element of man's, this foundation-principle which is not of God, but of the world (Gal. 4:3), and He has demonstrated what a weak and beggarly principle it is (Gal. 4:9). He has proved its weakness and unprofitableness (Heb. 7:18).

In giving their adherence to this gospel of works, the Galatians had abandoned the system which is of God for that which is of the world-of man. It was taking up a system which God had proved to be weak and unprofitable, and had cast off. It was a fall from the ground of God's grace to that of man's works.

Paul realized the seriousness of this defection. It raised questions in his mind. Were they in fact Christians? "I stand in doubt of you," he tells them. He is perplexed in his mind about them (chap. 4:20). He fears the labor he had bestowed on them was in vain (chap. 4:11). It was impossible for him to come to that conclusion, however. He remembers the way they received his gospel at the beginning, and he cannot think that they are not children of God. In spite of his perplexities as to them, he still calls them brethren and his children.

But even so, even if he can still regard them as being sons of God (chap. 4:6), he feels how seriously their apprehension of the grace in which they really stand is affected by their defection from the truth- from the true gospel. While Christ had given them liberty, they were not subjectively standing fast in it. They had lost the inward realization of it. They needed to have Christ formed in them; to have established in their souls the apprehension of the true character of His grace.

To this end the apostle is laboring in writing to them. He is seeking the recovery in their souls of the sense of their deliverance from the present age of evil which Christ, by the right of His death for their sins, had bestowed upon them. It will, I trust, be edifying and profitable to follow the apostle's method with them. I shall now address myself to it.

The first thing he does is to acquaint them with the consternation with which his soul was seized when he realized what had taken place among them, and how surprised he was at the suddenness with which it had occurred (verse 6). It must have been a powerful appeal to them to be accused by him of giving up the gospel they had heard from him, especially as he insists that the gospel to which they had turned was so different from his that it was not a gospel at all (verse 7).

But he knows how to account for what had so quickly taken place. He tells them the preachers to whom they have been listening are "troublers" and "perverters" of the gospel of Christ. Furthermore, he lets them know that their perversion of the gospel is not through mere weak apprehension of it, but is designed. They have a fixed purpose in doing it. They are deliberately and wilfully doing it. How keenly the apostle must have felt his Galatian converts becoming a prey to such men-men actuated with such a wicked purpose!

His soul is thoroughly roused. In verses 8 and 9 he bursts out with fiery indignation. What a solemn fulmination against these troublers! What an indignant protest against their perversion of the gospel of Christ! A burning zeal consumes him. His feeling is most intense. His fervency is at the very highest pitch. It is impossible for him to repress the repugnance of his spirit to their evil, destructive work. He must denounce them in the strongest way possible.

And yet we must not think of the apostle as under some uncontrollable impulse. He is not speaking inconsiderately. He is not using exaggerated expressions. He is not speaking like a frenzied man. He is speaking calmly, deliberately, soberly; fully realizing the meaning of what he says, and as conscious of being the exponent of the truth. He knows he is the authoritative interpreter of the gospel of Christ-that gospel which he had preached in Galatia, of which Christ is the author and substance. He understood how serious it was not to apprehend its character. How much more serious, therefore, it was to designedly and wilfully pervert it. This was wicked and blasphemous. "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached," is language calmly and designedly used to awaken in the Galatians (in us as well) a sense of the seriousness of the matter; and '' let him be anathema " is God's sentence on those carrying on the wicked and blasphemous work. It is pronounced by one authorized to speak as His mouthpiece. The repetition of it emphasizes both the seriousness and the sentence pronounced. The change in the repetition from "that which we have preached" to "that ye have received " emphasizes the fact that they had received the real gospel of Christ from him; that he had delivered it to them authoritatively, and that consequently it was their responsibility to treat the wicked perverters of it as under the anathema of God. Since the age of the apostles there has been no one clothed with authority to pronounce an anathema. This does not mean that wicked perverters of the gospel are not now "anathema." The apostolic pronouncement here applies to them. In treating them as being anathema (accursed) we are acting under apostolic authority. If neither the Church collectively nor the saints individually have authority to declare any one anathema, both are subject to the authoritative declaration of the apostle. His pronouncement should be the end of all controversy. Here is the wisdom of God for us. Let us accept it as such.

As one who was authorized to speak for God, to declare the mind of God, the apostle's concern was to do it faithfully. He was acting on that which the Lord required of Jeremiah, " He that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully" (Jer. 23:28). In verse 10 Paul insists that he is not seeking the favor of men. He does not in the least aspire to that. His one thought is to please God. He does not consult the pleasure of men. To do that would be to be untrue to his divinely-given trust. A servant of Christ is duty-bound to be faithful. If he altered the word of God given to him-if he toned it down to suit the pleasure of men-if he nullified it by suiting it to the thoughts of men, he would not speak faithfully, as one called to be the exponent of the truth and interpreter of the mind of God.

What reason we have to thank God for the apostle's faithfulness! Through it we have the mind and will of God in a form which is absolute. There is no uncertainty about it. God has spoken by one whom He has. Himself commissioned to speak for Him, and who has faithfully declared His word as given to him. It therefore comes to us as it came to men in apostolic times, claiming our own complete adherence, as it did that of those to whom it first came.

While considering the question of authority, a few further remarks may be in place. There is very evidently innate in the souls of men a craving for authority to Which to appeal; on which to rest; with which to leave all responsibility without a question. It is this craving in the soul that leads men to rest on the word of a priest or minister; that leads people to trust in and submit to the voice of the Church. But no priest or minister, or any individual other than a prophet or apostle, has authority to define what is or is not the mind and will of God. We are responsible to judge of that by what God has given as being His mind and will through prophets or apostles authorized by Himself to speak for Him. Is what I hear according to what God has spoken by His prophets and apostles ? is to be asked always.

It is true that certain duties in connection with the administration of the kingdom of heaven are put into the hands of the disciples of the kingdom (Matt. 16:19; John 20:23). But these duties are strictly defined. They are in no sense legislative:they are strictly administrative. They do not include the authoritative affirmation of what is and what is not the mind of God.

There are also certain matters of administration put into the hands of the Church; but here again there is the same limitation. The Church is not clothed with legislative power. She is nowhere authorized to teach. She is under the responsibility of administering what the authorized prophets and apostles have taught. Her administration, so far as it is according to the revealed mind of God, is sanctioned by God (Matt. 18:18).

Neither disciples in connection with the administration of the kingdom of heaven that is committed to them, nor the Church in connection with the administrative duties given to her, have been authorized to speak as the mouthpiece of God. The usurpation of the functions of prophets and apostles is prohibited to both.

But the authority that can alone satisfy the innate craving of the soul, and forever settle and silence its questions, is found in the written word of God. Here is where God Himself speaks. He speaks the truth, and by it settles the deepest perplexities of every soul that appeals to it. It gives a sure foundation to the soul. Reliance on it will never be betrayed. When the soul is concerned as to its most momentous interests-those in relation to eternity- the sure word of God settles everything for it; puts everything in the light, and gives a certainty altogether divine. It is the same Word that will be the judge of men in the last day (John 12:48).

But we must return to our consideration of the apostle's method with the Galatians in seeking to recover in their souls the sense of the true character of the grace of Christ by which they had been called, and from which they had departed. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

QUES. 34.-Are "new birth" and "born of God" identical? Scripture uses the two terms. Is there not some distinction between them, similar though they are?

ANS.-Assuredly there is distinction between them, though they are absolutely identical. One is the fact itself; the other is, the Source from which it comes. One is in contrast with the first birth-from Adam-which constitutes us sinners ; the other says the new birth is from God-which constitutes us saints, ''children of God."

QUES. 35.-Scripture does not say, " He that is born again hath eternal life;" but it says, "He that believeth on the Son hath life." Must we not be born again before we can have eternal life?

ANS.-No, Scripture does not say, "He that is born again hath eternal life," because Scripture knows that to be born again and to have eternal life are one and the same thing. And we all know that for a life to exist it has to be born, whether in the natural or in the divine. He that is born of man has in him the life of man, such as he is ; and he that is born anew-born of God-has in him the life of the eternal God-eternal life therefore. Let any one question that every believer, from the youngest babe to the oldest father, during any dispensation, has eternal life abiding in him, and he questions the very nature of God of whom they were born, besides laying the axe at the root of the grace of
God.

Scripture does say, "He that believeth on the Son hath life;" not because life and new birth are not identical, but because the Son is the object of faith-the One who imparts that life by new birth. Your doctrine would make new birth to be purely an act of God's sovereign grace, and apart from faith; then life after new birth, through faith. Scripture refutes that doctrine, as John 3:5 and 1 Peter 1:23 are witnesses.

So does John 5:25 also show:It is the dead who hear the voice of the Son of God and live; not those who are born again, for they are already alive.

In Scripture, to be "dead" is not at all to be irresponsible, as your doctrine implies. This idea of being born again apart from faith leads to strange things to reconcile the many statements of Scripture that life is through faith. It has to separate things which are one-things which may be distinguished but cannot be separated.

Let us not build a system of our own, then do violence to Scripture to make it stand on its feet. Let us be believers, feeding upon the sincere milk of the word, and growing thereby according to God.

Out of Ecclesiastes and into this book, we pass from one page to another, from one world to another, and the groans and sighs of the first give place to the joys and songs of the new scene. The preacher's world of the past book is left behind, and the world to come, above the sun, is now in view. Here a satisfying object is found from the beginning, and joy fills the heart and mind at last. The best wine is thus reserved for the last; and this having been found, it abides forever.

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth " is the introduction. Jesus Himself is here before the heart-Jesus the Saviour, Jesus the Lord, Jesus the true lover, bridegroom, and King. Whatever position in which He appears, He will be found the selfsame Jesus who is known, sought, and loved. In New Testament language, it is "new creation," new scene, new world-all for our enjoyment, even while yet upon the earth. It is the scene of bliss into which the Holy Spirit conducts the hearts of those who know redemption through His blood. It is "inside the veil," "the holy of holies," "the secret place of the Most High." It is "above the sun." The yearnings, longings, and breakings of heart, here are not those of a sorrow-stricken, disappointed heart, but rather to know more and more of One who satisfies, and satisfies forever; such heart-yearnings as were in the apostle, who, while he knew the Lord, and knew Him well, yet desired "that I may know Him" (Phil. 3:10).

As we read at the beginning, " Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth," so at the close she longingly says, "Make haste, my beloved;" or, in New Testament language, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus." How blessed to be able to tread the sacred enclosures where such joy and satisfaction are found!

Oh, to know more and more of Jesus! Jesus, the Man who sat on Sychar's well, who prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, who died upon the cross of Calvary, but who is now above the sun, upon the Father's throne glorified, and who will soon come again! A. E. B.

(Concluded from page 329, vol. of 1911.)

THE ETERNAL ESTATE OF THE NEW CREATION

CHAP. 2.

This chapter divides into three parts. First, verses 1-3, the rest of the seventh day. It could not be otherwise. When Christ has put down all enemies and reigns supreme, God rests, and all creation rests. In verses 4-7 we get the relation of man to the new scene of blessing; and in the third part (verses 8-25) we have the blessing itself.

Toiling through this scene, what a cheering hope it is for the soul to look on to the rest of God which is yet to be ushered in, and which all creation will share. But how could this be unless God were " all in all" ? How could God rest, how could creation rest, while one unruly spirit remains at large? But when He is all in all; when, as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and, because of this, also "the Father of every family, whether in heaven or earth," He can exercise that blessed relationship without interference, what a scene of rest it will be!-nothing more for ever and ever to mar the enjoyment of that blessed relation between Him and all His own! From verse 4 to the end we have in type what is to characterize the eternal day. First, we see God planning and working in view of what He is going to bring in. Man is not there, but God is doing all in view of him and of the creation to come in with him. The word "generation" tells of family descent-the link between the Begetter and the begotten. " The heavens and the earth " standing in this relation to the Lord God, how sure it is that all creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and be brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21).

In verse 7 the man comes in-figure of Him as the One to whom the Father hath given to have life in Himself (John 5 :26), even as the Father has it- the Source from which all others derive it. He is the perpetual Fountain of it.

In Adam God breathed "the breath of life," and he became progenitor of all his race. In Christ is the eternal life, and He imparts it to all His race. A suggestion is here too of man's triune being-a body of dust, which links him to the earth; a soul, the link with the lower creatures; a spirit, the link with God. To take up this form the blessed Son of God came down, that He might lift all "the seed of Abraham " into His own glory for all eternity.

The sources of ministry and blessing are next spread out. The garden is the special place to be occupied by the man and his consort. It is "eastward." The glory of God is usually, in Scripture, linked with the east. It is "in Eden" (delight). What a scene of delight for God and man when Christ and the Church, His bride, are set forever in "the paradise of God"! How much "the garden" appears in the language of the bride in the Song of Songs! There too is the fullest provision for every faculty and desire. In the midst, forming the center of blessing, is the tree of life. Christ is ever the center, on earth or in heaven, if our relations with God are right. Then the government of God expressed in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then the river and its four heads-the fulness of the Spirit's ministry in that day, and which will be universal. Blessed ministry, that shall flow throughout eternity, ever refreshing us with the same blessed things with which He refreshes us now, only in fulness then-nothing more in us to hinder His ministry !

The man is put into the garden "to dress it and to keep it." Blessed Saviour! He will abide throughout all eternity the perpetual minister to all creation, ever engaged in the service of love, tending God's garden, and caring for it. No failure then, as with Adam. If God could trust Him for the dreadful work of our redemption, He can also in the safekeeping of everything. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not to be eaten. It is eaten now because of disobedience. Then there will be no more sin. That tree will then be only a reminder of our past history. Salvation known and enjoyed now has not delivered us from eating of it:therefore our need of discipline and walking in the spirit of self-judgment that become partakers of His holiness. In the eternal state this will be ended; we will have reached what God has predestinated us unto-like His Son.

In the closing part of the chapter we come to that which, after the purpose and manifold wisdom of God, is dearest and nearest of all to Christ, as well as the expression of the richest grace of God. He has made all the creatures of the earth and the heaven to come to the man to be named. They take their place under him. But among them all there is none fitted to be his companion. For this the death-sleep, as in special relation to a suited help meet, must come in. "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." A special work is here. Eve is not made as Adam. She is not made directly from "the dust of the ground." She is taken out of Adam. She is "builded " (marg.) out of a piece of him, so that he can say, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." And this is what is necessary to illustrate the formation of the Church, and her special relation to Christ. Thus the Church is made the complement of Him who nevertheless fills all in all. He is the Head over all to the Church, and she shares the glory of His Headship.

The one special book of the Scriptures devoted to this subject is the epistle to the Ephesians. Counsel, grace, love, oneness, shine out nowhere as in this wonderful epistle. May we drink deeply there, that we may enter abundantly into God's present work, and our ways be governed by it!

J. B.

BY S. RIDOUT

I.

By "discipline " we mean the general exercise of care in the government of God's house which He has committed to His people. It includes in this way the various forms in which that care manifests itself, from the simplest forms of brotherly interest and advice to the more public correction and reproof in the assembly, as well as the final, though sometimes necessary, exclusion from the fellowship of the saints. For the purposes of distinction we will gather what is said under the various heads indicated.

The object of the present paper is not so much to discuss the question of discipline in general as to ascertain the true scripture limits to what is done.

I. Brotherly care in general.

When our Lord had restored His wandering sheep Peter, He transferred, we may say, the expression of Peter's devotion to Himself, to love and care for His lambs and sheep. When the good Samaritan had found and ministered to the man who had fallen among thieves, he brought him to an inn and provided for his care. Salvation is the blessed beginning of a work to be carried on until its culmination at the coming of the Lord. This work includes instruction, care and correction in the power of the Holy Spirit, as ministered by Him through the various members of the body of Christ:" that the members should have the same care one for another."

We may say the primary exercise of this care is in the administration of suited food, suggested in the words of our Lord, "Feed My lambs." It proceeds from this to the putting forth of the safeguards of love suggested in the words, " Shepherd My sheep;" and, lest this should be thought to be the only exercise necessary for the welfare of the sheep, our Lord reverts, in His last response to Peter, to the simplicity of the first, "Feed My sheep."

Feeding them naturally occupies the first place. When a soul has passed from death unto life the first care is to see that it is built up by " the sincere milk of the, Word." Thus growth is assured. How delightful a privilege it is to be permitted to exercise this care for the beloved lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ! We can covet no higher privilege than to minister the "portion of meat in due season " to the household of the Lord-ministry in which the great staple is the work and person of our Lord Jesus. It is a service in which all may have a share, while those who have special gifts in the way of teaching may rejoice to fulfil their ministry.

In the assemblies of God's people we need ever to remember that this care is the first necessity. Without it, it is well-nigh impossible to exercise discipline, even in its simplest forms. If saints are not properly nourished, they become so spiritually anaemic as to be oversensitive to the slightest form of brotherly admonition or rebuke. They are practically too weak to know the blessedness of the service of John 13-"Ye also ought to wash one another's feet." Let us see to it then that there is a full, constant stream of supply of the pure milk of the Word, in suited ministry to the varied needs of the saints, so that they are built up on their most holy faith and nourished in the words of faith, thus increasing by the true knowledge of God.

We pass, however, from the discussion of this subject to the one which is much upon our hearts-the exercise of brotherly care and oversight.

The young believer is exposed to special dangers in three directions:from the flesh within, from the world about, and from Satan, who is constantly seeking to make use of the flesh and the world to seduce the soul from the simplicity as to Christ. The very instincts of love will lead us to look after and care for the lambs of the flock. Indeed, these have been entrusted to us, and we may ask if one reason why more are not added to the companies of the saints gathered to the Lord's name may not be found in the lack of the exercise of that love which will care for them.

The first element of this care is suggested in the thought of watchfulness:"They watch for your souls as they that must give account." Every shepherd watches his sheep. Not to do so would be to open the way for the attack of the wolf. Care should be taken as to simplest matters; such, for instance, as the attendance of the saints upon the regular meetings, their personal walk and associations, and other matters of a similar kind. We realize at once that we are here upon delicate ground, which suggests a limitation to this form of care.

While watchful, we are not to be suspicious. A gracious and loving oversight is farthest removed from a restless, inquisitive, meddlesome spirit. We are not to suspect the existence of evil without proper ground; and even in the brotherly intercourse suggested here we are to guard against the imputation of wrong motives or the suspicion of that which has not been manifested.

To be explicit, if a young saint is frequently absent from meetings it would clearly not be wise or right to suspect that the cause was a lack of interest. Rather, let the matter be approached in the spirit of confidence, in the love that thinketh no evil. Thus, instead of asking impertinent questions, it would rather be the way of love to keep in touch with the person about whose walk we were concerned, and seek to win the confidence. This will suffice to suggest the spirit in which a whole class of brotherly care should be exercised. We do not dwell further upon it, save to remind our readers that we are prone to swing to the opposite extremes of indifference on the one hand, to the intrusion, on the other, into what we have no right to do unless first approached by the brother himself.

This brings us to speak of the more positive effort at the correcting of manifest failure or weakness, suggested by the figure of John 13. "And thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him " was the command of the law. That which is here commanded, under grace will be the effort of a true love in exercise. Alas, how often are we occupied with evil in others without personal exercise; speaking about them rather than to them; so far from affording any help, alienating them, should they hear of our speaking behind their backs.

The simple courage of love will go to a brother who is in fault, first having sought the mind of the Lord in prayer for him and ourselves. Then, in the spirit of Gal. 6, " If a man be overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness."

The confidence of the brother has been won; he has no thought that we wish either to humiliate him or to exalt ourselves. We bring him the simple word of God, applying it to the matter in question- of his walk, association, or whatever it may be. Our one object is his recovery; and in all the grace and yearning of a heart in communion with Christ we seek to shepherd His beloved sheep. This is indeed blessed and yet most delicate work, requiring nothing short of the grace of our Lord for its proper accomplishment. This is what He suggests in the words, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet."

There are here also manifest limits to the proper exercise of this responsibility. As before said, we are not unduly to suspect nor needlessly to accuse our failing brother of wrong which has not been manifested as such. For instance, injurious friendships and associations may have been begun. We must not go beyond what we know to be the fact. A young brother may have been seen walking and associating with ungodly young men; and we may be gravely anxious about it. We would not be justified, however, in accusing the brother of having gone with them to the theater, or such like things. The limit is manifest. We deal only with what we know, pointing out the dangers that may be involved, and yet careful not to go beyond the simple facts as we know them.

Oftentimes, where a soul is dealt with thus in brotherly love and tender confidence, while the full
extent of his declension may not be spoken of, the heart will be probed and self-judgment secured, when, had we given voice to our suspicions and accused him of that of which he was not really guilty, he would have at once resented it, and might have used this as an excuse for going on in the wrong way.

(To be completed in next issue.)

Dr. A. J. brown tells of two missionaries who went into a village in Korea in which no one had ever preached the gospel. The whole population turned out to hear, and the meeting continued far into the night. Then the strangers were shown into a room and went to bed. But the people would not disperse. Their conversation kept the missionaries awake. About two o'clock one of them arose and said to the people:"Why do you not go home and go to sleep ? It is very late, and we are very tired." The head man said:"How can we sleep? You have told us that the Supreme Power is not an evil spirit seeking to injure us, but a loving God who gave His only begotten Son for our salvation, and that if we will trust Him and turn away from our sins, we may have deliverance from fear, guidance in our perplexities, comfort in our sorrows. How can we sleep after a message like this ?"

I bow before Thy will, O God!
And all Thy ways adore. Oh, may I daily, hourly seek
To please Thee more and more!

Thy will! it was the glorious end
Of Jesus' toil and tears;
Thy will, the passion of His heart
Those three and thirty years.

And He hath breathed within my soul
A tender love to Thee;
A love-to lose my will in Thine,
And by that loss be free.

I have no cares, O blessed Lord,
For all my cares are Thine;
I live in triumph too, for Thou
Hast made Thy triumphs mine.

And when it seems no chance nor change
From grief can set me free,
Hope finds its strength in helplessness,
And, patient, waits on Thee.

Man's weakness, waiting upon God,
Its end can never miss;
For men on earth no work can do
More angel-like than this.

Lead on, lead on triumphantly,
O blessed Lord-lead on!
Faith's pilgrim sons behind Thee seek
The road that Thou hast gone.

He always wins who sides with God;
To him no chance is lost;
God's will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.

Ill that God blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill;
And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be His sweet will.

"Better "

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man" (Ps. 118:8).

But there are noble men-men who can be relied upon; whose lovely character and open hand attract and command confidence.

True, very true, and matter for hearty thanksgiving to God that there are such men-such princes among men. Still, the unerring Book, speaking of them, says, " It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes" (Ps. 118 :9); for even princes will weary of your returning needs; the Lord, never. Even princes are removed, and fail you at the hour of sorest trial; not so the Lord; He is always there. Man's answer may gratify you, but God's will sanctify you. Man's refusal may embitter you, God's will humble and bless you.

Despise not "man," for the king needs the peasant as much as the peasant needs the king. Be grateful to "princes" for their favors, for ungratefulness is born of pride. Remember, however, that "it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." If the trust is really in the Lord, the instrument which He uses will not be less in our eyes, but greater; for the man whom God uses is greater than the one we use.

" No very prominent gift, but"-

Speaking recently of one who goes about preaching the gospel, a brother said, "He has no very prominent gift, but he must love the souls of men, and the love of Christ must burn in his heart; for any man who, in this day of apostasy, indifference, and pleasure-seeking, goes out with the gospel, asking nothing of men, deserves the hearty support of all who love the Lord Jesus."

May those who do this have the humility to abide in the sphere where God can use them; and may all who love the Lord see to it that their own necessities or the love of accumulation be not so great as to close their heart and their hand to such.

The Lord's Table:who has it ?

"The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread:and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat:this is My body, which is broken for you:this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood:this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come" (i Cor. ii:23-26).

Here is the ordinance, set up by the Lord Himself, in remembrance of Him, to announce His death, till He come. Even as the Church was set up on the day of Pentecost, so was the Lord's table on the night of His betrayal. It has been uninterruptedly going on ever since, and will not cease "till He come." Such power has it over the souls of His people that even during the fiery persecutions they jeopardized their lives to assemble in secret places, in the depths of the woods, anywhere, to remember thus their adorable and adored Saviour.

While Christianity lasts on the earth that holy eating and drinking shall not cease. It has never lapsed since our Lord set it up, and it shall not lapse "till He come." Every man who enjoys the Saviour craves to sit at His table. Unfaithful disciples, as at Corinth, may corrupt it and reduce it to a carnal eating and drinking; or they may disfigure it and turn it into an idolatrous rite, as the church of Rome has done; or they may associate with it evil practices of various kinds, as many do; still it goes on, ever finding such as love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, who sit at His table and eat and drink in remembrance of Him "till He come," announcing His death on the cross as their eternal salvation.

Yes, says one, But who among all the parties of Christians today has that table ?

Another question:Who, among all the parties of Christians to-day, is the Church of God-the body of Christ ?

All must own that not one of them can lay exclusive claim to this; for the Church of God is composed of all throughout the world in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells, and these may be found in every one of the multitude of parties in Christendom. "There is one body " (Eph. 4:4), and only one, and that spite the multitude of parties of Christians, even as there is "one God," one only, and that spite the multitude of gods existing.

There is only one Lord's table too; the other is "the table of devils" (i Cor. 10:21); and that one Lord's table is with the Lord's "one body." He gave it to "the Church, which is His body; " and any part of that Church which would claim the exclusive possession of it would be as proud and arrogant as if claiming exclusively to be the body of Christ.

Since that night in which our Lord was betrayed and set up His holy Supper, the Church of the living God has uninterruptedly been eating it, is eating it week by week now, and will eat it "till He come."

But again comes the question:I cannot be with every party of Christians; with many of them I could not possibly associate because of the evils going on there:where, then, am I to find the true Lord's table at which I can sit ?

Our answer is, Who has ever asked you to look for the true Lord's table ? There is no other but the true. What part of Scripture has set you looking for such a thing? You might as well set yourself looking for the true Church; or for a company of Christians where Christ is "in the midst" of them exclusively. If you are at such a task, it is not God who has set you at it, and the end of your search will be bitter disappointment or fanaticism.

The true Church, the true Lord's table, the Lord's presence among His own, are things which cannot be sectional. They cannot be appropriated by this or that section of the people of God exclusively with impunity. Pride alone could do such a thing, and "God resisteth the proud."

When I saw my eternal redemption in the Cross of Christ my substitute; my new place before God in resurrection; my union with Christ in glory, I saw in an instant that Christendom was, like the churches of Galatia, " fallen from grace "-gone back to law. One could not preach the whole truth of God without rejection everywhere. It was great iniquity to forsake the grace which Christ had brought us, through such untold suffering to Himself, and to return to a legal system which can only condemn man or make of him a Pharisee.

Then, in obedience to the word of God which says, "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Tim. 2:19), I departed, though the' heart felt a pang at being thereby separated from such as truly loved the Lord. Did I then "leave the church,"as many said, or deny they had the Lord's table or the Lord's presence among them, as some would say ? Not in the least. None of these questions were raised; nor does God ask us to raise them. He alone is and can be judge of such matters, inasmuch as no man can either prove or disprove them. To attempt to decide upon them can be but assumption.

He who does it meddles with business not his own, and will prove in the end that he is "like one that taketh a dog by the ears" (Prov. 26:17). What God asks of us is to depart from what is evil-what can be clearly proved evil by His Word in the sight of all who are of the household of faith. The secret things are His, and His alone; only those which require no assumption, but can be established without question by revelation, belong to man.

If a company of Christians, therefore, hold principles condemned by the word of God, or commit unrighteousness and refuse to repent, in obedience to God, or depart from the iniquity, we do not pretend to say that they have no more the Lord's presence or the Lord's table among them. This is not our business. Our business is simply to obey God in what His word enjoins.

A Diotrephes, who loved the preeminence, did, with the consent of the church, evil things. " Beloved, follow not that which is evil," writes the apostle to Gaius, whom he loved in the truth, and who resided there. How could Gaius obey the apostolic injunction and yet walk with those who did the evil ? The only possible path for him was separation, after due waiting and laboring for repentance in those with Diotrephes. As we have already seen, no question as to the oneness of the body of Christ, or of the Lord's table, or of the Lord's presence continuing or discontinuing with Diotrephes" company, was in any wise involved or even relevant. They despised Christ by their evil actions toward those who loved Christ and did Him no wrong; and the righteous must not walk with unrighteousness. Thus is separation itself God's remedy in a scene of evil, until the judgment-seat of Christ; and, blessed be God, when compelled to make it by obedience to God, not a question is raised as to membership in the one body of Christ, nor as to continuance of the Lord's table, nor as to His presence among those from whom we part. Authorizing evil actions on the claim of the Lord's presence, or of having His table, is iniquity of no common kind; and yielding subjection to such pretended authority is a subjection which may look like Christian humility, but is not. In the end it enslaves the conscience to the Church instead of to the Lord. It deadens the soul, for it produces the fear of man rather than the fear of God.

We are living in "perilous times." The Lord grant His beloved people, one and all, the hearing ear and the seeing eye to go through them with His approval.

To be alone is not always to be lonely:far otherwise. Often the lonely soul is to be found in a crowd, while the one who is forced to be apart from his fellow-man is contented and rejoicing in spirit. As real companionship consists of the full trust, understanding and sympathy of those whom we love, and in whom we confide, so loneliness is realized in the lack of these things. Apart from the things already mentioned, there is another thing which causes intense pain of loneliness, viz , separation, either by death or distance, from those who were the objects of our love. They were real companions, true friends in the darkest hour; we knew we could rely on their love and their judgment, but God's voice called them above, or He removed us or them to another place; we felt that this would is full of "goodbyes," and began to long for that home where partings shall be unknown.

The Christian's life is one which must be lived like His Master's, more or less alone. With the world he has nothing in common. Nothing could be more opposite than light and darkness, righteousness and sin; and such is the Christian to the world. He is an enigma which the world cannot solve. Ah, if only all Christians would thoroughly believe this, we should not hear, as we so often do, of promising Christians blighting their lives by giving their hand in marriage to some unconverted man or woman. They persuade themselves that they can make light and darkness agree, and the result is one of the worst forms of loneliness it is possible for the human soul to know. It is impossible for two to walk together except they be agreed, and the friendship of the world is always enmity with God. The path of the Christian down here is just his training-ground, where he has to walk by faith and not by sight, and where God would teach him to turn from the human to the divine, and, instead of leaning on the arm of flesh, to live by faith in the living God. He is taught to know Him by faith whom we shall one day know by sight, so that at the end of his pilgrimage it will be no stranger-God that will greet the pilgrim, but One whom, having not seen, he has learned to love, and already rejoices in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Nothing else than walking alone with Him will suffice for this. The natural inclination of the human heart is to rely on that which is seen. The first impulse, whether in sorrow or joy, is to fly to the nearest relative or friend, and tell them. I do not condemn friends or friendship:far from it. A true friend, one who is honest, loving and sincere, who will stand by one at all times, is one of the most precious of all God-given gifts; and if we were, as the apostle says, '' rooted and grounded in love," and knew "the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," there would be many more of these true friends, with their valuable friendship, than there are at present. But what is meant is this:There come times in the life of every one who is truly learning of God, when the best of earthly friends is not sufficient:they cannot enter into the depth of our heart; or perhaps we fail to express ourselves as plainly as we might do, and so we are misunderstood. At any rate, we feel the truth of those little verses of Frances Havergal, which say:

" I could not do without Thee;
No other friend can read
The spirit's strange deep longings,
Interpreting its need.
No human heart could enter
Each dim recess of mine,
And soothe and hush and calm it,
O blessed Lord, but Thine."
Such experience is not a light and easy one, but necessary to turn us to the Friend who sticketh closer than a brother, who is wondrous in His love and tenderness, and infinite in His understanding and sympathy. The lonely path teaches us to know Him:shall we not then welcome it ? It weans our souls away from all that is unstable, limited, failing and changing, to that which is stable, unchanging, eternal. In every life there are times of solemn import which have to be faced alone with God. Friends may give counsel and advice, but, after all, we have to take the responsibility of decision; and is it not worth all the exercises to find at such a time Him who is "wonderful in counsel and excellent in working," and who never will fail us? Ah, the sweetness of learning to know Him I Slowly we learn; many, many mistakes we make; but surely some little progress is made when we have learned the sweetness of fleeing to Himself; when with utter abandonment we can throw ourselves down in His presence and know we are loved with an everlasting love, and that He will do and give the very best for us because He loves us so.

But the question will be raised:Is it according to God's mind that human beings, born with natural social instincts, should live much of their life alone with God ? As far as the world is concerned, we have answered it at the beginning of this chapter; but when we, Christians, are concerned we all have to own, with shame, that if we spent time enough with our Master to catch more of His spirit of intense love and devotion to God and man, it would go very far toward alleviating the loneliness of His children. Some people are naturally gifted with tact and understanding more than others, but the school for love and sympathy is at the feet of Jesus, in learning of Him. Are we not all guilty here ? Do not our hearts accuse us of being so taken up with our own sorrows and trials, or, perhaps, our own hurt feelings, that the lonely brother or sister at our side, bearing a far greater load, has been heedlessly passed by? Is it true that the "alone" times are essential in God's school, and that He teaches many precious lessons by these means, but in this, as in other things, He would have His children in sympathy and co-workers with Him. It is however a work demanding the closest walk with the Lord, and can only be done by those who have learnt in secret with Himself. God recognized the need of companionship when He created man, and then made the woman, saying, " It is not good that man should be alone;" it was as a help-meet He gave the woman, and it is as helpers the one to the other He would have us live today.

But there is a form of loneliness which we most surely can say is not of God, and of which we must beware. I refer to that which is caused by crotchety tempers, disagreeable ways, backbiting, etc. We need to examine ourselves to see whether our "alone-ness" is in any way our own fault, and if it is so, to seek humbly and prayerfully grace from God in self-judgment to set matters right. If our conscience is clear in this matter, we may well accept the lonely path from the Friend who never leaves us nor forsakes. We then can look up and say

" My times are in Thy hand;
Father, I wish them there-
My life, my soul, my all, I leave
Entirely to Thy care."

Have we ever thought that all the greatest events of our life have to be met, or entered into alone ? Birth, whether natural or spiritual, is an individual thing. At our conversion, when conscience was awakened, and our hearts quailed with the thought of our sin, how well we were aware that alone with God the matter was to be settled. We were reminded that sin was put away by the sacrifice of Jesus. In receiving Him by faith, His sweet peace stole into our hearts while we were alone with Him. And all along the Christian pathway when conscious of marred communion on account of disobedience or neglect, it is with Him alone matters are righted and communion restored as we go to Him in humble confession and prayer. And at the end of the journey when the Master calls us away, alone we have to leave this world. Friends may be around our bed to the last moment, every loving service maybe performed by them, but when the spirit takes its flight they can go not another step with us, and alone we go to meet our God. That day is soon coming; life at the longest is but a brief span. Are we so using the alone-ness in our lives that day will be a joyous one ? Will it be a going home to our best-loved Friend whom we have known for a long time? If so, there can be no anxious fear at such a time. Although it is a solemn time, we shall realize more than ever the preciousness of being washed in the blood of Jesus, of having Christ for our Righteousness, our Sanctification and our Redemption; and with it all will be the deep joy that the lonely road is ended, and the Lord Himself has come to take us home. M. M. S.

The next paper of this series is to be Alone-ness Compensated.

It is indeed a joy to be in the Master's service, to be faithfully occupied when He comes. It is one thing, however, to be found doing when He comes, but quite another to be found well doing. We were meditating a little recently over John on the lonely isle of Patmos. There may not have been much there for Christian activity; but his faithfulness for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ had put him there; so the Lord found him well doing. We can only be found well doing when we are occupying the place and doing the thing that God orders for us.

QUES. 9.-Who are the twenty-four elders in Rev. 4 :4, 10, and in 5:8, 11, 14? Whom do they represent?

ANS.-They are the company of glorified saints seen in the place which God, in His amazing grace, has given them :on thrones round about the central throne on which sits His blessed Son. Their song in chapter 1:5, 6 tells this grace:"Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God aud His Father," etc.

It immediately follows the event of 1 Thess. 4:15-17-the resurrection and rapture of the saints.

Twenty-four is no doubt a symbolic number speaking both of priesthood and of rule. The priestly family of Aaron was divided by David (1 Chron. 24) into twenty-four courses, by which an unceasing worship was maintained. The whole people of God are "a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ " (1 Peter 2:5). Their priestly character is doubtless told in this number twenty-four.

Twelve is the symbolic number of rule. Twenty-four being twice twelve probably presents as one whole the two great companies of God's people-before the cross, and since the cross. They are thus seen together, reigning jointly in the kingdom of our Lord.

If you are in possession of William Kelly's Lectures on the Revelation, or of the Numerical Bible, you will find much more on this most cheering subject than we can give here.

Several answers, for lack of space, have to be carried to next number.

Repentance on a sick-bed, with no prospect of recovery ; repentance for having wasted the love of Jesus, for having wasted my life; for having lived to please self instead of Him who, to save me, had given up everything, even His life; for having brought grief upon those who loved me best on earth and had taught me the right way!

Being young myself, I address you especially, my young friends. Do you not think that repentance under such circumstances means great depths of anguish ? Ah, let no one tell me there is no hell! If here, where the beams of God's forgiving grace and love mitigate so much the sorrows of repentance, one can suffer so at the remembrance of sin, what will it be for those whose load of sin will torment them forever without hope?

No doubt having sinned against much light has greatly added to the pains of repentance. I was taught in the way of the Lord, and had light shed abundantly on my path at an early age. I was well acquainted with the great Sacrifice for sin ; indeed, so familiar had it become, that it did not call forth a proper reverence and love for it in my soul. I desired to be good, but the awfulness of sin revealed in the cross of Christ did not possess me; nor did I know the horror of being given over to the iniquity of one's own heart, and to the sense of an utter separation from God. The childish faith had no root; so, when the temptations and pleasures of Satan's court presented themselves, they allured. One little thing inconsistent with a conscience educated by the word of God, then another, and so on, crept in and took hold; and once on the downward road, who knows where the stopping-place will be ?

Again I say, Oh, the horror of half-heartedness; of a protesting conscience with a heart in the world; of the knowledge of truth with the feet in the paths of sin; of knowing about what can fully satisfy and yet not possessing it, but running after what gratifies for the moment and then stings like an adder!

But if, indeed, we are great sinners, "God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us," can so shine into us as to scatter our darkness, bring us to the feet of Jesus to weep out our sins, and hear Him say, "Thy sins are forgiven." How sweet, then, is the great sacrifice for sin which He made on the cross! How sweet the fellowship with Him and with His Father! How bright all is above! How true the rest of conscience He gives! How holy the peace which fills the heart! Truly, He came not for the worthy, but for the needy.

The wasted life remains instead of a life of fruit-fulness-an eternal loss; but what knowledge of the God of all patience and long-suffering is my portion forever! Who that knows Him in His true character will not praise and worship Him!

My soul now cleaves to Jesus. When I suffer, no matter how much, I know He suffered more, far more. When I am thrown back on my unworthiness, I think of the glories of His person and of the infinite value there is in the sacrifice He made. I needed Him in my misery to unburden it all upon Him; now I need Him in my rejoicings to pour upon Him the adoration of my soul.

And now you, young men and young women, who, like me, have been trained in the Word and ways of God, and, like me also, are in danger of being allured by the world, I entreat you, be warned. Cleave to Jesus. Value His great sacrifice for sin. Be not half-hearted. Let the ruling passion of your life be to spend and be spent for Him. If you have already departed from Him in any measure, go no further; return, fall at His feet; He will forgive you all and wash you clean, and send you on to where I cannot go any more-to His blessed service, in whatever path of life that may be.

I may be with Him when this reaches you. Let a dying, sorrowing, yet rejoicing sister be a warning to you. Maude M. Chapman

Scriptures is written for our learning, comfort, and admonition. It has pleased the Holy Spirit to record certain events in the lives of Christ's disciples with this end in view. In the Gospel of John, Philip is mentioned four times.

The first time (John i:43), we see him under the drawings of the Father to the Son. The good Shepherd was seeking the sheep, and we read, "Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip." Is not that true of each one of us ? Can we not say,

"Found by Thee before I sought,
Unto Thee in mercy brought?"

Philip, overflowing with joy, tells the story to Nathanael:"We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth," and invites him to "come and see."

The earnest longings of his heart, the deep need of his conscience, is fully, perfectly met, not only in the Messiah, but in the Lamb of God, the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. He thus learned that there was One who could fully meet all his spiritual needs.

Is not this the way the Father begins with all of us ? Does He not delight to teach us that all our deep need as poor, guilty, unsatisfied sinners can be perfectly met in Jesus, the Son of His love ? This is the first lesson we all have to learn. We must know the value of His work as God's Lamb to meet all our needs before we shall be free in spirit to respond to His "Follow Me."

When God first preached the gospel to Abraham, He not only said, "I will bless thee," but, "I will make thee a blessing." If we have not learned that there is such fulness, such satisfaction, in Christ that we are free to copy Philip in his desires for others to share the blessedness of knowing the One he had found, it is quite clear that we have not learned Philip's first lesson.

What is the remedy? John 7:37:"Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow " -not a river, but-"rivers of living water." If we are not the distributors of living water to the dry and thirsty soil of the human heart, whether in saint or sinner, we need to sit down at the Master's feet and learn like Philip how He can refresh and fill until we overflow to others.

We next find Philip mentioned in John 6. Here he is learning a wilderness lesson.

When we have discovered the fulness that is in Christ for us in our first acquaintance with Him, and learn that our Egyptian chains are snapped forever, our next lesson is to apprehend that the One who has met our case in His death has charged Himself with our safe-conduct through this wilderness world. We have to learn, like Philip, that He cares for our temporal and our spiritual needs.

The 6th of John shows us the disciples in a difficulty. There is nothing to eat, and no visible way of meeting the dearth. The Lord addresses Philip, and asks him how he is going to meet the difficulty. Philip and Andrew answer, and they both leave the Lord out of their reckonings. The one looks at the extent of the difficulty; the other, at the smallness of the resources to meet it. How like ourselves when we are confronted with a need! But how comforting for us to know that if the wilderness is to "prove" us and lay our hearts bare, it also lays the heart and resources of the Lord bare; for we read, "He Himself knew what He would do." (That means, before He allows the test to come, He knows the way of deliverance.) Would that we were all as wise as a dear old saint who told a friend that she "never knew a difficulty yet but there was a way out at the top!" Philip discovered this when he heard Jesus say, "Make the men sit down;" and the "much grass" may remind us that it is in green pastures and beside still waters He delights to feed His sheep, and make their "way of escape" from the sorrows of the way.

He then shows them He not only delights to meet their temporal needs, but that He is the true bread from heaven-the One whom the Father gave-the bread of God, the One upon whom we feed for life- the bread of life; and, feeding upon Him, we are privileged to enjoy present communion and satisfaction of heart.

In chapter 12 we are again introduced to Philip. It is very delightful to find him addressed by a company of seeking Greeks who desired to " see Jesus." It shows he had retained his interest in the welfare of souls, and how much he valued fellowship in these things, as he communicated to Andrew their desire to see Jesus. Together they go to tell the Lord, and we can well imagine their surprise at the new lesson He was about to teach them.

Nowhere, and at no time in the earthly sojourn of the Lord, had things appeared outwardly so bright or ready for His kingdom glories and dignities to be displayed. His pathway was strewn with branches of palm-trees, hosannas rent the air, as, fulfilling the prediction of the prophet, "Behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt," he rode into Jerusalem. "The world has gone after Him," said the Pharisees; and now the Gentiles seek Him, thus making the bright picture of welcome complete.

There was, however, a secret in the Lord's mind to which they were strangers, and so He turns aside from the bright foreground of the kingdom to the dark background of the cross and the grave, and we can well imagine the astonishment of Philip, with his Jewish hopes aflame, as he heard of "a corn of wheat" that must fall into the ground and die, or else "abide alone." We know what the Lord meant, but to Philip it was a new unfolding of the divine purpose. How it lets us into the deep affection of the Lord's heart as in these words He tells us that His purpose is not to take His glories alone; He will have His royal bride with Him; the joint heirs shall share the inheritance with the true heir; His heart must be satisfied as well as His glory displayed. How this lets us into the precious secret that in the days of the kingdom, in that age to come when all things shall be gathered together in Christ, both which are in heaven and in earth, we have obtained an inheritance ! We, loved of the Father as children, loved of the Bridegroom as the Bride, shall be displayed in glory as the fruit of that corn of wheat which fell into the ground and died.

Again, in John 14, the Master and disciple are seen together for the last time. As we ponder the interview, we are struck with the patient grace of the Teacher with His scholar. How graciously and touchingly the Lord answers Philip's request to have the Father shown to him! "Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ?" During those weeks, months and years of discipleship the blessed Son of the Father had been making the Father known. Every word that He spoke, every deed, every miracle, every act of His life, was the living, present expression of the Father. The one that had seen Him had seen the Father. What a comfort to other slow learners that, instead of upbraiding, the Lord goes over the lesson again, telling how the Father was in Him, and the Father who dwelt in Him uttered the words and did the works; and then adds a further word of comfort, assuring His disciples that those very works, and greater ones still, they should do. Not only so, but all the resources of the Father were his; so he had only to ask whatever would glorify the Father and the Son, and it should be done. He is also assured that in the day which was to dawn, after Christ had risen, he should know that he was in the Son in all His nearness to the Father, and the Father's love should rest upon him if he kept the pathway of obedience.

We may well ask ourselves, Have we learned Christ in these ways ? Have we found in Him the balm for a wounded conscience, the secret of a satisfied heart; and also discovered that He is the all-sufficient resource to meet our every need, and that in the glorious days of displayed power in the world to come we shall be nearest to His heart as well as occupants of His throne ? If so, surely we may set ourselves to the blessed task of taking in day by day more of the precious unfoldings of the Father, so that He may not say to us, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me ? " H. N.

Once it was the blessing,
Now it is the Lord.
Once it was the feeling,
Now it is His Word.
Once His gifts I wanted,
Now Himself alone.
Once I sought for healing,
Now the Healer own.

Once 'twas painful trying,
Now 'tis blessed trust.
Once a half salvation,
Now the "uttermost."
Once 'twas ceaseless holding,
Now He holds me fast.
Once 'twas constant drifting,
Now my anchor's cast.

Once 'twas busy planning,
Now 'tis trustful prayer.
Once 'twas anxious caring,
Now He takes the care.
Once 'twas what I wanted,
Now what Jesus says.
Once 'twas constant asking,
Now 'tis joyful praise.

Once it was my working,
His it hence shall be.
Once I tried to use Him,
Now He uses me.
Once the power I wanted,
Now the Mighty One.
Once I worked for glory,
Now His will alone.

Once I hoped in Jesus,
Now I know He's mine.
Once my lamps were dying,
Now He makes them shine.
Once for Death I waited, Now His Coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored Safe within the veil.

Psalm 144 :12 ; Malachi 3 :17.

Yes, you're one of Jesus' jewels,
Purchased with His life laid down,
Chosen as "a stone most precious,"
Saved to sparkle in His crown!

Oh, 'tis sweet to think of shining
In His coming glory, dear;
But the gem that He has purchased
You must let Him polish here.

Fear not, then, th' unwelcome friction,
Nor the cuttings here and there,
Knowing that such "light affliction"
Is what "living stones" must bear.

Only gems of chastened luster
Catch the rays of glory now:
These, when He makes up His jewels,
Will most brightly grace His brow.

Now, if you are one reflection
Of the brightness of His face,
Will not some one be attracted
By the beams of love and grace ?

Oh, 'twill add a thrill of gladness
To your cup of heavenly bliss,
If, in shining here for Jesus,
You have known the joy of this!

But His joy will be "exceeding "
In beholding you lay down,
In "the presence of His glory,"
One more jewel for His crown!

J. M. G.

BY C. CRAIN

In a small pamphlet entitled, "Concerning Fellowship in Breaking Bread," by Mr. Mauro, we are invited to give special attention to the two following points, as stated by himself:

" First, The proposition that the breaking of bread is an act, or event, each occurrence of which is complete in itself, so that there cannot be such a thing as 'setting up the Lord's table in any place,' nor among any particular group or association of believers. Second, The true interpretation and application of 2 Tim. 2 :20-22."

Having read his paper with patient care, I can say with assurance that his first proposition is flatly contradicted in the Scriptures, and that his interpretation and application of 2 Tim. 2:20-22 is a serious perversion of it, evacuating it of its meaning and sanctifying power.

I purpose an examination of these two points by the infallible word of God, to show what is its verdict on them. But I have some remarks of a more general character which I desire to make first. My examination will be in two papers following.

Mr. M. is a vigorous writer, and were he more mature in the mind of God would be helpful to the Lord's people. But not only this tract, but most of his writings which have come to my notice, are marred by ill-digested thoughts and extreme statements which the Scriptures do not support, and which in some cases quite nullify the words of God. This renders him unsafe as a guide and leader to the people of God.

While carefully reading the above mentioned paper I have been much impressed with this characteristic. Many statements in it could not emanate from a mind formed by the Holy Scriptures as to the fundamental character of the house of God, and the responsibility of the Lord's servants to maintain, carry on, and preserve that fundamental character. In result there frequently is an unfair characterizing of the thoughts and views of others, which he opposes. It is unjust to attribute to another what he does not hold. Mr. M. is guilty of this. Undoubtedly it is not malice, but, as I have suggested, the result of haste to publish without adequate spiritual knowledge.

Another matter is more difficult to associate with immaturity, though a mind matured in the truth would not fall into it. I refer to the actual insertion at times, in Mr. Mauro's treatment of a passage of Scripture, what is not in the passage. This is very serious, and springs, I believe, from the power of a wrong principle imbibed. This so blinds the mind that the evident force and meaning of the passage is denied. It then becomes necessary to find and adopt an explanation which will reconcile the passage to the wrong principle already accepted.

Convinced of these things, and that some of them, at least, seem to be characteristic of Mr. M. as a writer, it has become to me a duty to call the attention of God's people to them, as far as I am able to reach them, especially as there appears to be evidence of efforts being made to give his writings a widespread circulation. It is with a desire to be faithful to the Lord that I warn His people of the necessity of special care and discrimination in reading Mr. M.'s writings.
Scripture shows that there are several classes of persons that should be debarred, not only from collective fellowship in the breaking of bread, but from all Christian fellowship. In one class only is there exception, as I shall point out further on.

1. All unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14-18). No yoke (nothing that binds people together) is to exist between believers and unbelievers.

2. All professing believers who are unsound as to the doctrine of the person of Christ (2 John 10, 11). "Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds." The language is sufficiently plain and forceful. Even a Christian woman is to refuse private or individual Christian fellowship to a person who is unsound as to the person of Christ; and if private fellowship is to be denied to such, surely the collective as well. Unitarians and all others who deny the deity of the Man Jesus Christ are barred out. It also excludes those who, whether they deny His deity or not, deny His true humanity.

3. Those who are fundamentally unsound as to the nature and necessity of the sacrificial death of Christ. Among many passages showing this, is John 6:53. It is decisive. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." Another is John 12:24:"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." Apart from that one only atoning death, there is no salvation. All Christian fellowship is based on the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who denies the foundation on which Christian fellowship rests is disqualified for participating in it.

I presume there are few who are sound as to the person of Christ that are unsound as to the nature and necessity of His death. Those who are so, probably give only a passive, and not an active, acceptance to the truth of His person. In view of this fact, this and the previous class might well be put together, as indeed is generally done.

4. Those who in their individual life and walk compromise holiness. One passage showing this will suffice. It is i Cor. 5:11:"But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat." Here is plainly an authoritative ruling by which we are made responsible to refuse all Christian fellowship to those who live in unholiness.

5. Those who maintain unholy associations. There are many passages which show this. I cite two:i Cor. 10:14-33, which is very explicit. We shall return to it later on. The other is, 2 Tim. 2; 19-22; a passage which, rightly understood, is very strong. Great efforts have been put forth to break down the evident and plain meaning of this latter passage, but without success, as we shall see.

Mr. M. very evidently agrees that all persons belonging to the first four classes named are disqualified for Christian fellowship; but he disagrees as to the last. He reasons very vigorously against debarring persons who are merely in unholy associations. His reasoning is very special pleading, antagonistic to the evident mind of the Spirit, and a complete nullification of the passage he fights, destroying its sanctifying power.

I desire here to make it perfectly clear what is in contention. I do not insist, and I know of none who do, that all private fellowship is to be withdrawn from all who belong to this last class. I judge that there are many circumstances in which having Christian fellowship individually, or privately, with many whose associations are evil is quite permissible. I have found nothing in the Scriptures against it. But collective or assembly fellowship is certainly prohibited. We shall consider it in our examination.

Here I only insist that a mind divinely taught as to Christian fellowship, thoroughly imbued with the conception of its nature and character, as set forth in the word of God, would not only accept that persons belonging to the first four classes are debarred from the privileges of such fellowship, but would agree as well to the authoritative ruling by the apostle which excludes from it also, at least in its collective form, persons of the fifth class, 1:e., persons in unholy associations.

Mr. M.'s tract not only denies this holy safeguard given us as a protection for the normal character of Christian assembly fellowship, but he in fact denies the fundamental character and nature of the fellowship itself. This we will see as we proceed.

Mr. M. admits that the principle of separation from evil is right. But it seems to be only a "theory" with him, for he complains that "in actual practice" it does not operate aright. In essence this is infidelity. If a principle is true, it is right to practice it, whatever be the difficulties and cost. But in his examination of its practice Mr. M. is unfair. He does not speak of inconsistency in the practice of a right principle. If he did, one would readily admit there has been much of it. There does not appear to be the slightest evidence that he looks on the failures in the practice as being through Satan's attacks on the principle itself, or on the weakness of those holding the principle in making practical application of it. Had he seen this, he would not have unfairly and falsely characterized the practice, as he has done.

I might say much more in this line; but as it is only the truth of God which delivers from error, we will give ourselves to this in our next.

CLEANSING FROM ALL SIN, AND THE PURE IN HEART

(Continued from page 67.)

"Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered [or, atoned for]. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.'' -Ps. 32 :1, 2.

"Blessed are the pure in heart:for they shall see God."- Matt. 5 :8.

Different as they may seem to be in subject-matter, the two passages just quoted are most intimately linked together. The blessedness therein described belongs to every one who has honestly turned to God in repentance and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. whose precious blood cleanseth from all sin.

Those who fancy they see in this wondrous cleansing an advance on Paul's declaration that "by Him all that believe are justified from all things," thereby betray their ignorance of Scripture and their low thoughts of the value attached by God to the atoning work of His beloved Son. When we speak of justification, we think of the entirety of sin and of sins, from the charge of which every believer is eternally freed. On the other hand, the thought of cleansing suggests at once that sin is defiling, and, till purged from its defilement, no soul can look up to God without guile, and thus be truly pure in heart.

The blessedness of Psalm 32 is not that of a sinless man, but of a man who, once guilty and defiled, has confessed his transgression unto the Lord and obtained forgiveness for the iniquity of his sin. But he has also found in the divine method of cleansing from the defilement of sin, that henceforth the Lord will not impute sin to the one whose evil nature and its fruit have all been covered by the atonement of Jesus Christ. True it is that David looked on in faith to a propitiation yet to be made. We believe in Him who has in infinite grace already accomplished that mighty work whereby sin is now forgiven and iniquity purged. God is just, and cannot forgive apart from atonement. Therefore He justifies the ungodly on the basis of the work of His Son. But God is holy likewise, and He cannot permit a defiled soul to draw nigh to Him; therefore sin must be purged. The two aspects are involved in the salvation of .ever)'' believer.

He who is thus forgiven and cleansed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile ; he is the one who is pure in heart. He has judged himself and his sins in the presence of God. He has nothing now to hide. His conscience is free and his heart pure because he is honest with God and no longer seeks to cover his transgressions. All has come out in the light, and God Himself then provides the covering; or, to speak more exactly, God, who has already provided the covering, brings the honest soul into the good of it.

This is the great theme of i John i:5-10, to which we must now turn. For the reader's convenience, I will quote it in full:"This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."Immediately he adds(though, unfortunately, the human chapter-division obscures the connection), " My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:and He is the propitiation for our sins:and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world" (chap. 2:1, 2).

This, then, is "the message," the great, emphatic message, of the first part of John's epistle- that " God is light" even as "God is love" is the message of the last part.

How solemn the moment in the soul's history when this first great fact bursts upon one! " God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." It is this that makes all men in their natural condition, unsaved and unforgiven, dread meeting Him who "seeth not as man seeth,"but is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

When Christ came the light was shining, enlightening all who came in contact with it. He was Himself the light of the world. Hence His solemn words, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God"(John 3:19-21).The unrepentant soul hates the light, and therefore he flees from the presence of God who is light. But he who has judged himself and owned his guilt and transgressions, as David did (in Psalm 32), no longer dreads the light, but walks in it, fearing no exposure, for he has already freely confessed his own iniquity. The day of judgment can hold no terror for the man who has previously judged himself thus, and has then, by faith, seen his sins judged by God upon the person of His Son, when made sin upon the cross. Such a man walks in the light. If any claim to be Christiansand to enjoy communion with God who are still walking in the darkness, they "lie, and do not the. truth."

But if we have been thus exposed-if we turn from darkness to light and walk therein-then " we have fellowship one with another;" for in that light we find a redeemed company, self-judged and repentant like ourselves, and we know that we need not shun further manifestation, for "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

We must not pass hastily by this much-abused and greatly misapplied passage. It has been made to teach what is utterly foreign to its meaning. Among the general run of "holiness" teachers, it is commented upon as though it read:" If we walk up to the light God gives us as to our duty, we have fellowship with all who do the same; and having fulfilled these conditions, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son washes all inbred sin out of our hearts, and makes us inwardly pure and holy, freeing us from all carnality."

Now if this be the meaning of the verse, it is evident that we have all a large contract to fulfil ere we can ever know this inward cleansing. We must walk in a perfect way while still imperfect, in order to become perfect! Could any proposition be much more unreasonable, not to say unscriptural ?

But a serious examination of the verse shows there is no question raised in it as to how we walk. It is not a matter of walking according to the light given as to our duties; but it is the place in which, or where, we walk that is emphasized:"If we walk in the light." Once we walked in the darkness. There all unsaved people walk still. But all believers walk in that which they once dreaded- the light; which is, of course, the presence of God. In other words, they no longer seek to hide from Him, and to cover their sins. They walk openly in that all-revealing light as self-confessed sinners for whom the blood of Christ was shed.

Walking thus in the full blaze of the light, they walk not alone, but in the company of a vast host with whom they have fellowship-for all alike are self-judged, repentant souls. Nor do they dread that light and long for escape from its beams; for " the blood of Jesus Christ," once shed on Calvary's cross, now sprinkled upon that very mercy-seat in the holiest from whence the light-the Shekinah-glory-shines, "cleanseth us from all sin." Literally, it is, " cleanseth us from every sin." Why fear the light when every sin has been atoned for by that precious blood ?

The moment the soul apprehends this all fear is gone. Mark, it is no question of the blood of Christ washing out my evil nature-eliminating "sin that dwelleth in me "-but it is that the atoning work of the Son of God avails to purge my denied conscience from the stain of every sin that I have ever been guilty of. Though all the sins that men could commit had been laid justly to my single account, yet Christ's blood would cleanse me from them all!

He therefore who denies his inherent sinfulness, and declares he has not sinned, misses all the blessing stored up in Christ for the one who comes to the light and confesses his transgressions. It is perhaps too much to say that verse 8 refers to holiness professors; yet such may well weigh its solemn words:"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Primarily it describes such as ignore the great fact of sin, and would dare approach God apart from the cross of Christ. They are self-deceived, and know not the truth.

But it is surely serious enough to think of real Christians joining with these, and, while still in danger of falling, denying the presence of sin within them. Far better is it to say, honestly, with Paul, "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18).

The great principle on which God forgives sin is declared in verse 9. "If we confess," He must forgive, in order to be faithful to His Son, and just to us for whom Christ died. How blessed to be resting, not only on the love and mercy of God, but on His faithfulness and justice too! To deny that one has sinned, in the face of the great work done to save sinners, is impious beyond degree; and the one who does so is stigmatized by that most obnoxious title, " a liar! "

These things are written that believers might not sin. But immediately the Holy Spirit adds, "If any man sin, we [that is, we Christians] have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." My failure does not undo His work. On the cross He died for my sins in their totality; not merely the sins committed up to the moment of my conversion. He abides the effectual propitiation for our sins, and, for the same reason, the available means of salvation for the whole world. Trusting Him, I need hide nothing. Owning all, I am a man in whose spirit there is no guile. Living in the enjoyment of such matchless grace, I am among the pure (or single) in heart who see God, revealed now in Christ.

To be pure in heart is therefore the very opposite of double-mindedness. Of some of David's soldiers we read, " They were not of double heart;" or, as the Hebrew vividly puts it, "not of a heart and a heart." "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways," but the pure in heart are consciously in the light, and the inward man is thus kept for God.

In the man of Romans 7 we see described, for our blessing and instruction, the misery of double-mindedness; while the close of the chapter and the opening verses of chapter 8 portray the pure in
heart. The conflict there set forth has its counterpart in every soul quickened by the Spirit of God who is seeking holiness in himself, and is still under law as a means of promoting piety. He finds two principles working within him. One is the power of the new nature; the other, of the old. But victory comes only when he condemns self altogether, and looks away to Christ Jesus as His all, knowing that there is no condemnation to those who are before God in Him.

The man in Romans 7 is occupied with himself, and his disappointment and anguish spring from his inability to find in self the good which he loves. The man of Romans 8 has learned there is no good to be found in self. It is only in Christ; and his song of triumph results from the joy of having found out that he is "complete in Him." But it will be necessary to notice these much-controverted portions of the word of God more particularly when we come to the consideration of the teaching of Scripture as to the two natures, in our next chapter; so we refrain from further analysis of them now.

Coming back to the central theme of our present paper, I would reiterate that "cleansing from all sin" is equivalent to "justification from all things," save for the difference in view-point. Justification is clearing from the charge of guilt. Cleansing is freeing the conscience from the defilement of sin. It is the great aspect of the gospel treated in the beginning of Hebrews 10.

This has been already taken up at some length in the paper on " Sanctification by the Blood of Christ," and I need not go into it again here, save to add that the purging of the conscience there referred to should be distinguished from maintaining a good conscience in matters of daily life. In Hebrews 10 the conscience is looked at as defiled by the sins committed against God, from which the atoning work of His Son alone can purge. But he who has been thus purged, and has therefore "no more conscience of sins," is now responsible to be careful to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and man, by walking in subjection to the Word and the Holy Spirit. By so doing a " good conscience " will be enjoyed, which is a matter of experience; while a "purged conscience " is connected with our standing.

Should I, by lack of watching unto prayer, fall into sin, and thus become possessed of a bad conscience, I am called upon at once to judge myself before God and confess my failure. In this way I obtain once more a good conscience. But as the value of Christ's blood was not altered in the sight of God by my sin, I do not need to seek .once more for a purged conscience, as I know the efficacy of that atoning work ever abides. So far as my standing is concerned, I am ever cleansed from all sin; otherwise I would be accursed from Christ the moment failure came in; but in place of this, the Word tells one, as already noted, that "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins." Satan will at once accuse the saint who sins; but the Father's estimation of the work of His beloved Son remaining unchanged, every accusation is met by the challenge, "The Lord rebuke thee:… is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ?" (See Zech. 3:2.) And at once, as a result of the advocacy of Christ, the Holy Spirit begins His restoring work, using the Word to convict and exercise the soul of the failed one, and, if need be, subjecting him to the rod of chastening, that he may own his sin and unsparingly judge himself for taking an unholy advantage of such grace. When this point is reached a good conscience is again enjoyed. But it is only because the blood cleanseth from every sin that this restoring work can be carried on and the link not be broken that unites the saved soul to the Saviour. H. A. I

(To be continued.)

Mothers, be patient.
I know full well that you have much to bear,
But speak not harshly to the little ones
Who bring the care.
A little child,
A fragile, tender plant that holds your heart
With love so strong, which you will only gage
If you should part.

Noisy? ‘Tis health.
And yet it needs but just a sudden chill,
A few sad hours upon the rack,
And all is still.
So still! so still!
The darling face is white; your eyes are wet,
Although the echo of the pattering feet
Is with you yet.

What would you give
To see those eyes with laughter lit once more!
To hear those feet go bounding overhead
And shake the floor!
Then think in time;
Prize well the worth of child-life with you now,
And never meet the merry shouts of glee
With fretful brow.

And, more than all,
With song and joy to cheer, to you is given
(Then let the joy be wise, of Christ the song),
And lead to heaven.
Great is your trust;
Oh, let the reaping of the after years
Be of the sowing of your patient love
And many prayers.
Look up for strength;
The God who placed that child within your care
Will give you all you need to teach of heaven .
And guide it there.