QUES. 14.-Is it possible to commit the "unpardonable sin" now in our time, as mentioned in Mark 3:28-30?

ANS.-We scarcely like to have such a subject put in such a radical way. We have along our course repeatedly had to show to self-occupied persons who thought they had committed that sin because they could not get peace with God, that they were in error, for they had neither seen the Lord's miraculous works of power, nor maliciously ascribed to Satan the power of the Holy Spirit required for such acts. Thus far we could go freely, but we would fear to speak in the sweeping way your question suggests.

It is for a different reason, we own, yet with the same end, that the warnings in Heb. 6:4-6 and Heb. 10:26-30 are given. We must not nullify the solemnity of these warnings. It is a fearful thing to sin against light.

QUES. 15.-When, in John 13, the Lord washed His disciples' feet did He also wash Judas' feet, and did Judas participate in the Lord's supper ?

ANS.-This is not a matter of interpretation, but purely of Scripture statement, and if Scripture has made no clear statement as to it, it is because God, no doubt, thought it best not to tell us. As to what doctrine there may be back of it, we see no more difficulty in Judas partaking of these favors than in his not partaking. This is not the day of judgment, but of grace, when God deals with men in grace. When the time of judgment comes, then He will separate the true from the false, and the judgment on the false will be the more severe for the benefits they enjoyed but did not profit by. The Lord knew Judas as well at the beginning as at the end, but He made him known to others only at the end, when his state had ripened into full fruition. Meanwhile He bore with him in grace and gave him the freedom of all His favors.

QUES. 16.-Why do we not now fast, as for instance in the early days of the church ; also in 1 Cor. 7:5?

ANS.-Because we have decreased in piety. But perhaps, in a quiet unnoticed way, more continue the practice than appears to men, and thereby win victories in their Christian life which are recorded on high. "We are creatures of extremes:many, in ignorance of God's way of salvation, have fasted and starved themselves to obtain it-all in vain, of course, for it is "not of works, lest any man should boast." But when they have discovered this they are liable to despise those ways of piety which they used in a wrong way. God did not despise Cornelius' pious ways, as we see in the account of Acts 10. There was no virtue in them to procure salvation, but they expressed a mind in dead earnest, and God loves such a mind, not only when salvation is the matter of interest, but anything which is for the glory of God and the good of His people. A man, or a company of people, having some divine object in view, and so earnest about it that they fast and pray over it, are not likely to be disappointed. Refusing food, in a hearty way, proves we have an object of more value to us than our comfort, and by it we are enabled to humble ourselves more deeply before God.

Self-righteousness may plume itself with it as having done something very meritorious, and which puts God in our debt, but shall we deprive ourselves of its benefits because it has been wrongly used?

The mind of the day is against it. To be happy, to sing, to throw off all sorrow, to make life a joyful ride through a lovely scene, seems the prevailing mind of the times. But this was not our Saviour's course, and "If we say we abide in Him, we also ought to walk even as He walked." We need scarcely say that we have little else than disgust to express concerning the pretended fasting of the "Lenten season"-a fasting which longs for the end of it that sinful pleasure may be indulged in again.

Real fasting-such as God takes notice of-is from a heart anxious over some important matter, and desirous to give itself to prayer and supplication about it. It helps us, if done in sincerity, to present ourselves before God in brokenness of spirit, an attitude ever becoming to us in the presence of God.

Some answers remain for next No. of Help and Food

It is a matter of great joy that so many young people have been led not only to accept the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and to confess Him as such, but definitely to accept the responsibilities which go with this. They have identified themselves with the testimony of the Lord as to Church fellowship; they have thrown themselves into Sunday-school, tract, and gospel work. We bless God for every dear young Christian of whom this is true.

Young people do not relish fault-finding, nor do they wish always to be hearing advice. Indeed, constant criticism and advice may fail, from their repetition, to secure the very result desired. We trust that these few words may not be looked upon as criticism nor taken as mere exhortation. In the language of the Apostle, we may say:

"Rejoice in the Lord alway. " God has made every provision to make His children happy. A sour visage misrepresents the very grace of God :" Let us eat, and be merry." If anything interferes with our happiness in the Lord, we may be sure that something is wrong.

"Watch and be sober." Life is an intensely sober thing. Who that thinks of the destiny of the world, the condition of the professing church, the needs and sorrows all about us, can spend his days in empty levity ? Youthful spirits are one thing; trifling, worldliness, folly, should have no place in the Christian's life, however young.

" Be strong in the Lord." It takes a good deal of courage to say "No" to a tempting invitation; to confess Christ publicly; to bear witness against sin, or to invite an unconverted person to the Saviour. If we are to be of any service, however, to Him who humbled Himself to serve our need, we must be ready to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

" Search the Scriptures." No one can rejoice in the Lord who is ignorant of His Word; no one will be truly sober whose thoughts are not filled with that Word; nor can one be strong unless the word of God dwells in him. A daily, regular reading and study of the Bible consecutively is therefore indispensable.

"Continue in prayer." Prayer always accompanies a true feeding upon the word of God. We feel our dependence and helplessness and turn to Him who alone can meet it. There are dear ones whose salvation we desire:Christians whose blessing we wish; guidance, wisdom, grace-thousands of things to pray for. Dear young Christian, do you pray-perseveringly ? S. R.

The Pan-American Mass" et seq.

Evidently goaded by the success of Roman Catholic craft, and anxious to put a check upon it, the Reformed Church Synod when in session at As-bury Park, N. J., last June, passed a resolution to the effect that the Protestant Churches of Washington join hands together to have a joint service on Thanksgiving Day, which the President and high functionaries of the U. S. Government be invited to attend in the same fashion as they have been invited and have attended the Roman Catholic "Pan-American Mass" in past years.

A double cause of pain at once presents itself here to every thoughtful Christian.

First:That the President of the United States, whom no one would suspect of having any conscientious convictions in favor of the idolatrous and superstitious rite of the Mass, should let political matters so influence him as to be found there. Some of us Christian men, seeing the high principles which governed him, when in the face of opposition and ridicule he refused to recognize in Mexico a government founded on treachery and assassination, prayed for him most earnestly, for we realized he had come to a peculiarly difficult task. But what a blow came upon our heartiness by his yielding to the ambitious and selfish ends of the Romish hierarchy in attending their Mass!

And what of the Secretary of State, who has in past years made such a beautiful confession of experimental Christianity ? What interest could he have in a performance which, in its institutions and corruptions of the truth, sets at naught the very foundations of that Christianity ?

This course has been objected toby very many in this nation on the ground of its being un-American -as opposed to American institutions. We go much further. It was un-Christian. If it was not conviction, but under political pressure, it was asking the King of kings to bend the knee to Politics, and take a second place.

This is a great sin for Christians. We speak humbly, conscious we are speaking of the highest dignitaries of the land, and that we owe them genuine reverence, but if Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan, and others implicated in this matter, are true Christians-men redeemed by the blood of Christ-they belong to the same brotherhood as we do:the brotherhood in Christ, of which it is said, "Love the brotherhood." In this divine circle, social distinctions have no place, and if one of us soils his feet by the way, the Master's voice to all the rest is,"Wash one another's feet " (Jno. 13:14). To do this then is not impertinence but true Christian love.

Second:On the other hand, it is also a reproach to Christianity to see the Christian men of the Re-' formed Church Synod advocating for themselves what they condemn in the Roman Catholic Church. We do not believe this is a principle they are adopting, but only a means to counteract an evil. But why emulate Rome ? She is a thing of earth; she glories in earthly things-in wealth, in show, in pomp, in everything which gratifies man's lusts, and contradicts the holy character of Christ. She calls herself the only true Church, out of which there is no salvation, because this gives her a power over superstitious consciences which she can use to her own advantage; but if the Bible is to determine the character of things-by which we may recognize them-no one who knows the Bible and the Roman Catholic Church could recognize in her the traits of the Church of Christ at all. What reader of the word of God ever heard of "princes" and "monsignori" in the Church, distinguished from their fellow members by red hats and purple, and silk, and scarlet garments ?

These are the things which mark her that is described as "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth"- "the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus " (Rev. 17:5, 6). What a contrast to the Church of the living God, where the lowly character of our Lord Jesus Christ shines out everywhere! All good things have a counterfeit in this world, and Rome is the counterfeit of the Church of God. To emulate her, or even to oppose her by ways like her own, is but to dishonor Christianity. The Churches of the Reformation never committed a greater mistake than when they imitated Rome, and sought and obtained State recognition. Luther, Calvin, Zwingle and others of their spiritual leaders, who zealously fought for and recovered the truth of salvation by grace through faith, never recovered the truth as to the Church of God. They did not see that Church is composed only of men who have been born of God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit who unites them to Christ in heaven; that it is therefore a heavenly, spiritual body, whose resources are altogether in God and not from earth or earthly things; whose hope is not in any earthly attainment, but in the coming again of the Lord Jesus to take her away from earth into heaven; they did not realize that the third person of the Godhead-the Holy Spirit-had been sent from heaven, not only to gather all the members of the Church from out of the world, but also to take charge of her in her journey through the world-a lovely type of which we have in the Pillar of cloud and of fire sent to take charge of Israel from Egypt to Canaan.

Not having recovered this most important truth, they had no divine constitution to guide them, and therefore could not proceed in God's way for the establishment and guidance of Christian assemblies. They still went on in that matter with the principles of Rome, more or less modified by the light which the reopened Bible could not fail to give them. As they became recognized by the State, and received its favors, they came to be under the same yoke. And what an unequal yoke for a people born of heaven, linked with heaven, and journeying on to heaven!

And how could the State, whose calling is earthly, understand the true calling of such a people ? By coming under such a yoke, the Church soon lost the sense of her calling. Samson-like she lost her eyesight and her strength, and like him too became the maker of sport for the world, as everybody can now see. The world's idea concerning the Church is that she should reform mankind, and produce a condition of things after the pattern of Eden, that the world might live here in peaceful pleasure. The blinded Church accepted this, and lost her true mission; so now she is made accountable for the mad wars which disappoint and devastate the world. Oh, that the Church, like the Lord, had always been willing to be a sufferer here while walking as He walked, apart from the world, bent only on doing His Father's will in His Father's appointed way. The world could not bear the presence of Christ among them. His character and ways and words condemn them, so they killed Him and thought they were thus rid of Him. But God raised Him from the dead, took Him into heaven, and sent down the Holy Spirit to dwell in the Church, thus by her testimony to bring back, as it were, the presence of Christ in the world again.

Association with the world could not fail to annul the testimony of the Church, and lead her to take up with what the world would allow. Hence her downfall. She boasts of being "rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, "while heaven's judgment is, Thou " knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rev. 3 :17). Heaven's thoughts do not agree with earth's.

When Israel, separated from Egypt by the blood of the lamb on their doors, were thus marked out as God's own people, they did not stop to be recognized by Pharaoh and get political preferment. God put the Red Sea between them and him at once, and they started across the wilderness under God's care alone, being strangers and pilgrims till they reached Canaan. Their food came from heaven and their water from the smitten rock. Church a stranger and a pilgrim here till she reaches heaven. She is separated from this world, and can draw no real sustenance from it. All her needs are supplied from heaven. The least link with the world is a blot on her garment. When the Lord comes, she will at once reach home, and her pilgrimage and strangership will be at an end forever. But to tread that path requires unfeigned faith-that which can abide God's time, and meanwhile suffer in patience. Blessed will they be who will be found in that path when the Lord comes, and that day is not far off.

"And Seen" (Phil. 4 :9).

In this passage the apostle outlines the character of the true ministry of Christ very fully. He does not stop at what the Philippians had "learned, and received, and heard " from him in his discourses and instructions among them, but includes also what they had seen in him. His deportment had been in keeping with the precious things he taught.

We may rest assured that while God is sovereign, and can, and often does, use His word in power independently of the ways of His professed servants, yet the full blessing of the truth ministered will not be generally found apart from the truth being "seen" in the character and ways of those who confess and bear it. The beloved apostle was as jealous over himself as over his message, that he might thus appeal to what had been seen in him as well as heard from him. This, of course, called for abundance of self-denial; but that is the test of the true servant. How full of interest the path of Christ's servant becomes day by day when so much is attached to it! And as Christ's people realize this themselves, they realize the need of applying to the Lord of the harvest Himself for the sending of laborers into His harvest. He alone can supply and equip them – whatever His people may do, and should do, in furthering their way.

Armageddon

That the hearts of men are moved with fear when more than what is usual appears, is shown by the oft-asked question of late if the present European war is Armageddon. They know that Armageddon is a complete defeat of the forces assembled there, and that it is the end of the world's history. Not being at peace with God, they naturally dread the end:therefore the anxious inquiry.

The calamities announced as connected with the Lord's second coming, belong not to the Christian, or present dispensation, but to the Jewish, which is revived as soon as the present dispensation is over. Very likely, however, the end of the Christian dispensation may witness a beginning of the sorrows of the Jewish, and this may be the case with the present war, so full already with harrowing scenes and distress of multitudes through the heartless treachery and wickedness of a ruler who makes claim to piety. It is not Armageddon, however, which will take place in the Holy Land, where the nations will be summoned by three unclean spirits-that of the dragon, the Beast, and the false prophet-the two last of which are not yet manifested, and, according to 2 Thess. 2, cannot be manifested until the Holy Spirit, and therefore the Church, which He indwells, are taken from the earth. These two arch-enemies of Christ get the ears of the peoples who have closed them to Christ, and will seek to destroy the remnant of the Jews among whom the testimony of Christ shall be found -a testimony, not of grace and love as ours is, but of the royal claims and glory of Him who is "the King of kings and Lord of lords" as well as "the King of the Jews."

As determined to forbid His reigning in glory as they had been to let Him reign in grace, they are
given over to a spirit of " strong delusion, that they should believe a lie "-the lie of the dragon, the Beast and the false prophet. Armageddon is a compound Hebrew word, which means the "mount of slaughter," or "mounds of dead men; " it describes, therefore, the awful judgment that will come upon Christ's and His people's enemies rather than the place of their judgment. The description of the last plagues upon the world, and of Armageddon, is found in Rev. 16. Note a touching thing in verse 15 of that chapter-though late for men, yet God in His love and grace still warns them. He desires not the death of the sinner but his salvation.

The Day of the Lord

The second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ embodies various events or phases which must not be confounded; though forming together His coming again, they are so distinct from each other that careless persons have spoken of them as different comings of our Lord.

Of course, the event of chief interest to us, Christians, is that described in i Thess. 4, by which we are to "comfort one another." That, and the first chapter of the same epistle, as also John 14:1-4, is where we learn of our "blessed hope." We could not but smile therefore when we saw in a religious magazine, not long ago, an article in which an opposer of this blessed hope spoke of its origin as coming from some old woman's wandering mind. Nor have all the arguments against the "any moment theory" of this hope moved us anymore than the arguments against the grace of God, plausible as they may seem to the unestablished in the truth. Both come from the same source, to rob God's people both of peace and joy.

Another event is the restoration of the then repentant Jewish nation, to all the blessings and privileges which God had promised to their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to the royal house of David! This introduces the millennium, and the deliverance of creation from its groans. Who that weeps with those who weep is not filled with joy at this prospect ? But between the translation of the heavenly people and this coming bright day for Israel and the groaning creation, there comes "the day of the Lord," a season detailed in Revelation in several series of sore judgments which come upon the earth, whose climax for Israel is the " affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, neither shall be " (Mark 13:19). It is not merely in bodily suffering, but the national anguish which the Christ-persecuting Saul must, as an individual, have passed through after his vision on the way to Damascus, and which would not cease till, deeply subdued at the feet of Christ, he confessed Him in baptism. For the Gentile nations, the judgments end in Armageddon.

The day of the Lord is thus a time of judgments such as the world has never yet experienced. The Thessalonians, who were suffering great persecutions because of their conversion, were in danger of being led into the idea that the day of Christ had come, and that they were suffering its judgments. This would be practically the same doctrine as of those who teach now that the Church will pass
through the tribulation, destroying thus the peace of soul of the people of God. The apostle warns them (2 Thess. 2) not to allow any such teaching to disturb them. His plea is on the ground of the coming of the Lord and the saints being gathered up to Him above, outside all the turmoils and sorrows on earth. He tells them the day of Christ cannot come until the events he mentions have taken place. " Our gathering together unto Him," mentioned in i Thess. 4, waits for no events, but may take place at any moment.

If we thus carefully distinguish between the various parts which cluster about this second coming of our Lord, we will not be moved by the many theories abounding in our times. There is perhaps no subject, unless it be the person and atoning work of our Lord, which has engaged the activities of Satan more than His coming again.

When the Lord with a summoning shout will
descend,
And the archangel strong will attend
At the signal of God, when His trumpet shall resound
Far and near where the ransomed are found,
Will He find us unfolding the suitable word,
Giving meat to the household of God,
As faithful and wise and with diligent ways
We anticipate seeing His face?

Will He find us declaring the gospel of grace
To the sinful in every place-
In the power of God, as with changeless truth
Extolling the merits and worth
Of the sacrifice made by the shedding of blood,
We proclaim by the Spirit of God
The renown of the Lord, as He sits on the throne,
While awaiting the kingdom to come ?

For how sad it would be should we ever resort,
Like the servant of evil report,
To slothful disregard of Christ's faithful Word
And the claims of our long-absent Lord.
For he said in his heart that his master delayed
To return very soon, as he made
A feast with the drunken, and smote with the rod
At the men who belonged to his lord.

For how sad it would be, if neglecting to go
To the lost in the grasp of the foe,
While arguing on points, and withering in soul;
If the blast of the trumpet should roll
Far, and near, everywhere, and the shout of the Lord
And the archangel's voice should be heard,
We were summoned, from strife, or in slothful decay,
To the Lord's holy presence today!

R. J. R.

(Continued from page 55.)

3. Independency. At first glance this view may seem identical with that of local sufficiency, but there are a number of radical differences. However, extremes meet, and this is illustrated in the elements of similarity between these two views.

The characteristic feature of Independency is, as its name indicates, that the local gathering is a unit, whose association with other gatherings is very slight. It is competent not only to decide as to local matters, but as to matters which are not local. Thus the fact that a person has been received or excommunicated by a neighboring gathering does not decide it for other gatherings. Without dictating to the other gatherings, they will decide upon the case afresh, and act accordingly-it may be in opposition to the other gathering. But this divergence is not a ground of separation; the independency permits them to go on together, in a general way, with one who is allowed at one place and refused at another.

Growing out of this is a denial of a "circle of fellowship," various assemblies recognizing one another as holding the same truth and having the same order. They claim that all fellowship is of individuals with Christ-that this individual fellowship with Him is also the fellowship of His Church, the only link and title to be recognized. That in this sense there is no real local assembly, but only the general fellowship of the whole body. Closely connected with this is the teaching that the possession of life is the only title to fellowship, and that we can only debar those who are not really Christians. This is held only by some, and has been modified so that those under scriptural discipline are also excluded.

It is somewhat difficult to cite scriptures adduced for these views from their very vagueness. All scriptures which speak of the common life and blessings of the people of God are given (and rightly) as a reason for there being a common fellowship. But if these are given to the exclusion of those scriptures which speak of responsibility in walk and ways, in testimony, doctrine and association, they are put out of their place. They urge such a scripture as, "Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7) as proving that if Christ has received one, so we should also. In contrast they cite 3 John as an illustration of ecclesiastical narrowness and domineering which would cast godly saints out of fellowship, even for receiving beloved servants of Christ. They point to the fact that there is "one body," and that there can be no circle of fellowship which is narrower than the limits of the Church of God. Reminded of the need of scriptural discipline, they would urge that at least we are bound to "follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2 :22), claiming that if one is evidently sincere we must follow after the things of God with him:in other words, recognize him as in the path of fellowship.

Let us in all love for the people of God, whoever and wherever they may be, examine these views. If they are of God, let us accept and act upon them unfearingly; if not, let us as firmly refuse them. But first let us ask what elements of truth they contain, " for we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." Truth is of God wherever found and by whomsoever owned. Let us therefore not be found to fight against truth.
There is no mistaking this, that whoever recognizes all the people of God as His is right in that, whatever else he may be mistaken in. Let us ever be on our guard against the sectarian spirit-"He followeth not with us." All the Lord's people are dear to Him, no matter how great their ignorance or unscriptural their position. He who would be in the current of the thoughts and affections of Christ must be in the spirit of John 17-"That they all may be one." Further, that spirit which leads to special dependence upon God, which realizes that we cannot receive from man but are in subjection to God, is surely most proper and commendable. Where this exists there will be a corresponding lowliness and an absence of pride which is so blighting upon a true and godly testimony, whether doctrinal or ecclesiastical.

We must however point out those elements in this view which are either contradictory to Scripture, or so one-sided as to result in error. Let us speak first of the truth of the unity of the body. It is right to say that the primary thought of the unity of the body teaches us that there should be "no schism in the body." But if each local assembly is independent of all others, if its discipline is only for itself, is there not at once an ignoring of the very unity which is being contended for ? Does not the truth of there being but one body necessitate a practical unity in order and discipline, if we are to keep or guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ?

Let us look also at Matthew 18, a passage full of divine meaning in this connection. Here is a case of discipline which has come up, from the personal treatment of one who wishes to gain his brother, to the point where all his efforts have failed, and the brother has refused to listen even to the assembly. He is therefore let alone by the brother who has sought to gain him. The assembly has taken the matter up further-we may suppose-and dealt with the wrong-doer in full discipline. This need not be the case, for it may not be ripe for full assembly discipline; but if the assembly does act according to God and His word, it is a binding action-bound even in heaven. Is it not then bound on earth, in every company of Christians who own the truth of God ? If therefore the action has been of God, to ignore it would be a direct dishonor to Him. We cannot think of His deciding the same question in two ways:therefore independency here means independency of Him.

This has all the greater weight when we see the divine provision for ascertaining the Lord's mind when any act of discipline has been presented for another assembly's action. If there is question about it, there is but one course-to raise the question with those who have acted, and with them to go afresh into the whole matter until the mind of the Lord is clearly ascertained. But to re-open a case away from where it has occurred and decide it as we may believe best is a sure way of not keeping the unity of the Spirit.

We need hardly point out how such acts would weaken all discipline. Instead of bowing under the chastening hand of God, one has his case taken up by those who know comparatively nothing of it, and all sense of the Lord's dealing with him is lost. Similarly the saints, instead of looking upon one who is thus under discipline as a " wicked person," question the action, and thus that exclusion which is God's way of leading a soul to repentance is rendered a weak and ineffectual thing.

Besides this, the identity of saints is lost sight of; the reality of the Lord meeting with, guiding and upholding His saints in a company is forgotten, and we attempt to do in a partial way what has been done more carefully. And if the saints in one locality have not been guided, what ground have we to claim guidance for ourselves ? Thus that which weakens a "circle of fellowship" weakens the local gathering, for it is as really a circle as the larger one.

Further, if there is an ignoring of corporate unity and responsibility, we have no scripture to authorize our separation from the systems or denominations all about us-unless we brand them all as wicked. While it is only too sadly apparent that worldliness and false doctrine have largely leavened the various denominations, we have separated from them for the two-fold reason of their insubjection to divine principles of order, and the lack of holiness in walk and doctrine. The looseness of principle opens the way to all manner of association with evil, and it is this that every one who nameth the name of the Lord must depart from. But if the principle of independency is accepted, we receive apart from separation from association with evil, and therefore are schismatic in having taken a place of outward separation.

This independency also lowers the sense of evil, as the apparent antagonism between gatherings weakens the sense of the actual sin which may be in question.

There is also the danger of thus having some party " shibboleth " which is pressed in an unscriptural way. It is worthy of note that an ignoring of the manifest word of God in some important truth is often accompanied by undue strictness in some minor detail. We are all too prone to strain out the gnat and to swallow the camel.

But enough has been said to call attention to the unscriptural character of much of this teaching. While avoiding what is not according to God, let us freely own what is His truth.

One principle remains however to which we must call attention:that past questions maybe settled by ignoring them. Time does not alter the moral character of an action. The sin of our first parents is present with us to-day. The principles involved in an action are always abiding, and unless these are judged the whole tone of an individual or a company is influenced by it. Questions which are ignored will come up again. The only right way is to go back and face these questions and decide them in the light of God's word. We can then go on happily, with our lessons learned. Otherwise we are in danger of making saints the center instead of our Lord and His truth, and thus under the plea of unity we may foster its opposite. S. R.

( Concluded in next issue.)

On Giving

As mentioned in our last issue, a request has come to us to write on the subject of Giving, which we feel in duty bound to accept, looking earnestly to the Lord to do it acceptably to Him, and effectively to His beloved people who, in the parts mentioned, are especially dear to us. It was in those parts we began our life and labor in the Lord, and sweet beyond expression are the remembrances of those early days, when truth was pouring into our own soul like a flood day by day from the pages of Holy Scripture; then the joy of imparting it to others; the bitter opposition from the modern "scribes and Pharisees," and the corresponding love and fellowship from those whose hearts God opened to let in the truth. The preaching-places were in country school-houses, in farm-houses, under clumps of trees, anywhere; often amid great camps, with horses, wagons, and vehicles of all kinds from miles and miles around. What scenes and seasons of divine grace to look back to when all who partook of them are gathered together around their Saviour in the glory! But, turning to our task, the request says:

What you wrote to–, as to responsibility in giving for the carrying on of the Lord's work, confirms a truth that is being felt by some of our brethren. More than once I have wished that the subject might be taken up at one of our General Meetings in a Bible-reading or a lecture. Now I write to ask that you accept the task, and give us a comprehensive article on the subject in Help and Food. I fear this line of truth has not been sufficiently gone into among the younger believers of our Western, States. Should not the collection each Lord's day be as sacred and as much a part of the worship as the giving of thanks, singing of praise, etc? In some assemblies the collection is not much thought of except when there is a General Meeting, or when one of the Lord's servants is laboring among us. Some make no preparation beforehand, but give what they happen to have with them, and others not at all. This produces laxity in handling collections, and so one feels more like giving individually than with the assembly. I believe right views correcting such practices as to giving would revive various assemblies spiritually. There are many dear young people in our own assembly, and nearly all of them need to be stirred up as to this. I believe that you, knowing as you do, the realities and needs of the path, and of the Lord's work, could perhaps do this task more effectively than one in different circumstances. What we have received of the ministry of Christ to our souls through help and food has been of such value as cannot be measured with silver and gold. May the Lord enable you to keep it up.

Sincerely yours in Christ our Lord,

QUES. 24.-The word of God bids us, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." In my business I have frequent dealings with another who is in the same line, and who is an ungodly man. Is this being unequally yoked ?

ANS.- Not at all. (See 1 Cor. 5 :9-13.) The Christian would give his preference to godly men in business, no doubt, though not to the detriment of the ungodly, to disparage Christianity in their minds. The Christian pathway is a narrow one. To please and honor the Lord Jesus Christ being the prominent object of the Christian, simplifies the way much. We have only Him to please in all this world, and this is much easier than trying to serve two masters, at which no one ever succeeds.

QUES. 25.-In John 3 :5, "Except a man be born of water," the reference in my Bible is to Mark 16:16. Is it water-baptism then the Lord points to for new birth ?

ANS.-Not at all. Water-baptism has nothing whatever to do with new birth. "Water here, as in other passages of Scripture, is used figuratively for the word of God (see 1 Pet. 1 :23 ; Eph. 5 :26). The Spirit of God in sovereign grace, and the word of God received by faith, are God's way of begetting children. Assurance of being such is given to all who believe on Christ, in such passages as John 5 :24 ; 1 John 5:1, and many more. You must not forget that the teaching by references in our Bibles is human teaching, as to which the believer must ever be on his guard.

QUES. 26.-From the parables of Matthew 13, it would seem as if the kingdom of heaven were composed of false as well as true; that is, mere professors. "What then would you say is the meaning of the Lord's words concerning John the Baptist, "He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he ? "

ANS.-"The least in the Kingdom" is not a mere professor, but a real child of God whose place is greater or less than another (see Luke 19:12-24). It was great honor indeed put upon John, that he should be the forerunner of the King, but it is a greater honor to be in the Kingdom itself though one be least there. It is positional greatness, not intrinsic ; as a prince, though a child and feeble, in position is greater than the chief statesman.

QUES. 27.-Would you kindly give us help on the subject of Letters of Commendation? Suppose a brother under a cloud for his moral course in one place goes to another :is any one, or are any number in the assembly justified in giving him a letter to the assembly at the place where he goes without the united voice of the whole assembly which he leaves ?

ANS.-Letters of Commendation have for their reason the holiness of Christian fellowship, and their object is to establish immediate confidence between such of God's people as are strangers to each other. Even in a respectable family, no one is admitted to its intimacy without being known and his character acceptable. How much more necessary and important in the family of God. The "fellowship of saints " is as real as our "fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." Fellowship on earth is the foretaste of heaven. They who know and value it therefore are jealous of anything which would mar it. An unconverted person introduced would mar it, for he can know nothing about fellowship till he knows what it is to be washed from his sins by the blood of Jesus. A Christian living in an unholy way would mar it, for he grieves the Holy Spirit thereby, and it is by the Holy Spirit that this fellowship exists. A Christian holding evil doctrine would mar it, for evil doctrine offends against the truth as a false balance sheet dishonors a bank. A Christian in unholy associations would mar it, for to associate with the evil is to encourage it and make ourselves partakers of it.

Seeing the holiness and preciousness of Christian fellowship, no Christian who knows and values it would ever think of presenting himself for it where he is not well known, or among such as he does not know well ; for there can be no Christian fellowship apart from Christian confidence, and confidence is either by adequate knowledge of each other, or adequate commendation to each other. Christian assemblies which know each other as faithful to Christ, commend to each other persons from among them going where they are not personally known. It is not a piece of "ecclesiastical machinery," without which the person cannot be received. It is a moral necessity among God's people who practice holiness-a means of making the person known where he is not known, that he may without delay enjoy the same confidence and fellowship among those to whom he goes as among those from whom he comes, who know him well, and can conscientiously recommend him.

Understanding the object of letters of commendation, you will see how needful it is that they be thoroughly reliable. If not uniformly and perfectly true, assemblies would lose confidence in each other, to the weakening of true fellowship.

If the brother is under a cloud which cannot be removed before he goes away, it should be honestly stated, that his entrance in the new place be on the same status as his exit from the old.

No brother or set of brethren can be justified in giving a letter of commendation to one in the circumstances before mentioned without the voice of the assembly as a whole. No right-minded person would do so ; for, if done in the name of the Assembly, it would be criminal ; if done in their own name, it would be schismatic, and to be refused by those to whom it is addressed.

Where there is no question, a brother or two giving a letter as from the Assembly, do so in the full confidence that they have the fellowship of all in it, and this is the spirit in which God's people should ever be ; yet the fact should be announced to all, that everything may be manifestly in the light, and the acknowledgment of what is due to all for the maintenance of the holy fellowship in which we walk.

Scripture gives us cases of individual letters of commendation (Rom. 16 :1, 2; Philem. 10-12). Circumstances will often arise now calling for such. For instance, a brother living where there is no assembly, is well known by a pastoral brother who visits him from time to time, and who by letter or word of mouth would introduce such an one where he is not known.

In conclusion then :a brother in the fellowship of an assembly, if going elsewhere, will carry with him a letter from the assembly which he leaves to the one where he goes. If he lives where there is no assembly, some brother who knows him and is known by the assembly where he goes, commends him. A brother going where he is not known, and without commendation, will be refused till he procures a satisfactory one, or by sufficient acquaintance commends himself to his brethren. As the fruit of redemption, Christian fellowship is indeed holy, and carelessness as to it reveals an unholy condition. On the other hand, requiring a letter though the brother be well known, is ecclesiastical machinery, destructive of the Christian mind.

Only as holiness is suitably safe-guarded can Christian confidence and true fellowship exist. Without such fellowship, what an arid desert this world would be to the Christian who is sincerely crucified to the world and the world to him ! It is worth maintaining and cultivating therefore, and to be guarded from whatever tends to destroy it. May each and every one of us contribute to its establishment and growth. Let us not forget that even the most secret part of our life either builds it up or pulls it down.

Before going to press, a communication comes to hand, from which we quote the following :"In reading recently in the family 2 Cor. 8 :23, 24, we were struck with the noble and honorable commendation the apostle gives there to the brethren mentioned. As to himself, the Corinthians and the assemblies in general were his commendation everywhere (chap. 3 :1-3). If others, unknown, needed commendation, he did not; and to have asked it would have been absurd."

Some answers remain for next No. of Help and Food

A large daily newspaper, in a recent editorial on "War and Peace," cited all the wars, strikes, and unrest now existing on earth, and alluded to all the threatened disruptions between nations, concluding with the question, " How can we account for the seething unrest, the wars, actual and threatening, among the nations ? "

For a true reply to such a great and important question, let us turn to that unfailing guide-the Bible.

First:Cain slaying Abel (Gen. 4 :8) shows that strife, unrest, and dissatisfaction on man's part, are virtually as old as sin itself, being direct results of sin which Satan introduced into the world.

Second:In view of Romans 5:12, " Sin entered into the world, and death by sin," we know that sin and death will travel together until God's appointed time. The fact that death still lays its iron grip upon the sons of men, proves that sin is in man and is swaying the affairs of nations.

Third:It may be asked, "Will the gospel of Christ, by which thousands are being saved from the present dominion and future judgment of sin, result in the extermination of sin and death?" The answer is found in the Gospel of Luke (chap. 17, ver. 26)-the same rebellious conditions toward Christ, will prevail until the future second coming of Christ to earth. Hence, sin and death will be operative until at least that time.

Again, looking past the above event (that is, after the Lord has come and reigned a thousand years on the earth-Rev. 20 :7-9), Satan will be allowed to exercise his power for a season (as he now does) to test the unregenerate, who will again rise in rebellion against God, and death to all such will be the result.

We read, therefore, in i Cor. 15 :26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," and with death, sin of course. From Rev. 20:7-15 we have seen that the time of the end of sin and death will be immediately prior to the judgment of all the unsaved at the end of time.

Fourth:From the foregoing scriptures we learn that the unrest, wars and death among men are attributable to sin still being here, and that such conditions will continue to prevail until the end of the present world, being blessedly interrupted, of course, while Christ actually reigns, during the Millennium, over the entire earth, where Satan now so largely governs the moral affairs of men and nations (2 Cor. 4 :3,4). We have also learned that while multitudes are accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour from approaching judgment-are you one such, dear reader ?-nevertheless other multitudes refuse Him (John 5 :40), and live necessarily in strife, unrest, and dissatisfaction, hastening on to the judgment of Rev. 20:12-15.

It is true that there are a number of people spending their time and money in efforts toward having universal peace on the earth, but all such will be in vain, as they cannot change the heart of man.

We find from i Thess. 5:2,3 that when men are preaching peace, "Then sudden destruction cometh upon them." All human efforts to improve the heart of mankind are useless, and nothing will avail but this-our individual, personal acceptance of the Lord Jesus' invitation:"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt, n :28). All others continue in sin and unrest to the end.

Is the reader one of those who have found rest to their souls in Christ ?
"CONSIDER HIM"

"Hammom (sunny)-no matter what the circumstances of the way may be, the sky ought always to be clear; the heavens cannot fail us."-Numerical Bible, Notes on Joshua 19. F. W. G.

O sunny land beyond the skies,
To me thy portion give!
The throne of God is ever there,
And there my soul shall live!

O sunny land beyond the skies,
My spirit longs for thee;
Where I shall dwell with Christ, my Lord,
And His blest face shall see!

O weary way, O thorny road,
Which I must tread each day;
My Saviour trod thee long before,
And He will show the way!

Though rough the road and long the way,
My soul is not dismayed ;
I'll trust His strength, His power, His love;
I will not be afraid.

The sky is clear, the heavens prevail-
My soul, look up and sing!
My Father's God, and I the child
He shelters 'neath His wing.

O sky that's clear and heaven that's sure,
My soul looks up above;
It soars as does the singing lark,
To God whose heart is Love!

A. J. R.

(Chap. 1:1-4.) (Continued from page 317, vol. of 1912.)

If the Son of God become man united in His own person divine and human life, humanity in Him was a new humanity-in community of life with God. The Son of the Father become man was a Man possessing life in community with the Father. But if He thus raised up humanity into community of life with God, it is also true that He brought divine life down into a condition of human life. The life He had with the Father eternally was thus possessed in the human condition He assumed.

For Him to assume the conditions and limitations of human life, meant living dependently and obediently. This of course was an entirely new experience for Him, and for which it was necessary He should come into the condition of it (Heb. 5:8). He could not experience creature dependence and obedience while in Godhead form and condition. To have that experience He needed to stoop down to the form and condition of man-of dependence and service.

To this He stooped, assuming a condition in which He lived dependently and obediently. He lived "by the Father" (John 6:57), 1:e., the living Father was the reason or ground of His life here below. But, living thus, there was no interruption of the divine and eternal intimacies as the eternal Son with the eternal Father in the unapproachable light.

Living here among men dependently and obediently, yet as possessing and enjoying the intimacies of Godhead community of life, He was the revelation of them for men. If men had had eyes to see it they would have seen in Him not only the One who was personally the life with the Father, but also the activities of the life which habitually and constantly expressed itself in Him, both in word and work. (See John 3:11, 32 ; 5 :19, 20, 36 ; 8:26; 10:15,32; 11:44,45.) There never was a moment, save in the darkness of the cross, when the divine, eternal intimacies were interrupted:the Father finding in His Son, become man, His eternal delight; and the Man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, realizing His eternal rejoicing. His earthly life was a manifestation of the life of the divine Dwellers in light brought down into the condition of a dependent human life.

The true Life thus was shining, was manifested in its own proper activities; but men, blinded by the darkness they were in, had not eyes to see it. There had been rays of the light shining from the beginning of fallen man's history, but only in the Son of God become man and living here in the world did the light shine in its full power. It was shining for every man (John 1:9), but they hated the light thus manifested.

Still, through grace, there were those whose eyes were opened and who did see. From the garden of Eden, down the long history, there were those who saw and received the light so far as it was shining. So, too, when the Son of God was among men as the Light of men, there were those who through grace, saw it, welcomed it, received it-received of its fulness, grace upon grace (John i:16). They saw in the One who was made flesh, a divine Person; for, as they contemplated His glory, they saw it was the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father.

I have said this was through grace; for it was by the power of the Spirit that divine testimony laid hold of those who thus set to their seal that God's testimony concerning His Son become man is true (Jno. 3:33). They thus became children of light and of God, through faith, receiving Him who had come from God. It was by believing on His name they were born of God-born of water and the Spirit. It was by believing on His name they were born from above, that is, from a higher sphere than the natural.

Of course, it was ever by faith that men, from Eden down, became children of God; but, though born of God, they were not granted the privilege of taking their place with God as children. They could not take the place of children until that place was made known; nor could they know the blessedness of the place until it was revealed. Hence, until the Son of God came into the world and revealed the children's place and its blessedness, the children of God died in faith- without full knowledge of their place with God. But the Son of God having come, the place was made known and the intimacies of it communicated. To His children, the Father's name was made known (Jno. 17:6, 8).

It was thus they became competent witnesses of the life eternal that was with the Father and was manifested here. They were qualified to witness by their personal enjoyment of the manifested life,
and testified to what they experienced of it (ver. i). So far as they enjoyed the word of life they have declared it. What they saw, they have testified to (ver. 2). Their testimony is an announcement of the life eternal which was with the Father, but manifested to them here in the Son. Not only have they given vis the testimony of the Son of God Himself-the testimony He bore as being the true Light of men-but they have reported what was their own enjoyed portion as those to whom He manifested the Father's name.

What this wondrous, blessed portion was, we shall consider directly, but I wish to emphasize the fact that John, as one of these qualified witnesses, representing and speaking for them, has authoritatively declared (Jno. 21:24) what the testimony of the Son of God to the world was, and also His communications to the men given Him out of the world. In his Gospel he writes to all men, declaring the things that Jesus did and said to bring conviction " that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," that by believing they might have life through His name (John 20 :31). In the epistle he writes to those to whom the Son has manifested the Father's name, unfolding the characteristics of the life eternally with the Father, that they may not merely have the life, but have it as inwardly understood (chap. 5:13), as subjectively realizing what its character is, and what its accompanying blessedness.

Of this privilege, bestowed upon the children of God of this present period, we shall speak in the proper place. My object now is to fasten attention on the fact that John, as the divinely-chosen witness, has testified to the children of God, as being himself in the realized enjoyment of it, the character of the life of which by faith they have become participants. What he saw and heard, what he thus inwardly knew, what he enjoyed of the manifested life, he has reported to us. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These papers are just what they profess to be, personal letters addressed to a parish priest of the Church of Rome.

While journeying on the railway some years ago, I made the acquaintance of the Rev. A. M. S.—. A day spent in friendly discussion drew my heart out to him, as I recognized his apparent sincerity of purpose and evident desire to glorify God. On his part, he was kind enough to say that he appreciated greatly the spirit manifested toward him, and had been deeply interested in the consideration of the subject before us. A courteous and cultured gentleman, with whom it was a real pleasure to converse, he also was, I trust, a genuine lover of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a man of true piety. When we parted, he accepted from me a little volume dealing with a portion of Holy Scripture, concerning which he afterwards wrote me a very appreciative letter.

This opened the way for a somewhat desultory correspondence, covering a period of several months, which was at last interrupted by a serious illness on my part, which, with much pressing work afterwards, for a long time hindered my again writing him. Two years or more, in fact, elapsed ere I again addressed him. Of the earlier epistles I have kept no copies, but the latter ones were written in duplicate, and are now published with the hope that they may prove helpful in establishing believers in the glorious doctrines recovered at the Reformation and since, and check, in ever so small a degree, the progress Romeward of seeking souls who have not yet found settled peace; and lead to rest and assurance of acceptance with God honest Roman Catholics whose hearts long for it, but which their Church and its teachings have failed to supply.

LETTER I. Rev. A. M. S.–.

Dear Sir :You may wonder, after the lapse of so many months, that I should again address you; but I have not forgotten our former correspondence, nor the courteous way in which you responded to my letters at that time. I still have on hand your two last lengthy epistles, which I had no thought of neglecting so long ; but, shortly after receiving the latter one, I was obliged to make a lengthy journey, and, while far from home, was taken ill with a sickness from which I did not fully recover for a number of months. Since that time I have been so occupied with other matters that I have hesitated about renewing the correspondence. Another thing :I wished to familiarize myself more fully with Roman Catholic teaching and history. To this end I have read largely, in the months that have passed, on both sides. New-man and Chiniquy, Gibbon and Littledale, the "Catholic Encyclopedia," and Protestant historians; the Fathers, Pre- and Post-Nicene; and mediaeval and modern theologians have alike been drawn upon, in order to take up with you the questions at issue, absolutely without prejudice, and, I trust, without misrepresentation. I think I have to-day a much more kindly feeling toward sincere Roman Catholics than ever before; while, you will pardon me if I say, that my researches have given me a more intense detestation of many Romish dogmas than I had previously possessed.

In the measure in which Rome confesses the doctrine of Christ, I rejoice. Her martyrs and confessors, mine as well as hers, I honor; but wherever she teaches for doctrine the commandments of men, I most surely dissent. I, too, am a member of the Catholic Church, the one body of which Christ alone is the Head, exalted at God's right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour. Every believer in Him upon the face of the earth is, through the Spirit's baptism, a member of that one body; hence, belonging to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in the fullest and truest sense. But I feel, more strongly than ever, that the Bishop of Rome, and the faction who acknowledge his authority, have largely perverted the gospel of Christ; preaching, instead, "another gospel, which is not another;" and you know the solemn anathema pronounced by St. Paul against all such. What a fearful thing if the Roman Pontiff, while calling himself the Vicar of Christ and the earthly head of the Church, were found himself beneath that fearful curse (Gal. i:6-9).

In your last letter to me you say, and rightly so, I believe that "the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament is the pivotal point on which all turns." " Is then Christ really present in the Blessed Sacrament, as we Catholics believe ? " you ask, " Or is it only a figure?" And here you confidently say:"I call all History and all Antiquity to testify against you."

Now, my dear sir, these are very strong words; and I must confess that I am greatly surprised at the temerity that could permit you to use them. Surely you are as familiar with the Fathers and history as I am. Nay, I cannot but believe you are far better acquainted with the writings of the former than I; therefore, you must know that the pre-Nicene Fathers nowhere teach the doctrine you allege. It is only years afterwards that anything approaching it is found. It is nothing to me that the Roman Church for more than a millennium has held this doctrine; nor yet that the Eastern Church holds the same; that Luther himself taught something similar; that certain Anglicans, from Henry the Eighth down, largely agree with Rome. These are all comparatively modern. Antiquity, in this case, decides absolutely against them. When I speak of Antiquity, it is not the writings of fallible men to which I refer, but to " that which was from the beginning"-the authoritative records of the inspired apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. I purpose, then, putting before you every inspired account of the Lord's Supper found in the Holy Scriptures; and I ask you, as an honest man, to weigh them well, forgetting, so far as you can, every construction that has been put upon them by post-Nicene theologians, and ask yourself if the scriptures in question can possibly bear the interpretation Rome has given them.

In St. Matthew's Gospel, chap. 26, vers. 26-29, we read :"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is My body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." St. Mark's account is very similar, but I quote it entire, as found in chap. 14, vers. 22-25:"And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat:this is My body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them:and they drank all of it. And He said unto them, This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

St. Luke confines his account to the space of two verses, chap. 22 :19, 20-verses 17 and 18 clearly referring to the passover cup preceding the institution of the Lord's Supper:"And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you:this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."

St. John, as you will recollect, furnishes no account of the institution of the Christian feast at all. His sixth chapter we will consider in a later letter.

St. Paul, in i Cor. n :23-29, gives us the only remaining account :" For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. That 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 they had supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood:this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death, till He come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh a judgment to himself, if he discern not the Lord's body."* *The Scripture quotations are from the 1911 Oxford Version, the only edition of the Bible I had on hand when writing, but neither the Douay nor the A. V. differ materially.*

I know of no other direct reference to the Lord's supper, save i Cor. to:15-21, which I will refer to later, and those passages in the Acts which speak of the "breaking of bread," but give us no particulars as to mode or doctrine connected with it. i Cor. 5:7, 8 might be cited as a case in point, but even supposing the feast therein mentioned is what you call the " Eucharist," it proves nothing, one way or the other, as to the real Presence. Neither does Phil. 4:6, which some read:" Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Eucharist, let your requests be made known unto God."

Now I ask your attention to the Lord's words in regard to the cup, in the passage quoted. In St. Matthew He says:' Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Was He speaking literally or figuratively ? It seems to me the simplest way to answer this question is just by asking another:Had His blood been shed at that time or not ? His words are very plain, "This is My blood which is shed." It is an offence to our God-given intelligence, to insist that the words, "This is My blood," must be taken literally ; while, when He added, "which is shed," it must be acknowledged that He was speaking anticipatively. Furthermore, in the following verse He calls the liquid in the cup, " the fruit of the vine," which is absolutely absurd if it had been changed by the divine Presence into His actual blood. Both these propositions, I believe, apply with equal force to the quotations from St. Mark's Gospel. And St. Luke makes our position even stronger. He tells us that our Lord said, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood." Would you say He meant us to understand literally that the cup contained the new covenant, and that when you drink it you are drinking the new covenant, or is the expression clearly figurative ?

With Luke's account Paul agrees, and we shall examine his words in a moment. But if it be clear, and I see not how it can be denied, that our Lord speaks figuratively of the cup, by what rule of logic can we suppose He speaks literally of the bread when He says, "This is My body, which is given for you?" Some manuscripts read, "broken for you; "but in either case, the meaning clearly is, " Put to death." Had His body already been broken, given, or sacrificed for us, when He instituted the Supper? If not, He certainly speaks in a figurative way. So St. Paul takes it; and in i Cor. 10:16 he writes, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The loaf which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ?" And he immediately adds, " For we are all partakers of that one loaf." So that the one loaf not only sets forth figuratively Christ's literal body, but it also is a figure of His mystical body-the Church.

And so it was held by all the apostolic churches; nor was any other meaning attached to it until the predicted apostasy had begun. The Romish dogma of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ being present under one species, and the consequent denial of the cup to the laity, is in itself a complete and perfect annulment of the dogma of the Real Presence; for in the Lord's Supper, as instituted by Christ, it was of the loaf alone that He said, "This is My body," and it set forth His body as given in death; hence the cup set forth His blood as separated from His body, though that separation had not yet actually taken place. Now if you tell me that in partaking of the loaf alone I still receive the blood of Christ, as though I had partaken of the cup, you completely vitiate the Roman theory itself. For manifestly, if a violent death has taken place, I cannot receive both body and blood in one kind. To tell me I can, is to deny the fact of the separation of the blood from the body at death, or else to deny the Romish dogma of the Real Presence, and to acknowledge that I receive both in a figurative sense.

It is true St. Paul tells us, "Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." It is still the bread, and still the cup. No change has taken place in the elements; faith alone can see in the loaf and the cup a symbol of the crucified Saviour.

And now I ask you, dear sir, in all seriousness, can you see anything in the Roman service of the Mass that answers in any sense to the beauty and simplicity of the Lord's Supper, as set forth in the scriptures we have read ? There you have no pompous hierarchy separated from the laity, as though of a superior class, but a company of Christian brethren gathered to partake together of a simple memorial feast, each one eating of the loaf, each one drinking of the cup, in reverent and hallowed remembrance of the Lord and His death. As to the denial of the cup to by far the greater majority of communicants, I must write on that later, time and space forbidding now.

In closing, let me say that there is a deep and precious sense in which I acknowledge the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of His redeemed people, not only when gathered together to remember Him in the breaking of bread, but when gathered to His name for prayer or praise. For He Himself has said:"Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst." But this, of course, involves no transubstantiation of elements in the Lord's Supper. Sincerely yours,

H. A. Ironside

We are creatures of extremes. We are no sooner pulled out of the ditch on one side of the road than we drift to the one on the other side. Truth keeps the middle of the road, and if we walk with it we will be kept there too. The abject begging, so often witnessed in Christendom under plea of the cause of Christ, becomes so repellent to such as have learned God's mind and way of carrying on His work, that they are liable to consider all matters of money as out of place among spiritual things, and under that sentiment they are in a measure ashamed of having anything to do with it.

They cannot free their minds from the idea of begging when money is spoken of, and so it is unclean to them. They have not taken in the Christian thought that "to do good and to communicate" (give of their substance) are by God called sacrifices, and that " with such sacrifices God is well pleased " (Heb. 13:16). And note, in the previous verse He has just called " praise " and the "giving thanks to His name" with our lips, "The sacrifice of praise." The same name, sacrifice, is used for money. The poor widow who had but two mites, and gave them both, offered to God a greater sacrifice than the rich who had plenty left. If this truth is taken in, it will end all carelessness with regard to the collection; for the basket passing from hand . to hand, as did the bread and the cup, will find us as worshipful in putting our contribution into it as we were in eating of the bread and drinking of the cup. And henceforth it will be a sanctified offering, not money begged by any one from any one, but a free-will offering presented to God from His redeemed people, for whom He gave even His only Son, and to whom He gives this opportunity to express their gratefulness. What difference then is in these:Begging for Christ humiliates Him and says He is still in poverty; offering to Him puts Him in the place of honor and majesty-His dues. A careful reading of i Cor. 16 :1-3 will show the delicacy of the apostle in treating of this subject. He asks that the collection which was being made for the needy saints at Jerusalem be all finished before he comes. He, in his apostolic authority, has ordered it to take place among the assemblies, but it must not be as if he were begging of them.

It must be as a free-will offering, for no other could be acceptable to God.

Then he tells them how to carry it out suitably:" Upon the first day of the week (their assembly day) let every one of you (not a few rich ones) lay by him in store (set apart) as God hath prospered him." Mark this well:" As God hath prospered him." God does not demand of us so much per cent., as once by the law. We are under grace, and the per cent, we give of our weekly earnings or incomes must come from our hearts. Am I free to give i, 5, 10, 20 or 50 per cent, of what I get in the week? Let me settle it with holy purpose before God, and on the first day of the week deliberately set it apart as belonging to God. From this treasury then I shall draw as occasion in my judgment calls for. I am not now dispensing my own funds but the Lord's, and this will enable me to be liberal. Then mark what he adds, "And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem." The assembly has contributed that money, and the men who will dispose of it must be men trusted and commended by the assembly. The "liberality" of the assembly must remain under its control.

All this is beautiful, and commends itself at once to every upright mind. And, beloved brethren, if we follow these instructions, we shall, at the end, be astonished at what has been accomplished, though we may be, in large majority, a poor people.

The servant of Christ, if rightly minded, will do as all servants do:they look to the one they serve for their pay, whoever may be his paymaster. So if they are servants of Christ they will look to Christ-not even to His people; far less of course to the world. He has told them:"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body what ye shall put on … neither be ye of doubtful mind . . . Your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things" (Luke 12:22-30). If they spend their time and strength in faithful service to Him, He will prove to them that every word of His mouth is true and reliable. The servant's path of dependence on his Lord and Master alone is made here very plain.

The Lord speaks also to His people who are served, however, and their path is also well-defined. He says to them, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn," and, "The laborer is worthy of his reward" (i Tim. 5:18).

One of the sweetest books of Scripture is the epistle of Paul to the Philippians. They were the first fruits of his labor in Europe, reaped in much suffering. A special affection existed therefore between them, and the apostle expresses it thus:" Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel [in those parts] when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity" (chap. 4:15, 16). Then follows the heavenly principle which governs him, "Not because I desire a gift; but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." The law principle of hiring and paying the minister could never produce such fruit as this in the apostle's soul.

But think, dear brethren, of this dear man in necessity while laboring away from Philippi, suddenly
seeing one of his beloved Philippians reach his door and deposit in his hands an abundance from Philippi. His necessities relieved were something, even to a man who had learned to be content with whatsoever circumstances he was in, but what was that compared with the love and fellowship of that company of saints he loved as his own soul! He was thought of by them. They could not be with him, but they would do the thing next to it:They would stand back of him sharing their substance with him. What encouragement to him! What a holding up of his hands!

Well, they who heed Paul's words, "Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ," more or less share his circumstances in that path; and assemblies which collect and minister only on some great occasion when being served, lose all this exercise and experience of divine love, and also the spiritual development which flows from it. And if narrowness of heart becomes chronic, the Lord, after His wonted patience, has to use severe measures. He did so at Corinth, where they seemed to have little or no gratefulness toward the beloved apostle who had served them so faithfully.

Having fulfilled the task laid upon me, I would only add that the necessary expenses of the assembly should first of alike met of course. Righteousness is always first. Every one should know what those expenses are, as a just proportion belongs to each, and whether present or absent, should conscientiously discharge this responsibility according to his ability.

Some assemblies make it their practice to set apart one Lord's day in the month, whose collection
is sent to whoever the assembly has before decided to make its recipient. When the collections are large, they are sometimes divided between two, that the ministrations may thus be more frequent, bringing most happy communications between the assemblies and those engaged in the Lord's service throughout the world. It keeps us in touch with the Lord's interests, and our hearts are enlarged and taken out of their natural egotism. We would strongly advise all assemblies to adopt the same course of action, ever remembering these great principles:" Every man according as he purposeth in his heart:not grudgingly, or of necessity:for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7).

" He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6).

A mind formed by Scripture will not give grudgingly nor spasmodically, but with deliberate purpose before God.

Thirst

Let us Christians never forget that whatever be the inventions of men gotten up to satisfy, there is in the world a great thirst-the thirst created by sin. As a fever creates thirst in a man which nothing but cold water will satisfy, so sin creates a moral thirst in man which nothing but the living water flowing down from the smitten Rock (Christ crucified for sin) can satisfy. Christians, whose thirst has been satisfied, are in danger of forgetting this, and thus to let opportunities pass by in which blessing may be ministered to others.

If we do not live in real and abiding fellowship with our blessed Lord Himself, we shall surely lose the remembrance of our own thirst and the sense of the world's present thirst; and instead of breaking through the inventions by which they seek to satisfy it (by doing which we incur their displeasure), we shall fall into them ourselves, and thus cease to be God's witnesses; we shall be salt which has lost its savor and is fit for nothing. What a sad, sad condition! How important then, how supremely important, that we abide at our Saviour's feet in the enjoyment of His love and grace, " perfecting holiness in the fear of God." The service for Christ flowing out of such a condition will not be Martha-like, restless, and self-important, but Mary-like, worshipful and natural, free from self-consciousness.

We often now-a-days hear the cry, "Why are the churches empty ?" and a vain attempt is made at remedying this by introducing worldly amusements, by musical feasts, by lime-light entertainments, and what-not. Nothing avails. Men thirst. Young men and women feeling the beginning of the pangs of sin, thirst. Old men and women, looking back on lives where sin has pursued and overcome them, thirst. Their souls cry for "a cup of cold water," and they are offered anything and everything else. "Jesus only" can satisfy them, and Jesus is carefully kept out! His atoning sacrifice alone can quiet their restless souls, and they are offered human righteousness instead. Oh, the guilt of the leaders! Oh, the folly of the led! All hasting together into the ditch, while Eternal Love still cries out:"If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink" (John 7 :37).

Reader, if you are of those who thirst, go to Him who not only quenches thirst forever, but gives rivers of water flowing out to others. Who else but Jesus could say, "Come unto Me, and drink?"

20th Century Romanism

The apologists for the Church of Rome with their constant plea that she would not at this late day repeat her past history, must have received a rude shock by the late news from Spain.

A Protestant convention, under the auspices of the Christian Endeavor Society, was being held in Barcelona, Spain. The use of the Palace of Fine Arts had been given them for their sessions, and everything seemed to proceed without cloud or hindrance. A dark plot, however, was being formed at the same time by certain Romish priests, who had chosen for the executors of their plan a secret
society corresponding (if we are rightly informed) with the Knights of Columbus in this country. These were to be well armed, get up into the gallery, and at the signal-cry of Long live the Catholic Church, were to fire upon the audience below without regard to age or sex; continuing their fire upon the terrified people as they fled out of the hall. Outside, groups of the murderers were to be posted, where they could continue the massacre.

Through God's mercy, the plot came in time to the ears of the governor of the city, who then acted promptly and resolutely:six or seven hundred police and military surrounded the building, took positions in the gallery near by the suspects, posted themselves outside, so as to enclose the murderers there, and thus completely frustrated the horrible plan. But for this prompt action and God's care over His people, the St. Bartholomew of the sixteenth century would have been repeated in the twentieth century.

Let all who can learn, learn the lesson which this teaches.

It is serious enough for this country, where Romanism is making strenuous efforts to establish itself and hold the reins of government-the never-ceasing object of that great political organization, decked with a religious cloak.

(Continued from page 245.)

(Chap. 2:12-27.)

The apostle now turns to the babes again (vers. 18-27). He directs their attention first of all to the fact that it is the last time. This expression, "the last time," signifies the time of the rise and progress of certain evil principles; the full development of which will be the apostasy under the Antichrist. The apostle Paul, in quieting the minds of the Thessalonian saints, who were disturbed by the representation of some that the day of Christ was present, assured them that before that day came there would be an apostasy (2 Thess. 2:3). He also shows what this will be, when fully developed. A "man of sin," a "son of perdition," is to arise who will carry his opposition to God to the height of claiming to be God himself. That blasphemous claim will be the measure of his iniquity. The principle of it was already at work in apostolic days. The spirit, the animus, of the coming Antichrist, was already there.

The presence of this character of evil in various forms while yet there were apostles on earth, made it manifest that the time characterized by blasphemous antichristian principles had begun. The spirit of the Antichrist was there, though not yet developed as it will be in him when he comes. How this spirit has since progressed! How many movements of the present day are animated by it! If the Antichrist himself has not come yet, his spirit -his character-is plainly discernible in many current activities.

We can thus understand the apostle's concern as to the babes-the inexperienced. They need to be instructed as to the character of the time, the tendencies of it. They need to be put on their guard against all those activities that are the prelude to the Antichrist's coming and manifestation. Hence the apostle in tender, pastoral care, tells the inexperienced babes of the family of God, " It is the last time " (ver. 18).

But he does not simply call their attention to the fact of its being the last time, he wants them to be fully awake to the seriousness of it. It is not some obscure evil of insignificant activities that confronts them, but wide-spread, active evil, manifesting itself in many places and in various forms. If the Antichrist himself has not yet come, there are already many antichristian tendencies; many movements in which the spirit or mind of the Antichrist is showing itself. The evil, instead of being obscure, is very prevalent, of great strength and energetically progressive. Attention is called to this, as well as to the fact of its being the last time ; and thus we realize that the antichristian blasphemy is a characteristic of the time. We know it, not only as a matter of revelation, but as a matter of observation. Its trend as away from, and opposed to, the word of God, is a matter of common talk. The denial of inspiration, of the virgin-birth of Christ, of the supernatural, of the resurrection of Christ's body, and much more, is not only current in many quarters, but it is a matter of frequent comment. Even the on-looking world can distinguish between present day Christianity and apostolic Christianity. The evidence of its being the last time is overwhelming.

The saddest feature of it all is that these pro-claimers of antichristian doctrines have risen up in the very sphere of the profession of Christianity. They are themselves professors who have departed from "the faith once delivered unto the saints," and, while retaining the Christian name, are apostates from the truth held by God's people as a deposit from God (Jude 3). But the fact of their not abiding in the truth has manifested them as never having been of the truth. The truth was never really in them. They were of the family of God only by profession. They are not in the light, and the light is not in them. They are not in community of life and nature with God:they are not participating in the thoughts, feelings, joys and activities of the Father and the Son. They are not of us-of the family of God (ver. 19).

One distinguishing mark of the children of God in this dispensation is the anointing from the Holy One-the Holy Spirit. Even the inexperienced babe has it. By the Spirit of God who dwells in the bodies of all believers now, the ear of the child of God is empowered to hear the truth revealed, by which the hand is strengthened to do His commandments and the feet energized to tread the path of faith. Ear, hand and feet having been purchased with the precious blood of Christ, the Spirit uses them in the interests of the truth of God. The child of God then has an ear consecrated to the truth. The Spirit who uses his ear is his capacity and power to hear the truth (ver. 20). By their abandonment of the truth, the apostates make it manifest that they lack this distinctive mark of the Christian. They lack the ability to hear the truth.

Inverse 21 the apostle assures the inexperienced babe that in writing thus strongly about these antichrists, it is not because he suspects them of being such. He sets them fully at ease as to this. He expresses unequivocally his confidence in them. The babes, inexperienced though they may be, are in the light, and the light is in them. They know the truth. They possess it as from God. They are in the realization of their link with God. Possessing and enjoying this link through what they had heard from the beginning-the truth-they realized and understood that no lie is of the truth. It is not that babes have taken in and grasped the full range of God's thoughts, or understood fully the counsels of His will, or adequately comprehended the purposes He has revealed; but there is in their souls the knowledge of God, and by this knowledge, whatever the measure of their grasp of it, they are sensible that no lie is of the truth.

While antichristian doctrine expresses itself in varied forms, yet its detection is easy even for the inexperienced babe. There are two lines along which the opposition developed against Christianity moves. The antichrists, whatever the special form in which they assert their tenets, either deny that Jesus is the Christ-the Jewish form of unbelief- or else deny the distinctive Christian revelation- that of the Father and the Son (ver. 22). Undoubtedly the Antichrist himself when he comes will do both. He will adopt the Jewish opposition to Jesus, denying that He is the Christ, and to this will unite the denial of the Father and the Son. Both forms of error exist to-day and are widely current. They characterize the apostasy as now developing. The Antichrist will find them ready for his hand; he will appropriate them and expand them, for he will not only deny that Jesus is the Christ, but claim to be Christ himself. And to this claim he will add another:he will exalt himself by claiming to be God. The Father is not now professedly and openly denied. It is quite the fashion to talk of the fatherhood of God. In every system of error the claim is made that they have the Father. This the apostle will not admit if they deny the Son (ver. 23). He that denies the Son hath not the Father. Only those who acknowledge the Son have the Father.

We have previously seen that the apostle includes the inexperienced babes among those who know the Father. In that which they have heard from the beginning, they have what gives them the knowledge of the Father. He goes on then to exhort them to let that knowledge have its practical activity in their souls. It is thus they will abide in, live in, the practical enjoyment of the Father and the Son (ver. 24). This is eternal life (John 17:3)-the life promised to faith (ver. 25). It was promised in Genesis 3:15, when God told the woman she should have a conquering Seed ; in John 10 :10, when the Good Shepherd said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it in full quality; " in verse 28 of the same chapter, when He said, " I give unto my sheep eternal life; " and in numerous other passages beside. It is the life that was with the Father, and manifested by the incarnate Son, of which through grace believers have been made partakers. It is community of life with the Father through the Son. What a blessed, holy, happy life ! What fulness of joy!

Verses 26 and 27 conclude the apostle's special address to the babes. He has written them in this special manner because he has had the errorists, the antichrists, in mind. They are seducers, leading astray. He is anxious to shield and protect the inexperienced babes. Hence he has addressed them as desirous of showing them what the marks of the antichrists are. In doing this he has also exhorted the babes to continue, or abide, in what they had heard from the beginning-that is, to hold fast the revelation given them of God, which they have ability to understand and enjoy in the Spirit that has been given them of God. But while he has been exhorting them thus, and earnestly urging them to let the truth they have from God have its practical activity and power in their souls, he assures them of his confidence in them. They are not to think that he doubts their possession of the Spirit. He says:"The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you." He wants them to realize that through this abiding Spirit they are placed above the need of having any one tell them what is the truth. Any teaching that is not of the Spirit abiding in us, is of man, not of Him. Believers have no need of it. It may be represented as a development beyond what was given from the beginning. It maybe commended as higher truth, but the Christian has no need of it; having the Spirit, he has no need of human authority to know what should be believed.

Our Lord assured His disciples that the Spirit, when He should come, would teach them all things. He told them He would enable them fully to recall all He had taught them (John 14:26). This He has done in the four Gospels which we possess as a sacred deposit from- Him. Further, our Lord assured His disciples that the Spirit would faithfully show them all that He desired yet to reveal to them (John 16 :12-15). The Acts, Epistles and Revelation is the work of the Spirit in fulfilment of this promise of Christ. This-what the Spirit has given us-is our heritage; having given it, and He Himself dwelling in us to make it all good to us, we need no one to tell us what is the truth.

Now He who has taught us the truth, who is Himself truth and no lie, teaches that those who know the truth will abide in it. It is a part of His testimony that those who are in the Father and the Son will abide in them-in a community of life and nature which is unchangeable and eternal. If it be insisted that " Him ' should be "it" (though there be very little ground for it), it amounts to the same thing. God, who has called us by His own glory and excellence, has made us partakers of His life and nature, whose activities are developed and maintained in us by the power of the greatest and precious promises He has given us. While there is responsibility resting on us to abide practically in the truth, God has made provision for this -a provision which secures practical dependence upon the truth.

The apostle then can say, even of the inexperienced babes, " Ye shall abide in Him." He will not close his special message to them without giving them this assurance of his confidence that they are such as the anointing, the Spirit of truth, affirms will abide.

Here this division of the epistle closes. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

Up to the writing of 1st Thessalonians, the hope of God's people was the Lord's return in power and glory to establish His kingdom. This had been presented in John the Baptist's preaching and our Lord's own ministry, as the Gospels record. It was the subject of the apostles' inquiry after the Lord's resurrection (Acts 1:6,7), and of angelic message at His ascension (ver. 11), and of the preaching recorded in the Acts 2:32-36; 3:12-21, etc. In connection with this coming certain signs were given whereby they would know that the time was near. They knew that certain conditions must come in, and certain events take place, and they knew that before the Lord returned they were to be witnesses for Him, and to preach the gospel to all nations. Thus they were, undoubtedly, sure of a certain lapse of time between His departure and His return; but not knowing the exact time of His return they were to "watch" that they might be ready. "The day of the Lord " and "the day of the Son of Man " are connected with this phase of His return, as the Lord affirms in His ministry. Thus it seems evident that the any-moment coming of the Lord could not have been the hope of the Lord's people in the earliest days of their history.

As suggested, there could be no change in this view until the apostle wrote his two Thessalonian epistles. Then, by new revelation, the order and relation of events were clearly defined. First, it is said, they were waiting for the Son from heaven; then, they knew they were called to the kingdom and glory, and they are assured that the Lord will come with all His saints.

How about those who had died ? A mystery was revealed here :the dead in Christ are to rise, and with the living changed, unite in one company to meet the Lord in the air, and therefore can return with Him at the appointed time (Col. 3:4).

The coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him introduce in one way " the day of the Lord." By the very secrecy of the Rapture, that day is to steal upon the world as a thief, and they will not know it until sudden destruction falls upon them. Now if the Rapture and the Day follow in this immediate fashion, let us in view of this consider what the apostle makes known in 2 Thessalonians.

He says, the day will not come unless the apostasy first come, and the man of sin be revealed; and, note, the revealing of this man, is hindered by a present restraining power. When this power is removed, the man of sin will be revealed coming in the power and deceit of Satan. Here we have three events-the apostasy, the man of sin, the restraining power; the latter evidently stands between the apostasy and the man of sin.

Now let us ask, first of all, What is this restraining power ? It resists and keeps in check the energy of Satan who brings in Antichrist. As it cannot be of man, it must be God's power, present in this world where the revelation of the man of sin is to take place. It can be no other than the Spirit of God who is now present in this world, who indwells every believer-the whole Church. When will this restraining power be removed ? When the temple in which He dwells-the Church-is taken away, at the Rapture. This is the one event which stands between us and the full manifestation of Satan's power in the world. Some will say the apostasy must first come, and the condition of the last days develop. The point is that Scripture shows that the apostasy and all the features of the last days, as referred to in the New Testament, had come before the last apostle passed away; so that there was no event to intervene between that time and the Rapture, and thus the secret introduction of the day of the Lord; none, therefore, can be looked for by us.

It seems clear, in the light in which Scripture records the history of the Church's early days, that an immediate return of the Lord could not be looked for, because of certain prior events to take place; yet this in no wise prevented a continual attitude of waiting, for the hour was not known. If nothing
else, one thing was to be done-the preaching to all nations; but this had been accomplished even before the close of the apostolic age.

Let us briefly review the scriptural evidence. Both Paul, Peter, and Jude announce that in the last days there would be scoffers, seducers, evil men – false teachers who would rise up among Christ's disciples. These warnings were written some thirty years after our Lord's departure to heaven, about A. D. 65 or 67. Jude indeed says that such were already present; and because of it he wrote, instructing the saints to earnestly contend for the faith. John, writing about twenty-five years later, affirms the fulfilment of these warnings in his days. The testimony of Scripture is clear, that apostasy had already come in before the close of the apostolic age. Scarcely twenty years after Paul had announced to the Thessalonians the coming apostasy, declaring that the mystery of lawlessness was already working, he must lament that "all they who are in Asia had turned away from him." Then the addresses to the seven churches, which came some twenty-five years later, further emphasized and enlarged upon these conditions which had so generally spread and increased.

Every feature of the last days, then, was present at that time; one event alone remained to take place, namely:the removal of the Restrainer (the Spirit of God and the Church in which He dwells); then "the man of sin " would be revealed, when all the final forms of evil culminate. Therefore the last days, as the apostles speak of them, were present before the close of their time; everything was ripe for the final form of evil, which alone has been prevented (ever since) by the One who restrains not being removed. We therefore can say that, to faith, the coming of the Lord became a momental expectation ever since. James even declares, about thirty-five years before John wrote, that "the coming of the Lord is drawn nigh" (J. N. D.). And may not these considerations give more meaning to the Lord's words about John, when Peter questioned Him about his fellow-disciple, than we have been accustomed to attach to them (John 21 :23) ? In John's day the Lord's coming was at the very door, and it had become both a threat and a promise to the Church.

But why this long delay of more than eighteen centuries since John wrote? "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness ; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

May this blessed hope rise with greater brightness in our hearts with its sanctifying power, while, as we wait, we can also rejoice that the longsuffering of our Saviour-God is salvation.

Concerning the apprehension of truth two things are most important:

1st. That moral nearness to God, and communion with Him, is the only means of any true enlargement in the knowledge of His ways and of the blessings which He imparts to His children, because it is the only position in which we can perceive them, or be morally capable of so doing; and, also, that all conduct which is not suitable to this nearness to God, all levity of thought, which His presence does not admit of, makes us lose these communications from Him and renders us incapable of receiving them. (Compare John 14:21-23.)

2nd. It is not that the Lord forsakes us on account of these faults or this carelessness; He intercedes for us, and we experience His grace, but it is no longer communion or intelligent progress in the riches of the revelation of Himself, of the fulness which is in Christ. It is grace adapted to our wants, an answer to oar misery. Jesus stretches out His hand to us according to the need that we feel-need produced in our hearts by the operation of the Holy Ghost. This is infinitely precious grace, a sweet experience of His faithfulness and love:we learn by this means to discern good and evil, by judging self; but the grace had to be adapted to our wants, and to receive a character according to those wants, as an answer made to them:we have had to think of ourselves. In a case like this, the Holy Ghost occupies us with ourselves (in grace, no doubt), and when we have lost communion with God, we cannot neglect this turning back upon ourselves without deceiving and-hardening ourselves. Alas! the dealings of many souls with Christ hardly go beyond this character. It is with all too often the case. In a word, when this happens, the thought of sin having been admitted into the heart, our dealings with the Lord to be true must be on the ground of this sad admission of sin (in thought, at least). It is grace alone which allows us again to have to do with God. The fact that He restores us enhances His grace in our eyes; but this is not communion.

When we walk with God, when we walk after the Spirit without grieving Him, He maintains us in communion, in the enjoyment of God, the positive source of joy-of an everlasting joy. This is a position in which He can occupy us-as being ourselves interested in all that interests Him-with all the development of His counsels, His glory, and His goodness, in the person of Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Son of His love; and the heart is enlarged in the measure of the objects that occupy it. This is our normal condition."

-Extract from "Synopsis " by J. N. D.

QUES. 3.-What is the force of John 11 :25, 26? Does our Lord refer to the time of His coming again?

ANS.-We cannot do better than quote from a communication just at hand, in which reference is made to this subject. The writer says :" Is it not that the Lord, in making Himself known as 'the Resurrection and the Life,' takes His position as standing between the then past and present from that time on. For those who had believed on Him before His coming, there had been the dread shadow of death (Heb. 2 :15)-life and incorruptibility had not been brought to light. The believer needed an Interpreter of death. He had now come ; so He could say, ' He that believes on Me, though he have died, he shall live,' and consequently the living ones who believed on Him would never die:that is, the dread meaning of death had gone, the fear was dissipated, and death was, to such, no longer a dreaded enemy. Indeed it is not death any more in its real character, but being 'put to sleep.' Furthermore, the Lord is not speaking of His coming again in any part of the context, so that to apply it to this seems forced, to say the least."

QUES. 4.-Is "the earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor. 5:5; 1 :22) the Spirit Himself? Is it the same as in Ephesians 1 :13, 14 ?

ANS.-Yes, it is the Spirit Himself who is both the "earnest" and the " seal." As the earnest, He is God's pledge to the believer of all that which is to follow-the inheritance with Christ (Rom. 8:17) to be manifested at His coming again. As the seal, He is the pledge that the believer will be preserved and kept for that glorious inheritance (see Eph. 4 :30). Thus all is made sure in the gift of the Spirit :the inheritance for us, and we for the inheritance.

QUES 5.-Is 1 Corinthians 11 :5 to be enforced when God's people come together for prayer or ministry? Some hold the Church comes together in its Church capacity only at the meeting for the breaking of bread, and that only there, therefore, the above passage should have force.

ANS.-The passage has no reference to the assembly at all, for when the assembly in its assembly capacity is come together the order is, " Let your women keep silence in the assemblies :for it is not permitted unto them to speak … for it is a shame for women to speak in the assembly " (1 Cor 14 :34). The passage in chapter 11 has to do with headship-that which abides, even in the greatest privacy, as verse 10 shows, where only angels may see the person. In the secret of his closet a man would not kneel in prayer with his hat on his head. Why? Verse 7 tells us. Contrarily, the woman, in the same secrecy, would cover herself. Why? The end of the same verse 7 also tells. Every part of creation has its God-appointed order, and the word of God refers even to the angels looking down and expecting to see that order carried out among the people of God, who profess subjection to Him. Furthermore, to say that the meeting for the breaking of bread is the only one in which the assembly meets in assembly capacity is, we believe, beside the mark. Any meeting known to be intended for the assembly, where every member of the assembly is free to attend, is in that capacity, we believe. Also, is not the Lord's presence with those truly gathered to His name what gives them the character of His assembly?-and He has promised His presence even to two or three thus united for prayer (Matt. 18:19, 20).
Let us guard, however, against the legal, hard spirit, which pushes such matters beyond the limits intended of God-turning, perhaps, into a formal assembly meeting what might partake more of the family meeting in some private house. To be blessed with good sense is a happy adjunct to true and sincere piety.

QUES, 6.-Was the epistle to the Hebrews written to Hebrews as such, or to assemblies of Jewish Christians? And, are there not lessons for us to learn out of the Old Testament ?

ANS.-To Jewish Christians, surely. In the first verse of the epistle he refers to the Hebrew fathers, and in much of it afterward to the types and ceremonials of the system which God had established in Israel, and which now, by the Holy Spirit, are shown to have been ordained as figures of Christ and the blessings we now possess in Christ. This makes it clear the epistle is addressed to Christian Jews. This answers your other question concerning the Old Testament. We would suggest "C. H. M.'s Notes" on the five books of Moses as most helpful in the understanding of the Old Testament. Also the "Numerical Bible ;" its first two volumes cover from Genesis to end of 2d Samuel. It unfolds the treasures of the Word in a way that makes one love and value it as never before. We are quite convinced indeed that there is not an incident related in the Old Testament from which we may not learn some lesson-in example or some principle. Of course the New Testament is the teacher, and the Old chiefly illustrates.

For want of room other answers have to wait for next No.

(Continued from page 130.)

(Chap. 2:3-11.)

Before I proceed to consider the teaching of chapter 2:3-11, a few words of an explanatory nature are required. In the portion we have examined, the children of God are authoritatively informed that they have community of life with God, with the Father and with the Son; that through the blood of Christ the stains of their sins no more attach to them; and that the life they are partakers of, and the cleansing that is connected with it through the blood of the cross, are abiding and unchangeable realities, infallibly maintained in the person of the One who is the believer's Representative in the presence of God. This knowledge is a matter of revelation. However true it all might be as a fact, we could not know it to be true of us if God had not made it known.

Thus far, then, we have been occupied with the objective reality-with what is objectively presented, or set before us. In saying this, I must warn my reader that in thus speaking, I mean, of course, objectively set before us as being true of us, 1:e., of believers, and not merely as being something that has been established in Christ, and is true for us to be appropriated by us. I repeat, it is true of us. It is what God in His blessed grace has given us. It is what we really are in Christ.

In chapter 2:3-11, there is an unfolding of the subjective side. The apostle now speaks of what is inwardly realized. Every believer is conscious of operations going on within himself. He may not necessarily understand or be able to explain them, but he is quite conscious of their presence in him. He knows something is going on within himself that never took place there before he was born from above. He has quite new desires, new aspirations, new hopes. He has new thoughts and feelings. He knows these things are not natural, but the result of a new power outside himself altogether. It is not simply a new power acting on him, but working in him. A new life has been received, and it is making itself felt.

Now as he speaks of these new activities in his soul, he is simply saying, I know God; I am in Christ; I am in the light. It is not that he has apprehended the full import of these expressions, but the things he is conscious of mean that what they imply is true of him. He is a new creature, he has divine, eternal life; the true light is in him, so that he is in the light and has thus the knowledge of God; feebly it may be, yet, in whatever measure of power, it is true knowledge. He now knows that he is in relationship with God in a new way, though he has yet to learn the full blessedness of the relationship. He thus possesses the two-fold testimony that he is a child of God-the direct testimony of God (in which the truth and reality of what he has become through grace is objectively set before him), and the testimony of his own consciousness of what he realizes to be going on within him.

We must now look at the way in which these inward activities are manifested as being there; the way in which the believer takes note of the reality of their presence in him. He experiences in his heart the desire or spirit of obedience to God, and a love that makes others instead of self the center of interest.

As regards the spirit of obedience, its presence in the soul is displayed in two ways. First, in submission to what God has expressly commanded; and, second, in treasuring up and keeping the communications of God's mind, of His will, of His heart. These two things exist together in the soul. I speak as distinguishing, not as separating. Wherever the one operation is found, so is the other. It is true, of course, that one may be more plainly discernible than the other, but wherever there is the spirit of submission to what God has commanded, there is also in greater or less measure the appreciation of what may not be an express command, but an expression of what is in His heart, of some purpose or counsel.

I turn now to the portion before us. The apostle says (ver. 3), "And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments." He is speaking of what every soul born from above realizes to be in operation within himself. He is conscious of the presence in him of the spirit of submission to what God has enjoined. He has heard the voice of the Son of God. He recognizes its authority. He is conscious of holding as binding on him what that voice has enjoined. It is not that he observes no activity of the insubjection to God that is natural to him, but he sees an operation within himself that is unnatural-an activity that he thus realizes to be the result of a new power from outside himself coming in and producing within himself what was never there before. He is conscious that now the spirit of submission to what God has commanded is in his soul.

The strength of this new principle working within him is not what the apostle has under consideration here. He is not occupying us here with the measure in which this spirit of submission to what God has enjoined is developed. That is a distinct matter, and is not the apostle's point. What he is here directing our attention to is the fact of the presence, in the soul of one born from above, of this spirit of submission to what God commands. Every truly converted soul is characterized by keeping the commandments of God. Obedience to God marks him, in greater or less degree; but whatever the measure, greater or less, it is there, and the consciousness of it.

Now this consciousness is the witness that we know God. For us to say, " We know Him," is no pretense. It is no false profession; even though they see and recognize much inconsistency in themselves, they are not speaking falsely. The false professor is one who claims to know God with no spirit of submission whatever. The truth, the light is not in him (ver. 4). There are many things in Scripture which God expressly and positively commands to be done; many things He expressly and positively forbids; and to the soul in whom the spirit of submission dwells, these have the weight of divine authority. Where this spirit of obedience is not, their authority is not owned and God is not known.

If the spirit of obedience is manifested in submission to what God has enjoined, it is also seen in the esteem in which the various communications are held. If God has rights over us which He requires us to maintain, it has been also His good pleasure to treat us as His friends (Jno. 15:15). As being His servants, He commands us; as being in the position of friends, He communicates to us His thoughts. He reveals to us what He wishes us to know. Very many of His revelations are like the communications of one friend to another. They are not commands-something expressly enjoined, but expressions of His love. The child of God prizes these communications, and sees in them intimations of God's mind and will, and he observes them as carefully as he does that which God has expressly commanded.

The character of this form of obedience is of a higher order than simple obedience to a positive command. It is doing God's will, even though He has given no command. It is of this form of obedience the apostle speaks in verse 5. He calls it keeping God's word.

The soul to whom God has become an object of love, will find in that love a divine authority for all that God commands. It is, however, in prizing and keeping the word of God that this love for God gets its full character:"Whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected." By this the apostle does not mean that the character of obedience, which I have called submission to commandments, is ever found without the other character of obedience. They go together. What the apostle means is, that the element of obedience exemplified in keeping God's word, is what gives to the love of God its perfect or full character. To "keep His commandments" is one side of the character of the love of God; to "keep His word," is the other side. This latter side makes manifest that the love of God is perfected in the heart.

But we must avoid the mistake of supposing that the love of God is present in its full character only in advanced Christians. It is present thus in every Christian. It is present in the soul from the moment the new birth has taken place. As soon as a soul is born from above he possesses a new nature. This new nature is an active nature. Its activities, its operations, are the expression of its character. From the moment the new life has been imparted (which immediately operates in the soul), it has a distinctive character of its own. All the elements of its character are there. I do not mean there will be no growth, but that the growth is the development of what is already present-the growth of the love of God already in the soul, as not lacking any of its characteristics.

We have seen that the consciousness of keeping the commandments of God is a witness to the soul in whom this consciousness exists, that he knows God. So, also, to be conscious of keeping the word of God is to know "we are in Him." The child of God is making no false profession when he speaks of knowing God, or of having community of life with the Son of God. As born of God, he lives by a life through which he dwells in God. Our Lord declared this to be the truth:"At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (Jno. 14 :20). I am aware of the use some make of this passage, but our Lord is not singling out some special class among the family of God who were to know that they would have community of life with Himself in the day of the Spirit's presence on earth. He is declaring this knowledge to be the common heritage of all the children of God in the day to which he refers. He is not speaking of the extent to which they would enjoy the fact he is revealing. He is simply saying, When the Spirit is personally present on earth He will enable the children of God to realize that they are such. He will enable them to be conscious of being in the Son of God.

We have been considering the way in which this consciousness is proved to be in the soul of every believer:the consciousness of knowing God and of dwelling in the Son; in realizing that the spirit of obedience operates in his soul. This is made manifest to him-the desire to keep the commandments and word of God-which was not present in him as an unregenerate man. He sees resisting tendencies, and is conscious of a conflict going on, but he knows a new force is at work in his soul which he attributes to God. He knows the God of the Gospels and of the Cross has put it there, though the full significance of its presence may not yet be comprehended.

We must not forget that responsibility goes with the possession of a new nature-with being born from above. We are professing to possess the same nature and life that are in the Son of God if we profess to know Him and to be in Him-a nature and life which had its fullest expression in Christ's walk of unwavering obedience to God when He was in this world. He kept perfectly the commandments of God. Most earnestly, most heartily, He kept God's word. His life, His walk of perfect obedience, is our example and standard (ver. 6). It is in His steps we are walking, if we are in Him. True, we have to confess we are not walking perfectly, as He did, but our walk is the same in character as His. However far He has outdistanced us in the path of obedience, if we are following Him in the path He trod, we must not be discouraged, but press on after Him. May the Lord grant us steadfastness of purpose in seeking for His steps ! C. Crain

(To be continued.)

" Providence does not guide us-it guides things, and thereby controls us:very precious as regards the hand of God over us; but-this is not the guidance of the Spirit."

What will Thy glory be, O glorious Lord-
When Thou shalt light all heaven,
As saith Thy Word!
When there shall be no night
Nor need of any light Not e'en the glorious sun
We cannot look upon,
But Thou, the blessed Source,
To light the universe.
"The Lamb shall be
The light! " Oh wondrous truth-
Whom we shall see.

What thought of sin could live
In such a light-
Or sickness, pain, or grief,
Or aught of blight ?
No, these have had their sway,
And man has had his way,
But Thou, the Lamb, at last
Shalt banish all the past
Of sin and night,
By just the glorious grace
Of God's own light.

The brightest light of earth
We seem to see,
Is but as twilight gleam
To what shall be.
Yea, earth's most glorious day
Is but a feeble ray.
The glory of Thy face Shall once for all efface
All sin, and death, and night;
Thou only art the Light,
And we shall see
The glory of that light,
Eternally.

O blessed Lord, we long
To be like Thee! Then only shall we learn
Thy majesty,
Thy glory as Thy love,
When with Thee, Lord, above;
And that eternally.
Oh glorious mystery!
Thou art infinite indeed,
And we, the finite, plead
That wondrous grace,
The glory of God's light
In Jesus' face.

What will Thy glory be!
We cannot tell:'Tis past all mortal ken,
We know full well.
We cannot follow Thee
In Thy humility, And anguish on the cross
Once suffered there for us.
We cannot penetrate,
Nor yet the darkness break
Thou didst endure
That our redemption, Lord,
Might be made sure.

We could not fathom, Lord,
That deep, dark pit;
It strikes the soul with awe
To think of it.
Nor yet with mortal sight
Can we Thy glory's height
Ascend, but we can say,
Thou'st traveled all this way:
From glory's highest height
To depths of darkest night,
To glorify
God's name, and save our souls,
Eternally.

Then what a hope is ours
Midst toil and strife.
What blessedness to look
Beyond this life,
From Thy humility
To that most glorious day
When we shall see Thee crowned,
And by all creatures owned;
And know the depth, the height,
Of darkness and of light,
And look upon
The glory of Thy face,
Th' exalted One!
This world is hastening on
To meet its doom.
Soon we shall wait no more
For Thee to come.
Then from our shackles free
We shall ascend with Thee
And in Thy likeness shine,
Alone by grace divine,
And evermore behold
The glory " not half told."
We ask no more
Than thus to feast our souls
For evermore.

H. McD.

Jesus we wait for Thee,
With Thee to have our part;
What can full joy and blessing be
But being where Thou art.

J. N. D.

To a sister in Christ who objects to the use of wine at the Lord's Supper

Dear Sister in our Lord :

You tell me that you " have been opposed to the use of wine or strong drink since childhood." This does not settle the matter, does it? For you have created nothing and you cannot therefore fathom the needs of creation. God who created all things, knew best, and He created wine. In His word, regulating creation, He warns men that there is danger in wine and strong drink, yet He gives them a most honorable place among the offerings of His altar. See Exodus 29:37-42; Num. 6:17; 15:1-12; and chap. 28.

They must be holy things to be thus offered to the holy God upon His altar:they represented some aspect of the only perfect human life ever lived here-of our Lord Jesus Christ poured out in obedient service to God; even as the lamb offered on the altar represented His holy person. The " temperance " movement, which is largely responsible for the thoughts which you express, insults God the Creator. It practically accuses Him of creating bad things, such as wine, etc. On the principle that wine is the occasion of much sin (which no one questions) and that it must therefore be destroyed, we would also have to destroy money and women, for what are the crimes they have not occasioned ? Is there any gift of God that sinful man has not abused ? God's word warns us against the ill use of any of them, as well as of wine, but condemns none of them. 1 Tim. 4:4 says, " Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving." Then in verse 6, "If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ"-a serious thing for Christ's ministers, is it not, if they fail to rebuke your principle ? See also Deut. 14:22-29, and learn how little God's thoughts agree with yours.

It is not that one contends for any selfish rights," for meat commendeth us not to God:for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse" (1 Cor. 8:8). But God is being traduced, and" that among His own people! How could we pass this by ? From the Scriptures we have considered it is very evident that the sin is not in the material creation of whatever kind, but in man's will who makes abuse or ill use of every good thing.

You are opposed to wine, another to meat, another to marriage. God says they are all good, for He has created them all, and He will stand by all His creation, though woe be to him who abuses or misuses it. If you are against any part of it, you and He are face to face in the quarrel, and they who quarrel with God have not, and will not, come out victorious.

You quote Lev. 10:9 as a Scripture authority against the use of wine. Is this a righteous use of the word of God ? Is it not stated there that the restriction is to the priests "when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation ? "-lest their dulled, or exhilarated, senses should cause them to transgress before the Lord. In like manner would not Christians (the New Testament priests of God) who desire to exercise their Christian priesthood aright, guard against any excitement of spirit or surfeited appetite before prayer or ministry of the Word? But is this forbidding a right use of God's gifts ? Let us not use God's word in a different sense or purpose than that intended, nor make it say what we wish it to say. It will never bend to us; we must bow to it.
More than forty years ago, I met a case like yours in Ottawa, Canada. It was a brother who had been a drunkard before his conversion. He sat beside me at the Lord's supper. When the bread came, he partook of it. When the cup came, instead of partaking of it, he described a half-circle with it at arm's length, and so passed .it to me. It shocked me greatly. Calling upon him at his shop next day, I asked him the reason for his strange action. He told me he had been a drunkard, and that he feared the taste or even the smell of the wine would bring back his old love for drink. " What! " I exclaimed! Could you think, brother, that the blessed Saviour, who suffered the death of the cross to put away your sins, would ask you to do what would make you sin ? "

At the first glimpse of the insult he had been offering to the Lord, the dear man's eyes filled with tears, and, grasping my hand affectionately, he said, " Thank you, brother, for your faithfulness. I shall not again grieve the Lord as I have done."

One can only add that, were a case to be found where partaking of the cup of the Lord had carried one back to drunkenness, it would be very strong evidence that he had never really known the grace of God in his heart.

Turning to the scene when the Lord established His supper, how touching it is! How full of holy sorrow! In Mark 14:22-24, the Lord at the end of His last passover-supper with His disciples, takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, gives it to them and says, " Take, eat:this is My body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many." Had you been there with your present principle, you would have had to say, I know, Lord, that this cup represents Thy blood, by the shedding of which I am delivered from the everlasting hell into which my sins would sink me. You tell me to drink in remembrance of you in this proof of your wonderful love, but I cannot obey, for it is against my principles to drink wine. Does it not seem as if there must be something terribly wrong behind this ?-the pride of an insubordinate will ?

One feature of your letter adds to my fears:You seem to have made up your mind that the brethren who insist on the use of wine at the Lord's supper are in a low spiritual state. Those who refuse it, like yourself, are the spiritual ones. This, of course, will make it easy for you to see things as you wish to see them, and to hear what voice you wish to hear. There may be, as you complain, lack of good judgment in the choice of the wine to be used at the Lord's table, but even as to this, we do not come together to drink wine, but to remember our Lord in the institution of His supper with bread and wine according to His expressed desire. Alas, that any should dare to interfere with His institution. Let them restrict themselves as much as they like in their home life:refuse wine, meat, or anything they please, we will have nothing to say. It were doubtless better for many to be more abstemious in their eating and drinking. But to find fault with what the Lord Himself has put upon His own table for all His own is most serious indeed, and argues a state of mind which is an effectual barrier to spiritual progress. Under it, our gospel would become a gospel of the body, rather than a gospel of the soul-a Seventh-day Adventist gospel.

Consider well chapters 2 and 3 of Colossians ; they reach the root of all this; they say you are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world and you are risen with Him-in another creation of course. " If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." If we realize this heavenly place in which the grace of God has set us, we shall certainly not be taken up with questions about wine.

Trusting, dear sister, that you will heed the voice of word of God on this subject-a voice which seeks your welfare and that of the whole Church of God, I remain your servant in Christ our Lord,

The Christian Ministry What is It?

In a late number of our magazine (February), we were inquiring as to What is the Church ? We saw it is not a human organization, such as an army with a general as its governing head, but a divine, living organism formed of people who have been saved by the Lord Jesus, and who, in consequence, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and by Him united to Christ in heaven. Christ is thus the Head of the Church-in the sense of the head of a human body with which every member in that body, great or small, noticed or unnoticed, is linked in a living way, and is guided by it to fulfil its proper functions.

We also saw that all the members in Christ's body, in their character as worshipers, are the Christian priesthood, with Christ above as Great High Priest.

The Christian ministry is quite another thing. It is the same people, but viewed differently-not now, as in their priesthood, with faces toward God offering their praises and thanksgivings to Him, but, as servants, their faces toward men who need their service, each doing what is his or her appointed task-the foot for one kind of service, the hand for another, the eye, the ear, etc.-each and all fulfilling the task which belongs to each one severally. Among them are some who are called to special work requiring special gifts, such as evangelists, pastors, teachers. Any one possessing such a gift is responsible to exercise it in responsibility to Christ who has imparted it, and especially prepared the vessel for it. The evangelist, by virtue of his gift, is to go and preach the gospel everywhere and to everyone. The teacher, by virtue of his gift, is to instruct the children of God in the word of God, wherever he finds them and as far as they will let him, unfolding to them what the Holy Spirit has already unfolded to him of the truth. The pastor, by virtue of his gift, is to care for the sheep and lambs of Christ, watching over them, seeking their sanctification and welfare, not as though they belonged to him or to this or that party, but as belonging to Christ, to whom everyone of us will give an account of how we have used His gift. Everything is under the headship and direct control of Christ. In the present condition of things in Christendom, Christ is largely treated as if He were too far away to have anything to do with the affairs of His house on earth. Instead of His order, as above stated, each denomination has schools of theology of its own, where young men intended for the ministry are taught according to the views of that denomination, then "ordained" to minister to it what they have been taught, which often leaves them still in great ignorance as to the word of God. This cannot but produce spiritual dearth, as it largely ignores the fact that when Christ went from earth back to heaven, He sent down the Holy Spirit to link all His own with Himself above, and thus put them in living relation with Him, to act here as His members in the same living, natural way as the members of our body act livingly and naturally under the guidance of the head. Human organization, being of man, has no life or spiritual power in it. It is a mechanical thing, the most perfect of which, and most pernicious, is the Papist organization, which, with fearful loss of truth, has the greatest human success and the greatest spiritual dearth. But no organization can equip any man for the divine task of-feeding the flock of God. Peter declares that is done "by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven " (i Pet. i:12).

" When God called His Jewish flock out of Egypt, He chose men to minister to them, but neither those men nor the whole flock were permitted to make arrangements which might stand in the way of the Pillar of cloud and of fire which conducted them all the way from Egypt to Canaan. This "Pillar" which accompanied them was the figure of the Holy Spirit who dwells with us since He came from heaven on the day of Pentecost, and will abide with us till all the Church of God has reached her home in glory.

Let any one read the ninth chapter of Numbers, from verse 15 to the end, and he cannot fail to see how the least arrangement by Moses or the people of Israel could have easily been in direst opposition to the leading of the Cloud. For instance, what more natural than to have made a rule that the people be ready to march every morning at 8 o'clock, march a few miles, and stop during the heat of the day. It would have been so convenient that it would have pleased the mass of the people far better than to be at any moment of the day or the night liable to be called to go or to stay. But this would really have been ignoring the presence of God among His people, and avoiding His schooling, for it is thus He does school His people-never in an arbitrary way, we need not say, but in relation
to their present state and future welfare. What a loss therefore to give up such a guidance for human arrangement, no matter how good. No doubt, it originates in the right and true thought that without organization there cannot be an orderly or efficient condition of things; that there must be some ruling mind to control and combine the service of all concerned. This is as true in the army of the Lord Jesus as in any other army. There must be a Controlling Mind which rules every other. But the One who controls in the army of the Lord is the Holy Spirit. He is here to attend to all the interests of the Lord Jesus; to show to His people their way through this great desert-world; and to teach them subjection to all the word of God, as well as intelligent understanding of it.

According to God, the Church has no power to provide the ministry which she needs, for the very good reason that she can impart no gift for that ministry. Neither has she the right to select what she likes. All she is required to do is to receive such gifts from the Lord as He is pleased to provide and to send her. If she is in communion with Him she will readily recognize and receive those whom He sends, and refuse those who profess to be sent without being so. This is her responsibility (Rev. 2:2), and it keeps her awake.

As previously mentioned, this ministry was, in Old Testament times, illustrated by the Levites. As the Levites were servants to the priests, so is the Christian ministry a servant to God's worshipers. All true service is to make Christ more precious to the hearts of His people, and this is what produces worship-worship "in spirit and in truth."

There is much confusion in the minds of many as to worship and service; the two being often confounded. Service ministers to the hearts of God's people. Worship is what comes out of their thankful hearts towards God. To confound these leads to much error. A servant of Christ assembling the people together to preach to them, is not worship -though it leads to that if the ministry be true.

Converted and unconverted may both be served by the ministry, and therefore assemble together for a common purpose; but in worship, none but truly converted people can possibly have a share. If unconverted persons are at such a meeting, they are only lookers-on; they have no share or part in the worship. At such a time, even the offering of money is a part of the worship:from their hearts, and in praise to God, His people are offering Him of their substance for whatever purpose may be to His praise. Christians who confound service and worship largely lose their priestly character. What a vast difference between a servant of God standing in the midst of an audience to instruct them, and Christ the Great High Priest carrying out these words of Heb. 2:12, "In the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto Thee." How unspeakably higher is the latter! As much higher as the Master and Lord is higher than the servant. It is Christ Himself in the midst of His priestly family leading their praises to God, presenting those praises and prayers as illustrated by the high priest in Israel with the golden censer in his hand offering sweet incense before God in the holiest. No sermon, however good; no choir, however skillful; no vestment or ceremonies, however sensuous, is this. It might all do for a Jewish worship, but Christian worship must be "in spirit and in truth." It can come only from human hearts attuned by the Spirit of God- that blessed Spirit whose presence here is to exalt Christ and to endear Him to every believer.

Wandering on in earnest seeking
Where to dwell,
Came I to the Master sitting
On the well;
'Twas the well of living water,
Whence He drew
Full supplies for all who sought Him,
Cool and new.

From its living depths He brought it
Bubbling up,
And to me who faintly sought it
Gave the cup.
Life was in the draft He gave,
Springing life to help and save.

All my way grows green and blooming
As I go,
For the streams of living water
Onward flow:-
For the understanding, wealth;
For the will, the glow of health.

Thirsting traveler, will you try it ?
Still it flows.-
Still the Master, sitting by it,
Holds to those
Who in earnest quest would sup
Living water in the cup.

From your arid deserts turning,
Pause and drink:-
Calm the striving, cool the burning
At its brink:
Here find healing and repose
Where the Living Water flows.

(PSALM 31:15)

My times are in Thy hand ! " 'Tis precious this to know, I'm under Thy protecting care as I journey here below. I am not left to fate and chance, to wander in a maze, But thine unfailing presence guides through all earth's tangled ways.

" My times are in Thy hand ! " Thou hast the oversight. Dark clouds may close my pathway in and seem to shut Thee out,

But thine unfading beams will pierce the heavy midnight gloom,

And on my upward pathway falls the light that leads me home.

"My times are in Thy hand!" "I'll guide thee with mine eye,' Is Thy sure promise to thine own who travel to the sky. I have no wisdom of my own, or strength for such a road ; The power and guiding must be thine till I reach Thy blest abode.

"My times are in Thy hand! " I dare not trust to sight, And conscience is a feeble guide which may not lead me right. Ten thousand devious paths there are which leave the narrow way, And every voice but thine alone would lead my soul astray.

"My times are in Thy hand ! " To men I cannot trust; They are but mortals like myself, they are but breath and From fathers great and wise, from sages of the past,[dust. From priest and parson I must turn and on Thyself be cast.

" My times are in Thy hand! "Thy book is my sure guide; It is my chart and compass too through time's dark surging tide.

It shows the dangerous rocks, the quicksands and the shoal; It steers me through the straits of life and feeds my hungry soul.

" My times are in Thy hand ! " I find my all in Thee. Both temporal and eternal things are portioned out to me. Thy goodness in profusion flows around me day by day, And tidal waves of blessing roll to bear me on my way.

" My times are in Thy hand!"I soon shall see Thy face, And praise Thee through eternal day for that unbounded grace

That led Thee from a world of light to this dark world of woe, That I might all Thy glory see, and joys unending know. C. C. Crowston

Gilgal was the place of circumcision. The epistle to the Colossians teaches us that circumcision is "the putting off the body of the flesh." The Christian, as regards his standing, is not in the flesh. He is in Christ, and as in Christ, he is circumcised ; " in whom ye also are circumcised." We have not to put off the old man; that has been done; nor have we to put the flesh to death, for it has been crucified with Christ ; but we have to " mortify our members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness," etc., and we have to reckon ourselves " to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Now, circumcision was one act; it was the putting off the flesh. The circumcised man typified the Christian as regards his standing before God, up to the point of the flesh having been put off. The flesh, or the first Adam nature, has been condemned in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is gone from the believer, for God and for faith-not yet actually.

But Gilgal was not only the place of circumcision, it was also the place where the camp was habitually; the place where Israel was to be found, where the Angel of the Lord was, so to speak, until he came up, after failure was established, from Gilgal to Bochim. The camp being there, shows that Israel was never to forget its lesson, that the flesh profits nothing. This is the teaching of the camp being there:"always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus."

The true circumcision are those who worship God in the Spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. This is not standing, but practical.

Now, historically, Israel did not keep the sense of the worthlessness of the flesh. They went from Gilgal to Jericho in the sense that they were nothing and Jehovah everything, and conquered by faith. The effect on the flesh, not reckoned dead, was to elate it, and in the sense of their own strength, they went from Jericho to Ai, to find out their own weakness.

This they might have learnt at Gilgal.

Why was the flesh put off if it had wisdom enough to judge and strength to accomplish ? They had forgotten this, and forgotten that they needed God.

There are two things at Ai:first, collective failure, high thoughts of themselves ; and, second, positive defilement, an accursed thing in their midst.

This latter brought a curse upon them all. So now, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Jehovah takes up the open act of sin, and not their condition, and declares that He will be with them no more, except they put away the accursed thing from among them.

This is true to His blessed character, who will not always chide, but who cannot be committed to fellowship with sin. True also to the word of the Man with the drawn sword, who, when asked, "Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries ? " replied, " Nay, but as Captain of Jehovah's host am I now come; " that is, I am not for a party, but for a people having a certain moral character. Israel, stealing and dissembling, had lost the character of Jehovah's host, and lost the Lord as Captain, too.
Then comes the remedy. It is found in the Valley of Achor. There the accursed thing was put away, put out from among them.

The nature of their action in this was not penal; that is, not punishment inflicted on an offender as a judge punishes a criminal. Their act had the character of self-judgment. It was a company that had sin put to their account, and they must get rid of it. It was not to punish Achan that they acted, but to clear themselves ; although surely it did trouble him.

It is the same principle in assembly discipline now. The object of putting out a wicked person is not to inflict a punishment upon him, though it does this too. The figure Scripture uses is leaven. The lump has to be kept new, suited to Christ, who was sacrificed for us; and with this object the leaven is purged out. It is a corporate action to maintain a pure corporate condition; not to punish an offender, as a magistrate would do.

So, to spare the sin with a false thought of grace is to spare one's own sin; it is to keep the lump leavened, and so, practically, to keep the Lord out. It would have been so with Israel, had they kept Achan in.

In assembly discipline there is also care for the salvation of the spirit in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Now for Israel Jehovah was everything, and therefore the sin was judged. And it is to be observed that their bad corporate condition was no hindrance to their judging positive open sin.

The same thing is seen at Corinth. The assembly there was in so bad a condition that the apostle, to spare them, would not go there, although fully owning it to be the table of the Lord. They were schismatic, and puffed up, although the grossest immorality was there. Yet they are called, not to general humiliation but, to the judgment of the wicked person.

Now this is not Gilgal, nor Bochim; it is the Valley of Achor.

Gilgal is the judgment of the nature, so that the fruit does not appear. There, there is perfect communion with God ; for He condemned sin in the flesh when He sent His own Son for sin. And we at Gilgal recognize the justice of His judgment as against ourselves. But when that has been missed, and the fruit has appeared, we have not in the first place to deal with the nature-sin, but the fruit- sins, by confession, and clearing ourselves.

This is true, both individually and corporately. It is not communion with God, but it is the way back to God when communion has been lost. And it is always the way back; so we find the Valley of Achor, not only in Joshua, but also in Hosea, when, in the latter day, Israel will find it a door of hope (Hos. 2:15).

Bochim is another thing from either Gilgal or the Valley of Achor.

The Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. There He recounted His faithful ways with Israel, and His commands to them, which He charged them with disobeying, and stated the then irremediable consequences of their sin. The enemies, who might have been bread to them had they been faithful, were now to be thorns in their sides, and their gods a snare to them. They were confronted with this solemn fact, that they had brought themselves into a condition of trouble, danger and shame, in which they must abide, because the Lord would not deliver them from it. The Angel of the Lord did not call them to put away evil now. Their opportunity for obedience and victory was past, and lost ; they had now to suffer, and there was no remedy. A new phase of the nation's history was entered on. Gilgal was left and Bochim was reached.

While the Angel was at Gilgal, the people were on probation. If they had been faithful, they would have been universally victorious. Now, the sowing time was past. It had been to the flesh, and the inevitable reaping-time had come. It was not that grace could not display itself in those circumstances, as we see in chapter 3. For if on the one hand the enemies were still there, because of the people's failure, God had left the nations "that the generations of Israel might know to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof."

And beyond this, grace could finally bring in the Messiah, and put all enemies under His feet.

But at Bochim it was the bitter sense of hopeless failure and chastisement; and, through grace, they bow to it and weep. They do not attempt to remedy it, as once before in a similar case they did at Kadesh. There, there was bitterness, but no brokenness. "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." This is what is found here. Hence, although the punishment is not remitted, communion is restored, and they sacrifice to Jehovah there.

"Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be regretted." Bitterness, without broken-ness, is the sorrow of the world that works death.

It is a most serious fact that there are sins committed by believers which have permanent results. Grace restores the soul, as beautifully seen in David's case, but the mark of the sin remains to the end. See also Samson.

The difference between Bochim and the Valley of Achor is that at Bochim there is no positive sin present to be judged. They had disobeyed in the past, and were charged with it now, but they were not then in actual sin, as at Ai. Now they must accept the consequences.

It is the same thing later on under the kings. When failure had come in, and was irretrievable, the word was, "Serve the king of Babylon, and live."

At Bochim the people must judge their sins and accept the punishment. At the Valley of Achor they must judge their sin, and cease from it. At Gilgal they must judge their nature, so that they may not sin. When the angel had gone to Bochim, there is no hope of restitution until the Messiah comes. The same is true in the Church.

For us to-day there is no hope of general recovery. The ruin is established. The house of God has become like a great house. Bochim is our place, speaking generally; and looking for the return of our Lord, which alone can restore us. But this is not all. There is the positive duty of the individual to purge himself from the vessels of dishonor. He cannot leave the house; otherwise, he need not take up its shame as his own. Joshua never separates himself from the nation, though personally innocent. He goes round the wilderness from Kadesh with them.

So we cannot separate from the general profession and start a new Christianity, and on the other hand, we must not go on in fellowship with evil. The first word to us now is, ' 'Depart from iniquity; " the second, "Follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

Obedience to these brings us to the Lord's table.

We may ask ourselves whether failure has not again characterized us, as those gathered there. Does not worldliness assert itself among us, and refuse to be put down, as the Canaanite in the Lord's land? How can it be met ?

Individuals may, by grace, keep their garments, but weeping would, I believe, be the suited place for all.

Then suppose, as often, alas, happens, a positive sin appears; are we then to be weeping or judging the sin ? Is it to be Bochim, or the Valley of Achor ? To be at Bochim at such a time would be to have fellowship with evil, and to make our general bad condition an excuse for leaving sin un-judged. That is not really Bochim at all. It is saying, practically, "We are delivered to do all these abominations."

It may be observed that, when the saints have to clear themselves from evil, the action is corporate, not individual. They act as one body, in mutual fellowship. The judgment about the evil, and the suitable course to take, may be individual; and this judgment may be pressed upon the saints by the individual. "I have judged already," says the apostle, "concerning him that hath so done this deed;" do you put him away from among yourselves. The power of binding and loosing belongs to the two or three gathered unto the Lord's name, not now to any individuals. Even an apostle did not act independently; and although not resident at Corinth, he does not on that account forbear to exercise their consciences. " Being absent in body . . . I have judged."

On the other hand, should a time come for separation from iniquity, corporate action is of course impossible, and fellowship is not the thought. The action is emphatically individual. " If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor."

(Ps. 81:1.)

"Sing aloud to God our strength,"
Oh, praise His blessed name,
For He has saved us by His grace;
Then loud that grace proclaim.
How much we owe Him for His love
No tongue can ever tell!
He saved us from that fiery pit
Where fiends and demons dwell.

"Sing aloud to God our strength; "
O ransomed sinners, sing!
Let sweetest praise ascend to Him
Who did salvation bring.
He sent it not by angel hands,
But by His own dear Son;
For creatures ne'er could do the work
That He Himself hath done.

"Sing aloud to God our strength "-
The journey won't be long;
Then let the wilderness resound
With faith's triumphant song.
He'll give us strength for every step
And grace for every need;
Then let us in His work abound
Till from earth's trammels freed.

And then, around Himself above,
We'll sing redemption's song,
Untainted by the things of time,
And endless ages long.
We'll see Him, then, whom now we know
As "our strength upon the road;"
Our heart's deep yearnings more than gained
In His unstained abode.

C. C. Crowston

The Ostrich Job 39:13-18

In this portion our attention is called to the lack of wisdom as seen in the ostrich; a creature having the form of a bird, but without power to leave the earth. When other birds take refuge in flight, this one when hard pressed, it is said, buries its head in the sand. How like the mere profession of such as have the "form of godliness" but deny the power of it in their lives, and when pressed as to matters of eternal judgment refuse to face the facts, and shield themselves by earthly things-the shifting sands of time. Such never see things from God's point of view, but only from man's.

As for the ostrich itself, so for its offspring:"She leaveth her eggs in the earth, . . . and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without fear." Without "the fear of God," which is the "beginning of wisdom," parents who refuse to own their responsibility to God as to themselves, will also refuse to own it as to their children. Such build their "house upon the sand," and the storm soon to burst upon this scene will prove their "labor in vain." Such leave their offspring "in the earth" in danger of destruction by the evil walk of others who cross their path, or by the subtle doctrines of that "beast" that "goeth about seeking whom he may devour."

The Eagle Job 39:27-30

In this portion God calls our attention to a bird having a God given wisdom, typical of the true child of God. The eagle .also has power to leave earth and see things from lofty heights-God's point of view."She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock." The "house built upon the rock " abides. From her lofty sphere "her eyes behold afar off," and foreseeing evil, she provides against it. To build her nest merely upon a rock would be to leave her offspring still accessible to the destroying " foot" or "wild beast; "but upon " the crag of the rock, "a projection inaccessible except to the wing, she rears her young in safety. She herself feeds not upon carrion, but upon the "slain"-the death of another affording life to her and her offspring. In that separated place her young are made to know the value of the blood. "Her young ones also suck up blood." "Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood," said our Lord, "hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:54).

In Ps. 149 we find those in whose "mouth" are the "high praises of God" have also " a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people . . .to execute upon them the judgment written:this honor have all His saints." Those who have valued the One who was slain and shed His blood for them are also the ones who will share in His rule when He comes to reign and to execute judgment upon the despisers. J. E. H. S.

Fragment of a Letter to a Christian passing through Temptations

God gives us in Israel an outline of His ways with His people.

First:In Egypt Israel had to face the righteousness of a holy God who hates sin. They were sinners, and the blood of the Lamb is provided to be put between them and the holy judgment of God.

Second:Come out of Egypt, and in the wilderness, the flesh, their flesh-what is in them, is the great obstacle, which they learn to hate, to judge and turn away from.

Third:Having passed the wilderness and entering the promised land, the dwellers in Canaan have to be encountered. For us, Canaan is the heavenly inheritance, such as we take possession of now by faith. There it is we meet Satan. The truth puts us in the company of our Lord Jesus, and there also it is that Satan will oppose, and we have to resist him. In Ephesians the riches of our heavenly possessions-our inheritance in Christ, is mostly developed, and it is there we are warned against Satan's assaults and wiles, and God's armor with which to meet Satan is detailed. Satan's temptations of our Lord Jesus brought out His perfections in obedience and fidelity to God. In us they are to subdue our will and render us dependent, submissive and obedient to God-happy in His will. Highway robbers attack not a poor man who has not a penny. They lay wait for the wealthy. Thus Satan, the liar and murderer, the opposer of the truth, is not concerned about the worldling or the worldly Christian ; his efforts are against those who possess the truth, who actively pursue it and conform their life to it.

Our Lord has overcome Satan. Let us resist him by the word of God, and he will flee away. Our Lord said to Satan, " It is written." Let us do the same, using the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."