Our readings during this month are the book of Joshua in the Old Testament with the epistle to the Ephesians, and John's three epistles with his Gospel, in the New. There may not seem to be very much in common between these portions, but there are certain thoughts which underlie them all, to say nothing of the fact that, forming part of that one word of God, they are all in divine harmony.

We will first look at Joshua. The general subject is the inheritance of the people in the land of Canaan. The wilderness has been traversed, and they are brought into the place which God had promised to give them. But they have to fight to get possession of what is theirs, as the land is occupied by the nations " more and mightier than themselves." But God goes before them, and in His power the heathen are cast out and a resting place for His ransomed people is found. All this is most rich in typical teaching. In fact, every portion of it yields most beautiful illustrations of our spiritual inheritance and the warfare of faith which is needed to enter practically upon it.

The main divisions of the book are very simple:

1. (Chaps. 1:-12:) The entrance into the land and the overthrow of the enemy.

2. (Chaps. 13:-24:) The division of the inheritance to the various tribes-the boundaries and cities falling to each.

Let us look at some of the smaller divisions of this first portion.

In chap. 1:we see Joshua taking the place of Moses, and commanded to lead, the people across Jordan into the land. The prominent features are God's command and promise and the people's courage and obedience.

Chap. 2:is the testimony of the spies and the beautiful gospel picture of Rahab saved in the doomed city of Jericho.

Chaps. 3:-5:give us the great typical teachings of our death and resurrection with Christ as seen in the passage of the Jordan dry-shod. Jordan is the river of death and judgment flowing down into eternal doom. As those waters were arrested when touched by the feet of the priests who bore the ark, so Christ, our Priest, entering into death and judgment for us, arrested its course and opened a way whereby every one who believes in Him can pass over into that spiritual inheritance which has been given to us.

The epistle to the Ephesians, which is our study in the New Testament, unfolds this in a most blessed way, and therefore is a most suited accompaniment to the book we are studying.

The twelve stones in the bottom of the river show that we are dead with Christ; those set up on the banks of the Jordan, at Gilgal, tell us that we are risen with Him, and, as we might say, seated in Him in the heavenly places. The passover and circumcision at Gilgal speak of the practical application of the sentence of death to what we are, thereby teaching us the lesson of " no confidence in the flesh," which is the only power in which we can be victorious in the conflict which we are now called to face.

In chap. 6:and onward we have the account of the various conflicts and victories over the enemies which met them; and we, too, after we have entered upon our spiritual inheritance, find, as the epistle to the Ephesians shows us, that it is not a path of ease, but one of conflict, which meets us. We are not in heaven itself, but in heavenly places; that is, where we can enjoy heavenly blessings; but Satan and his host will do all in their power to keep us from the enjoyment of these, just as the Canaanites sought to resist the children of Israel. Here Jericho speaks of the world and its allurements, most fruitful source of danger, especially to young Christians. Faith, however, following Christ in His victorious path, overcomes the world, and the walls of Jericho fall after they are compassed seven days (chap. 6:).

Chaps. 7:and 8:Ai and Achan show how the smallest things will disclose an unjudged state, which must be met before further victory can be assured. The wiles of the Gibeonites (Chap. 11:) remind us of those wiles of the devil of which Ephesians speaks. Alas, how many an alliance is formed by the people of God because they asked not counsel at His mouth !

In chaps. 10:-12:we have an unbroken series of victories. The country is swept by the victorious nation under the leadership of Joshua, and the enemy is either annihilated or so completely cowed as to offer no further resistance; and so it will be for faith when it remembers to go forth to battle from Gilgal, and to return there after every victory.

Time will not permit us to enter upon the second half of the book, save to say that it is the portion most neglected, and yet full of the richest spiritual lessons. Unquestionably the portion of the tribes corresponds to the spiritual meaning of each, and each single city suggests some special spiritual blessing which is appropriate to the spiritual state suggested by the tribe. We can only urge our readers to the prayerful study of this portion, and they will find most rich results.* *The notes in the Numerical Bible upon Joshua are most rich and helpful here.*

Passing to the New Testament, we will take up Ephesians first, as being most closely linked with Joshua. Its six divisions unfold the spiritual teachings of the Old Testament book in a very beautiful way.

1. (Chap. 1:1-14.) God's counsels of blessing in Christ, who is Head over all things to His Church.

2. (Chaps. 1:is

The practical portion of the epistle to the Romans from the twelfth chapter to the end, is filled with most necessary and peculiarly helpful instructions as to the conduct of those who have entered into the precious truths which form the theme of the first portion of the book. It should always be remembered that the power for all consistent Christian conduct and the ability to enter into the application of certain spiritual truths to our own habits of thought, depends in great measure upon our having fully received, in the simplicity of faith, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, that wondrous unfolding of truth which must underlie all practical conduct.

We might almost define legalism as being not merely the attempt to observe the ten commandments, still less the ceremonial ordinances as laid down in the Mosaic ritual, but any effort to carry out practical instructions as to conduct without having the full knowledge of the grace which alone can enable for it. This is what makes the right apprehension of the grace of God so absolutely essential, and this is also what explains two things; on the one hand that carnal struggle after holiness and seeking to fulfil the requirements of God's will apart from Christ, and on the other, that feeble and unsteady walk which so often mars the profession of the truth. The first is legalism. The second is antinomianism. And both are equally removed from the simple path of faith which grows out of the knowledge of the grace of God in truth.

It is most significant, therefore, and should always turn us back to the earlier chapters, that it is the
latter part of Romans which has to do with the practical life. We need ever to be refreshed by and more fully established in the true grace of God. It is not merely the point from which we take our departure, for, thank God, we never depart from it. It is rather our furnishing for the whole way in the energy of which our walk will be a delight. Trials and difficulties will but invigorate the faith that draws its strength from the perennial streams of God's love and grace. The admonitions and correctives furnished by this practical portion will meet with a prompt response from hearts which have learned that there can be no stronger appeal to their love, gratitude and obedience than the mercies of God.

It is not our purpose to dwell in detail upon this practical portion, but simply to point out some of its more manifest subjects, suggesting, as they do, not only God's path for us, but the way by which alone we can walk in that path.

Chapter twelve shows how our obedience, as those who have learned the mercies of God is to apply to the entire life, to every moment of our time, to all our relationships. We are "in the body," and as long as there, everything is to be a living sacrifice to God. This is the reasonable service of those who have been redeemed. It is manifested in the activities of love and in the beauties of that grace which, delights to exhibit the same mercy to others that has been shown to itself.

Chapter thirteen passes from our individual to mutual relationships as Christians, to our position in the world; and here again obedience, sobriety, and regard to the needs of others are to mark us. We are, as children of the light, to be walking here as pilgrims and strangers, waiting for the dawning of that Morning Star, putting off all the works of darkness.

Chapter fourteen dwells upon the gentleness and consideration which should ever be exercised toward those who are weaker in the faith. Rigidity and harshness have no place in the hearts of those who know truly how all that is opposite to that has been shown to them. There will, therefore, be a most careful guarding against putting a stumbling-block before the weak, and a desire to glorify God in their care.

And so the epistle goes on, reaching its close in the sixteenth chapter with salutations from a heart filled with love to all the people of God and with warnings also against any who would subvert the saints from the simplicity of their faith in Christ. The sixteenth chapter is a most beautiful refutation of the thought that the study of doctrine dries up the soul. On the contrary, it furnishes the channel and the motive for the fullest outflow of affection to all who are Christ's, and we are persuaded that were there a full revival amongst the saints of God of a living interest in the great truths of the first part of the epistle to the Romans, there would be a richer and more constant outflow of that love which is suggested in the obedience and care in the salutations of the latter part.

Let us live, dear brethren, in the enjoyment of the great truth of our acceptance before God on the ground of the work of Christ. Let us practically and daily enter into the humbling truth that the sentence of death had to be passed upon the old man and all connected with him; that in ourselves there was neither good nor the possibility of it and that thus death with Christ was the only remedy. Now alive to God in Him, walking by faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit, the joy of the eighth chapter is ours and the power for the twelfth. We cannot emphasize this too strongly. May God, in His mercy, revive amongst us a real hunger for the great foundation truths of our most holy faith ! Let us be delivered from even the semblance of indifference to that great truth which must underlie all right living.

A world which is morally away from God, so that it cannot be subject to His law, nor even care to know His will, nor own His authority, must of necessity harbor within its bosom all of the elements of ruin and self-destruction consequent upon such a state.

This proposition, to which Scripture constantly bears witness, has been demonstrated over and over again in a thousand ways since the very beginning of man's history. It is demonstrated in the rise and fall of peoples, nations and empires, as well as in the personal experience of individuals, and has furnished a field of thought for the endless speculations in which men, in their boasted superiority of intellect,-missing the mark because refusing the light of Scripture,-have indulged, and in which they continue to indulge their wildest fancy, devising all kinds of vain philosophies which, for the most part, leave God entirely out of consideration.

Some, indeed, have condescended to allow the evidence of a God somewhere, but at so remote a distance from their sphere of speculation,-their little patch of highly cultured weeds of noxious philosophy,-as clearly to betray their kinship with those who " did not like to retain God in their knowledge " (Rom. 1:28).

Thus, because of his unwillingness to submit his mind to the humbling revelation of God concerning the origin of sin and death in the world, and their remedy, proud man foolishly attempts to account for these facts in every other way, possible and impossible, which, instead of teaching him the lesson of humility he so sadly needs, invariably tends to minister to his inveterate self-conceit and vain-glory. Such is his theory of the survival of the fittest; and upon the same authority of unbelief, of human wisdom and erudition is based his notion of the so-called "struggle for existence," which is said to be now determining the survival of the fittest. This is as if the Almighty, unable to superintend and care for the creatures He has made, were now, in this plight, depending on their ability to destroy each other as the condition of their existence!

That wilful ignorance of God should bring with it the dismal conception of a blind struggle for existence among His creatures, is not to be wondered at. Indeed, it is consistent and logical. For who can doubt that if God, the Source and Preserver of life, and Ruler of the universe, be dethroned, universal anarchy must inevitably follow ?

This condition is deplorable. For if repudiation of rule, authority and government amongst men be truly called anarchy, is it any the less so when these are denied to God ? But if not, anarchy, it will be seen, is a far more terrible monster, with far greater possibilities for evil, than it has been thought hitherto. It is no longer to be considered a blind monster having only feet "swift to shed blood" of distinguished victims on rare opportunities, but a subtle monster having many heads-heads of keenest intellect, lifted high in glittering seducement on the great tree of modern Christendom (Matt. 13:32). These are the modern oracles of science and learning, to whom is being entrusted the education of coming generations ! And if such be the case, who can question what will be the result? Surely not he who understands the Scriptures, for in them the outcome is plainly foretold. For if such lawlessness, and license, and overweening self-conceit as the skepticism in high places of these latter days constitute the hope and boast of the so-called advanced civilization of the twentieth century, then the time is near at hand, even at the door, when the ever-rising tide must overflow its banks, and in the widening rush of its downward course plunge all classes alike into the great universal whirlpool of the "strong delusion" predicted by the apostle Paul in 2 Thess. 2:8-12, bringing upon them God's swift and just retribution.

Now, as for the survival of the fittest:thank God, apart from the term, which is unscriptural, there is such a thing held out in the Scripture of truth. But so vastly different from the notion of the evolutionist is it, that the very fittest, according to the one, would constitute the unfittest according to the other. For instance, it is written, "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted;" and again, "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." The world, on the contrary, is very prone to praise the mighty, the presumptuous and self-willed, without regard to moral character, provided only he be successful, but utterly despises the humble and the righteous, and would fain crush the godly out of existence. In other words, it is that first principle of enmity against God, pride, which, commands to-day as much as ever the admiration of the world, as it remains its principal delusion under Satan's leadership; and for this reason, notwithstanding the boasted progress, man's pride contains within itself, instead of a hope for future and higher development, nothing but the fatal certainty of God's pronounced judgment upon it in the sentence that "pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

So far, then, from the survival of the fittest of which the Scripture speaks being based upon natural development, or creature attainment of any kind, it rests entirely on the moral character, attributes and glory of God, as revealed in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It rests upon His atonement for sin, He having suffered the death of the cross that He might lay the foundation for the redemption of man, and having been raised up from the dead, the exalted Head and beginning of a new creation, beyond the reach of sin and death. God thus reveals before the whole universe, while throwing open the portals of divine glory to man, the One who is preeminently the Fittest.

Thus redemption stands out in glorious contrast with evolution, as God's procedure for raising our fallen race from its hopeless condition, while faith in the Redeemer (open to all through the universal gospel-call that " whosoever will may come ") is His appointed way for individual salvation, and therefore constitutes the only reliable and trustworthy survival to which either nature or revelation gives any countenance. It therefore remains with the responsibility of man, as at the beginning, to choose between life and death, between God's word and Satan's lie, between the gospel of the grace of God to sinners and the doctrines of seducing spirits-the fashionable unbelief of our day, and winds of theories of those who are deceiving others, being themselves deceived.

Finally, the importance of the subject cannot be over-estimated when we think of the issues at stake. The contest between Christ and Satan, in the representative principles of truth and error, of light and darkness, of faith and unbelief, is going on, and every man, according to the nature of the principles by which he allows himself to be swayed, consciously or unconsciously, is being wheeled into line and made to identify himself with one side or the other. The veil of time must shortly be drawn aside to reveal each man in the light of eternity, and to manifest the wisdom or the folly of each, the use made of his opportunities, and the choice which, made in time, determines his future destiny.
A. T. E.

To lay life's burden down for aye,
And gently fall asleep; to rest
From every sorrow, every care,
Forever on the Saviour's breast-
This is not death.

To leave a little while before
The rest, and wait with Him above,
Away from sin, and toil, and strife,
And only feast upon His love,
This is not death.

To wait the resurrection morn,
Beyond the wasting wilderness,
Where faith and hope forever cease,
And only love remains to bless,
This is not death,.

To lay a life of service down
At Jesus feet-whose one desire
Was but to serve the Christ he loved,
And us-to mount up higher.
This is not death.

Then cease we hence to mourn for him
Whose spirit is forever free,
Whose life of labor now is crowned
With glorious immortality
Through Jesus' death.

H. McD.

For man, or any other created being, to glorify himself means that he must make use of things which are but gifts bestowed-a beggar in another's clothes.

When God glorifies Himself He but manifests what is essentially His own-what He is from eternity to eternity. P. J. L.

There is a parallel between the order of things I in the first chapter of Genesis and other portions of Scripture of which 2 Timothy, for instance, furnishes an example. Dividing the six days into two parts of three days in each – a recognized division – the first three are marked by separation, and the second three by furnishing.

In the first three :day is separated from night ; the waters above from the waters below ; and the sea from the land. In the second three:the heavens are furnished with the sun, moon and stars; the sea and the land with fishes and with fowls; the earth with cattle and creeping things, and finally with man.

This of course is divine order in general ; and so therefore in 2 Timothy Chap. ii, we have ''depart from iniquity," that the servant may be sanctified and ready, "to every good work;" and in chap. 3:by the knowledge of the " Holy Scriptures" the man of God is furnished "unto every good work," as the phrase is really in each case.

Thus the mind is impressed afresh with the perfections of God's word and ways in every detail.

One may notice also, though not in immediate connection with our subject, that each alternate
day's work reaches to things above. On the second day the waters "above" get their place; on the fourth day, the sun, moon and stars; and on the sixth day, the man and the woman are assigned the place of rule over all the earth.

The very fact that we have to take the man and woman as typical of Christ and the Church ruling over the millennial earth to complete the suggestion, is also a lesson. That is, we know by Scripture elsewhere that Adam and Eve are a type of Christ and the Church, and then in the present consideration we are forced to view them typically to get the harmony suggested in the alternate days; for otherwise the second and fourth days would lead the mind to things "above " and the sixth day would not, just at a point where we would expect that it should. But the type explains the difficulty, and gives a harmonious lesson.

That is, the second and fourth day's work say to us, Look for something heavenly on the sixth day; and as we have seen it is found in the type.

If on the second day, the waters above suggest the second dispensation (that after the flood), when in the covenant with Noah government was committed to man, we have before us what will utterly fail at last.

So the fourth day presents, in the moon, the defective witness in the Church. But in the sixth day we have at last that which is perfect in the millennial reign of Christ and the Church.

May the perfection of God's work and ways stir our hearts to diligently seek Him. E. S. L.

I. WHAT SCRIPTURE IS, AND WHAT EDUCATION IS.

There is hardly need to insist today on the value of education. It is rather apt to be overestimated than underestimated. When a well-known man, who must be credited with the desire to speak soberly, or not too extravagantly, can tell us that it is a mistake to say that the millennium is at hand merely, but that it is come,-as proved by the money which the men of wealth are pouring into the cause of education, into colleges and schools and libraries,-the words and the deeds both show us how much its importance is insisted on.

On the other hand, a certain value will perhaps be nowhere denied to Scripture also as an educator. Those who insist, as commonly now is done, on the value of the knowledge of all religions, of the Veda and the Zenda-vesta, will hardly deny what is allowed in the case of Hindu and Persian scriptures, to the Christian Bible. It is quite true that no Christian will be or ought to be satisfied with this, which reduces to mere literature that which has quite another claim.

We are not going to dwell upon this now,- nor has it interest enough to dwell upon it; but much more what is urged, that we must at any rate be satisfied with according to the Bible its religious value. It may be allowed even to be authoritative in its own sphere, but that does not at all embrace the whole compass of knowledge, as education does. There are large fields beyond, in which it has no authority. And of course we allow it will not teach you how to till the ground or do the meanest sum in arithmetic:there is no desire to make any pretension of the kind on its behalf. But it is urged again that as it appeals to reason, so it must submit to reason everywhere ; we may, therefore, listen to its persuasion while we must entirely refuse its dictatorship.

But to appeal to reason arid to submit to reason in a limited and fallen creature, are quite different things. Scripture does appeal not merely to reason, but to the heart and conscience also-to the whole of man. But, nevertheless, it affirms-and there is plenty of ground outside of it to believe its affirmation-that man is as corrupt throughout, as he is plainly diseased in body and under a law of death which, however natural he may call it, he shrinks from in his innermost soul. But this is penalty, and supposes sin; and thus, whatever the way out, reason in man must be allowed to be continually perverted by what is in his heart; and He who stoops to reason with man as to the evil, in earnest desire to deliver him from it, is not thereby appearing at man's judgment-seat, but summoning him to His.

If we believe in God at all, we must surely believe that He is capable of speaking to His creatures; and that He can speak in such a manner as to make all that is in man bear witness to the Speaker. It is plain, however, that at the present day those who can in no wise agree with each other, believe themselves, nevertheless, quite competent to disagree with Him, and to justify the disagreement, each one after his own peculiar fashion. Thus come in the questions as to inspiration, where there is evidently a very great departure from what was, but recently even, a common teaching.

To leave this for the present,-What is the sphere of education ? for what is it competent ? and what is necessary to it ? The body is, as we know, being more and more claimed, not merely as itself needing it, but as needed by the mind also. The effect of disease or lack of vigor in the body will have its corresponding effect upon the products of the mind. The body, therefore, must not be left out of account when we speak of education. Moreover, as the head, so to speak, is behind the hand, so the heart is behind the head, and as just now said, the perversion of the heart may make the mind to err to mere insanity. The whole man, therefore, needs the disciplinary training which is implied in education.

But there are other considerations which we must take into account if we would realize just what is before us when we speak of what it -may be trusted to accomplish. Plainly, the present generation has not begun the world:some would say that began hundreds of thousands of years ago. And then they are equally sure that heredity counts for something. It is plain indeed that we do inherit a good deal, and not merely in ourselves, but in our surroundings also. We cannot start afresh as if nothing began before we did; and if we would fain do this, our own nature would witness against it. For it is plain we came into the world not full grown, not with all these much-prized wits about us, but in a condition in which we were destined to a long process of discipline (in our circumstances, at least,) before we could attain the competence which we may suppose perhaps that we have now attained. Nature gave us into our mother's hands naked in body, bringing nothing with us, feeble and dependent. We must submit, therefore, in the first place, absolutely to what is taught us. Reason itself will not start until we have got something to start it with , and in the meanwhile how much must we take on trust !

Here, too, is that which most manifestly speaks for the value, nay, for the necessity of education if we are to be anything at all in this life. We are too poor in our own resources to be able to start without something, and how much are we encompassed with, which we must, to begin with, accept, whatever question may be raised afterwards ! We cannot even go back to simple barbarism, to that out of which we are told the race was so long emerging. Our lives are not long enough to make the thought of such an evolution comfortable, by any means.

But are we not handicapped at the best in this matter of education ? Can we, if we would,, eradicate the ideas instilled into us from our birth, and start afresh for ourselves ? Even here, trust brains and senses it is plain we must. History, too, is furnished to us. Science is furnished to us; nay, it is in all this that we are to be educated. Can we, with all our will to do it, correct even our text books ? Can we all verify the experiments, of which so many have been made, and which make the science of the day to have its justification, as a well-known scientist has told us, by verification ? Can we set ourselves above all the wisdom of the past, .affirm our own competence to review at least the main elements of knowledge ? Nay, plainly that is impossible. We must accept at least what is ordinarily accepted, and trust, whatever errors there may, nay, must be in this, that they will not lead us very far astray from truth. Our whole civilization plainly depends upon this.

And now, in connection with all this, what about religion ? We receive our religion, to begin with, as we receive other things. Are we handicapped, then, here as elsewhere ? or can we receive from it such help as it is plain we need ? In the very nature of it we must assign it, if we allow the mere possibility of God and eternity, the very highest place. What is its relation to all the other fields which education has to do with ? If there is even a question as to whether we have a God who made us, there must follow the question, Has He not a will concerning us ? Is He not competent to make that will known? But if we are_ left simply to traditional knowledge, and if we are to look around at the different religions of the world, what elements of doubt will naturally be bred in us ! How are we to ascertain the truth here ? If He has made us, we ourselves and the whole frame of nature around us, spite of a certain plain disorder which is in it, declare His interest in those that He has made. Has He spoken then ? Has He spoken so that He can be heard without any question at all ? Can we allow doubt here such as we may and must in other things ?

Now here we must notice a great difference which at once impresses us. These other things have their verification in things that are seen. They have to do with what is visible and what is tangible-with what we can see and touch. There are certainly things unseen. What about them ? What have we here if' there be not, after all, some authority higher than our own reason to which we can submit ? This does not, of necessity, make such submission credulity at all. It is true that we are so constituted that we cannot intelligently submit ourselves to that which does not give its proofs to our intelligence, and these proofs also must be in that which is seen. Notice, then, how all important the question is whether Scripture can be proved false or not as to that which is seen, for here is what must show it to be absolutely trustworthy. If it be not that in things in which I can test it, how can it be possibly worthy of credit where no test can be applied ?

But thus it may be easily proved that Scripture knowledge, if it be what it claims, must really be the foundation of all other knowledge that is worth calling that. The earth, it is allowed, is but a mere speck, as it were, in the universe, and governed absolutely by the things that are around it. It is true that our knowledge of these things may have nothing to do with the good government of the earth itself. That goes on apart from us altogether. We have no hand in it; but at least here is a witness of how immense is the sphere of the unseen. If it is to be, in that which is most important, unknown because unseen, then how shall we decide as to all that is thus unknown ? Who can tell how largely it will affect all our conclusions as to the known ? Who can reason about that which is unknown ? How dependent we are upon some knowledge which must be communicated to us here !

Now here it is that the claim of that which professes to reveal all that is of the highest interest to me in the unknown must first be settled. Yet its credentials are to be certified in the sphere of the known. What then about the constant affirmation now, that Scripture is not designed to teach us science, and that it may be as false as you please about sensible things, and yet as true as we desire it about things out of reach ? It is plain that Scripture some way does pronounce, or how does it manage to come into conflict so often with what we are told is science itself ? Something it does say, and more important evert than what it does say as to such things is the fundamental matter of its authority to say this. Who, if his heart were right at all, would not cry out here for a lesson-book absolutely reliable ?

And now if we turn to Scripture and look at it in this respect, in what a perfect way does it answer to the requirement ! It is plain that if it be a lesson-book, it contemplates and provides for the education of the masses at least as what is in God's mind for us, whether man's mind be to refuse or bow to it. It is the first qualification of a lesson-book,-a primary one as this is, whatever else,-that it should speak in the simplest manner and at the same time with the most perfect decision. The text-book at least ought to know no doubt; it ought to deal with what is sure, for unless we have certainty as to the foundations, how are we to build upon them ? This is indeed what men find fault with so much in Scripture. It is so exceedingly positive; it will not allow in itself a possibility of error. It is, as we have said, very much what people find fault with; but the heart must be leading wrong the head, if reason here is so unreasonable. How can it gain our confidence if it is not confident itself ? All the more can it appeal to man to verify it as much as he will. The Lord Himself so appeals, and acknowledges man to be so constituted that, spite of all that may be amiss with him, he is, nevertheless, fully and rightly responsible to receive the truth just as truth. " If I say the truth," He asks, "why do ye not believe Me ?" Here there is no wavering as to its being truth He teaches. Here He ventures to appeal to the very nature of man itself as being witness for Him. Scripture then cannot use the language of doubt, because it is not teaching doubt, but giving assurance. Shall we be glad or sorry for that ?

But its language, people say, is not scientifically true. It may be perfectly true without clothing itself at all in the technical language of science, as indeed it must not, if it is to be every one's textbook. Where is the last edition of all the books that clothe themselves with this proud name ? How many variant editions have preceded them ? If Scripture had been written, let us say, in the scientific language of a hundred years ago, would it be right for the present time ? And, if it were written in the language of to-day, would it be as true and scientific language a century hence ? How it appeals to us as the very voice of God Himself, that it comes right home in this respect to the comprehension of the poorest, with a sweet interest in him which is not the least of all the witness that it has of being God's voice to his soul ! Where shall I find another book or another set of books like it ? There are Hindu scriptures and what not ; but who will compare them ? The authority and the simplicity are both perfectly suited to Him whose word it is.

And then as to verification, how plain that it is not in the least priestly, in the evil sense that we have had, alas, to attach to this ! It does not put me into the hand of an interpreter; it does not speak to me second-hand at all. It speaks to me as having to decide for myself, in the full sense of my responsibility, in the full sense of all that there is around me that is doubtful, calculated to beget doubt, and it bids me verify for myself that which it says. . In it all, characterizing it all, too, there is for me to-day the sweet sense of a human voice which speaks in this divine voice, the voice of One who spake as never man spake (let man bear witness if it is not true), but who above all was Himself, according to the picture that we have of Him, a Man such as never before man was, never since.

It is the voice of such an One I am called to accredit,-the voice of One who died, who has entered into all the shadow that is over man himself, but who abides, nevertheless, as the living One,-speaks to me and invites me to Himself. Here I may find, if I will, and surely know that I have found it, what He declares He will give me if I come to Him. No man and no multitude of men can touch this link between Himself and myself. If He is not worthy to be trusted, who else is? And still He says, "Which of you accuseth Me of sin ? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me?" This is the Teacher from whose hand we are to receive our lesson-book; and here we may find not a justification by verification instead of faith, but a justification of our faith by verification; and with this, spite of the shadow that is over man at large, we pass out of the shadow; yea, spite of the contradiction of multitudinous voices, into the joy and blessedness of truth, and only truth.

Here is our first lesson out of our primary book; but let us go on and prove for ourselves, as prove we may if we will, how immensely beyond all other books is the range of its teaching. F. W. G.

( To be continued, if the Lord will.)

God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt ; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me " (Gen. 6:12, 13). Thus early in the world's history did God reveal the failure of the man of flesh, the Adam race, as to His purposes for the earth.

Next, "Noah found grace, favor, in the eyes of the Lord," and the ark and the judgment of the flood followed. This over, God in mercy began' again a further trial of the race under Noah, to whom was given authority to govern his descendants in the earth; but, instead, he failed to govern himself and his own family; with the result that upon one of his own sons he pronounced a curse.

From the failure of Adam in the garden of Paradise to Noah, man had his own way in the earth without law or restraint from God, except in a providential way, and by His Spirit in a special manner toward His called ones, like Enoch. Man unrestrained in the earth for 1556 years fitted himself for destruction, as foreseen and revealed to Noah in grace.

Again, after Noah and the flood, came another period, of 527 years, during which God, in the mercy that has ever characterized His dealings with the human race, left man free from law or restraint as to his behavior, except as to the covenant which He established with Noah and his sons in which they were instructed that all creatures should be subject to man, they should not kill each other, and His bow in the clouds should assure them of their safety on the earth from any future destruction by a flood. At the end of this period the whole race had forsaken God their maker, and turned to the worship of idols! thus demonstrating again that "every imagination of man's heart is only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).

Again, for the fourth time, God shows his favor to man in the call of Abram, out from a world far away from God and sunken into an idolatry of unrestrained fleshly evil that was monstrous (Rom. 1:20 to end of chapter). This time it is in taking up the best of the ruined race, out of which, in special favor-in most marvelous grace-it is to raise up a people that shall be faithful to Him in the earth-a family to be instructed, cultivated, blessed in all favors, and, if possible, to be made worthy of all His love. For 1921 years God dealt with Abraham and his offspring in the most marvelous mercy, grace, and love, as is fully set forth in the history of Israel and Judah; but in spite of all His marvelous works in their behalf, when He Himself came to them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,-for "He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,"-man was bad enough to reject and crucify even the Lord of glory)'! This ended the race again before God, as had been foretold to Noah before the flood, and now all men out of Christ are dead to God. The race is ended, all flesh is under the judgment of God. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." This has been demonstrated in over four thousand years of human history. Further trial is useless. '' The mind of the flesh is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; so, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

This is the result foretold to us in the rite of circumcision-the flesh cut off. No uncircumcised person could eat the passover. "There shall no stranger eat thereof. … A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof" (Ex. 12:). "Christ our pass-over is slain for us" (i Cor. 5:7)-the flesh ended for all Christians. He died in the flesh for us, our Passover, our Substitute, and we in Him, as men in the flesh, to faith, passed out of existence, and "are not now in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His; and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness " (Rom. 8:9, 10). Now "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world " (Gal. 6:14).

Christians, to faith, are not in the first Adam, but in the last Adam, which is Christ. They realize that the flesh has been cut off in the cross of Christ, and have come to the end of themselves as men in the flesh, and have entered into a new life in the last Adam. They have been, through grace, born of the Spirit of God, and thus been made "new creatures in Christ Jesus." They realize that "in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." They are alive in Christ, and have the Spirit of God, which in them is the power of their new life, and to this by faith they live. They "are the true circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3).

In commemoration of this, under the command of God, Joshua takes up twelve stones out of the bed of the river of death, and of them builds a monument in the land. And without orders he voluntarily takes up the same number of stones, each stone representing a tribe, and buries them in the bottom of the river!-a symbol, teaching us the lesson that the flesh is already cut off, judged and condemned in the cross of Christ. It is buried in the depths of the river of death. It is because of this ending of the natural man that "ye must be born again." The former is ended before God, and now there must be a supernatural creation suitable to Him. To enter this a man must be born from above, born from heaven; and this life is by the Holy Ghost. It is a new life, a divine life, an eternal life. The man once in this life "is kept by the power of God, through faith, "unto salvation "(i Pet. 1:5). " My sheep . . . shall never perish" (John 10:27, 28). "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). "He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death"-in Adam,-"into life,"-in Christ (John 5:24). "Ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life" (John 5:40) – that is, the new, supernatural, eternal life in Christ. Now is the judgment of this world" said our blessed Saviour, as He was on His way to the cross. All in Adam-the flesh-condemned and set aside! God's testing of the race was finished. Now, out of Christ, all are under the judgment of God. "He that is dead is free from sin" (Rom. 6:2-11). '' Now we have been cleared from the law, having died to that in which we were held (in the flesh) that we should serve in newness of life, and not in the old letter" of the law (Rom. 7:6).

It is a new life that is needed, not simply sins forgiven. " If a law could have been given that would give life, then righteousness would have been by the law." But there could be no righteousness by the law, because of the flesh, "in which no good thing can dwell." " It is enmity against God," and had to be cut off. It is so completely set aside before God that Christians "know no man after the flesh," but only after the Spirit; or, in other words, our spiritual relationships are so far above our natural ones that in a contest we wholly ignore the latter and cleave to the former. See Luke 14:25 to the end of the chapter. The old man is ended.

Not only does circumcision teach us this truth, but baptism itself is a figure of the same. We are dead, and buried with Christ in baptism, and we, Christians, have been raised up by the power of God into the new life of Christ. Now, to faith, we are in Him, and out of the Adam life. Christ is the head of the new creation, as Adam was of the old.

This is the basic truth of true Christianity, which the world's church has lost. It stands on "justification by faith," or the forgiveness of sins, but puts man in the flesh back under law for righteousness; a position in which man has been tested before God for four thousand years, and proved to be utterly incapable of maintaining, because of the bad nature inherited from Adam. If the sins are forgiven today, the evil nature constantly produces more and more, so there is no end to them. But with that nature judged, condemned and set aside in the cross of Christ, we have deliverance from this body of sin in that cross. We are dead with and risen in Him, and thereby know our deliverance. "They that are dead are freed from sin." So, therefore, we reckon ourselves dead indeed to the sin nature and alive unto God in Christ Jesus. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus . . . for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and of death." The law of sin is in our members (Rom. 7:23), and the law of death is in the decalogue; because, in the failure to keep it (an impossible thing for fallen human nature) it slays, or condemns, every man. So, "if Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness." "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."

May the Holy Spirit of God sanctify or set us apart from the sin-cursed and already judged and condemned world to Himself by the truth. " His Word is truth." J. S. P.

SPECIAL NUMBER.

CONTENTS.

Page

This is not Death (Poetry)…………………………. 226

"Remember your Guides "………………………… 227

Portion for the Month …………………………….. 264

(.From the Numerical Bible; Notes on James 2:14-26.)

We come now to that part of the epistle which has been more commented on, perhaps, certainly more misinterpreted, than any other part. Faith, as we have seen, is indeed, in a certain sense, the apostle's subject all the way through. The works upon which he dwells are the works of faith. If that is not found in them, they are no good works for him. On the other hand, faith that hath not works is not faith. It is not to the dishonor of faith to say so:no, his argument is, that faith is such a fruitful principle that if the tree be there, its fruit will be surely found. The apostle's subject here is the manifestation of faith by works. He is not in the least speaking of justification before God, as we have already said. That is not his subject; nor has the apostle Paul, whose subject it is, left such an important modification of his doctrine (as by many this is thought to be) to come in this disjointed manner from the mouth of another long afterwards. If it were indeed so, it would be a hopeless matter to follow the reasoning of any one writer by itself. He might have left out some important thing which should have been considered, and the absence of which would vitiate the whole argument. As has already been said, the apostle Paul distinctly leaves room for what James says here, when he says of Abraham that if he were justified by works he would have whereof to glory, and adds, '' but not before God." No one can find, throughout what is said here, any hint that a man is justified by works before God. The whole question is one of the reality of profession. Christians are professedly believers, but what doth it profit if any one say he hath faith but hath networks? It is simply a question of saying it-professed faith. But can faith that is in profession merely, as here, save him ? It was but a fair word. Who would think that it could profit if any were naked or lacking daily food, and one should say to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," and yet do nothing to furnish them with that which was needful? What would they think of it? The profession of faith merely would be nothing better than such a profession of works, which would falsify itself at once to any one. Faith, then, that has not works is dead in itself. There is no principle of fruit in it, and this, for us, is the test of its reality. We see at once that he is not thinking of God who knows the heart, but of man who does not know it, and who can only judge of it by the outward conduct. "Some one will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith apart from works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." It is plain that is the only possible way, and it is equally plain that it is simply a question of manifestation before man. He does, indeed, assert that the faith that saves is that which is fruitful; but who questions that? and who could possibly desire to have it otherwise? It is a blessed thing to know that which in itself is the humblest thing possible, and which turns one away from self to Another, is yet that which, by bringing into the presence of the great unseen realities, must of necessity have its corresponding fruit in life and walk. He takes in the mere Jew here, orthodox in his monotheism; but what had it wrought in him? It was, surely, well to believe that God is One, and the demons believe that too, but their faith is thus far fruitful that at least it makes them shudder; but the faith that is merely of lip, and cannot demonstrate itself, is really of no value.

And now he brings forward the case of Abraham, our father, to whose faith God Himself had borne witness. It is not, of course, in his purpose here to cite the Scripture which speaks thus simply as sufficient, however sufficient it was to show that there was faith in Abraham. He does not say, as Paul does, that Abraham was justified by faith when "he believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Was that not true, then? It must certainly have been true, for the Scripture itself asserts it. But his point is that this faith, as to which God had pronounced, issued in works which justified Abraham as a believer-justified what was said by God, that "he believed God." Thus, he does not refer to what the fifteenth of Genesis brings before us, but takes us on to what came long years after in that magnificent display of faith on Abraham's part, when he offered Isaac his son, his only son, upon the altar, at the command of God. Plainly, that was a work that needed itself to be justified by the faith that was in it. It was a faith which this rendered indisputable. It was plain to see how faith wrought with his works in this case, and by works the faith was made perfect; that is, it came thoroughly to fruition. Paul's argument is as to the justification of the ungodly; James' is as to the justification of one already accepted as a believer. It is a justification which we have to pronounce. The Scripture was here fulfilled which saith, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." It was not merely now that Scripture spoke, but that Abraham's conduct spoke as to the truth of the Scripture. God had said that Abraham believed Him. His own conduct made it plain he did so. Thus he came into the blessed place of one whom God could call His friend; and thus "we see that a man is justified by works, and not by his faith only;" for if he had only his faith to speak of, no one could take account of it at all.

In Rahab the harlot we find even more conspicuously, in one way, the truth of this. She was but " Rahab the harlot." There were no good works, in the way men speak, that she could produce, surely, for her justification; but the works which justified her now were simply works that evidenced her faith, and which had all their value in it. She realized that the messengers were, as it were, the messengers of God. She saw and owned God in them. In that way she received them, although they had come to spy out the city in which she dwelt, that they might destroy it. Plainly, if it were not before God that she bowed in this, her works were not merely unprofitable, but only evil. The seeing God made the whole difference. It was God Himself who was pronouncing the judgment:how could she resist Him? Thus she had a faith which did not ennoble her:it was, as we know, accompanied, in fact, by deception, although such deception, no doubt, as men think all right in similar cases. But if the apostle were seeking moral works by which faith was to be enriched, works which had in themselves that natural excellence which men see in works of charity and such like, certainly he would not have taken up the poor harlot Rahab as an example of them. No, it is simply the evidence of faith that he is seeking, and that in order to show us that profession merely is nothing; there must be reality; and "as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." It is mere barren orthodoxy, as we are accustomed to say; and yet, with a Jew, how much his faith counted for! There was, and there is continually, the need of the warning; and the warning is simple enough if, instead of taking merely fragmentary expressions, we look at what is put before us here in its proper connection. He will not dishonor faith, as men so often dishonor it, by putting it as if it were something merely to stand side by side with works, so that one is to be estimated by the two together. No, says the apostle, the faith is that which produces the works, the life of them, and that which makes a man's works to be acceptable to God in order to be acceptable at all. Such is the character of the faith that saves, and that does not make it, then, the works that save, or that help to save. The works simply distinguish it from the mere barren profession, which, barren as it is, men will at all times seek to make something of.

The apostle had been speaking in the fourteenth chapter of Romans of the privilege and responsibility of receiving those weak saints whose consciences did not allow them that latitude in which others felt more free to indulge. He says that neither eating nor abstinence from it commends us to God, and that it is utterly unbecoming to the Christian either to despise a weak brother or to judge a strong one. We are all the servants of Christ. To our own Master we stand or fall, and He alone is able to make us stand. If one is enjoying the sense of the Lord's presence and His authority, whether he eat or not, it is to the Lord; whether he regard the day or not, it is to the Lord. Thanksgiving and worship form the happy background of his life.

The apostle, passing from the special application of this principle to what is more general, then says:"For none of us liveth unto himself and no man dieth to himself; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we die unto the Lord, so that living or dying, we are the Lord's" (Rom. 14:7, 8). Here the great simplicity of the truth is emphasized that we are no longer our own. Life and death sum up, as we might say, the whole of human existence – life upon this earth, and death which removes us to another scene. All, then, that is included in the present life comes beneath the loving sway of our blessed Lord, and well may we thank God that tire portals into that world, which is to unbelief so dark and hopeless, will usher us into a scene where still the sway of our blessed Lord is undisputed and unhindered.

The apostle goes on to say that Christ has entered into all the circumstances of life and death in order that He might be Lord of all. Christ both died and rose, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. How much indeed that means for us,-the death and resurrection of Christ, applying not only to the knowledge of all circumstances in which it is possible for us to be brought, but, as well, to a most perfect redemption effected through that death. He has taken away the sting of death which sin was; He has borne the curse of death, the judgment of God; He has made it so completely subservient to His own blessed will that the dread word is scarcely appropriate for the Christian now. It is rather "sleep." And truly we can say in a way that the disciples did not mean it:"Lord if he sleep, he shall do well." "Whether we die, we die unto the Lord." How sweet it is to think of this! Death is but the servant that will open the door that introduces us into the immediate presence of Him whom we have learned to love, though we have not seen Him. Will there be aught of shrinking? Can there be any terror? Will there not be full and perfect joy as we find ourselves present with the Lord, which is far better?

But our blessed Lord is risen as well. He is Lord of the dead and, as risen, of the living as well. The life which we now live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. We have already in faith entered upon resurrection-ground and are alive to Him forevermore. How this simplifies the whole matter of our conduct in this world! We live, but it is no longer the earthly life which we should live, but that risen life in association with Him who has gone on high, as the apostle so beautifully puts it in the third of Colossians:" If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above." Our members which are upon the earth are to be mortified. All the relationships of our earthly life are to be transfigured by the fact that as a heavenly people we are associated with One who is the Lord of the living-a risen Lord. Will this not give us a power in our daily walk that cannot be described? The Lordship of Christ will not be a yoke " which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear," but rather a power to make us strong for Him.
Let us seek to apply this in the simplest kind of way. Is Christ, Lord of the dead and of the living, the same Lord? What is the occupation, what are the thoughts of those who are resting with Him, their Lord, in glory? Oh, how completely He absorbs; how there is nothing but that which is of Christ in all! And is He not the same Lord of the living? Will not this control and actuate us in all our lives ? There are no details which are left to self-will, nothing that we cannot look into His face and ask His mind about. What a Master He is, how gentle, how considerate of His people's needs, how thoughtful of their welfare! What a delight it is to be under His sweet and happy sway! But, ah, should temptation come, should selfishness assert itself, how His Lordship over the whole life checks at once and leads the honest soul to judge and confess the least departure from the place of entire subjection to His holy and blessed will!

May it be ours, dear brethren, to learn more and more of this absolute Lordship of our blessed Saviour! He is Lord of all indeed. One day every knee shall bow to Him. It is our honor that we are privileged to do so now when He is still rejected by earth.

Plenteous pastures, fresh and green,
Spread before me.
Watchers from the world unseen
Hov'ring o'er me.
God the Spirit for my Guest,
Sheltered in my Saviour's breast,
Saved by what He wrought for me,
On the Cross at Calvary.
Soon His blessed face to see,
And like Him forever be.

Mine the Father's endless love:
Naught can sever.
Mine the glorious home above,
Mine forever.
Mine the secrets of His heart-
He and I no more to part,
Evermore at Jesus' feet,
There, my heart, His heart to meet,
In communion full and sweet,
Then our joy will be complete.

Mine the strength that weakness needs;
Mighty power !
Mine the help dependence pleads,
Hour by hour.
Mine the everlasting arm,
E'er to shield me from all harm.
Mine the fields of wisdom wide;
Mine forever to abide
Close to His once pierced side,
There may I in safety hide.

He the Saviour, I the lost,
Hopelessly.
I the debtor, His the cost,
Paid for me.
His the sorrow and the shame,
Mine the joy through Jesus' Name.
He the stricken, I the blest;
I the franchised, He th'oppressed,
His the labor, mine the rest,
Mine the refuge on His breast.
His the burden of my sin,
Mine no more;
Mine the peace He died to win.
Rich the store
He hath treasured up for me,
We shall share eternally;
While the mem'ry of His grace
Every sorrow shall efface.
Oh, what joy 'twill be to trace
Jesus' love in Jesus' face !

Mine the blessed Saviour-God,
Night and day.
Mine the Shepherd's staff and rod
On the way.
Mine to follow, His to lead,
His to furnish all my need.
Mine to hearken, His to chide,
His my wayward feet to guide
By the quiet water's side,
There to rest me satisfied.

Mine to wait a little while
Till He come.
Then the brightness of His smile,
Welcome home.
Then the music of His voice
All my being shall rejoice,
There with loved ones to retrace
All the story of His grace;
There to tell His wondrous ways
Out of hearts o'erfilled with praise.

H. McD.

Song 1:7.)

Lord Jesus, draw our hearts to Thee,
And keep them centered there;
That we may see Thy beauty more,
Thou fairest of the fair!

That we may, like the saints of old,
Sing praises, Lord, to Thee;
For Thou hast saved us from the pit
By dying on the tree.

The song begun on earth, O Lord,
Will through eternal years
Burst forth from Thy redeemed ones
To greet Thy holy ears.

Redeemed by Christ-oh, what a thought!-
From hell's dark burning flame,-
Not that alone, but on our brow
He'll write His holy name.

Oh deep, unfathomable grace,
We shall be pure as He!
And with Him share His glorious throne
Through all eternity!

C. W.

When nature is left free to work, it will ever go as far away from God as it can. This is true since the day when man said, "I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid and I hid myself" (Gen. 3:10). But when grace is left free and sovereign to work, it will ever bring the soul "nigh." Thus it was with Levi. He was by nature "black as the tents of Kedar ;" by grace, "comely as the curtains of Solomon :" by nature he was "joined" in a covenant of murder ; by grace " joined " in a covenant of "life and peace." The former, because he was "fierce and cruel ; " the latter, because he feared and was afraid of the Lord's name. (Comp. Gen. 49:6, 7 ; Mal. 2:5). Furthermore, Levi was by nature conversant with the "instruments of cruelty;" by grace, with "the instruments of God's tabernacle:" by nature God could not come into Levi's assembly; by grace, Levi is brought into God's assembly:by nature, "his feet were swift to shed blood; " by grace, swift to follow the movements of the cloud through the desert, in real, patient service to God. In a word, Levi had become a " new creature" and "old things had passed away," and therefore he was no longer to "live unto himself," but unto Him who had done such marvelous things for him in grace. C. H. M.

THE ESTABLISHING OF, AND BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. (See 2 Cor. 1:21, 22.)

The Epistles to the Corinthians are largely devoted to the instruction of the saints as to God's order for the Church. They had been but recently turned from heathenism to God, and though assembled, or gathered, for the worship of God and remembering the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, they were but imperfectly taught in the things of God; were apparently ignorant of God's order for His Church, and but imperfectly apprehended what amazing blessings He had provided for them "in Christ." Under such an environment, Paul's first work for them and "for all who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place both theirs and ours," was to instruct them, and us, in the things of God. This gives us the key to both epistles.

In the preceding context to the passage we are examining, Paul has just been asserting the absoluteness of the promises of God. They are not yea and nay, but in Him is yea " absolutely yea, and no nay or question at all of any kind about them. "Wherefore also through Him is the amen unto the glory of God through us." This is the immediate context.

Now "the earnest of the Spirit" is the first-fruits of faith in Christ. "In whom believing, or having believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest (first-fruits) of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory" (Eph. 1:13, 14). Believing then, or having believed, on realization of what we are promised in Christ, absolutely assured of

When the will of God is not manifested, our wisdom often consists in waiting until it should be. It is the will of God that, zealous of good works, we should do good always ; but we cannot go before the time; and the work of God is done perfectly when it is He who does it.-J.N.D.

(2 Sam. 3:39.)

Joab always had a strange influence over, or rather independence of king David. The expression we have quoted occurs in connection with David's lament over the murder of Abner by Joab. David had lately been anointed king at Hebron over Judah, and there were most hopeful signs of a complete reconciliation of the ten tribes with the two, and the turning over of the entire kingdom to David by Abner. Everything looked well for this, and after a most encouraging interview with David, Abner had departed to carry his promises into effect. Joab returning and finding what had been done, jealous no doubt, of the prestige which Abner would gain in this way, hating the man also for the death of his brother Asahel in battle, most treacherously killed him.

Joab was a man full of fleshly energy, with all the passions of a rough, unscrupulous soldier. He was apparently loyal to his master, and yet his heart was not right, as we see once and again through his history, and particularly in his failure to follow the mind of God in connection with Solomon as the successor of David. A study of his life will furnish many profitable lessons, but we wish to look a little at this confessed weakness on the part of David :"I am this day weak, though anointed king, and these sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me."

This is a most humiliating confession on the part of one of God's heroes, a man who had met and defeated Goliath; who had victoriously led the armies of Israel in their conflicts with the Philistines; who, with his little band of loyal followers, had held his own against all the malice and power of King Saul. Surely it was not faith in David to say this, and one strong, firm act then, at the beginning of his reign, would have freed him from many an after sorrow through this same man Joab.

It will be remembered that Joab was the tool who carried out the king's awful purpose in the death of Uriah the Hittite, and that later it was through him Absalom was restored to his opportunity for rebellion. There is a very striking connection between king David's relations to Joab and his glaring failures. Joab was a relative according to the flesh, and it would seem to remind us that fleshly ties have to be watched most carefully or they will prove not a help but a hindrance.

But leaving the historical connection, we may gather some profitable lessons in meditating upon these humbling words:"Too hard for me." Let us put alongside of them at the very beginning," Is any thing too hard for the Lord ? " and ask ourselves which is the language of faith.

The young believer starts out on his course, full of joy and liberty. The freshness of his first love is in his heart; he has had a glimpse into the land of promise. The shackles of Egypt have so lately dropped off that he has not forgotten that galling bondage; the groans of servitude and the terrors of judgment are too vivid to prevent a most lively sense of gratitude, while his rest in the finished work of Christ and his joy in the Lord are like an up-springing well. He indeed feels girded as a strong man, and in his prosperity he says:" I shall never be moved."

Nor can we say one word against this. Would to God it were an abiding experience of His people!
He surely intends that it should be. Let us remember that whatever our experiences of discouragement may be, they were never intended by God. He permits them and makes use of them to teach us humbling lessons as to ourselves, and to deepen in our souls great truths which we thought we had learned. If we will learn them by faith, He will never have us pass through painful experiences to learn them.

But to go on. The remembrance of past mercies grows fainter. The first strength has spent itself. A slight reaction sets in. The regular routine of life, with much of monotony, with many discouragements and difficulties, begins to loom up, and in many cases to overshadow the brightness of that joy that marked the morning of our Christian life. Let us look at this a little in detail.

Perhaps the first thing that proves " too hard " for the young believer is to find that mockery or neglect -in fact, persecution in a small way, hurts and disheartens him. There is a quiet scorn in the treatment of old friends. Those at home who do not know Christ, test the reality of his new found joy, and before he is aware of it, in answer to some bitter jest, hot words of resentment have been given. How humbling it is to him !And how he feels that he has lost what he cannot regain, a prestige in his home ! These relations of the flesh have proved "too hard " for him. He has not been able to go on quietly and simply and humbly with God; he has got down to their level, and of course has been overcome.

This leads, of course, to a searching of heart, being cast upon God, and to renewed effort to fresh faithfulness with, no doubt, fresh lessons of humbling failure. The sons of Zeruiah are still strong and hard. Then various trials come in. The reading of the Scriptures becomes a task. Some old temptation is yielded to; some carnal amusement is taken up, or an old association, broken off for Christ's sake, is renewed, and the once happy and bright Christian becomes utterly discouraged, thinks of giving up the idea of special devotedness, wants to drop down into the ordinary life of the average professor, and when reasoned with about it all, lays the blame upon whatever has come in-friends, or circumstances, or whatever it may be.

Do not some of our readers know the meaning of all this ? As their eyes follow these lines may it not be true of them ? They have lost the brightness; the flesh has proved too strong for them, the world too attractive, and as a matter of fact, instead of leading a victorious life " more than conquerors through Him that loved us," they are making the humiliating confession of King David:"These sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me."

Emphasize that last word, dear reader, and you will have it correct; they are too hard for you, and that has been your mistake all along. Did you think that you could confess Christ in your own strength, in the home, in business, or among old associates ? That you would be able to throw off good-naturedly the little jests and unkind words that might be said about you ? That you could stand the scorn and go sturdily forward in your own strength ? Ah, you had forgotten those words of our Lord Jesus, "Without Me ye can do nothing." Remember Peter's experience. Contrast his stout words:" I am ready to go with Thee both to prison and to death," his vainglorious brandishing of the sword, effecting nothing for his Lord, and finally the question of a servant girl overthrowing all his courage and leading him to absolute denial of his Lord and Master.

The lesson is obvious. It was "too hard" for Peter, because he was trusting in himself. He had to learn that there was nothing good in himself, and that even the will to be loyal to Christ could not be carried into effect without a power not his own. So let us look calmly at all our enemies and at our duties too, and as we take each one up in detail, let us acknowledge in all sincerity:This is "too hard for me." I must go to the Lord for help. Do you think you will fail if you do that ? Impossible. The moment we are convinced that we have no strength of our own and are cast upon the Lord, His strength comes in.

Apply this truth to all the varied details of our daily life. Enlarge upon it; meditate upon it. Let us get something practical out of it as a result. We too are kings, "kings and priests unto God." Let us not have to make the continued and humiliating confession of King David:"These sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me," and yet allow them to go on in their self-will. Let us have done with them. Let us turn from them in all the consciousness of our weakness unto Him who has said:"Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace."

Let us take courage, then, not in ourselves, but for the very opposite reason. We have reached the end of our resources. We are perfectly conscious of our own weakness; we will not seek to do any duty or overcome any evil in our own strength. It is "too hard " for us. We will turn to One who has asked the question which has never yet been answered save in one way:"Is anything too hard for the Lord? " and we can with each detail say:" Lord, this is not too hard for Thee."

The world has but little use for a man who says this. The spirit of the world is the opposite of that of a little child. The truly childlike spirit which Christ commends and with which God is pleased is conscious of its own weakness, and has confidence in the strength of others-in the mother's love and care. Conscious weakness and confidence in God are two precious possessions which are linked up with the character of the little child. The great need of the child of God is summed up in these two expressions. To be conscious of our own weakness does away with a host of evils which assail the believer. When are we really strong ? Paul will tell you:"When I am weak, then am I strong."

This, then, is the true secret of strength. It is to be in our own eyes what we are in God's eyes, to see ourselves, in some measure, as He sees us; taking the creature place,-the place of a sinful creature saved by grace. Sin has taken man out of his true place, has made him independent of God, has deceived him into imagining he is strong. This we see on every hand; men are fast getting ready to measure their strength against that of Christ.

Coupled with pride is distrust of God. Men do not really believe that God is good. They trust in themselves, and distrust Him. They justify themselves, and condemn Him. In the light of God's holiness and man's sinfulness how awful this appears -a sinful creature judging and condemning a holy God ! A rebellious creature pitting its strength against the Creator! These two sins, pride and unbelief, specially characterize fallen man.

When we are brought to God, when He saves us from our sins, we are to be just the opposite of this. Conscious weakness-humility-confidence in God-faith-these characterize the believer in Christ. But the flesh is still there, pride and unbelief are not destroyed, and every child of God has to grow and increase in these two especially, thus becoming more and more like the little child.

As our lives pass here, we should be losing confidence in ourselves and gaining confidence in God. We can never get to the end of this. We learn more of ourselves, more of God. To know ourselves is to distrust ourselves. To know God is to trust Him. When we see one with great confidence in himself, we may be sure he does not .know himself. When one has great confidence in God, it is proof that he knows God.

These two things, then, should be before the Christian-to learn his own weakness, and to learn to know God. We can desire and pray for nothing better. It is so good to be able to say in our hearts before God, " I am but a little child." We are back in our true place when we can say this. It is the place of rest. The wicked have no rest, because they have no confidence in God, they have not submitted to Him, they are His enemies. What an immense difference between regarding God as an enemy and regarding Him as a little child does its mother. The enmity gone; love takes its place. The doubt and distrust displaced by confidence and faith.

With the consciousness of weakness and the confidence in God comes submission to Him. We cannot yield to Him as we should until we have come to know that our way is seldom or never the best way, and that His way for us is certain to be the best. And this is another thing to pray for:"Lord, have Thy way with me." Then we come to desire that He should have His way with us in all things. Then we are obedient children, and God can use us. He can bless us according to His own purposes of love. How good it is to learn to say, "I am but a little child "! J. W. N.

We have now come, in our Old Testament readings, to the highest point of Israel's greatness as a nation (i Kings), and to that display of kingly power and glory which-outwardly at least-are a fitting type of the kingdom and glory of our Lord's millennial reign. We say outwardly, for a glance beneath the surface will disclose to us a moral state the exact opposite of that which will obtain during the reign of the " Prince of Peace."

The first book of Kings may be roughly divided into two parts. (i) The kingdom in its solidarity under Solomon, chapters 1:-11:(2) The division and separation of the ten tribes from the two, chapters 12:-22:

We see at the beginning David in the feebleness of old age, as the last act of kingly authority placing Solomon on the throne, chap. 1:

In chap. 2:we have divine judgment inflicted upon those who had long deserved it.

Chap. 3:shows us the granting of Solomon's prayer for wisdom; and

Chap. 4:the greatness and extent of his kingdom.

Chaps. 5:-8:give the account of the building and dedication of the temple-in all which Solomon is a type of Christ in the glory of that time when the house of the Lord shall be inhabited by divine glory.

Chaps. 9:and 10:give the sequel to the former narrative, God's promises and warnings, and the visit of " the Queen of the South." May we ever remember the "greater than Solomon" to whom we have come. In sad and solemn contrast with all this splendor we have in the eleventh chapter the record of the shameful apostasy of this wise man, and the premonition of the result in the rent kingdom.

The second part of the book narrates the account of the division, Jeroboam taking ten tribes and leaving to David's house but the two – Benjamin and Judah. It is especially during this period that prophetic ministry comes prominently into view, and chiefly in the independent kingdom of Israel. God's mercy lingered over that nation, and to it He devoted special attention through His " servants the prophets." But begun in self-will and apostasy, it never as a kingdom returned to God. There might be individually 7,000 who had not "bowed the knee to Baal," but corporately kings and people were increasingly alienated from the God of Israel. It is striking that not one of the kings of Israel was a godly man, while a number of the kings of Judah truly feared the Lord.

In Chaps. 17:-22:we have as the prominent character that remarkable man, Elijah, who bore such fearless f testimony in Israel. The narrative of his life never loses its charm, and yields fresh lessons to the careful reader.

Passing to the New Testament, we have that most delightful and interesting of histories, the book of Acts. We might say that the general theme of the book is the transition of God's testimony from Judaism to Christianity. The first part of the book is entirely Jewish, while the close leaves us ready for the epistles of Paul. Fittingly in the record of progress and emancipation the scene changes from Jerusalem to Samaria, thence to Gentile Antioch, Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth and finally to Rome, entirely away from the influence of Judaism.

Chaps. i-7:give us the Jerusalem history, we might say, of the Church.

Chaps. viii-12:extend wider, taking in that wondrous epoch, the conversion of Paul.

From Chaps. xiii-19:we have the period of great apostolic activity among the Gentiles, and

Chaps. xx-28:gives the outward bondage but true widening of the truth even to Rome.

The Epistles to the Thessalonians are the first (probably) written by the apostle. They breathe a fresh and beautiful spirit, in which everything is controlled by the hope of the Lord's coming. Their relationship to the Father is also prominent. In the first Epistle we have the Lord's corning as the hope of the Church; in the second His appearing in judgment, and warnings.

THE MAN AFTER THE FLESH. PART II. THE KING OF MAN'S CHOICE.

Chapter 6:THE CALL OF THE KING. (1 Sam. 9:,-10:16.)

(Continued from page 158.)

The people having definitely decided to have a king, in face of all the warnings given by the prophet, nothing remains but to give them their desire according the fullest thought of it. Had the choice of the ruler been left to a few, he would not have been really the expression of the people's wish. This difficulty is constantly encountered in the effort to secure a ruler who shall represent the desires of the people. The nearest that can be done is to let the majority decide. This at best but gives the preference of that majority, in which the rest of the nation has to acquiesce, and so man can never get the ideal ruler of his choice.

For Israel, God mercifully intervenes and, as we might say, puts at the disposal of the people His omniscience in selecting the ruler, not after His heart, but who He knows will meet their desires. This is an interesting and important point, one too that has a New Testament illustration, which, if understood, will throw light upon that which has been a difficulty for many.

The people had already turned against God and rejected Him from being their Ruler. Most certainly, then, their mind was .not in accord with His. The king of their ideal would be a far different man from any whom God would Himself select. They had in their minds a ruler like those of the nations, whose first thought was the welfare of the people and the overthrow of their enemies. God's thought would be a man who first of all sought His glory, and was in subjection to Himself. We must remember that He is not choosing a king for Himself, but for the people. He does for them that which it would have been impossible for them to do for themselves, so that the result is exactly what they would have done had they been able.

The New Testament illustration of this is the selection of Judas Iscariot as an apostle. It has been said, did not the Lord know at the beginning that Judas was a traitor? We are distinctly told so in the sixth chapter of John, and may be certain that our blessed Lord was neither deceived nor disappointed -save in divine and holy sorrow over a lost soul- in the result. But this does not mean that our Lord put Judas in a position against his will or for which he was not in the judgment of men specially fitted. Judas himself had taken the place of a disciple. It was, therefore, simply selecting one who had already taken this place, and not imposing upon him a profession which he had not assumed for himself. Nay, more, the position of apostle was calculated to foster, if it existed at all, the faith of the disciple. The twelve were in the place of special privilege and nearness to the Lord, constantly under His influence, with His example before them; as we know with much individual instruction according to the need of each. Who could associate with such a Master and witness His deeds of love, the flashing out of His holy soul, His tender heart of compassion, His sympathy, and not be made a better man if there were anything of grace in his soul at all? If Judas apostatized and the wickedness of his heart came out in face of all this, we may be sure it is only a special proof of the hopeless corruption of a heart that has not been visited by God's grace. At the same time our Lord would not be violating in the least the free 'agency of the man or compelling him into anything counter to his nature.

Returning now to the king of Israel's choice, we will see in what is before us how divine care and foresight gave the fullest expression to the desire of the people, so that the result was one upon whom all the desire of the nation was fixed. But while man's self-will was thus at work and his rejection of God's mild and loving authority showed the determined alienation of his heart from Him, on the other hand, God was working out His own counsels, and His purposes were being unfolded too. The thought of a king was in His heart as well as that of the people, but how different a king! Hannah had given expression to this divine desire for a Ruler for His people at the close of her song,' which is fittingly so like that of Mary, the mother of .the true King.

The main theme of that song (chap. 2:i-x) is that God raises up the poor and the lowly, and overcomes all pride. Thus His enemies and those of His believing people are overthrown, and the needy and the afflicted are raised up. " He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dung-hill, to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory." Our blessed Lord laid aside all heaven's glory, and, so far as earthly greatness was concerned, associated Himself with the poor rather than those who occupied the throne. The throne, so far as it could any longer be called that, was occupied by a Herod, while back of him was the power of imperial Rome, the sceptre having passed over to the Gentiles. The One '' born King of the Jews" was to be found in a. stable, and faith alone could recognize Him as the Man of God's choice. But faith does recognize Him, and Hannah looks forward not merely to him who was to be the type of Christ, but to the Lord's Anointed Himself. She closes her song with the triumphant strain:" He shall give strength unto His King, and exalt the horn of His Anointed."

Well did God know that there must be a ruler for His people. Everything had been temporary, even the giving of the law itself at Sinai. There could be no permanent relationship between a nation and God, save through a Mediator. The only ruler could be, not some human deliverer, type of Him to come, but One who truly delivered them from bondage worse than that of Pharaoh and from a captivity greater than any inflicted by the Canaanites. Thus Joshua, and Moses himself, were but types of Christ. The deliverer, too, must be priest as well as ruler, and from Aaron on, the high priests and their sacrifices were but shadows of that perfect Priest who offered up Himself to God. The King was to be also a Priest, and in one blessed Person was to embody all that the righteousness and glory of God, on the one hand, and the need of sinful man, on the other, required.

" All things that God or man could wish
In Thee most richly meet."

So the very unbelief of the people, expressing a desire for a ruler, was but the occasion for God to approach one step nearer the accomplishment of His own purposes; but He was not to be hurried into taking more than one step at a time. He does not,- reverently we would say, He cannot give His own King yet. He must let them work out and manifest all the results of their own desires, and so far from impelling them into that which would show the worst side of self-will, He guards them in every way from this. Thus He uses divine wisdom to select the best man according to their judgment, offering every facility, the machinery of divine Providence, we might say, to secure such a man, and when he is chosen, not withholding all aid, encouragement and warning. If the king of their choice does not succeed, the blame can never be laid upon God. This will be fully manifest. And may we not say the same as to the natural man in every way? If he manifests his corruption, his enmity of God, his hopeless alienation from Him, it is not because of the circumstances in which he is placed, but in spite of them. The very world which has been given over to Satan is still full of witness of God's power, wisdom and goodness. Everyman's life, with its history of mercies and of trials, is a witness that One is seeking to hide pride from him and to deliver him from his worst enemy,-himself. The whole providential government of the world and its long continuance in its present state is a witness of the same. God gives man a free hand to work out all that is in his own heart, while at the same time surrounding him with every inducement to turn to Himself.

This is particularly true of the last phase of His patience and longsuffering,-the present dispensation, where, in Christendom at least, the full blaze of revelation would guide and attract man into paths of pleasantness and peace. When all is over (and it seems now to be nearly the end) it will be seen that if there were anything good in man there had been just the atmosphere in which it would properly develop, and! so far from God being an indifferent spectator, or a hostile one to human progress and development, it will be clear that He has done all that He could to make the trial a successful one on man's part. It will be true of Israel as a nation, and her kings and the world at large as well, that but one answer could be given the question:"What could I have done more unto My vineyard that I have not done? " All has been done.

Our chapter opens with the genealogy of king Saul. It is traced back through five ancestors, whose names are given, and the significance of which ca/not fail to be suggestive. We must bear in mind that it is a genealogy of the flesh, as we may say, where that which is emphasized will be nature rather than grace. Saul himself means "asked" or "demanded." He represents the people's demand for a king, and in that way, nature's ideal. His father was Kish, which means "ensnaring," very suggestive of all that is of nature, which in its most attractive form cannot be trusted.

The next in line was Abiel,'' father of might," which seems to emphasize the thought of strength in which man does indeed glory, but which too often proves to be utter weakness. Zeror, the next, "compressed" or "contracted," suggests the reverse; we can readily understand how one, himself hedged in and oppressed, would seek a reaction and give expression to his desire in his son. Bechorath, his father, "primogeniture," is that which nature makes much of and which Scripture has frequently set aside. Nature says the elder shall rule. How often has Scripture declared that the elder shall serve the younger! Aphiah, " I will utter," would suggest that pride of heart which tells out its imagined greatness. The last person in the list is not named, but described as a Benjamite, a member of that tribe whose history had been one of such glorying self-will and rebellion.

Thus the genealogy of the man of the people's desire would suggest the pride, the self-will, the excellence of nature, together with its feebleness, too, and its deceit. These things are not looked upon as man would regard them, where many of the traits are considered valuable and important, but they are looked upon from God's point of view, and all that is great and excellent in nature is seen to be stained with decay. Thus Saul is described as "a choice young man and a goodly, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people," surely a beau ideal of a king, in man's eyes; alas too soon to show the vanity of man's nature !

The man of the people's desire being now marked out, we are next shown the steps which lead up to his being presented. What trivial events apparently decide our whole after-course of life! It was comparatively an unimportant matter that the asses of Kish should have strayed away and Saul with a servant be sent in search of them, and yet God used this to bring to pass all that was hinging upon it. No doubt everything here has its lessons for us if we are able to read them aright. We are told that man is like a wild ass's colt, naturally unrestrained and self-willed. These asses would then naturally suggest that nature of man which has gone astray from God, and in its wildness and absence of restraint needs ever the strong hand to hold it down. Israel, too, had many a time shown its waywardness in like manner, and one who goes in search of that rebellious nation must indeed have help from God to lay hold of it.

As a matter of fact, Saul did not find the asses; they were restored to his father by divine Providence; and no mere man has ever brought back the wayward wanderer to God. If brought back at all, it is through a divine work. When the time comes for the true King to enter His city, He rides upon an ass's colt upon which man had never sat, controlling all things. Saul searched diligently enough in various places for these lost asses, but fails to find them. First he goes through Mount Ephraim, "fruitful-ness," and the land of Shalisha, "the third part," which may have stood for a very large territory; but neither in the place of fruitfulness nor in any wide extent of region has a wanderer ever been found. Man surely has not been fruitful for God. He next seeks through the land of Shaalim, "the place of hollows or valleys" and the land of Jemini, "my right hand," which would suggest exaltation. But neither in humiliation nor exaltation is the natural man found. The poor and degraded are as far from God as those who are exalted. Lastly he comes to Zuph, "a honey-comb," and there he gives up the search. It would seem to stand for the sweetness
and attractiveness of nature, but perhaps more hopeless than any is this. One may be naturally attractive without one thought of God, and if the belt have no heart for Him, the search must be abandoned. It would need a Seeker after another kind to find the wanderers, and He found them in a different place from those in which Saul ever sought. Going down in death and taking his place under judgment, there He found the wanderer.

(To be continued.)

II. THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE SCHOOL OF GOD.

(Continued from page 69.)

Here, then, is our provision. If we turn once more to consider our lesson-book, we find in it the perfect guidance on the part of God in men led of the Spirit, as the apostle says, to "speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth " (i Cor. 2:13); and thus the prophets of old, as again we are taught (i Pet. 1:10, n), had to "inquire and search diligently" as to what was in their own prophecies, the Spirit of God leading them to express what was entirely beyond even their own understanding of it. This is the pattern of the Book which is in our hands now, the Book of books, as we may surely say, the Word of God, as in this sense we rightly call it, not because it is not instrumentally the word of man also, not because there is not tn it a very clear and decided human element, but because God has, nevertheless, been over all and in it all to guide in such a way as He alone can guide, so that we might have perfectly what He means to convey,-that this might not be taken from us by any defect in the way of communication.

And so competent is this Word, that in those days to which we look back, when men spoke consciously by the Spirit in a way that has now passed from us, yet everything was to be judged by those around according to that Word which was in all their hands. As to this, the principle was always maintained that nothing was to be added to it, as nothing was to be taken from it. Let us notice, therefore, that the indwelling of the Spirit in us is in no wise to set aside the word of God as that by which alone all truth is communicated to us. As the Spirit gave the Word, so it is by the Spirit that the Word is effectually given to our souls also, truly certified and made good there. Here then is our provision; here is how we are equipped for the school of God; and all this is simply and absolutely for all that will seek it from God, for all that will seek it in God's only way, which is through Christ Himself. Of the whole Book, Christ is the centre; and more, if it be more, of all creation Christ is the centre too. "All things were created," says the apostle, "by Him and for Him " (Col. 1:16). Thus it is plain that creation itself (the natural sciences, therefore,) cannot really be understood apart from Him who is the living Centre of the whole. The mind that is in all is the mind of Christ, and creation -without Christ is thus mindless, powerless to be realized by the mind of man. Take what is thought to be the great perplexity in it, what people call now, the "struggle for life," and the preying of one thing upon another. It is this very thing which makes the book of creation so suited for us to-day. That which we find in our own souls and in the world of men around us, is thus found everywhere throughout nature, and only if read in this way does it become everywhere for us the object-lesson which it ought to be. Scripture must interpret this also for us, for no picture interprets itself, and thus how necessary that the Spirit of God should be in us, in order that we should understand aright what creation teaches! Here is necessarily, therefore, the foundation of all science so far as science has to include the reason of things and not the mere method. Science is seeking to content itself simply with the method, and for many, the reason is to be ruled out. But thus science itself can yield nothing but despair to him who cannot find the satisfaction of his soul in a godless and therefore mindless nature. Science has here no longer any reason for its own existence, and the lesson most surely learned by its best student must be a lesson of despair.

F. W. G.
(To be Continued.)

THE MAN AFTER THE FLESH. Chapter 3:

GOD'S CARE FOR HIS OWN HONOR. (1 Sam. 5:, 6:) (Continued from page 10.)

And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months"-a complete cycle of time, witnessing perfectly to God's abhorrence of His people's course on the one hand; and, on the other, to the utter helplessness of idolatry to resist Him, or of the unsanctified to endure His presence.

Seven is too familiar a number to need much explanation. Its recurrence, however, in connection with the periods of God's separation from His people and of the infliction of judgments is significant and needs but to be mentioned. A glance at the pages of Daniel and the book of Revelation will make this plain. Is it not significant, too, that the day of atonement came in the seventh month, the time of national humiliation and turning to God marking the beginning of blessing,-a date, in fact, taken as the beginning of the year rather than redemption in the passover of the first month. Redemption is to be entered into, and the humbling truths of sin and helplessness and departure from God on the part of His own to be learned, before there can be the true beginning of that great year which we call the millennium.

Determined now, if possible, to get rid of their plagues and of Him who had inflicted them at the same time, the Philistines cast about for the best way to return the ark to its place without further offending such a God as this. It is significantly characteristic of their utterly unrepentant condition, that they turned not to Him who had afflicted them for instruction, but to their own priests, those who ministered before Dagon, and to the diviners, corresponding to the magicians of Egypt, who bewitched them and led them astray. How true it is that the natural man never, under any circumstances, will of his own accord turn to the only source of light there is. It is only the child of God, the one divinely and savingly wrought upon by the Spirit of God, who can enter into the word, " Hear ye the rod and Him who hath appointed it." It is to His own people that God says:"If thou wilt return, return unto Me." What can priests or diviners know of the true way in which to deal with God, or to return to Him that which had been taken from Him, His own glory and His throne? Still the divine purpose has been effected and the time for the return of the ark has come. Therefore no fresh judgment marks this further insult, and they are allowed to take the way suggested by the priest, out of which indeed god gets fresh glory to Himself and gives an additional testimony to the fact that He is indeed the only true God.

There is some feeble groping toward divine truth suggested in the advice of the priests and diviners:

"If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not away empty, but anywise return Him a trespass-offering. Then shall ye be healed, and it shall be known to you why His hand is not removed from you" (chap. 6:3).In the darkest mind of the heathen there is a vague, indefinite sense of sin against God. It is, we may well believe, that witness which God leaves in the heart of every man, the most benighted, as well as the most highly cultured, that he has trespassed against his Creator and his Ruler. It. is too universal to be ignored. The sense of sin is as wide as the human race, and the sense, too, of the need in some form or other, of a propitiatory offering to God. It takes various forms, the most uncouth and repulsive of the savage, and, no less insulting to God, the self-satisfied presentation of gifts of good works or reformation on the part of the Christless professor.

This trespass-offering, then, which is to be returned with the ark must be at once a memorial of the judgment, and of a value which suggests the reverence due for the One against whom they had trespassed. We notice, however, that the offerings go no further than the memorial of their affliction. Images are made of the emerods and of the mice, but what about that sin which brought this judgment upon them ? Is there any confession of that, is there any memorial of that ? Ah, no. The natural man sees the affliction and so magnifies that as to forget or ignore the cause for which the affliction came. How different this from the true trespass-offering which alone can avail before a holy God ! that which is not so much a memorial of the affliction or judgment deserved as an acknowledgment of the sin which made it necessary; and above all, a confession that the only propitiatory which can be acceptable to God is that unblemished sacrifice of a guiltless substitute, a constantly recurring witness throughout Israel's history and ritual, of Christ, who alone is the trespass-offering, the One who "bare our sins in His own body on the tree."

He has not merely satisfied every demand of God's justice, but in the beautiful teaching of the type, has restored to Him more than was taken away; for the fifth part had to be added to whatever had been stolen. What a joy it is to contemplate this trespass-offering and to know that our acceptance before God is measured not, as we might say, by mere even- handed justice, though divine, but that we are far more the objects of His delight and complacency than we could possibly have been had we never sinned. We are "accepted in the Beloved," thank God. No image, even though it were golden, of our plagues and the sins which made them necessary, but the Image of God Himself, the One in whom shines "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," and we "complete in Him." How worthless, and in one sense insulting to divine honor, seems this presentation of the golden mice !It was all that poor heathenism could give, all that it could rise to in its conception of what God demanded; nor can this be in the least an excuse for their ignorance, as it was a witness of most absolute and hopeless estrangement from Himself.

And yet we need not travel very far in Christendom to find very much the same spirit at least, amongst those about whose feet shines the light of gospel truth. In the churches of Rome can be seen hundreds of little votive offerings hung upon the walls; crutches, and other evidences of affliction which have been offered to God by those in distress. Nor is it confined to such tawdry trifles as these. In the spiritual realm how much is brought to God of this character !It comes far short, indeed, of His thought, because it comes so far short of Christ Himself.

The priests also appeal to the Philistines to take warning from the similar judgments which had been inflicted upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. In his blind hatred, Pharaoh knew not what his servants recognized, that the land of Egypt was destroyed, his heart being hardened to his own destruction. The Philistines are warned lest they harden their hearts in the same way. So it is, nature can take warnings and guard its course so as to escape the extreme of judgment, without in the least being softened into true penitence. It is but another form of selfishness that will save itself and take sufficient interest in God's past ways to learn how it can with least danger to itself go on still ignoring and despising Him. An Ahab might walk softly for many years and put off the evil day of reckoning about his murder of Naboth. But Ahab with all his soft walking was Ahab still, unrepentant and hardened, the very goodness of God in sparing him not melting him to repentance, but encouraging him to go on in his course of apostasy. All this is the opposite of that godly sorrow which worketh repentance that needeth not to be repented of.

The lords of the Philistines are willing enough to listen to all this advice, and further, in obedience to their instructions, they prepare the trespass-offering, putting it in a coffer alongside the ark and laying both upon a new cart. Fitting indeed that it should be new, one that had never been used in Philistine service. Instinct often guides those who are most ignorant.

( To be continued.)

Our attention has been called to a sentence quoted from our beloved F. W. G. in an article in this magazine entitled"Covet earnestly the best Gifts" (November, 1901, page 298)-"The eternal life that is in us seems to be susceptible of weakness and decay like any other life." Some have seemed to think that our brother was not clear as to the nature of eternal life, and others have sought to make capital out of this by printing the sentence as a proof that he taught that the believer could lose his eternal life. It is hardly necessary to remind saints that no one taught more constantly and consistently the exact opposite of this. Whatever the sentence may mean, it does not mean, and was not intended to mean, that the life of the believer was not eternally secure.

But what did he mean ? A glance at the connection will show. He is quoting the thoughts of a discouraged one. "The body of Christ!-but what is a body of which the members are scattered here and there, and hardly anything of the form remains as Scripture shows it ? " Does any one believe that our brother was teaching that the body of Christ had ceased to exist because of the ruin of the professing Church ? This is the connection in which the sentence occurs quoted above. In immediate connection with it he says, " It requires the power of the Spirit of God to lift one up to face that which is seen with the brighter reality of that which is unseen." That which is seen is an apparently dismembered body of Christ, apparently enfeebled and decaying eternal life. He says, "seems" But, thank God, the reality abides, and the way our brother puts it ought to emphasize this.

We trust that this will be sufficient for those in any way troubled by a misapprehension of our brother's teaching, and "cut off occasion from them who desire occasion " to suggest that he had given up one |of the most important truths of the word of God.

AS ILLUSTRATED AT THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION.
II.

In 1715, a little before his death, Louis XIV published an edict in which he declared that the Protestant religion had disappeared from the soil of France. His efforts and dark deeds for forty years to blot the reformation out of his kingdom seemed crowned with success. The churches were demolished, the preachers executed or banished, and the congregations scattered.

But the proud assumption of that proud king was but a vain illusion if not an immense lie. God had reserved not only His "seven thousand" but over seventy thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and who had survived the persecutions.

At this their darkest hour, God raised up among them an instrument fitted to serve them in their trying circumstances-Antoine Court by name. His parents were simple peasants, but faithful readers of the Bible. By the premature death of the father, the mother was left a widow with three children, and poor; but that pious woman so taught her children that they grew up to love the word of God, while they abhorred the superstitions of the Church of Rome. Often was Antoine's youthful soul set on fire as he heard his mother's friends, when secretly assembled together, relate the sufferings of the martyrs, and the courage of the Camisards.

One night, while lying awake he heard his mother preparing to go out. He begged to go with her.
She finally consented and silently they walked on and on, till, far in a desert place, they found others who, like themselves, had come from all directions to hear the word of God preached. From that time he began to follow, in their long and perilous journeys, one or the other of the few remaining servants of the Lord who took their lives into their hands to minister to their brethren. Then, alone, yet but a youth, across the forests, over the mountains, down the plains he traveled, comforting a lone believer here, addressing a few in the thick of the woods there, everywhere preaching and teaching what he knew of the Lord Jesus.

To his mother it was as Abraham when he offered up Isaac, and he himself knew his life was in incessant peril. Once he reached Marseille, went on board a galley, where 150 of his brethren were suffering for their faith, and with a strange audacity held a meeting with them in a retired part of the vessel. Everywhere his living faith and happy confidence in God encouraged and revived his brethren. Through his ministry they realized God had not forgotten them, and that He was able, spite of all opposition, to maintain the preaching of His word. They grew bold again, and while bolting their doors, they reopened their Bibles for family worship and for mutual edification.

The police soon noticed this revival, and a rich reward was offered for the arrest of young Court. Many a narrow escape did he have. Once, in the house where he was, he heard the click of arms, revealing the approach of soldiers. He had but time to slip away, and climb into the top of a tree, dense with foliage. From there he saw the soldiers breaking up the house with axes that they might discover his hiding-place.

He deprecated the taking up of arms as the Camisards had done, and he also rebuked the lukewarm-ness of many who, for fear of suffering, were hiding their faith and acting as hypocrites. He saw the necessity of order and discipline for the welfare of God's people, and the holiness of His house. This especially pressed upon him during a serious illness he passed through consequent upon his hardships and fatigues. Barely recovered, therefore, he opened his heart to a few devoted men, and on the 21st of August, 1715, a few days after the death of Louis XIV, their cruel persecutor, nine of them met together in an abandoned quarry in the neighborhood of Nimes, to confer for the welfare of their scattered and persecuted brethren. From that time onward the Huguenots began afresh to form congregations wherever a few could come together, and they grew rapidly. The older and most experienced among them watched over their brethren, looked after the sick, the poor, and those who fell by the way; they looked after meeting- places in the desert parts around them, then informed their brethren; they also informed the preachers, looked after their lodging-place, and sought to protect them from the incessant pursuit of their enemies. They also constantly exposed their lives in all this service. If discovered in it they were condemned to the galleys or to death.

There was also great danger from within in the exercise of discipline, for any one desiring to avenge himself had fearful power in his hands :he had but to denounce those who came together in their desert assemblies.

The dungeons of the land were filling fast with gentle and patient women; the galleys of Marseille, Dunkerke, and other seaports were spattered with the blood which the cruel lash drew from men whose only crime was to love and obey the word of God. Spite of all, the work grew. In 1729 there were in the south of France no assemblies of Huguenots, and these were constantly appealed to from other parts of the country for some of them to come and teach them the Scriptures, until an awakening was manifest to the extremities of the kingdom.

Many a devoted servant did the Lord, the Head and Lover of His Church, raise up at that time for His suffering but faithful people in that persecuting land. Prominent among them was Paul Rabaut. Eminently gifted, devoted and courageous, he labored for over fifty years with incessant zeal, amid manifold dangers from which nothing short of the almighty hand of God could have given him escape.

But many fell. Jacques Roger, seventy years of age, was finally arrested after a laborious ministry of forty years' duration. When asked by his judge who he was, he replied:" I am the one you have been pursuing these thirty-nine years. It is time you caught me." He was condemned to death. Calmly he heard his sentence and said God had shown him great grace in raising him up lately from a sick-bed to make him thus a witness to the faith of Christ. As the executioner drew nigh he exclaimed.:" Here comes the happy day so often desired. Let us rejoice, my soul, since the blessed hour has come to enter into the joy of the Lord." They left his body twenty-four hours hanging on the gallows, then threw it into the river.

Matthieu Mezal was an ardent preacher of the gospel. His preaching so captivated the hearts of his hearers that he was intensely loved by them all. When his arrest took place it was even difficult to prevent the Huguenots of those parts from rescuing him by force. From his prison in Vernoux he begged his friends not to take such a matter in their hands. Vengeance belonged to God alone in the concerns of His people. He was taken to Montpellier for trial, and when, after examination, the judges realized not only the innocence, but the excellence of the man and his associates, the chief wept as he said to him, '' Sir, it is with sorrow that I am compelled to condemn you, but it is the king's order." With his upper garments removed; his head and feet bare, he was taken to the public place where his funeral pile had been built. A vast multitude had assembled, and even his enemies were moved at the sight of that noble man, so calm, so serene on his way to death, yet so firm in resisting the importunities of the Jesuits to the very foot of the pile. Ascended to the top he desired to speak to the people, but the beating of fourteen drums drowned his voice. His peaceful, happy countenance to the end, however, preached more than words could have done to the multitude of lookers-on. His friends thanked God for adding such another witness to His truth from their ranks. It was great honor put upon them.

But violence increased. Neither sex nor age were regarded, and it became difficult to prevent the opposition of violence to such violence. It is here Rabaut became so prominently the servant of the
Lord Jesus to his brethren. Indefatigable, he went from place to place, comforting, reproving, praying, teaching. He exhorted to obedience to the authorities, even if unjust; to patience and firmness; opposed violence being done to the priests, even the most cruel. To Antoine Court, his bosom friend, he wrote, " Spies are incessantly on my tracks. They are disguised soldiers armed with pistols and ropes. I have also much increased in value, for the price of my head has risen from six to twenty thousand francs, and instead of the gallows, I am threatened with the wheel." The extraordinary escapes he experienced strengthened his faith, but never made him reckless. Repeatedly he sent petitions to the authorities and members of the royal family, stating well-proved facts concerning the faithful allegiance to the king of all the reformed; and the false accusation, malice and inhumanity of their accusers. Gradually the government withdrew its help from the priests, and their chief strength became the influence they could exercise on their people against the "heretics." In this way cruel excesses could still be and were perpetuated in different localities, and many suffered yet in patience.

The last was Jean Galas, a highly respected merchant of Toulouse, sixty years of age. His second son, through disappointment, became sullen and committed suicide by hanging himself. All their neighbors and friends deeply sympathized with the grief-stricken parents; when suddenly a rumor went round that Calas had assassinated his son because he refused to allow him to become a Catholic.

Calas was at once arrested, and the body of his son taken in great pomp to the Cathedral. Priests,
monks, and brotherhoods of the different orders vied with each other to celebrate the virtues of this pretended martyr to the Catholic faith. The chapel was hung in white, and at the head of the body lying there in state was a skeleton, with a palm in one hand, and in the other, an inscription with these words:"Abjuration from heresy." The people became delirious with rage against Calas, and there was no torture too cruel to inflict upon him. As nothing could be proved against him, all was done to make him confess his crime, while he, through all, affirmed his innocence. After all was tried in vain, he was condemned to the wheel; every bone of his body was broken, and for two hours he lay there in suffering, praying incessantly to the end.

Voltaire, confounding Romanism with Christianity, was then beginning to make himself heard against religion. He abhorred the hypocrisy of the ecclesiastics, and the case of Calas incensed him. He took up his defense, exposed with burning words the infamy and cruelty of a legislation which permitted such things. In result the good name of the family and their confiscated property were restored to them by a judgment of the court; the persecutions ceased for very shame, but the awful blot of it all was fastened upon Christianity itself, instead of upon the caricature of it which Romanism presents, and the mass of the French people became infidel. The cause of Christ-man's eternal blessing – suffered more by it than by all the persecutions.

I must live upon God! Yes, that you must if you would be either holy, happy, or fruitful:and yet it is the very last thing that we are willing to do; for we want to live on friends-comforts-prospects-any thing rather than God.

He that receives most from Christ, will be most like Christ, and will do most for Christ; we can only serve the Lord acceptably, or effectually, as we serve Him with His own.

(2 Chron, 26:15.)

King Uzziah lived in times of the declension of the kings of Judah, but was himself, at the beginning of his reign, a faithful and diligent king."As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper," and' so in every direction he was successful against the enemies of the nation, and "he strengthened himself exceedingly."Not only was he successful with outward foes, but in building up the material interests and defenses of the kingdom. Jerusalem and other cities were fortified; a large army was gathered, and, what was better far than all this, the resources of the kingdom were developed. Wells were digged, and much attention was given to increasing the resources of the nation. He was a lover of husbandry-a good thing to remember often by those who may be called upon to engage much in spiritual warfare. We must seek to cultivate those fields which God's grace has given to us, and to gather in the rich fruits for our sustenance, if we are really to make successful warfare against
our enemies.

"He was marvelously helped until he was strong." The growth and establishment of the kingdom in a day of such weakness was nothing short of marvelous. It is painful to have to see how all this ended by puffing up the king and leading him to that presumptuous blasphemy which brought down the stroke of God upon him. He would intrude himself into the priest's office and offer incense, a function reserved for the sons of Aaron alone. It was in a figure, we may say, that practical denial of the need of the priest,-of the need of Christ as our Priest before God.

But leaving Uzziah and his history, we have in these words a needful and suggestive lesson for ourselves. Of how many of us can it be said that we have been marvelously helped, and may there not be need to remember that if strength has been given us we need to be doubly on our guard lest we, too, presume to pass beyond that which God has placed us in.

Salvation is in one sense the breaking down of all creature strength in order that the sinner may realize his utter helplessness. The natural man is strong; strong, if not in the sense of his own goodness-a thing too common to most-yet in the sense of his ability to do that which is right. One of the most humbling truths to learn is that it was "when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." Weakness is a crime in the eyes of the natural man, and many who might be willing to admit that they were ungodly would be humiliated at the thought of confessing that they had no strength, no power to be anything else but ungodly; and yet that is just where man must be brought before he will accept Christ as his only Saviour. Thus his strength is taken from him, and he begins his Christian course on the distinct understanding that in him is no strength at all. We do not speak of the rest and the joy and the peace which come from recognizing this – how all struggling ceases, and the poor, puny efforts, which had only added to our distress, give place to that profound rest in the finished work of Christ and in His perfect love.

Now so long as the saint continues in the recognition of his absolute weakness, his Christian life is one happy song; he knows too well his own feebleness to attempt anything in his own strength. The memory of the bondage in Egypt from which he has but lately come prevents his reliance upon an arm of flesh. He is weak and he knows it, and rejoices in the fact; for, does it not shut him up to a divine power which is all-sufficient and his delight ?And yet in the wisdom of God he has got to learn afresh that it is true of him as a saint, in a way perhaps of which he has little dreamed, that there is no strength in him. This accounts for the whole experience that is recorded in the seventh chapter of Romans. It is the saint there, the child of God, not the sinner seeking peace. He desires holiness and to do the will of God, but he turns to the law, and in his own strength is seeking for something good in himself. We do not repeat the humbling story. How many of us can remember how we beat our wings against our cage until, falling down wounded and breathless, we could only cry:"Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me ? "Here is perfect weakness; and what marvelous help came in the moment we realized afresh that weakness! Christ was found to be sufficient as our Deliverer, as He was as our Saviour.

Now, in brief, the whole Christian life is but the elaboration of this simple truth, as Paul puts it in the third of Philippians, we "rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh." One who has confidence in the flesh, so far is occupied with himself. He is so far strong, and therefore in imminent danger of falling:but if he has learnt the lesson as to himself, he is now at liberty to enjoy the fulness of Christ without any distraction. And yet there is for the delivered saint the danger of forgetting that his bonds have been broken, of thinking that again there is something in himself of strength. Paul had to learn this lesson, which we find in the twelfth chapter of 2 Corinthians. A man who had visited heaven and beheld the unspeakable things there, so far as his walk upon earth is concerned, is in danger of self-exaltation. So the messenger of Satan to buffet him, which was such a sore trial to this beloved servant of Christ, was God's mercy to teach him that he must keep in the place of weakness-there was no strength in him. Learning this, the apostle gladly can say:"When I am weak, then am I strong."

Contrast .all this with Simon Peter, whose boast as to his faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, whether it be to prison or to death, was but the prelude to his shameful denial with blasphemy that he knew the Lord. Peter fully meant all that he said when he protested, and he dearly loved the Lord. Let us not doubt it for a moment. But Peter was strong, and his own strength was but weakness. He had to learn this before he could go on as a servant of Christ. King David, King Hezekiah, and many others, emphasize the same lesson for us. Past successes, past service, the memory of strength given for times of trial-all these things need to be carefully guarded or they will lead to present forgetful-ness that we are just as weak as ever and need the strength of Another.

We can all say that we have been marvelously helped in many ways. How wonderfully the Lord has helped us, borne with us. cared for us; through what trials He has brought us, what temptations He has enabled us to resist, what service, it may be, He has permitted us to perform ! We thankfully acknowledge it all, but oh, let us not get strong in the wrong sense. Let us not presume upon all this, and lose our reverence and our sense of dependence upon Him who alone is our sufficiency. Humility, to be truly that, is an abiding thing. The moment we forget that we are nothing, we may well fear some leprous sign to remind us that we have left our true position. May the Lord keep us truly humble and we will ever be marvelously helped, for that is His delight; but He cannot use those who are strong in their own strength.

'Those who have received the little "Almanac and Counselor " for the present year will have noticed the " portion for the month " at the head of each monthly calendar. It is our earnest desire and hope that very many of the Lord's people will unite with us in the daily reading of the books indicated, which will include something over half of the entire Scriptures to be read during the year; no great task surely, since it means the reading of but one chapter morning and evening. It is our purpose to devote a few pages monthly to a brief outline of the books to be read, in the hope that many will be stimulated to greater diligence and zest in the reading and study of God's precious Word, and get correspondingly more food for their souls.

The portion for January is Exodus in the Old, and the epistle to the Romans in the New Testament. Exodus, we may say, gives the account of the beginning of Israel as a nation. Genesis having been devoted to the unfolding of the lives of the individual patriarchs, it is striking and suggestive that when He would call His people together to form them into a compact whole, and deal with them, not merely as individuals, but as a corporate mass, God must have a solid basis upon which to rest; so Exodus is pre-eminently the book of redemption. This is the controlling thought all through. There is, of course, the account of the bondage, the plagues and the misery of Egypt, and, in the latter part, the tabernacle with all its rich and wondrous unfoldings as the abiding place of God amongst His people; but the great fact upon which all hinges – the being brought out of bondage and brought into relationship with God-is the passover, the blood of the lamb shed.

There are two main divisions to the book:

I. Chaps. i-18:give us God's power as seen in the judgments inflicted, and the deliverance wrought for His people.

II. (Chaps. 19:-40:) Relationship with God on the basis of covenant, with full types of salvation in the tabernacle. The prominent features in the first division are:

1. (Chaps, 1:-4:17) The need for and call of the deliverer-Moses.

2. (Chaps. 4:18-11:) Judgment upon Egypt, from which Israel is spared.

3. (Chaps. 12:-15:21) The great truths of redemption by blood and deliverance by power.

4. (Chaps. 15:22-18:) Divine provision for the way in this wilderness world.

In the second division the prominent features are:

1. (Chaps. 19:-31:) The giving of the law and the provision for the tabernacle. It is well to mark that the tabernacle could not be erected in connection with the giving of the law as such. The people made the golden calf, and the first tables of stone were broken. Man always fails when tested.

2. (Chaps. 32:-34:) The apostasy of the people and the second giving of the law.
3. (Chaps. 35:-40:) The building of the tabernacle. These are but the main divisions of a book which is intensely interesting and deeply profitable from end to end. The New Testament book is the epistle to the Romans, which has been chosen as a companion to Exodus, as throwing the light of New Testament fulfilment upon Old Testament type. Here we have the great truths of justification and acceptance before God developed, brought out in a divinely perfect way.

The four divisions of the epistle are so well known as scarcely to need more than a word.

1:(Chaps, 1:-5:ii) God's righteousness proving man's I unrighteousness and yet justifying the ungodly who believes in Jesus. Each chapter develops some feature of this general theme, until we reach the climax in the closing word, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation."

2. (Chaps. 5:12-8:) Deliverance from the bondage and power of sin. This is truly a miniature book of Exodus, and can be studied with great profit in connection with the account of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt from the bondage of Pharaoh, as the passover shelter is explained in the deliverance from the guilt of sin in the first division.

3. (Chaps. 9:-11:) God's sovereign purpose and holiness vindicated in the account of His past, present and future dealings with Israel. As to the past, they are the chosen of God; as to the present, they are rejected because of their unbelief; as to the future, they will be restored as from the dead (chap. 11:), a wonderful and instructive portion, giving the key to all prophetic teaching.

4. (Chaps. 12:-16:) The last division is the practical portion of the book, giving guidance, encouragement and warning as to our path through this world, based upon the great facts of known redemption and enjoyed deliverance, unfolded in the first eight chapters.

What a feast is before us, dear reader, for this month! If heretofore you have been reading your Bible as a mere task, getting but little from it, turning too easily to this world's literature, let all that cease now. Let us seek God's grace that these two books may be read carefully, prayerfully, and intelligently, and how much we will have to bless God for as the result!

It is well to have a note-book in which to jot down thoughts gleaned from our daily reading, and this may be made as full or meager as the time we can spare will allow. It is not expected, of course, that the average reader can devote sufficient time to the exhaustive study of two full chapters of Scripture
each day, but surely every one of us can gather something from our morning and evening reading.
The little note-book will serve as a record of our progress, and a pleasant reminder of help gained.